Blossom and the Beast (The Alder Tales Book 1) Read online

  Blossom’s gut plummeted. Her stomach felt like it was climbing up and out of her throat so fast she had to swallow to keep it down. Lathan’s hand appeared on her arm, squeezing gently before he backed away.

  Da and Norin approached, chatting and smiling as if it wasn’t her whole life at stake.

  “May I present my daughter, Blossom Frane,” Da said with an outstretched hand and a smile so large even his thick, brown beard couldn’t hide it.

  “She’s lovely.” A fire raged in Norin’s eyes as he looked her up and down, from the tips of her honey-brown boots to the top of her messy curls. His gaze lingered on her full lips and cheeks still red from her ride back to camp. “She’ll be eighteen this spring?” he asked Da, even though she stood right in front of him.

  Blossom bit back the urge to spit at him. She narrowed her eyes and bit her lip so hard she tasted blood.

  “On the twenty-fifth day of this month. Twelve days’ time. A bear, no doubt.” Da wouldn’t look at her. That, more than anything, told her she would be leaving tonight. The deal was made.

  “That’s very impressive. The Franes have a great reputation, but I’m still relieved to find her so suitable.” Norin reached out and stroked her forearm with the tips of his fingers.

  A chill ran down her arm.

  Blossom felt like flower about to be plucked. A Frane daughter, a true-blood bear, was a valuable commodity indeed. Her children would, undoubtedly, be bears as well. The totems followed the mother’s bloodline. With Blossom in their possession, the Amaris clan would have a brighter future.

  Da would get a high price for her.

  Norin eyed her a few moments longer before Da ushered him out into the fading daylight. Through the flap, Blossom and her brothers watched them clasp shoulders once more and say a few parting words before Norin started back toward his own camp.

  Blossom shot out of the tent as soon as he was out of sight, her eyes wide in shock. Norin was gone. He’d gone back to his clan without her. They hadn’t made a deal after all.

  Da’s eyes softened when he saw her. “Come here, my Blossom.” He held out a hand, and Blossom couldn’t resist crashing against his chest. So broad and warm and protective, she felt safer there.

  “Did you make a trade?” she asked, her voice muffled against his shirt.

  Laughter boomed deep in Da’s chest. “I would never trade you for so little.” Then, over her head, he shouted, “Lathan, get the clan together. Amberwine at the central pit tonight.” He pulled back Blossom’s shoulders and shook her with enthusiasm. “Tonight, we celebrate!”

  “Celebrate what?” she had to ask. She knew her face was filled with confusion, her eyebrows furrowed, but she had to know.

  “Your first offer, love. The first of many.” Da kissed her forehead and trotted away, shouting instructions to anyone within ear shot, leaving her alone in the clearing.

  A moment later, a slender arm snaked around her waist. “Just couldn’t let one day go by without causing a fuss, could you?” Gemini shook her head and chuckled. They’d been friends since they were small, and Gemini was the only non-Frane to be even remotely close to Blossom.

  She squeezed her friend, laughing with her. “It’s not my fault he came so early!” She tilted her chestnut curls against Gemini’s dark hair, which stretched well past her shoulder blades. A rabbit totem of the Connor family, Gemini boasted the only black hair in the clan contrary to her rabbit’s white fur. Her skin was dark and beautiful, and her eyes were a warm, brilliant brown. She was the apple of every boy’s eye and the envy of every girl in the clan, including Blossom.

  “At least we’ll get some wine tonight,” Gemini offered with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Having already undergone transformation, Gemini was eligible to drink within the clan, but her status in one of the lower families meant she often couldn’t afford it. She spent her days working a small garden alongside her sisters, and only on the rare occasion did she spring for amberwine.

  Blossom, on the other hand, as the daughter of the clan leader, was never denied a cup of wine if she asked. Of course, her brothers often loomed protectively over her, but no one else tried to stop her. Blossom reeled against the rush of guilt. She hated being who she was.

  All the wine she could drink but no say in who she would marry. Blossom would rather be anyone else.

  Gemini steered Blossom toward the edge of the clearing and away from the clamor of the clan as they prepared for the celebration. “You’ll never guess who came to see me today,” Gemini said in the low voice she used to dispel clan gossip.

  Blossom rolled her eyes and laughed. There were only so many eligible boys of age in the clan. Eventually she’d guess right, though she didn’t really care. Still, she indulged her one and only friend and listed a half-dozen names.

  “By the Alder Mother, no!” Gemini squealed and looked down at her with a mischievous smile.

  Blossom cringed. “One of my brothers?” She knew—or at least she thought she knew—her brothers weren’t interested. Parson had only been interested in one girl he couldn’t have, and Hale had never so much as batted an eye at anyone. Then again, Blossom kept him quite busy. Still, it wasn’t impossible.

  She breathed easier when Gemini groaned. “No, gross!” After clearing her head of the repulsive thought, her friend finally revealed her big news. “Asla! You know he’s got an—”

  “Yeah, an elk. I know.” Blossom winced.

  “What?” Gemini sat on a gnarled root and waited for an answer.

  “I don’t think he likes me.” Blossom didn’t mention that Asla was one of many boys in the clan who couldn’t be bothered to talk to her, or even look at her for that matter. Despite the fact she couldn’t marry any of them, it would be nice if even one expressed interest. Then again, she wasn’t half as beautiful as Gemini. No one would waste their time on her when Gemini was so lovely.

  “Nonsense. He likes everyone. He’s really nice,” Gemini argued, though Blossom had already heard as much from everyone else. Asla, it seemed, was a genuinely nice guy to everyone but her.

  Blossom sank to the root beside her friend and tried to pretend she wasn’t bothered. “What’d he say? You’re the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and he wants to marry you on the spot?” It was only half a joke. Gemini had received four such speeches from other boys in the clan, not including Asla.

  “No, no. He just kind of watched me work for a while, and then he asked me about rabbits. What we eat and what we like, that sort of thing. He was really quiet for the most part. I think he might be shy.” Gemini made it sound like shyness was some sort of disease.

  “But if he’s asking about rabbits, he’s thinking about your totem.” Blossom stated the obvious.

  “You think he’s thinking about, I don’t know, kids and all that? It’s a little early for that conversation.”

  Blossom shrugged. “Maybe it just means he’s serious. Did you like talking to him?”

  “I mean, it was better than working alone, I guess. But it took him a while to say anything, and when he did he just sort of asked me questions. Like once he runs out of questions, he won’t have anything to say.”

  “Then he’s your perfect match! You have plenty to say,” Blossom nudged her with a teasing shoulder.

  The two laughed together for only a moment before a figure appeared in the wood. Blossom cursed her luck when Asla neared. His medium-brown hair hung into his eyes, and he offered Gemini a sweet smile. “Your sister asked me to let you know they’re getting started at the pit. Can I walk you down?”

  Gemini slid off the root with a girlish hop. “Hey, Blossom has this idea you don’t like her. Would you tell her she’s crazy?”

  Blossom scowled, but Gemini missed it as she fell in place beside Asla and started toward the camp. Blossom had no choice but to follow behind them and listen as Asla said, “I don’t have any feelings about her one way or the other.” Asla’s voice was a monotonous drone, devoid of even the slightest hint of a lie
.

  Unwilling to hear more, Blossom fell back, letting them walk on without her. She was such a hopeful fool to think he might have said something else, that he might have left her with some shred of confidence intact.

  Skirting around the edge of the camp, Blossom made sure to avoid prying eyes as she walked to the celebration in honor of her first marriage offer. Even as she cut between tents, she kept her eyes low and her feet moving along.

  By the time she arrived, dusk had fallen, and a tall fire raged from the central pit. Around it, two dozen clan members talked, laughed, and ate. Bronze cups were filled with amberwine and hands held skewers of deer or rabbit or badger. On the far side of the clearing, a trio of musicians played festive alder songs on flutes and drums, filling the space with music and energy.

  Da stood talking with some of the other family leaders, and Blossom spotted Gemini and Asla engaged in low conversation well away from the fire. If Asla’s smile was any indication, he liked Gemini more than he’d let on.

  Blossom settled onto a low bench of alder wood, clenching a skewer in her hand just as Lathan collapsed beside her with a heavy thud. He was built like an alder tree, sturdy and tall, and wore more rings than anyone in the clan, save for Da.

  “Did you really think he would trade you to the first clan that made an offer?” Lathan asked. His quiet way made her consider his words with more weight.

  “I don’t know what I thought,” she admitted. “I didn’t think it would be so soon.”

  “It’s a good sign,” Lathan said as he bit into a chunk of badger, his sharp canines making easy work of the smoky meat.

  “How?”

  “Norin made a good offer. And before your transformation, there’s no guarantee of your totem. It means the clans are willing to pay well for the chance you’ll be bear. Imagine what they’ll pay when you’re confirmed a bear. Da can make any demand. They’ll give him whatever he wants and more.”

  Blossom looked up at her oldest brother with all the faith and confidence she had. He was as solid as a rock wall. She wanted to believe him.

  “What was the offer?” Forcing down a heavy gulp, she watched Lathan chew absently for several moments before he answered.

  “Sure you want to know?”

  “Yeah, tell me.” She forced out the words before she could change her mind.

  “A dozen horses, a dozen barrels of grain, forty bolts of fabric—”

  Blossom’s eyes grew wider as the list went on. It was more than she’d ever heard offered for anyone in their clan or any other—including her mother, whose totem now rested in the Alder Mother’s grove.

  “—and fifty alder trunks, fully stripped.” Blossom almost spit out her amberwine. Her eyes shot up to Lathan and waited for the joking smile to curl his lips. But nothing changed. He was serious.

  The numbers swirled in her head like leaves in a fall whip of wind. Fifty alder trunks. More than her clan could process in six months’ time—an unfathomable amount.

  And Da had turned it down.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you. Da asked us not to tell you.” Lathan let out a heavy sigh. It wasn’t his way to say so much. Blossom couldn’t help but wonder why he’d decided to speak up now, and about this.

  She leaned her head against his hulking arm in thanks. He maneuvered her to his shoulder and wrapped his hand around her. “It’ll mean a better life for everyone in the clan,” Lathan said into her ear, so low no one could hear him above the din of the fire and chatter. “And we’ll make sure you go to a good clan, to a good man that will treat you right. You’ll never have to worry about someone taking care of you.”

  The arching flames of the central pit began to blur as her brother’s words hit a soft spot she hadn’t known was there. While Blossom had no fear of leaving her home in the forest, she would always miss her da and her brothers, her protective clan of bears that would never let her come to harm. It was everyone else she had to worry about.

  “Don’t hog the guest of honor,” Hale protested above them.

  Blossom blinked several times so she wouldn’t have to wipe her cheeks in front of him. If no tears fell, she wouldn’t have to hear about it later.

  The youngest Frane son sat and occupied the empty seat to her left. His mood was jovial compared to her conversation with Lathan. He smiled and bit into a fresh skewer of meat with decided interest.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s Da that’s the life of the party.” She nodded over to the edge of the gathered crowd where Da danced with the grey-haired Yaiza, a woman from one of the lesser families in the clan. The three siblings laughed at his wild movements as he lunged around the fire with her in his grip, waving with a freedom only a certain amount of amberwine could provide.

  Blossom’s mood lightened with laughter. Lathan had soothed her and given her a sureness in her da she probably should have had all along. She regretted doubting him, even in her thoughts. She should have known better.

  A large, looming figure appeared and blocked her view of the fire, interrupting her thoughts. Blossom squinted and found Parson standing before her with his hand outstretched and a mischievous smile on his face. “A dance with the lady?”

  “I’m hardly a lady,” she quipped. It was as true as anything. Blossom was nothing like the delicate flower for which she was named, but she loved to dance, to feel the music in her bones. She slipped her hand into Parson’s and let him help her to her feet.

  One of the best dancers in the clan, Parson’s feet found the beat in an instant. Blossom was right behind him, stomping the ground with her bare feet and clapping in perfect time. When the moment came, Parson reached for her extended hand, then spun her back toward him, twirling her around. Blossom’s curls fanned wide as she turned, and though her head was slow to catch up after a full cup of amberwine, she refused to stop. Her body knew the movements better than her head anyway.

  Blossom let her hand fall from Parson’s, and completed a series of complicated steps and moves in time to the music. To her side, her middle-brother completed the same steps, as they’d been doing since she was old enough to learn them. Once more, he took her hand and twirled her around before the song faded.

  Of all her brothers, she was most like Parson. He was eight years her senior, but they shared a quickness to anger and a love of music and wildness. She threw her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you. That’s just what I needed.” A wide smile filled her features, compliments of the amberwine and blood racing from the dance.

  If the clan was always like this, she’d find it much harder to leave. Or maybe she only appreciated it now that she’d faced the prospect of being traded away.

  “Any man that gets you will be lucky to have you. I hope you know that.” Parson squeezed her and lifted her off the ground with a grunt before setting her back down.

  Blossom’s smile disappeared in an instant. It was too much—too much wine, too much dancing, too many whispered words of love and protection from her beloved brothers.

  She didn’t know what to say.

  Da appeared and saved her. As the next song began, he dove between them and announced, “My turn!” His eyes were glassy with drink, and his smile was incorruptible. With all the grace of his fox totem, Da moved his feet and led her in an elegant dance.

  “Thank you, Da. For not trading me away yet,” she heard herself say.

  “I would never dream of it.” Da tilted her back into a dramatic dip.

  Blossom’s curls fell toward the ground, and her head pounded with the sudden change in elevation.

  When he brought her back up, Da continued, “I haven’t had enough time with you yet. Maybe I never will.”

  Da’s joke put her at ease. Of course, one day he would trade her to another clan and earn the esteemed prize they decided she was worth, but she still couldn’t help but smile knowing that her father would have as much trouble sending her away as she would have leaving.

  By the end of the dance, Blossom’s head ached from
so much movement. She kissed Da’s scraggly-bearded cheek and headed back toward her bench and her brothers, though only Hale remained.

  “Where’s Lathan?” she asked as she sat.

  “Probably at home with Tasia. She came by and winked, and he shot up like he’d caught on fire.” Hale rolled his eyes, but Blossom knew the big, strong Lathan had a major soft spot for his doe-eyed wife.

  If only she could be so lucky.

  There were only a handful of boys her age in the clan who weren’t her brothers, and they avoided her as if she were cursed. Maybe she was.

  It would be better when she was in her new life with her new husband, except she couldn’t manage to be excited about moving away.

  Until today, she hadn’t realized how torn she’d become. She’d been ready to leave, to go out and experience the world away from the Alderwood. Now she was anything but sure.

  Hale wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, as if he could sense her newfound conflict. “It’ll be months before anyone offers so much Da can’t refuse. You’ve got plenty of time. And after your transformation, it’ll be that much harder.”

  A woman came around with a pitcher of wine, and Blossom held up her cup. When the woman was gone and Blossom’s cup was refilled, she asked the question that ate at her like rot. “What if I’m not a bear?”

  “You will be.” He made it sound like fact.

  “But what if I’m not?” Blossom knew it, deep in her marrow. She wasn’t a bear. She didn’t feel like a bear. She wanted to be—to prove she was a Frane of the Bear Clan—but she wasn’t. Somehow, she just knew.

  Hale shook her shoulders and smiled. “The Alder Mother has a plan for you.”

  Blossom couldn’t argue. She hoped the mysterious spirit of the sacred tree somehow had an idea of her purpose and who she was, but if so, she had never revealed it. She desperately hoped the plan didn’t involve Blossom leaving everyone she cared about to live a life trapped in the forest while suffering the humiliation of being a squirrel.

  While her brothers and her da let her go out and explore, getting angry when she left but letting her go all the same, Blossom didn’t count on her future husband to entertain such whims. She’d be an Alderwood prisoner, all her freedoms stripped away and her family gone from her life forever.