Juniper & Thorn

by Ava Reid

In its gratitude for our hospitality the goblin had become excessively protective of my sisters and me, and had taken to trying to bite our clients in the ankle when they crossed through the garden into the house.

Haha

Rose was beautiful, too, with her long black hair that turned iridescent in the sunlight, and her deep violet eyes. But she was usually covered in dirt and smelling of wormwood or catmint, and always carried with her a pair of gardening shears, their blades flashing at her hip. So the men didn’t dare to touch her either.

Shall I go crawl on my hands and knees on the cobblestones in search of dropped kopeks? Shall I polish the tsar’s boots with my tongue? Is this what my own daughters would ask of me?”

You need to chill fr

Do you think I would ever let his serpent’s jaws close around you, even if he did? You are far too dear to me for that.”

really hard to believe

“One of my transformations went wrong,” Papa said. “This is your mother now.”

That's wild

Papa’s potion was a test to see if we had kept our thighs unbloodied, our maidenheads unspoiled.

Eww for what

“Second, you must return by the clock’s strike of three, before the dawn lifts Papa’s eyelids.”

It's giving Cinderella

You and your sisters can’t eat too much. Women need less to sate themselves than men,

A fat load of bullshit

The goblin ran up to me crying and Papa made a noise of such scathing reproach that I felt sorrier for it than ever, and I just barely resisted the urge to scoop up the goblin into my arms. What had it ever done wrong?

Poor baby goblin

In the future, Ms. Vashchenko, I would prefer not to see you at the ballet theater again. Ever since your visit this week Sevas has been more inattentive than ever. Please, he has enough trouble keeping his mind on his work.”

This stupid asshole

What would another man do, if his wife had died without using his seed to sprout any sons?

Dumbass ofc he doesn't know how genes work

so I took two of his fingers into my mouth.

Please make it stop

Now I saw the stain of my blood on his palms, darkened with the hours to a color that was nearly black. I almost thought to lick it off, to see what my broken maidenhead tasted like—it

Disgusting