There was a way to find Junnie, however. And Junnie was, right now, raising a child of Asher’s. A half-human child whose mind she could possess. Junnie had been with me in the village, so she couldn’t have raised the other children. But she could have taken them when Asher was on the run. They were not with her when we had found her, but she had a following by all accounts, and there could be someone supporting her. Someone who wanted the new council, who wanted control of the entire realm. Maybe an army of someones. Maybe a new council had already formed. I shook my head, silently praying once more that it wasn’t Junnie.
I didn’t even consider Grand Council on my list, even though they too had wanted reign over all. Not because their key players had been removed and they were at this moment regrouping, not because they wouldn’t do it if they could. I didn’t consider them because in a matter of days, there would be no more council. I would finally avenge the wrong done my mother. I would repay the debt owed my people. In a matter of days, there would be one less barrier before me, one less cross to bear. Days.
“Frey?”
“Oh, sorry, Ruby. Please continue.”
She glanced at the scrolls, a large pile of messages from across the realm, and I could tell she was calculating how much longer it would take to finish.
“It comes with the uniform, Ruby. The guard has never claimed one who was merely a fighter. If you want to choose the dead, you have to manage the living. It keeps us from turning murderous.”
She cocked a brow at me, knowing full well Asher’s guard had been more deadly than productive. But they had all been given other chores. Not decent, moral duties, I thought, remembering Riven and his charge, but duties nonetheless.
Ruby picked up another scroll. “Alianna Denae of Camber is with child. The child’s father, Klave, was killed by the rogues outside our gates. She is grieving badly and it is feared she’ll not make it to full term.”
Manage the living. “Send her an invitation to the castle. Note that she is to come when the child is well and they will be safe to travel. Maybe we can give her something to look forward to.”
Ruby nodded, pleased that she might yet have something enjoyable to oversee.
“If she takes a turn,” I added in a hushed tone, “assure her the child will have a place here.”
Ruby’s eyes held mine for one long moment before returning to the scrolls. She had been an orphan, abandoned by all but her half-brother Steed. In this single task, I had given her reason enough to serve all others. By this lone thing, she understood. She was of the guard.
Her shoulders straight, she relayed the next message.
Chapter Sixteen
Threat
I sat on the edge of my bed, twirling the fey spike in my hand. Ice, silver, blood, and bone. A gift. The words had begun to circle, twisting in my mind as the strands twisted to form the pendant. I tried to force them away, to see the puzzle from another angle, but they were only replaced with other chants. The dream of my mother, her warning that others would come. And the other warning, words not of a vision, but a living nightmare. Fellon Strago Dreg.
I dropped the pendant on the side table with more than a little hostility and lay back to focus on something that was actually productive. I found my hawk and scanned the grounds, covering the mountain as best I could. No sentry out of place, no strangers with light hair, no ice-wielding half breeds or winged shimmering fey army. I checked for smaller inconsistencies, anything that would indicate a problem. But I found nothing, and after a long while, the search became more of an easy glide and I felt my body back in the bed relaxing with the task.
Chore accomplished, I thought I might be able to finally get some sleep. But just before I pulled from the hawk’s mind, I spotted Steed in the yard. I drifted down, landing on the parapet to watch him prepare for the trip to Camber. His humming stopped the moment my talons touched stone. I smiled, though he would never see it. Wings stretched, I glided past him, not missing the way his shoulders tensed as the bird passed behind his back. He latched the pack tight against his horse, resolutely not looking my way. I swung around to settle on a post opposite him. Stone-faced, he cinched Grey’s pack to the second horse.
I waited him out, certain he couldn’t keep his gaze from finding mine for long. When he at last broke, I held utterly still. And winked. His expression was priceless. With a much-needed laugh, I returned to myself and kicked off my boots to finally get some rest.
It was the last I’d have, because when I woke by the light of dawn, there was someone in my room.
Instinct tore at me to move, but I was trapped. Some unseen force had turned my limbs to lead and I could do nothing but stare up into the face of a fey idol.
Veil held himself above me, bare torso inches from mine, fisted hands on either side of my immobile shoulders. I opened my mouth to curse, but my chest had the same heaviness as the rest of me and my lungs seemed empty of air.
“You should have heeded my warning,” he whispered so quietly I had to strain to hear. “You have disregarded the gift in your eagerness for vengeance.”