My mouth pulled up in a smile and Sian realized he was no longer assured victory. His face fell, and then his eyes moved along the ridge. I followed his stare to find Junnie, bow raised and drawn in readiness. There was a sharp screech, the call of a bird, and she loosed the arrow.
Junnie didn’t wait for it to hit the mark, but jerked her head toward the clearing.
Rowan stood opposite us, watching with horror as the events unfolded. He couldn’t see the figure slip up behind him, nor the blade, too quick, that sliced his throat. Rowan’s hand came up automatically, and blood flooded through his fingers.
When he fell, Grey stood behind him.
Chapter Twenty-five
New Beginnings
I stared blankly at Grey’s lithe form, watching as he drew the dagger across his leg to clear the blade.
“Freya,” Chevelle whispered, sliding his hand up to cradle my face, my neck.
My eyes met his and his hand continued to my shoulder, where he squeezed, and I suddenly realized he was bracing me. There was a bit of a choking gasp that escaped my throat when Steed pulled the shard free, and then Junnie was there, closing up the wound.
I blinked, staring up at her, and she smiled in greeting. “Freya.”
A long breath fell from me and I sagged a little as the tension dissipated. We had done it.
“Are we all alive?” I asked, watching Chevelle hold Steed’s leg while Anvil removed the hardened ice.
Junnie glared across the field at Rowan’s prone form. “The important ones, yes.”
Grey was making his way up the slope of the ridge, but detoured to check on Sian’s body. Junnie’s arrow had pierced the dark fey’s heart.
“There,” Junnie said as she patted my shoulder. “The wounds are clean. The blades were thin and sharp so the cuts fall right together and, once sealed,” she glanced at Steed’s leg, “will heal well in time.”
Grey kicked a shard of ice as he approached, appearing completely unscathed by the ordeal. Rowan had been slippery, but he’d met his match here. He smiled as Ruby came to join us.
“How is Finn?” Rider asked as he took his turn with Junnie.
Ruby smirked. “He’s the best patient I’ve ever had.” She eyed the lot of us, bruised and bloody, and the mirth dropped from her expression. “He’s had it the worst,” she explained, “because of the poison.” And then she shrugged. “But, lucky for us, Frey was attacked weeks ago and I’ve had some time to study the toxin.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Lucky.”
She smiled down at me. “He’ll be fine.”
Anvil passed me a canteen and I drank deep. I would have thought I’d have been done with water for a while, but I couldn’t seem to get enough of it. Eventually, the others gathered in the pines with Rhys and Finn as we prepared to return to the castle. I remained on the ridge with Junnie, where she cradled a small, half-human child.
“Junnie,” I asked, sliding the pendant from my belt, “what do you know of this?”
Her eyes narrowed on Veil’s gift, and I explained his visit and our theory in more detail.
She nodded. “That’s four. The ice and silver you know.” Her gaze came up to mine. “And bone,” she said, “Freya, that’s you.”
“What?” I argued. “Why would I be a danger to myself?”
Junnie shook her head. “It wasn’t a warning for you, Freya. It was the four who could claim the throne.”
“But Asher had more,” I contended. “There were so many.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “But not capable of ascending the throne.”
I sighed. “Okay, then who is the fourth?”
Her eyes stayed on me a long moment, too long, and then we both looked at the child in her arms.
“No,” I moaned.
“Blood,” Junnie answered levelly. “She is of blood, Frey. Half human and Asher’s own child.”
Half human. Like me.
Rowan had burned these woods to find Asher’s baby. Junnie had risked her own life to save it.
And now Junnie’s bright blue eyes peered into mine. Beseeching, daring me, I didn’t know. But I could feel the child, the slightest brush of its mind, and I knew it would live.
When she saw the change in me, Junnie’s posture relaxed, and it was only then I realized she’d not wanted to fight either. She’d not wanted it to be me any more than I’d not wanted it to be her.
“Ah, Junnie,” I sighed, “there’s more.”
Once I’d explained my bargain with Veil, Junnie and I said our goodbyes to go our separate ways. She, with the child, would set the new council into power and restructure the south. And I, with my guard, would rule the north.
“Are you well?” Chevelle asked as he helped me onto my horse.
My brows furrowed. “Yes, I guess I am.”
He shook his head before climbing onto his own mount, and we kicked them up to where the others waited.
It was a long ride home, underneath the graying skies. Finn had been secured atop a horse, Keaton running beside them. Anvil’s previously injured shoulder had been sliced through and patched up so that he tilted in the saddle. Ruby looked tired, but refused to give in, and Chevelle had received more cuts than he’d let on.
I simply had too much time to think.
When we finally made it home, it was late the following afternoon. The eight of us slid stiff and wobbly off the horses, staggering numbly through the stable-side entry. There were a few reports, a couple of called-out orders, and one angry mountain lion before I at last found a bath. I soaked for an endless hour, possibly dozing off near the end, and then slid into a clean, fresh dressing gown.
After tying a loose robe over that, I stretched my arms to test the movement. Junnie had been right. It was tender, but there didn’t seem to be any real damage done.
When I opened my door, I glanced down the hallways to be certain the corridor was empty.
My bare feet slapped lightly against the cool stone as I ran, heading to my favorite perch. I passed two doorways and then turned, suddenly abandoning the plan to stand atop the roof.
I stood before his door for a long moment, staring at the wooded planks. When I finally pushed it open, I saw his silhouette against the filigreed window. I slid the door shut behind me, and walked slowly across the room. My arms wrapped around his chest, cheek pressed firmly against his back as he stared out the window.
He took a deep breath and rested his hand over mine.
As we stood together, my eye caught the glint of a chipped basin on the corner table, and I smiled.
At first, his room appeared sparse, as if he’d never intended to stay. But now I realized everything had a memory attached to it. The basin I’d broken as a child. The blanket he’d hidden when I’d accidentally caught my room on fire and scorched it. The sword his mother had given him when we’d snuck out to meet her.
“What is it?” Chevelle asked as he turned to hold me in his arms.
“I was just thinking,” I lied, “that we should move into the main suites. Now that we are bound.” My head tilted briefly to the side. “If you can give up this view, that is.”
He stared down at me, the corner of his mouth pulling up in a sexy smile, and answered, “I quite prefer another view.”
I laid my hand on his chest, over the beat of his heart, and he leaned down. His lips brushed softly over mine.
The kiss was sweet, slow. It said we had time.
It said we had forever.
The next day, I sat kneeling in front of my bureau. It had been my first real night with Chevelle, and I’d woken refreshed, my dreams no longer haunted by flame. My issues, if temporarily, had been laid to rest.
The fey had been watching us for a long time, maybe guiding things to their own advantage. But for now, I felt safe. We had the north, and Junnie’s new council the south. We had balanced the power, so there was no need for war. But if Veil were pushed, if the fey would strike, together we could overcome them.
“
You have almost nothing of interest in here,” Ruby complained from the wardrobe behind me.
“Well,” I answered, not looking away from my task, “then it should be fairly easy to move.”
Ruby laughed, but I did, in truth, have plenty of interest here. I thought of the box, hidden beneath the stone floor below the bed.
It was time to start a new life, new memories. The others were buried within the box, as they should be.
“I still have some things to work out,” Ruby murmured. “But at least I know where the wolves were all that time.”
I slid the bureau drawer shut and stacked the filled box with the others.
“Like these,” Ruby continued, walking over to hand me a small slip of paper.
I turned, taking one last, long look out my window.
Fellon Strago Dreg.
Even Chevelle had not known the meaning when he’d used the message so long ago. He’d simply seen the opportunity and taken it.
“So,” Ruby reminded me, “What’s it mean?”
I glanced down at the message, written in my mother’s hand.
The warning had followed me, questioned my every move. And it was still here now, in the midst of so much rightness. As I had accepted my place under the weight of the throne.
I couldn’t help the sardonic smile that crossed my lips before I answered her question.
“Nothing as it seems, Ruby. Nothing as it seems.”
###
Please look for more by Melissa Wright
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