Frey (The Frey Saga, #1)(62)

It was all I had to say for the moment. It was dark; I must not have slept through the night. I sat up, curling my legs against my chest, and wrapped my arms around them, pulling tightly.

Though I didn’t speak, I occasionally glanced, or glared, at Ruby. She sat, immobile, watching me faithfully.

It was morning before she broke. “You have your fire back.”

It hadn’t occurred to me. I held my hand out and flicked a flame above my palm, then promptly extinguished it. I tried moving a stone from the ground to no avail. Just fire. I sighed.

But Ruby looked hopeful.





The group approached warily, keeping their eyes on me. Chevelle hung farther back, avoiding my gaze. Steed led my horse to me. I didn’t think I blamed him, he seemed to be involved by chance, but I hadn’t fully decided yet.

As we rode wordlessly, my thoughts twisted and writhed as if a pit of vipers. In the end, I’d decided I wasn’t really that shocked about being a defect. It explained so much about myself, almost an excuse. Clumsiness, lack of skill, never quite fitting in. Wasn’t I always aware of that? What took me by surprise was the betrayal I felt. All the years I’d lived in the village, I’d never really counted on anyone the way I had unwittingly done with this group, Chevelle especially. The feeling in my chest was so thick and heavy. And it practically burned.

Struggling with my reactions kept me distracted from the ride. It was steep now, rocky, and the haze was thick. When we stopped for the evening, the men quietly set up a perimeter. Except for Chevelle. He was watching me as I glared back at him. The betrayal stung, it was almost irrational how bad. My face must have been filled with hate.

Ruby stepped in front of him. “I’ll stay with her.”

He didn’t reply, he merely turned and walked into the haze.

I was still fuming when she faced me, wearing a self-satisfied smile. She practically danced forward to plop down in front of me. “I have something for you, Frey.” I simply stared at her. She was harder to stay mad at. I expected her to be a pain, it wasn’t as difficult to accept she’d kept it from me.

She extracted a small package from beneath her cloak and passed it to me. I pulled the material aside and saw the V etched into the cover. Ah, Ruby… mischievous as always. I wondered what Chevelle would do if he knew she’d given it to me.

She answered my curious gaze. “It’s yours, and I think you should be able to read it.”

I could do nothing but nod. It didn’t matter, her expression made it clear she considered herself forgiven. She turned, facing the direction Chevelle had gone, and left me to my discoveries.





I expected fury from my father. He never failed to disappoint me. He saw the child, as he called her, as an opportunity. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, had he not stolen my mother for precisely the same purpose, experimenting with power? He did, however, concern himself with where I’d found a human. I refused to tell. It was the only gift I could give Noble, his safety. I laughed as I remembered that was how I’d convinced him to stay, promising him protection. A false promise. Eventually, one of the servants slipped, revealing they had seen me following my sister. And just like that, she was to blame for the entire ordeal, even though she’d never known. She’d been still searching the empty camp. At least I was off the hook.





I surprised myself by being so slow. Of course, her sister would have been Aunt Fannie. For a flash, I felt sympathy for Fannie… but it passed. Just because life gave her sour grapes didn't mean she had to stomp them into wine and get drunk. Had Fannie known all along? I couldn’t answer that. But she had been bound, as I was.





The elders were a different story altogether. My father had given them orders to protect me and the child, and even though they followed through with them, they persisted in chattering about their concerns. The humans frightened them unreasonably. They constantly fretted, wanting to keep her, and me, from “contaminating” anyone else. I attempted to reason with them but they turned on me. “You don’t understand, you never will! They will consume you. The humans will consume us all.” Their hands shook as they spoke in a horrid tone, almost spitting out the words. I didn’t argue after that. I wouldn’t have been allowed to leave the castle anyway. Besides, it kept her from being paraded in front of so many visitors.





I stopped again. I had been born in a castle. I sat above the journal for a long moment. I decided the only way I could keep reading was if I did it as before I knew it was my mother, as if I were an uninvolved reader.





My Freya has grown to a stubborn and willful child. She’s prone to fits of screaming or crying. The emotion frightens the elders. It comes from her father, yes, but I can’t see how it will harm her. The humans seemed to live their lives fine, controlling it well enough.





I received a visit from my mother’s sister today. News of the child had reached her and she felt she needed to call on me, now that my mother was not here to guide me. I was in my room when she arrived. I heard the two quick raps and then one loud knock from her visits during my childhood and instantly knew it was her.

“Aunt Junnie!” I gushed as she came in. She wore a simple hooded cloak, seemingly unafraid as she passed the guards at my door. She walked as though she ruled the castle, not as if she were a light elf in the center of a dark lord’s rule.