“Grey, Rhys, Rider, search the castle. I don’t want to find any strays later by accident.”
They didn’t waste any time either, which left three of us alone.
I turned to Anvil. “How did they get here so fast?”
He shook his head. “It isn’t impossible, but they likely discovered your decision on the way.”
“So, why were they coming?”
“To celebrate your return?” he offered.
I scoffed.
“It is possible he has heard of the attempts.”
“I agree.” I bit my lip, considering. “See what you can find out.”
“Indeed,” he said, touching his fist to his chest.
Chevelle and I stared after him, remembering the bloody battle and the proposal by Veil.
“When this is over...” he growled.
“I know,” I answered. War.
Chapter Fourteen
Prisoner
For as long as I could remember, even during those times I couldn’t remember, I’d had one thought, one obsession: If I could just overcome this one insurmountable obstacle, then things would be bearable.
But my whole life had been a series of those hurdles, and each time I crossed one, each time I broke through a barrier, there was nothing but another on the other side. A chasm, a mountain, one more impossible challenge. As I stood there with Chevelle, wanting only to right the council’s wrong, to avenge my mother and my kingdom and be done with it, I could see nothing but more problems on the horizon.
I pulled the necklace from my belt and stared at the pendant beside my mother’s. It was a long spike, formed by four smaller twisted strands. It was an odd sensation, as two of the strands were cold, the other two warm, but I didn’t think it was charmed as I’d feared at first. What had Veil meant by it? There was no question the fey were tricksters, but they were clever as well. This was no simple gift, but had he meant it for a warning, or a promise? He’d seemed sincere in his proposal, though he hadn’t given the pendant until I’d declined his offer.
I couldn’t blame Veil for the others, for all that had happened, but I couldn’t entirely trust him either. Between the lot of them, they’d invaded my home, insulted my second, and attempted to steal my guard. And who knew what the ones we hadn’t seen were doing.
I glanced at Chevelle who seemed to have his anger under rein now. “We should probably help the others.”
He moved to place his hand at my lower back as we started for the corridor, but stopped just short of touching me. I pretended not to notice.
The halls were a quiet mess. The staff tended to stay in their rooms during a fairy raid, so the corridors were empty aside from the fabric, beads, broken furnishings, and occasional foodstuffs scattering the floors. We came across a door covered in ivies, another painted with profanities, and a third busted through. Oddly enough, the libraries were intact.
“Wouldn’t want to destroy those, they might need to borrow a book,” I muttered.
At the end of another hall, right before the entrance to the kitchens, was a large T-wall. I stood staring, for a long moment, at what appeared to be a portrait of the new lord of the north. Naked. It was plainly a hurried job, but all the important parts were there. I turned to Chevelle, but couldn’t decide whether he was trying to conceal a grimace or smile. I took the time to glare at him before moving on, just in case.
Hurried footsteps caught up with me shortly, but they were delayed enough that I knew he’d taken care of the graffiti.
The fey had managed a considerable amount of damage to the castle in the short time they’d been liberated, but no one had been badly injured. The kitchen staff had it the worst, there were plenty of utensils to clang around and batter with, though I’d not checked the stables. They always had fun in the stables. I kicked a broken crate from my path.
“We’ve got one,” Grey announced from the doorway, and I turned to find him ragged, clothes torn, face scratched.
“A lion?” I asked.
He had no sense of humor after what he’d been through. His answer was flat. “A fairy.”
We met him at the door. “Thank you, Grey,” I offered. “Go see Ruby.”
He looked at me curiously.
“Before she tears Steed apart. Or whatever.”
He nodded.
They held the tiny female in an unused room, empty of all but a wrought iron chair and two irritated guards. Rhys and Rider weren’t scraped and tattered as Grey had been, but they didn’t get agitated much so I figured she must have been a difficult one. They had bound her to the chair at the wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, thighs, waist, and chest. The chair had been bound to the stone. I didn’t ask what they’d done to the chains to keep her from working free, because I was afraid the answer was a spell.
I walked closer, though I’d learned my lesson from coming too near our last prisoner, and nodded toward the gag. Rider reached in and yanked it free. A stream of curses followed, I assumed picking back up directly where she’d left off when he’d shoved the rags in her mouth in the first place. It was quite impressive, and I let her run with it for a few moments to wear herself down.
“... son of an imp and your mother was an unbonded flaxen whore!” she finished.
Rhys had gone pale. Apparently, neither he nor his brother had dealt with many fairies before. Rant ended, she turned her gaze to me and her natural beauty returned, smoothing her face into ethereal magnificence beneath her sun-kissed chestnut curls. The light streaming in through the small, slitted windows behind her reminded me that it wasn’t even midday. I suddenly felt exhausted.
“Why are you here?” I asked, skipping the introductions.
Her gaze flicked to Rider. “Because this ignorant ram’s ass tied me to a chair.”
“Indeed.” I cleared my throat. “But why were you here, in the castle, before you were tied to a chair?”
She smiled. “Surely you would know, Lord Freya.” She added enough sweetness to my name to make it perfectly clear she’d used the endearment as satire.
“Veil is gone. The others are dead.”
Only the slightest flicker of emotion flashed, too brief to tell whether it was worry or anger, but long enough to be certain she hadn’t meant to be left behind.
“I know you are not a spy,” I said politely, “but it is too dangerous to keep you here.”
For a fraction of a second, she was relieved to hear of her coming release. And then she realized she’d mistaken my meaning completely. “What will it take?” she asked.
“The truth.”
“Each holds his own truth. What will it take?”
“Why are you here?”
“Because I was bored,” she answered. “That is my truth.”
“And the others? What was their purpose?”
“I cannot know.”
“Then you cannot live. I will not waste the lives of my guards watching you, nor risk them for the same.” I turned to leave.
“I could guess,” she offered nonchalantly as my hand reached for the door.
“What do you suppose, then?” I asked, turning back to face her.
She shrugged. “Might have been the girl. The grays seemed very interested in bringing her back.”
“For whom?”
She shook her head. “I am guessing, remember?”
“You’ve heard.”
“I hear a lot of things, it doesn’t make them true.”
“And Veil’s truth?” I asked. “What is that?”
Her eyes peered into mine. It was more than a little disturbing, but not as disturbing as her statement. “He does want you.”
“Why was he here?” I asked, forcing my tone to steady.
She glanced at my neck, seemed confused, and then shrugged it off. I waited. “There was some sort of gift,” she said finally.
I nodded. “And what do you know of this offering?”
She shook her head. “Gift. And I know nothing.”
“Release
her,” I said to Rhys and Rider. “She’s of no use to us.”
It was essentially true, but mostly I wanted her to stir a few things up on her way back to the fey lands so Anvil’s contacts might be able to gather the information we needed.
Chevelle followed me to the hall, ready to resolve the disasters left behind by the fey.
“When Anvil returns, we will meet,” I said, drained.
When I finally made it to my room, I unlaced my shirt and took a long, deep breath. I was fairly certain the kick I’d taken had set me back a few more days, but it wasn’t as painful as it had been the first time, and I was grateful for that. I left my boots on but stretched out on the bed and closed my eyes.
The lightest whisper of footsteps outside my door let me know my guard was once again on duty. I sighed.
Laying down intensified the fatigue tenfold, but I didn’t sleep. I searched the mountains, reaching for the minds of Finn and Keaton. I wasn’t able to find them, so I moved ahead to my next task and located my hawk. He had fled the castle in the raid, but was perched nearby one of the gates. I set him to flight and circled the grounds.
Apparently, the fey had been warned to come in stealth, because nothing outside of the yards was damaged. I could see the staff now, annoyed at the mess, but relieved to be unharmed as they tried to set things to rights. I had a feeling it was going to take them a while. I continued my inspection, checking the roofs, crevices, anywhere the fey might be hiding or might have left a snare.
Eventually, I came to the stables, leaving my most dreaded chore for last. I really didn’t want to see what they’d done there this time. The hawk alighted on a post outside the stable and I was surprised to see Steed walking a mare into the yard. He must have come straight to check on his stock as soon as Grey had relieved him of his charge. I hopped to a nearer post.
The poor beast was covered in a shimmering violet dust and Steed stood beside her, humming while he gently brushed it away. I bounced to the post closest to them, and saw the ground was littered with various shades of the stuff. He must have brought each one out and swept them clean by hand. The way he looked, I was curious if he did this for the animals or himself. Surely, he could have been done much quicker by other means. His hum broke into song then, and I felt the corner of my mouth draw up back in the bed.
Steed was so engrossed in his work, he had only glanced at the bird when it landed near him. It wouldn’t have seemed unusual, after all, because it lived in the castle. But as I watched him, he began to glance more frequently at the hawk. Apparently it didn’t normally stalk him.
The mare purred and Steed answered in a low tone. “Yes, darling.” She rolled a shudder down her back, shaking out more dust. “There’s a girl,” he murmured.
I cocked the head of my host sideways just as Steed flicked another glance at it. His eyes narrowed infinitesimally. I wasn’t certain it was his audience that had him unnerved, but it sure seemed that way. I thought I’d check. As he moved to work the dust from the mane of the mare, rubbing between her ears, he glanced over again. I raised one clawed foot from the post and held it forward in salute.
Yep, it was the bird. His face twisted into an unease I’d never before seen on him. Singing stopped, he stared straight ahead, over the mare’s back.
I sprang to the mare’s rump, landing lightly about a foot from his face. He jumped.
I felt myself chuckle back in my bed and then was startled out of the hawk by a familiar voice.
“Freya.”
I didn’t know why I felt guilty, but I bolted upright, and then winced at the pain in my side from the sudden move. Chevelle wore a “that’s what I thought” look. He handed me a cup, and I took it without thinking. It was warm against my hand and smelled wonderful. One sip and I was choking and spitting uncontrollably.
“Ruby prepared a blend for your rib.”
I wheezed.
“She mentioned it might be strong.”
I looked up at him, completely unable to form a response.
He smiled. “Rest, Freya.”
It must have worked, because the next thing I knew, Ruby was waking me for our meeting. She seemed well, considering the fey had apparently placed a bounty on her. I took a breath before questioning her, realized it didn’t hurt, and took several long, deep lungfuls of air.
“Ruby, what did you give me?”
She shrugged. “Tea. Now, come on.” She threw clothes at me, impatiently moving about the room while I put myself in order.
“You’re kind of keyed up,” I mentioned casually as I walked toward the door.
“Maybe I just don’t like waiting,” she huffed. She walked two paces in front of me all the way to the study, clearly not wanting to discuss whatever had her edgy. It definitely wasn’t fear, though.
When we entered, she pointedly did not look at Grey, which of course caused me to. He was staring at her with an intensity that would have caught a normal woman on fire. Ruby, however, had been born of fire.
I shook my head. This was just what we needed.
All eyes fell on me as I stepped to the head of the table. I threw the pendant down, the twisted strands landing with a clanging thump on the wood surface.
“Ice, silver, blood, and bone. Our gift.”
Chapter Fifteen
Gift
They stared at the pendant, the spike formed from four intertwined strands. There was no question in my mind whether the ice and silver were related to my attacks, especially since Veil had mentioned my safety. How they were related was another matter entirely. They were cold to the touch, while the blood and bone were warm, and further warning. A gift, our prisoner had insisted. Leave it to the fey to offer a puzzle instead of a clear message.
“It’s the same,” Ruby said, wide-eyed. She hadn’t had a chance to examine the pendant yet, to see the thin thread of ice, frozen solid even now.
“I suspected as much.” I glanced at Chevelle. “And the silver?”
“It appears so,” he answered, none too pleased with the revelation.
“The question remains,” I offered, “is this admission of their involvement, a threat of further attacks? Or is this truly a gift, answer to our search?”
Rider leaned forward. “Why would they admit their own involvement? Why not just fight with full force if that was what they wanted?”
“For that matter, why would they help you by handing you the enemy?” Ruby asked.
I noticed Chevelle tense the slightest bit beside me. Both questions could be answered by Veil’s interest in me.
“I don’t understand,” Rhys said, “why they would risk it at all.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “They’ve been doing it for ages, never mind that half of them are killed. They don’t consider it risk, just a good night out.”
“There’s something else,” Grey said evenly. We all took notice of his tone. “They didn’t offer a trade.” It was obvious what he meant. They had wanted Ruby.
The room was silent for a long moment before Anvil finally spoke up. “It means nothing. Veil would not soil his hands so publicly in such an arrangement. By coming, by his presentation, he has already placed himself on unstable ground.”
“About that,” I interjected, “this was the largest force I’ve seen for a very long time. There were no fire fairies.”
Anvil nodded. “Hard to say at this point, but I am hoping they support your choice.” He paused, considering. “That’s not to say they would not welcome her return, unwilling as it were.”
Steed graciously changed the subject. “As for the pendant, is the blood meant for death, or lineage?”
“That, as well as the bone, can be interpreted in many ways,” Anvil answered. “The fey are not easy to read. And they like it so.”
Rhys was outwardly disgusted and annoyed with his first fey experience. “Then this token is worthless.”
I shook my head. “No. Even if we don’t understand their motives, even if we never decipher their clues,
it tells us one thing for certain. The two attacks were connected and the fey know how.”
“If this is a threat,” Steed shifted uncomfortably, “then no response is an act of battle in itself.”
Ruby nodded. “And Veil’s going to work up a good lather over your refusal.”
“And then they’ll be back.” Steed added. “In force.”
“No.” Chevelle’s voice was cutting. I wasn’t positive he’d meant to speak at all.
I sighed, needing to explain to the others but not wanting to voice the problem. But I had to. The fey loved a good war and if they could manage it, they’d be back soon enough. The group we’d dealt with had been nothing, merely along for the ride, toying with us over Ruby. A true raid would have left us more damage than a few scrapes and bruises.
“Some fey have the ability to manipulate the magic of others. A strike against them can be turned, distorted...” I shook my head. “Let’s just say it’s ugly. The problem now is, with my magic in such a volatile state, I would be risking not only myself, but the release of these powers to the fey.”
“To Veil,” Chevelle said.
There was a long pause while everyone in the room imagined the flying amber god with the combined energy of his own, myself, and all that Asher had amassed.
Ruby had gone pale. I decided to throw her a bone. “Finn and Keaton may be able to assist with this. They have brought us Rhys and Rider for a reason, and I believe their connection plays a part. When the wolves return, we may have one less problem to worry about.”
Ruby immediately lost all concern for our crisis. “The legends are true? The wolves are the ancients?” She stared at me a moment before her scarlet curls whipped around to find Rhys and Rider, both of whom donned arcane smirks for her. I would have to remember to thank them for that later.
The meeting ended with nothing at all resolved. Anvil hadn’t been able to discover anything useful in his first attempts, but he intended to try again now that we had released our captive fairy back into the wild. Grey and Steed were planning a trip to Camber under the guise of guard duties to see if they could learn anything useful. Ruby had flatly refused their offer to go along, which I attributed to the sparks that were flying between her and Grey and to the possibility of her missing Finn and Keaton’s return.
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