Snippet: older than dirt

Mrs. Yuimen brushed him aside, her scanning the girl. She was the house cook and resident healer, and older than dirt. “Nothing broken,” she pronounced. “Hot polices and lavender oil for the bruises, willow, cayenne and ginger for the pain.” She left fetch the supplies.

Since he was clearly not needed, Sage joined Griffin to fill him in on the night’s activities. “We’ll need to send word to her family. I imagine the lads have caught the horse by now and taken him to the stables.”

“Do we know her name?” Jordan asked, glancing appreciatively at the fire that sprang up in the fireplace. She tucked the blankets around her patient.

Now that she was covered, Griffin peered at the woman with interest. “Isn’t that Mrs. James from next door? How did she get here?”

“We found her on our property being chased by hellhounds,” Sage answered, frowning thoughtfully. “I can only assume the house lowered the wall to let her in.”

Jordan raised her brows. “What are you up to, Hyani?” Once a fae, Hyani had suffered terribly when her family had killed her husband. Unable to bear the grief, she’d turned herself into a house so that she could still shelter her children. A romantic, she was known to arrange matches for family. Hyani seemed to feel her house needed a human matriarch and had gone to incredible lengths to pair Griffin and Jordan.

Jordan looked speculatively at the unconscious girl. “We’ll need to notify her family.”

“Of course. I’ll see to it,” Sage promised. “No doubt they’re worried by now. He nodded at the housekeeper as he strode to the door. “Mrs. Yuimen.”

The old one looked down her huge nose at him, her thick brows lowered over sharp black eyes. Hair like wet soot flopped over her brow, escaping from a black ribbon tied at her nape. She grunted dismissively, pushing a trolley laden with medical supplies toward the patient.

Sage hurried downstairs and called for a carriage. It wouldn’t do to arrive at the neighbors as an owl.