Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (58 page)

Father’s lips tightened before he replied,
“Your men picked him up, worked with him and he has confessed to
being the man behind the plots.”

“Simple as that?” Frey asked, sounding
disbelieving.

“Apparently,” Father answered cautiously,
communicating to Frey with his eyes something I could not read but
I could tell he didn’t believe it either.

“I’ll want to speak to Balthazar and
Quincy,” Frey stated.

“Quincy is not far,” Father told him. “Once
we received your message, I sent word to both of them you would be
arriving and learned your man Balthazar is away, I do not know
where. When the messenger arrived, I had assumed he’d heard word
you were back in Lunwyn and rode to you. But Quincy is close. I’ll
have him brought to you.” He paused a moment before continuing,
“But, Drakkar, Grieg’s name is on the proclamation. The people will
expect him to be there. There is no circumventing that. He will be
hanged tonight.” Atticus leaned forward slightly, his eyes intense
and said quietly, “Therefore, if you wish to have a word, your time
is short.”

I had a feeling something was going on here
I didn’t get but I also didn’t get the opportunity to ask.

Frey didn’t hesitate to stand, saying, “Then
I have little time so I should make haste.”

Father nodded and stood too, setting down
his coffee before he straightened. It was then I heard my cup
clatter in its saucer and I looked down at my hand to see it
shaking.

At about the same time, my cup and saucer
were swept away by Frey. I watched vaguely as he set it on the
table and then I saw nothing but his face for he had bent close to
me and lifted his hand to my jaw.

“I will be with you,” he whispered and I
nodded, knowing he meant at the executions and his eyes moved over
my face before he noted, “They do not do this in your world.”

I shook my head and said softly, “They do,
it’s just not public and criminals aren’t hanged. They’re injected
with poison and, well… whatever, but it’s private and it happening
at all is controversial. Many of my world do not believe in the
death penalty and some are vehemently opposed to it.”

“And your opinion on that?” he prompted and
I bit my lip.

Then I replied, “I’m not a big fan.”

Frey’s eyes softened before he assured me,
“It is rare here, my love, and the only times this sentence is
carried out is for traitors, rapists and murderers. And your
attendance would only be expected at the executions of
traitors.”

Well, this was good news except for the fact
that there just happened to be three traitors who needed
hanging.

“Fabulous,” I muttered.

“That is rarer still, my Finnie,” Frey
whispered, his fingers tensing at my jaw briefly. “I only remember
one other in my lifetime and that was decades ago.”

I nodded and that made me feel better, just
not much.

Frey leaned in, touched his mouth to mine
and that made me feel better too, this time a lot more.

“It will be swift and we will be away,” he
said gently.

I nodded again and he again tensed his
fingers on my jaw.

Then he said, “I must make haste to talk to
the conspirator.”

I nodded yet again.

Frey went on, “I will return as soon as I
can.”

That was when I realized that he was keen to
get away but he was worried about me and staying to make sure I was
okay before he went.

So that was when I lifted my hand, curled my
fingers around his wrist, squeezed and gave him a small smile.

“I’ll be all right,” I assured him.

He still didn’t move as he replied, “I do
not like the light I see in your eyes.”

“Well, honey, you probably won’t for awhile
because this is an adventure, if given the choice, I would say a
big, fat no to but I’ll get through it then I’ll get over it.” I
gave his wrist another squeeze and finished, “Promise.”

His thumb stroked my cheekbone then he
leaned in and slid his nose along mine as I pulled in a fortifying
breath.

Then he must have been assured I wasn’t
going to fall apart for he straightened, nodded at Mother, jerked
his chin at Father, Father smiled his approval at me briefly (and
that made me feel better too) and they moved out of the room.

Mother regarded me over the rim of her
coffee cup through another sip before we heard the doors close
behind Father and Frey.

Then she dropped the cup again and drily
observed, “It upsets me to note that it appears your husband
doesn’t like you much at all, my daughter.”

I blinked at her then saw her mouth twitch
as I watched her eyes light.

Then I leaned forward, nabbed my own cup,
sat back and remarked, “It’s terrible. We simply do not get along,”
then I took a sip.

“I see this,” Aurora murmured.

“He’s insufferable,” I added.

“Mm.” This she murmured into her cup while
her eyes danced.

“And he thinks I’m a shrew,” I informed
her.

“He made that quite clear,” she replied.

“The last few months have been a nightmare,”
I shared.

She lifted her chin slightly. “My profound
sympathy, my dear, that you are suffering so greatly,” she returned
and I couldn’t help it, I grinned, that grin grew to a smile then I
burst out laughing.

Aurora of the House of Wilde did not laugh
with me but she did smile.

And when I stopped laughing, she leaned
forward, picked up the delicate, china plate of petite fours and
extended it to me while inviting, “Tell me all about your
adventures with your Raider, my Finnie.”

And therefore Mother deftly took my mind off
the coming events and to better places, something I not only let
her do but was extremely grateful for and we sat, drank coffee, ate
cakes and had a long, fabulous mother daughter chat in a beautiful
room next to a roaring fire.

I would have preferred our welcome home not
to include news of my required presence at a triple execution.

But it ended up great.

And, by the way, the petite fours tasted
even better than they looked.

* * * * *

“Don’t be cross, Penelope,” I whispered as I
cuddled my cat who I’d been reunited with a few hours earlier and
who, I had found, was holding a pretty mean grudge for being left
behind.

She stretched her neck over my arm and
looked to the side, clearly wishing to be put down and not receive
snuggles and soft words from her Momma who she considered abandoned
her.

“You told me you didn’t want to go on a
ship,” I reminded her.

“
Mrrrr that was before you, mrrr went away
for, mrrr
ages,
” she
retorted.

“Next time, I’ll take you with us,” I
promised.

“Mrrr, let me down,” she demanded.

“You cannot tell me my girls didn’t take
care of you,” I stated.

“Mrrr, they didn’t let me go, mrrr outside,”
she replied.

“No, you mean they didn’t let you go outside
every ten minutes and then jump to let you back in ten minutes
after,” I amended.

She blinked at the distance, granting this
point with ill-grace by repeating, “Mrrrr, let me
down.
”

“Just give Momma a cuddle before I do,” I
urged, she turned her head and blinked at me then she turned it
away again to look over my arm.

She was being ornery and I knew she wasn’t
going to give in (just yet) so I moved her to the bed and dropped
her on it. She waddled to the pillows throwing a disdainful look
down her fat body at me then she collapsed on the comforter at the
edge of the pillows and glared at me a second before she curled
into herself and started to clean her big belly.

I sighed. Then I looked around the room
which was more elegant furniture, tapestries, glittery stone walls
and floors but it was decorated in whites and the palest of pale
greens and lavenders. It was fantastic.

The other thing that was fantastic was that
the sleighs with our things, as driven by Kell, arrived about an
hour ago. They included our trunks and much more precious cargo,
Skylar.

And lastly Skylar had taken Frey’s spun
glass dragon down and now it was sitting on its feet, its wings
spread wide, on a bed of silk on a dresser. My girls had been
called close after the message was received that Frey and I would
be arriving, they’d packed for themselves and me and made haste
from the Winter Palace to Rimée Keep, arriving, Alyssa told me,
just twenty minutes before Frey and I did. Therefore, next to the
dragon, Esther had set my wedding bundle in a beautiful, crystal
vase.

I studied the beauty of the adela twigs and
Frey’s glass beast and decided in that moment that wherever we
went, those two things would be with us. No matter where we were,
they would always be with us.

Always.

Then the door opened and Frey walked through
followed by Alyssa and Bess.

The girls went to the wardrobe, Frey came to
me and I could tell by the look on his face it was time.

He stopped close, both his hands came to my
neck and he bent so his face was near mine before he whispered, “We
must be away.”

I knew it therefore I nodded.

He pulled in breath. Then he stated,
“Finnie, the last traitor to be hanged was hanged when Sjofn was a
young lass. She did not attend due to her youth. Although you are
princess and the people think you have been trained thus since
birth and much is known about Sjofn, no one can know how anyone
would react to what you will see this eve.” His fingers gave me a
squeeze before he whispered, “It will be difficult, love, and
therefore you must not add to that difficulty by feeling the
responsibility of guarding your reaction and displaying one that is
not your own.”

Uh… what?

“Sorry?” I asked.

“What I’m telling you is not to worry about
what people see, Finnie,” he said softly, “just be yourself.”

I closed my eyes because I loved that he
knew me so well and therefore knew that would be weighing on my
mind (or, one of the things) then I opened them, looked in his eyes
and shared, “I don’t want to disappoint Mother and Father.”

“I know you don’t but I’m also not certain
you could do that,” Frey replied, I closed my eyes again because
his words felt nice and then I felt his lips on my forehead which
felt nicer so I opened my eyes and he looked back down at me. “We
must be away,” he repeated on a whisper.

I nodded.

Alyssa and Bess were waiting outside the
door holding a pair of dove gray, suede gloves and a fur cloak made
of fluffy white pelts dusted in dove gray hairs and they gave me
understanding glances before Frey led me down the hall, down the
curving stairs and into the great hall where Aurora and Atticus
were having their outer garments arranged on their shoulders.

Both of them were wearing crowns and I saw
Jocelyn and Esther rush to me as we made it to Mother and Father,
Jocelyn carrying a wooden box. Bess and Alyssa settled my cloak on
my shoulders and shoved the gloves on my hands as Jocelyn unveiled
my fabulous icicle crown in its bed of ice blue silk which Esther
took out and brought forward, settling it low on my forehead.

“You are ready, Finnie,” she whispered
before she stepped back, I nodded and Bess squeezed my hand before
all four girls stepped away.

Frey put his hand in my back and we followed
Mother and Father out the front doors. Once outside, at the foot of
the steps I saw two sleighs, each one fronted by teams of four
horses and around the fountain there were a number of royal guards
and what seemed like all of Frey’s men on mounts and this included
Kell and Skylar.

The minute I saw Skylar, my step faltered
and my head shot back to look at Frey. “Honey, Sky… I don’t –”

Frey cut me off with a muttered, “He asked
to come.”

I shook my head and grabbed his arm,
dragging my feet and whispering, “He could ask to wrestle a
rattlesnake for the fun of it but we wouldn’t let him do it.”

Frey looked down at me, brows raised, “A
rattlesnake?”

“You don’t have those?” I asked back as he
stopped us at the last step.

“We do but why on earth would he ask to
wrestle a rattlesnake?”

“Exactly!” I cried, my voice rising.

“Finnie –”

“I don’t wish him to go.”

“Wee one –”

“Frey, tell him he can’t go. It’s macabre,
this interest in death. It’s unhealthy. It’s even wrong. In my
world we had public executions but they stopped ages ago. I mean, I
think some lands may still do it but most of them don’t because it
isn’t humane. And I feel Sky should learn he shouldn’t be that
way.”

Frey got close as his brows knit and he bent
his neck so he could hold my eyes, “My wee Finnie, he does not wish
to go to see the condemned hanged. He wishes to be a part of your
guard.”

I blinked up at him as my heart jolted.

“What?”

“All my men are here as your personal guard
and Skylar requested to be amongst them. For this, their presence
will be ceremonial only therefore I agreed.”

At this, my heart jumped.

“He wanted –?”

“Yes.”

I blinked then whispered, “Really?”

“
I would ask why you find that so intensely
surprising, my love, considering the fact he thinks the sun shines
through you and you hang the moon but the longer we delay, the
longer it takes for this to be done, for you
and
for them.”

Ho boy. He was
so
right.

Still, it was totally awesome Frey thought
Skylar thought the sun shone through me and I hung the moon.

“Right,” I said on a nod, taking myself back
to the (not so great) task at hand, Frey returned my nod back then
looked over my head and nodded to someone else.

Then Tyr was brought to him, Frey lifted me
up in the saddle then mounted behind me.