Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight (9 page)

“
What is it?” Ruby asked
from the corner. I hadn’t even noticed her. She was watching me
sleep now? I started to answer that it was nothing but decided,
after my previous outburst, I might as well ask.

“
Fannie.”

She leaned toward me and I
sat up to face her. “What about Fannie?”

I wasn’t sure how to
respond. She didn’t know what I did or didn’t remember, what I did
or didn’t know now. I wanted to find a way to lead her into
answers.

“
Frey, did you see
Fannie?”

Apparently it was going to
be easier than I thought. I remembered the dream and used that. She
could decide what to do with it. “Destroying the
village.”

In the dim light, I saw
Ruby’s face and I knew. Knew that it hadn’t been a dream at all. I
gasped.

She moved to sit beside me
on the bed and in my shock I let her attempt to comfort me. “Freya,
I’m sorry.”

My skin crawled at the
endearment. “Don’t call me that.”

She was stunned at my
response. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. It’s just that I
know what it does to you, when you get upset.”

“
Like you care,” I
spat.

Her face managed to twist
the surprise to hurt and keep both as clear as water.
“Frey…”

“
Oh come on, Ruby. You
work for Asher. You read the diary. You know…”

“
You-" She stopped
herself. “Elfreda, you are the most ridiculous…” I didn’t know what
she intended to call me but she grabbed my arms tight and stared me
straight in the eye before she started again. “I. Do. Not. Work.
For. Anyone.” She released her grip just a fraction. “Is that
clear?”

I had no idea what my face
gave away but my mind was anything but clear.

She rumbled out an
irritated growl. “Listen to me, if that is what you’re thinking
then there is no danger of telling you now. I don’t see how it
could possibly make things worse for you.”

With a frustrated, “Oh!”
she took off on a side rant. “And all this time I thought you were
upset about that stupid girl!”

I felt the guilt wash
through me again as I remembered the human. Ruby went back to her
explanation, calmer though she remained exasperated. “Frey, Fannie
is after Grand Council.”

My mouth dropped at her
casual revelation. “What?”

“
She’s killing them off
piecemeal.”

I knew I needed to ask why
but I couldn’t get my voice to work.

Ruby could see my
questions. She continued in a softer tone, “She was bound, the same
as you, Frey.”

Pain racked my mind but I
tried to stay focused as she recounted the binding. “She was not
considered guilty as your mother was and she was allowed to live,
though bound tightly and under watch. Freya, when we fought them
before, as we tried to release your bonds… we released some of hers
as well.”

I felt a harsh intake of
breath but I couldn’t convince myself it was real, I couldn’t
believe her. “How do you know?”

She looked at me like I was
missing something. I didn’t see it. “Junnie.”

Junnie. I’d never even
wondered why she’d come, what she’d spoken to Chevelle about in
such a rush before… before she’d seen the girl.

I still couldn’t
speak.

“
I’ll let you rest for a
bit. Are you going to be okay?”

“
No," I begged, “please,
Ruby, tell me more.” She didn’t think I could handle it, I could
see that. If I were honest, I probably couldn’t but it didn’t stop
me. “Please, Ruby. I need to know.”

She hesitated. And then,
“What?”

I didn’t know what to ask.
My mind was swimming in a current too strong to conquer. “Why?” She
waited for a more precise question. “Why did she destroy the
village?”

“
We think that she blamed
them for the binding. Or maybe she just hated them.”

“…
why would she blame
them?”

“
She had some breaks, or
leaks. Somehow, she’d gotten parts back and she was confused,
though she knew that she’d been bound.”

I thought of all my years
with Fannie. “How long?”

“
We don’t know. She was
secretive. Probably didn’t know who to trust. We don’t think she
knew of Junnie’s involvement though.” Ruby looked sorry that she
had mentioned Junnie. “But she did seem to know you were bound as
well. At least at the end, just before you… left the
village.”

“
How?” I hadn’t even known
then.

“
We aren't certain. But
the documents you found, they had been taken from council. And the
ones that you,” there was really no other way to say it, “stole,
they had been tampered with.”

“
Tampered
with?”

“
Mixed up, at the least.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a good look at them
before…”

“
Before I burned
them.”

“
Yes.” She tried a timid
smile.

“
So, you think Fannie used
me to get the documents? Or do you mean she tried to frame me, to
get me into trouble with council?” I could hear my voice
shake.

“
There is no way to know
what she was thinking, Frey, what she was after. But from what I
understand, there was no love lost there.” A sympathetic hand
touched mine.

I struggled to remember but
it seemed so far away. And none of them were memories I’d wanted to
cherish. Something came to me and I couldn’t help but ask now, now
that Ruby was finally being open with me. I pushed down the thought
that was trying to scream maybe she wasn’t being honest, maybe it
was more lies. But I couldn’t entirely deny that feeling, after so
much betrayal. So, instead of asking directly about the spell that
placed the map on my palms, I took a side route. “Ruby, what about
the pouch? Did she know I had that?”

She shook her head. “I
don’t know much about that Frey. But I do know one thing… the
silver medallion, the one that you found inside, it seems to match
those that Fannie had secured from the human site, the place you
read about in your mother’s diary.”

I swallowed hard. I
wondered when Ruby had seen the medallion. In the castle probably,
maybe one of the many times I’d been unconscious, it was impossible
to know. I’d had no idea what the symbols meant but I’d never made
the made the connection to… it was still hard to think…
humans
. I closed that
line of thought quickly and pushed on to the first thing I could
think of. “And the ruby?”

She seemed almost
embarrassed as she answered this time. “Yes. Frey, that was
payment. But please understand, that was before I knew
you.”

“
Payment?” I was
incredulous. She nodded. “Payment for what?”

“
Securing some items,
helping you, gathering the guard.”

Bitter resentment wanted to
rise, fire was waiting in my palms, the ache was heavy in my chest,
but I kept them all still. Some part of me needed the secret, in
spite of everything. But I hadn’t forgotten her words from just
moments ago.
I do not work for
anyone.

Lies.

She could see that I’d had
enough for now. She moved aside as I rolled away from her, curling
to a ball.

And, after a few hours of
mental torment, I fell asleep thinking I had reached my limit,
feeling certain I was now beyond surprise.

Chapter Five

Stalker

Somewhere in the depths of
my subconscious, I knew what I was watching might be the final
straw, might finally split a tenuous crack, leaving me in separate,
unconnected pieces. But I couldn’t make myself look
away.

From a perch above, I could
see what I knew was Fannie, what only
I
knew was Fannie, slinking slowly
toward a council member. He stood tall, his robe and tassels
unruffled, murmuring words I could not understand. I couldn’t
decide whether to scream in warning or to root for his demise, for
I knew, also, that his death would release me.

The panther came into his
view and sauntered closer, enjoying itself too much. Then, without
warning, it launched forward into the chest of the council
member–Magnus White, I now knew. It tore out his throat as they
both landed with a thud on the ground behind him, blood spattering
down the clean white robe, tassels splayed out on the ground. The
cat lingered above him for a few moments, seemingly savoring the
sight of the blood flowing from the fatal wound of its prey. Then
it turned, slow and deliberate, to look directly at me, its dark
muzzle wet with death.

Fear overtook
me.

I couldn’t stop myself from
talking when I woke, oblivious at first to my surroundings. “The
animals. She’s using the animals.”

I felt a hand on my
shoulder and I realized I wasn’t alone, Ruby and Chevelle were
there in my now tattered hut. Panic still gripped me.

“
Easy, Frey.” Ruby tried
to calm me.

I looked at them again;
they had been watching me sleep. They must have wanted to talk to
me; Ruby had probably explained our conversation to him while I
slept. Our talk about Fannie.
A shiver
racked my body.

“
What is it, Frey?” Ruby
asked, her tone concerned as her hand remained resting on my
shoulder. From across the hut I saw Chevelle’s gaze narrow as he
gave her a knowing look. He must have blamed her for telling
me.

I shook my head. “No, she’s
using the cats." Even in my panic, I instantly regretted that I had
chosen cats for my own ploy in the castle. "She’s taking them out,
one by one. She knows…”

He stiffened. “How could
you know that?”

I didn’t answer his
question but instead kept rambling about my dream. “She knows they
won’t kill the animals, knows she has free reign to slaughter them
all.” I could hear the blind panic in my own voice.

He leaned forward. “Frey,
it was just a dream. No one knows-”

“
No.” I
cut him off. “I
know
.”

His brow puckered, unsure
of how to respond.

“
And she’s coming after
me.”

My head was spinning. I sat
on the bed trying to absorb the whole thing, striving to hold on. I
realized I was rocking back and forth, which probably looked less
than sane so I stopped myself, only to start biting my lip moments
later.

Eventually, they calmed me
down. Rational thought had returned when I was fully awake and the
dream had had time to lose some of its potency. Ruby sat beside me,
offering me tea and anything else she could think of. It was quiet
for a long time.

And then it struck me, they
were too quiet. They weren’t shocked at all.

“
You
knew
?”

Ruby didn’t answer. I
looked at Chevelle accusingly for what seemed like too many
times.

“
We could not be
certain.”

How? How could they have
known?
The same as before.
“Junnie?”

He replied with a curt and
uncomfortable nod.

Junnie. I started to ask
why they hadn’t told me but as my mouth opened I remembered the
chain of events that followed her visit. How could they have
explained anything to me? I’d passed out. And when I’d woke, I’d
not even spoken, I’d been obsessed, doing nothing but reading the
diary of my dead mother. They thought I was too fragile to include.
I closed my mouth.

They might have been
right.

I blew out an exasperated
breath.
So Fannie’s killing
council
. And then, in an instant, I felt
like a complete idiot.

“
That’s why I’m
remembering.” It seemed so obvious now. All I received was another
nod, another confirmation. Just like Ruby had said, as we broke my
bonds, we were breaking hers. And now she was breaking mine. And
she knew it.

Grey was at the door and
Ruby stepped out to speak with him. I watched her leave and then
kept my gaze on the doorway. I was alone with Chevelle.

The air was charged, as it
almost always was when I was alone with him. Always thick with
anger or… I stopped myself, embarrassed again at the thought of how
I’d acted the last time he’d been here, in my room. How I had
accused him, in such a strange and horrible way, of working for
Asher. I couldn’t even think clearly now, there was so much wrong
in my head. It was impossible to be rational with so much missing
and disconnected. I let myself look at him.

It was a
mistake.

He had been watching me,
his gaze already trained on my face. I felt a little off balance.
And then I wondered if Ruby had drugged me again because, without a
conscious command to do so, I found myself moving toward
him.

He was sitting near the end
of my bed on the stool where Ruby often watched me sleep. I felt
how small the room was as I slid down to sit next to him in the
dimness. I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to be near him, no
matter how wrong it seemed. It was so confusing, like I knew him,
like he was part of my life, but at the same time, it was like he
was a stranger, mysterious in every way. Forgotten were all those
feelings of betrayal that had been so strong as I sat, inches away
from him, looking into his eyes.