I wasn’t brave enough to look again and I couldn’t hear them well enough to gain anything from eavesdropping so I started to look around my room. It was relatively large and ornate compared to my old bedroom. There was a bed wide enough for two, stone framed with dark olive bedding. A side table held a few trinkets and a decanter set. There was a small wardrobe in the corner and the east wall held a full length mirror.
I took a few steps forward to see myself in the mirror. The woman looking back at me was astounded. I stared in disbelief at my own image. I had seen the reflection in the water, I had known my hair was dark now, but as I gazed at the woman in the reflection, clear and undeniable, I could barely believe my own eyes. The dark black silhouette, her figure emphasized by fitted clothes, dark cape draped behind her, this woman, she was breathtaking. I examined her closer, stepping forward. Her hair was gloss black, slightly windblown. Her eyes, my eyes, were dark. Still green but gone was the muddy mix. Under my now black lashes were deep emerald jewels, flecked with the darkest brown. Chevelle had been right, this did suit me. The image in the mirror was stunning.
I flushed, embarrassed at marveling so over my own reflection. As the color flooded my cheeks, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t like the way it looked, but the changes were still unnerving. I tried to remember what I looked like in my oldest memories, to see before, attempted to recall my mother's face.
The door opened behind me.
“Ah, yes,” Ruby purred as she looked me over. “Lovely.”
I could tell by the way she said it that the word was not a compliment to me but instead she found it lovely that I was here or maybe even something else entirely. I could see Chevelle from the open door behind her; he was standing in the main room, that annoyed expression on his face.
“I, of course, am Ruby,” she said, introducing herself. “I’m pleased you’ll be staying with me during your visit."
Staying with her? This was her house? I was sure I was wearing the same irritated look as Chevelle. I was also certain, by the way she watched me, that she had seen me spying. Her mouth was twisted in a smile, loaded with false honey. I noticed her eyes then, looking past the heavy paint they wore, to dark green jewels… emeralds. They were so like those I had just examined in the mirror and I had to look away.
“Frey,” I replied softly. “Thank you for the room.”
She seemed disappointed I had no further comment. She flitted her hand in the air in dismissal as she swirled out of the room and back to Chevelle, the metal bracelets around her wrists clinking lightly.
“I’m off to town then. You know, a handsome hunk of horsemeat was asking about you this morning.”
My ears perked up. Someone was asking about him? And then I realized she had called someone a hunk of horsemeat and I had to stifle a giggle. Chevelle nodded at her but made no remark on the inquirer. She winked toward him on her way out and the gesture lit a burn in my chest. I turned back to my room and climbed into bed, covering my head with a corner of the blanket.
I woke later, unsure how long I’d slept. The house was quiet so I slipped from bed trying not to make a sound. I peeked into the main room from my door and found Chevelle sitting against the front wall by a small window. He was leaned over, working on something with both hands, making a light scratching noise. I started forward and my boot scuffed the floor, alerting him to my presence. As he turned, he slid whatever he’d been working into a pocket at his hip.
It dawned on me then that this room only had the entrance and two other doors. If we were staying with Ruby then the other door must lead to her room. I was ready to offer him my room to sleep but the look on his face was so devastating I could not stop myself from offering something else. “You don’t… you don’t have to protect me.” I hoped it was true. “I can turn myself in, take myself to the village, or…” I was trying to say Grand Council but the words were stuck in my throat. No part of me wanted to surrender to my mother’s killers but I could not make him suffer more than he had. My hands trembled. He was my watcher; he must have felt he needed to fulfill his duties, to keep his honor. He would finish our journey and return me to the village.
“Freya.” He said my name as if it were tearing at him and my chest ached. “You don’t understand.” He was searching for words again. “You can’t submit to Grand Council. You can never submit.”
He was right, I didn’t understand. Did he intend to return me to the village, to High Council?
“You remembered… what they did to your mother?”
I felt my face pale. Did he mean to submit was to accept her fate? The image of flames and a circle of cloaks surrounding her was there again and I had to force it away before it turned to an image of me. Protection, he’d kept saying as we worked on magic. They were going to burn me.
“They would… kill me… because of the pendant… the library?”
“No, Frey. You have broken some of your bonds. They will not risk trying to bind you again.”