Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight Page 14

  "I don't know," I answered automatically. "I already told Ruby, I was lost when it happened."

  "It didn't just happen, Frey. I need you to tell me everything you can remember about it."

  "There was nothing, it was just a plain door in the middle of nowhere. I can't find it again." But then I hesitated because, though I didn't know how to find it from inside the castle, I knew where the exit was. I started to stand and he pitched back as if he were frightened of me.

  "What are you doing?" Ruby asked, right before I toppled forward and Chevelle, who was standing now, caught me.

  "Ugh," I moaned. When the dizziness passed, I looked up at him but he expressed no emotion in his still face. I sighed. "I know how to find it."

  "Then tell us," he said.

  "I can't, I don't know how to explain it, I just know where it is. From the outside."

  I felt Chevelle's hold give just a fraction as the shock hit him. "What do you mean, Freya?"

  My chest tightened at the endearment and it took a moment to find my voice. "I mean, I don't know where the storage room is, but I know where the tunnel comes out."

  An exceptionally nasty word escaped Ruby's mouth before she tightened her jaw. They were both silent while they regained composure. And then Chevelle spoke. "You took a tunnel out of the castle?"

  "Not on purpose." I tried to defend myself. The set of his jaw betrayed his anger and I started to babble. "It's not like I can remember anything and so I thought I was going the right way when I found the storage room and then I saw the tunnel and I don't know what happened, I was just running through it, and when I came outside I knew where to find the path and I was almost there when-" My words broke off as I reached the part about being caught.

  "Almost where?" Chevelle demand.

  "I don't know. I can't explain it," I added, defeated.

  Chevelle nodded, giving us all a moment before starting again. "We need to know where you were going. Can you tell us where to go from where we found you?"

  I contemplated it. "No. I'll have to show you."

  He shook his head. "No."

  "There's no other way," Ruby interjected.

  He glared at her. "We don't even know what she's going toward."

  "We will all be with her," she argued. "It's got to be sooner or later-"

  He cut her off. "Later. It will be later."

  As he looked back at me, he seemed to become aware that the hold he'd had to steady me was now nearly an embrace and he dropped his arms and stepped back from me. "Rest, Elfreda." He started to go but glanced back at me and added, "Let us know if you recall any other details."

  I nodded, and then slid my hands behind my back when I realized I was wringing them. Once he was gone, I slumped and then fell back onto the bed.

  Ruby was fidgeting and restless, a rarity for her. I sat up as I questioned her. "What?"

  "Nothing, Frey. Rest."

  It wasn't long before Grey was at the door and she practically bolted past him before he stopped her. "What's going on, Ruby?" She feigned ignorance. "Then I guess I'll be going. I was merely checking on you since Chevelle informed me not to relieve you of your charge."

  She gritted her teeth. "He did, did he?"

  "That's what I thought," he laughed.

  She'd disappeared before he'd even turned to greet me. "So, Freya, what have you done this time?"

  I grimaced before confessing, "I got lost and took a hidden passageway outside the castle." The smile dropped from his face. "Yep," I continued, "and I don't really know where I was going so Ruby wants me to show them the way..."

  "And Chevelle knows better," he finished.

  I nodded, conceding his point. Ruby really did enjoy trouble, it reminded me of her laughter last night. "How's Steed?" I asked.

  "Fine." He grinned. "How are you?"

  "Ugh," I answered.

  "You are much improved, aside from the wine, of course. We were all relieved to see your response during training yesterday."

  "If only I could get to my mind that way," I mumbled.

  "It won't be long, Freya." I looked at him, confused, and he explained, "You are so close now, only one remains to release you."

  I sat straight up. "What?"

  And then we heard them in the hall, as their bickering rapidly approached the door. They filed into the room, Ruby, followed by Chevelle, Rhys, and Rider.

  "Let's go, Frey," Ruby directed. I stared at her blankly. "It's decided, you will show us the way."

  I glanced at Chevelle. His jaw was tight, but he didn't argue. Ruby tossed my shoes at me so I hastily put them on while she barked out orders. "Grey, go get Steed. Anvil is waiting at the south gate. We leave now."

  I didn't understand how Ruby had taken over charge of the group until I saw Rhys and Rider's expressions. They had agreed with her. I was certain Grey would go along with her as well, even if he thought it foolish. And if Anvil was already waiting for us, Chevelle must have been the only dissident.

  Which was how we found ourselves standing in the middle of the path, waiting for my murky brain to tell me the right direction to take. Chevelle was so near me I could barely concentrate and everyone stood either staring at me while they waited, or watching the surrounding rocks sharply, as if they might come to life and crush us. It was making me anxious and I was about to give up as I noticed a vulture circling above.

  I was staring up at it when the wolves signaled a short way down the path. We started toward them as a group and then I saw it, the rock that leaned just so over the pass. I stopped to examine it but the others kept on, except for Chevelle.

  "What is it?" he asked in a low tone.

  "Here," I said, suddenly heading off the trail and around a tall rock, down the hidden path before he could stop me.

  "How far?" he asked, glancing back for the others, who were not there, though we could hear them with the wolves now.

  "I'm not sure," I said, "but it feels close."

  He put a hand on my shoulder. "Wait." Anvil was behind us suddenly and Chevelle turned to him to find the cause of the wolves' call.

  "Carrion," I heard Anvil say, but his tone was off, so much so that I almost looked back to see what was wrong. But I didn't, because I could see it now, the way in.

  It took only two steps further to reach it and Chevelle was in such a solemn discussion with Anvil that he didn't notice the minor move. Until I cried out.

  Chapter Eleven

  Gross Misconduct

  I woke in my own bed. Ruby, Chevelle, and Grey stood anxiously watching, but I could see they were trying to seem nonchalant. I sat up, surprised to find that my clothes had been changed.

  "How long have I been out?" I asked.

  "Not long," Chevelle answered, "merely hours."

  I glanced down again, thinking I must have remembered wrong, until I heard Grey mutter, "I told you," and then louder, "Ruby decided you needed fresh garments."

  "You changed my clothes while I was sleeping?" I asked. "That's weird."

  And then I remembered falling, well, nearly falling since Chevelle had caught me just in time, and retching violently into the rocks at my feet. "Thanks Ruby," I said as I leaned back to my pillows, certain a change of clothes was the least of it, she'd probably had to wash the contents of my stomach off along with-

  I sat up suddenly, heaving over the edge of the bed, but there was nothing left to give. They rushed closer, despite the threat of vomit, and waited for my response. But what could I say? It had been clear enough, the revolting horror inside the-

  I stopped short. "Where was I?" No one answered right away. "What was that place?"

  "I was unaware of it," Chevelle said finally. "It must have been a site shared with you by Asher." My face twisted at his reply.

  I'd barely examined the room, but what I had seen was no mere burrow or cave. There had been a well-built chamber just inside, doors off that led to at least two separate quarters. It was dim, but the stones were smooth and the space clean.
Except for the blood.

  The image of the carcasses rose to the surface and I couldn't stop myself from seeing the hands again. I didn't know why they were so important, why they'd kept stealing my focus, unless it was simply that my subconscious didn't want to see the rest of the picture, the mangled, torn, destroyed bodies. But the hands were intact, the fingers curled loosely, skin discolored but pale, caked lightly with dark, dried blood. It had been apparent that one pair was male and the other, more disturbing, petite set of hands were clearly a woman's. I could still see the delicate bracelet that hung, undamaged, around her tiny wrist.

  "Who were they?" I asked.

  "Deimos," Chevelle replied tentatively. I felt my chest tighten at the name, but couldn't understand why. He could see the question in my eyes. "He was a member of Asher's guard."

  I steeled myself against the wave of unease. "And the girl?" I asked.

  He seemed surprised by my observation. "We do not know."

  I was certain there was more to his answer but kept on. "What happened to them?"

  He hesitated and though I was confident I knew, I had to hear him say it, so I waited. I could feel a cool prickle run over my skin before he'd even spoken. "It seems to be an animal attack."

  A movement at the door made me jump but it was only Anvil. He gave Chevelle a pointed look and then his gaze followed Chevelle's as he looked again at me. Anvil stepped closer to us and placed a hand on Chevelle's shoulder as he spoke. "I will sit with Freya."

  I was sure I'd missed something but couldn't bring myself to care enough to question it. Chevelle eyed me, hesitant for a moment, and then stood, glancing once at Ruby before she followed him from the room. Grey gave me a parting nod as he turned to go with them.

  I glanced up at Anvil, who seemed distracted. When he finally looked back at me, he saw my curiosity and shook his head. "You're driving him crazy."

  For no good reason, I flushed.

  He continued as if he were speaking to himself. "Yet it is much improved. It was exceptionally strange before, akin to a child." I bristled but he didn't seem to notice.

  "Well, it's not exactly easy on my end either," I said.

  He laughed. "I would reason not. You, expecting naught and finding it nonetheless. Us, expecting Lord Freya and getting-" he held his hand out toward me in a gesture that cut short, along with his intended description, at my expression. "Now, now," he explained with a smile, "I mean no offense. It is merely unsettling to meet someone you have known and find they are not at hand."

  His word unexpectedly produced the image of the remains and I shuddered. Anvil, assuming I was disturbed by something he'd said, leaned closer, planning to explain. When he reached out to me, I saw his large, strong hands and I suddenly knew what was so disturbing about the frail, petite fingers of the woman in the secreted chambers. Not a woman, a human. I could feel the flush rise through my neck and cheeks, my fists clenched involuntarily, and it took all of my concentration not to rise from the bed.

  Anvil backed up slightly and appeared to be preparing to do something, though I couldn't began to imagine what.

  "There was a human in the cave," I started, surprised by how composed I sounded in comparison to the way I felt. He didn't respond but I could see his posture straighten as I continued, thinking aloud, "A human in Asher's secret burrow." My words ended in something like a hiss and I was caught off guard by the course my thoughts had taken. "Why is there a dead human in Asher's hidden chambers?"

  I was staring directly into Anvil's eyes as he responded, "Well now, that's a loaded question." I forced the flames to remain in my fists as I waited. He cleared his throat and then began, "Do you prefer to know why there was a human present, or why she no longer lives?"

  I felt my eyes widen at the question and he explained. "I assume you will only make it through one narrative or the other." When the flames bit at my forearms, he was speaking again. "Then I choose before you receive neither. It is that Asher means to persist in his design to strengthen his line. A disgrace it is, an abomination."

  I watched the disgust on his face with confusion. He wasn't making any sense, none of it made any sense. Where were all of these humans coming from, why would anyone want them, what- And then Anvil's words sunk in. They swirled hideously through my mind as the familiar, biting pain returned, the sharp ringing a background noise to the repulsive concept. Strengthen his line. I started to feel faint so I forced myself to look at Anvil as I questioned him to find focus. "He means to breed with the humans."

  He nodded once.

  And just as my mind formed the notion because he knows, the blackness overtook me. But even in my dreams, my mind refused to accept the idea that Asher knew I could reach inside the mind of a human. So my dreams focused on other things, small details that seemed insignificant.

  When I finally opened my eyes, I was staring into Chevelle's deep blue eyes and I smiled sleepily at him as I spoke my first thought aloud. "... like your mother's."

  The expression on his face clued me in that my dreams had not been insignificant at all. How had I remembered his mother's eyes? I tried to recall more of her but couldn't bring her face through the haze to see it clearly.

  "Frey?" Chevelle's words brought me back. He was so close, and he was asking if it was me... or her, the old me.

  I didn't speak, I merely leaned forward, knowing what would happen if he thought it was her. But I'd been wrong, I'd underestimated him. He grabbed me roughly and pulled me onto his lap while his face was only inches from mine. I could feel his breath on me, coming faster as his eyes came up to meet mine again. My name slipped through his lips in a low moan as they joined my own, his hands tightened on me and somehow we had gotten even closer, my legs straddling his as he sat on the bed. His touch was overwhelming, consuming. When I finally recognized the sound of the others approaching the door, my breath caught and I was surprised to find that I was lying on my back, Chevelle over me, his dark eyes nearly black. He didn't take them off me as his hand flew back toward the door, barring them from entry before his mouth returned to my lips and then urgently traced the line of my jaw, past my ear, down, his kiss opening on the skin of my neck and...

  "Frey!" the demanding voice at the door called, but I couldn't find enough interest to take in whose it was. They were insistent, trying to enter the room while my hands frantically searched for the skin beneath Chevelle's shirt. And then, suddenly, he was pulling me from the bed. It was not the touch he had been using and I protested, but something they'd said must have convinced him, must have been important enough. I stared at him, breathless, as he composed himself and released the hold on the door. It flew open instantly.

  Ruby and Grey rushed in, and then stopped short. They must have thought something had been wrong, though I couldn't bring myself imagine what at that precise moment. Their eyes went from Chevelle to me and lingered just a moment before Chevelle interjected, "What is it?"

  Ruby was apparently speechless, as Grey was the one who started to explain. "We have word that Brahn has been located."

  Chevelle released a long breath and then nodded. "We leave at dawn."

  "How do we split?" Ruby asked, evidently recovered.

  Chevelle turned to me, expectant, and I stared back at him blankly. "Frey?" he demanded.

  "What?" I asked, baffled.

  And then, the look of sheer disbelief on his face clued me in. He had thought I was her, thought my memories returned, because I had led him to believe so. And I'd just revealed my deception with one word. My face flushed and he remained watching me only a moment before turning back to Ruby and Grey.

  "We should meet with the others," Chevelle said briskly as he walked from the room without glancing back at me.

  I crumpled onto the bed as if I'd deflated when the breath I'd been holding finally let go. And then I heard Ruby approaching and I sat back up just in time to see Grey stop her. "Go ahead, I'll walk with Frey," he said and her eyes met his in a silent challenge.

 
; I was on my feet, stepping between them with the intention of speaking up, but when I'd gotten close enough to Ruby I could almost feel the heat radiating off her and I found myself stepping right past them and through the door in no less than a hurry. Grey laughed quietly as he followed pace behind me. I didn't look back to see Ruby.

  I fell behind Grey as we walked into the room, not especially eager to meet Chevelle again so soon. I was staring at Grey's feet, keeping as close to him as possible so that Ruby could not grab me for an inquiry, but my head jerked up when I heard Junnie's voice.

  She'd been in the midst of a conversation with Chevelle when we entered and they broke off, turning to greet us. She gave a slight nod and then nearly smiled. "Freya, you look well." She glanced at Chevelle and asked, "Have her faculties returned?"

  His eyes met mine as he answered, "Her memories are fractured but her powers are much improved." I flushed and found my feet again.

  I could feel the questions linger so I swallowed hard and raised my head as if I were not mortified. It was harder to pull off than I'd expected and I found myself talking without cause. "Have you found Fannie?"

  Junnie seemed surprised at the directness of my question but only hesitated a moment before shaking her head. "Merely signs of her."

  Signs. "Animal attacks?" I asked.

  She nodded and I could see Chevelle become uneasy beside her. "I understand you have seen such evidence yourself," she said.

  A vision of the human carcass returned to me and I had to look away from Junnie. I scanned the room for something else to focus on, finding Anvil and Rider were staring at me with concern. I was still nodding.

  Ruby wound an arm around my waist and I forced myself to focus on that while their conversation from earlier resumed.

  "I have since located only carnage and two stillborn," Junnie explained. "In addition to your most recent find, have there been any other indicators?"

  "Three servants for certain," Chevelle said, "and four others that could not be verified."