Wisteria (Wisteria Series) by Bisi Leyton

implored, falling at Bach’s feet.
    “Please give me the blade or we are going to have a problem.” His green eyes darkened while his grip on the sword stiffened.
    “A problem?” She couldn’t believe any of this. “That crazy girl wanted to stab me with a knife.” Was he going to throw her out to the biters, too?
    “I brought you into my home and you have beaten her in less than a day. I will do what I need to do to protect those living here and it starts with you giving me the knife,” he ordered.
    Wisteria let go of the sword and he took it.
      “Funny, that you don’t protect her from Enric,” Wisteria quipped and pointed at Piper, but the other girl was gone.
    “So you beat her? Like an animal?” Bach turned back to her.
    “She attacked me with a knife. Go ahead and check, it’s under there.” She pointed at the bed.
    Bach looked under the bed where he located Piper’s knife. “Piper will not come back here.” He stormed away.

     
    * * * * *
     

     
    Enric was shooting golf balls off the roof when Bach found him. His Terran, Piper, sat on the ground at his feet.
    “I am so bored. Was it like this when you were on Terra as a child?” Enric moaned as he drove another ball over the edge and into the sky. “Bach, let us go up North again.”
    “Enric, if I leave during the swarm, the biters might kill me,” the girl pleaded.
    “I was not talking to you,” Enric snapped at her and turned to Bach. “Your Terran seems strong, I am sure she will at least last the trip to Glasgow. Once up there, we will find you someone much prettier.” He hit another golf ball over the edge.
    It sailed through the sky and disappeared in the gray clouds overhead.
    Bach seized the golf club from Enric’s grasp and flung it over the edge.
    “Bach, are you insane?” Enric boomed.
    “You set your Terran on Wisteria!” Bach yelled.
    “Huh?” He looked perplexed for a moment, and then he smiled. “I did not send Piper anywhere, but your Terran did break mine, apparently. Now I have to find another one and you know how hard that can be.”
    “How did she get a hold of your danor?” Bach showed him the knife he found under Wisteria’s bed. This particular danor was one of a pair of ceremonial daggers Bach had given to Enric and Felip as gifts at the start of the Great Walk.
    “Piper stole it.”
    “She is your Thayn, so she could never do anything without your permission.”
    “I suppose she got carried away when I told her I was going to release her. If I remember correctly, you insisted. Honestly, I never thought Piper would kill someone.” Enric seemed impressed with his Terran.
    “What did you say to her, exactly?”
    “Bach, why do you care? I do not see the problem. They are just Terrans. They are animals and animals fight. Do not blame me for the way they choose to act. You think your pet is somehow blameless in this?”
    “You gave Wisteria back her knife and you gave your Terran your knife. What were you hoping would happen?”
    “Nothing happened. Something is happening to you, though. What is wrong with you? You have never talked to me like this about Piper, even after Felip complained a million times. Why now?”
    “Because now I am tired of you torturing your Terran.” Bach always detested the way Enric treated her, but now Enric seemed keen to treat Wisteria badly, too.
    “I will keep my Terran away from Wisteria and I will take better care of my danor,” Enric chortled. “I hope you do the same with yours.”
    Bach grimaced.
    “If she does this again then I will send her away,” Enric proposed. “Or at least until I can get another one from Glasgow or Windermere, and I will release her then.”
    “Fine,” Bach reluctantly agreed and turned away.
    “A question, Bach,” Enric called out. “I assume we are keeping your Terran here for the foreseeable future.”
    Bach heard the smirk in Enric’s voice. “Yes.”
    “Well, then, this is now your problem.” His friend handed him