Pieces of Eight (The Frey Saga, #2)(29)

He could see my concern and offered comfort. "Do not fret, you have treated Ruby well. It was merely the nefarious that you disciplined."

"How?" I asked.

He smiled again. "Rather publically."

I didn't know whether that was reassuring or not, but I didn't think public discipline implied execution. "Does Ruby know?"

He laughed. "Everyone knows."

Ugh. She couldn't be seen with me, with the old Elfreda.

And then Grey threw in from behind us. "You know, Freya, Ruby is not the only of us affected by your... aversion."

I spun in my saddle to see him, positive I'd not want to hear what he was telling me but unable to resist. He smirked at Anvil as he began to reply but Chevelle cut him off. "Silence until we are inside the walls."

And it was silent, until late afternoon when we arrived at the castle. Dree escorted me to my room, where I fell fast asleep.





Chapter Eight


Disclosure





When I woke, I was famished. I strode from my room and down the corridors, directly into the dining area. I had no idea how I'd found it.

I was surprised to see Anvil, Grey, Rhys and Rider there. "Don't you ever sleep?" I asked. That was amusing for some reason.

They beckoned to me to join them, which I did as soon as I spotted the display of food. They had already eaten and were enjoying drink, the roar of their laughter increasing with each swig.

The food smelled delicious and, as I selected a piece of meat from one of the trays, I asked, "What are we having?"

"Mountain lion."

I froze mid-bite until Grey chuckled and offered me a glass of wine. I joined them because I was thirsty, but it wasn't long before I found myself matching their pace.

Anvil and Grey began an intense conversation to one end of the table and so I took the opportunity to speak with Rhys and Rider. I didn't have much to talk about but the wine had loosened me up. "Where are the wolves?"

They smiled in unison and for a brief moment I was afraid that was how they would reply. But they did not. Only Rhys answered. "They are enjoying the mountains tonight, searching."

I wanted to question them more about the wolves, I had ever since I'd been unable to slip into their minds, but I was certain I could not walk that line in my condition, not without giving away too much of my own. I settled for a general inquiry. "Tell me about them?"

Rider spoke up now. "Ahh, they are incredible beasts. But beasts, we do not know. It is said the wolves instead are ancients, some of the very first."

"Ancients? I thought they were all gone." I had read so many accounts of the ancients in the village during my studies with Junnie but thankfully his words stopped me from going down that path.

"So it is told. Yet you can see their form is not of our own."

"They're elves?"

He smiled gently. "We cannot know. Legend tells the ancients were more powerful than any of record. It is said that upon their thousandth year, they, being too powerful to pass, merely shifted into the minds of the wolves. Others tell that they share the form with the creatures, each together as one."

I felt a crushing pressure on my chest and yet knew it was dulled by wine. "How?"

"It is said they were twin." He had misunderstood my question of course, not known that I spoke of the sharing, the animal mind. But the new information was heady. No twins had been born in the elf nations for generations, yet the power of such a thing was known by all.

"And you believe it, you followed them."

"We do not know, Elfreda. We only accept as truth what can be proven. We are loyal to the wolves because they once did us a great deed. And we are loyal to you because the wolves are so."

The conversation had taken such a bizarre turn, I was self-conscious, embarrassed at their declaration. "But why be loyal to me? You don't even know me, I don't even know me."

Rhys' smile was reassuring. "We do not pledge ourselves blindly, Elfreda."

I fluttered. "Wait, you do know me?"

"We... found out."

"Found out?"

Rider spoke. "While we are faithful to the wolves, we do not offer our lives without certainty. It was a small matter of research."

My head spun. "What do you know?"

"We know of you, Elfreda. We know of your family."

"My family?"

They nodded.

"My mother?" I nearly whispered.

"And the others."

The others. "Fannie?"

"Yes."

The expression on their faces was so disdainful I had to ask. "What about Fannie?"

Rhys answered. "She had been difficult since birth, we are told, a concern from day one. Though her mother tried to care for her, she was a constant disturbance and grew to a troublesome child. Rumors flourished that the lord would give up his plan for union with a light one. But upon the birth of the second child, their father merely exacerbated the problem with Francine, showing undoubted preference for Eliza. After a series of regrettable events and a show of your mother's superior power, Francine was passed over for the line, her sister chosen as secondary. Certainly this enflamed her wrath and after a time, she began to detach from even their mother, Vita."