Rise of the Seven (12 page)

One of the remaining watchers screeched and
three others flew wide in a sudden attack on me. I blasted them
from the air, hoping they’d not have time to feed off my power, and
Chevelle leapt over one and slammed into another, who had already
been rising. The few that were left had apparently been driven to
madness by their defeat, because they were frantically darting
around the room, high-pitched bird-like screams and hisses trailing
behind.

Steed began to drop stones from the ceiling,
which finally brought them low enough to be caught. Spitting venom
and cursing, they fought resembling cats, claws and all. At last,
the room was silent. I glanced around, incredulous at the
destruction. Pools of water and blood stood on the dismantled stone
floor, the furnishings were scattered shards of wood and metal.
Bits of wing littered the ground like so much confetti. My gaze
caught as it came across the strange pale scraps covering the floor
near the back wall where Rhys had stood. It appeared he’d found a
way to deal with the frost monsters. I felt a shiver and turned to
the others, who also seemed to be in various stages of shock and
post-combat unrest.

“
Steed, take Ruby to her
room. Bar the door.”

He snapped out of his stupor quick
enough.

“
Grey, Rhys, Rider, search
the castle. I don’t want to find any strays later by
accident.”

They didn’t waste any time either, which left
three of us alone.

I turned to Anvil. “How did they get here so
fast?”

He shook his head. “It isn’t impossible, but
they likely discovered your decision on the way.”

“
So, why were they
coming?”

“
To celebrate your return?”
he offered.

I scoffed.

“
It is possible he has heard
of the attempts.”

“
I agree.” I bit my lip,
considering. “See what you can find out.”

“
Indeed,” he said, touching
his fist to his chest.

Chevelle and I stared after him, remembering
the bloody battle and the proposal by Veil.

“
When this is over...” he
growled.

“
I know,” I answered.
War
.

Chapter Fourteen

Prisoner

For as long as I could remember, even during
those times I couldn’t remember, I’d had one thought, one
obsession: If I could just overcome this one insurmountable
obstacle, then things would be bearable.

But my whole life had been a series of those
hurdles, and each time I crossed one, each time I broke through a
barrier, there was nothing but another on the other side. A chasm,
a mountain, one more impossible challenge. As I stood there with
Chevelle, wanting only to right the council’s wrong, to avenge my
mother and my kingdom and be done with it, I could see nothing but
more problems on the horizon.

I pulled the necklace from my belt and stared
at the pendant beside my mother’s. It was a long spike, formed by
four smaller twisted strands. It was an odd sensation, as two of
the strands were cold, the other two warm, but I didn’t think it
was charmed as I’d feared at first. What had Veil meant by it?
There was no question the fey were tricksters, but they were clever
as well. This was no simple gift, but had he meant it for a
warning, or a promise? He’d seemed sincere in his proposal, though
he hadn’t given the pendant until I’d declined his offer.

I couldn’t blame Veil for the others, for all
that had happened, but I couldn’t entirely trust him either.
Between the lot of them, they’d invaded my home, insulted my
second, and attempted to steal my guard. And who knew what the ones
we hadn’t seen were doing.

I glanced at Chevelle who seemed to have his
anger under rein now. “We should probably help the others.”

He moved to place his hand at my lower back
as we started for the corridor, but stopped just short of touching
me. I pretended not to notice.

The halls were a quiet mess. The staff tended
to stay in their rooms during a fairy raid, so the corridors were
empty aside from the fabric, beads, broken furnishings, and
occasional foodstuffs scattering the floors. We came across a door
covered in ivies, another painted with profanities, and a third
busted through. Oddly enough, the libraries were intact.

“
Wouldn’t want to destroy
those, they might need to borrow a book,” I muttered.

At the end of another hall, right before the
entrance to the kitchens, was a large T-wall. I stood staring, for
a long moment, at what appeared to be a portrait of the new lord of
the north. Naked. It was plainly a hurried job, but all the
important parts were there. I turned to Chevelle, but couldn’t
decide whether he was trying to conceal a grimace or smile. I took
the time to glare at him before moving on, just in case.

Hurried footsteps caught up with me shortly,
but they were delayed enough that I knew he’d taken care of the
graffiti.

The fey had managed a considerable amount of
damage to the castle in the short time they’d been liberated, but
no one had been badly injured. The kitchen staff had it the worst,
there were plenty of utensils to clang around and batter with,
though I’d not checked the stables. They always had fun in the
stables. I kicked a broken crate from my path.

“
We’ve got one,” Grey
announced from the doorway, and I turned to find him ragged,
clothes torn, face scratched.

“
A lion?” I
asked.

He had no sense of humor after what he’d been
through. His answer was flat. “A fairy.”

We met him at the door. “Thank you, Grey,” I
offered. “Go see Ruby.”

He looked at me curiously.

“
Before she tears Steed
apart. Or whatever.”

He nodded.

They held the tiny female in an unused room,
empty of all but a wrought iron chair and two irritated guards.
Rhys and Rider weren’t scraped and tattered as Grey had been, but
they didn’t get agitated much so I figured she must have been a
difficult one. They had bound her to the chair at the wrists,
ankles, elbows, knees, thighs, waist, and chest. The chair had been
bound to the stone. I didn’t ask what they’d done to the chains to
keep her from working free, because I was afraid the answer was a
spell.

I walked closer, though I’d learned my lesson
from coming too near our last prisoner, and nodded toward the gag.
Rider reached in and yanked it free. A stream of curses followed, I
assumed picking back up directly where she’d left off when he’d
shoved the rags in her mouth in the first place. It was quite
impressive, and I let her run with it for a few moments to wear
herself down.

“
... son of an imp and your
mother was an unbonded flaxen
whore
!” she finished.

Rhys had gone pale. Apparently, neither he
nor his brother had dealt with many fairies before. Rant ended, she
turned her gaze to me and her natural beauty returned, smoothing
her face into ethereal magnificence beneath her sun-kissed chestnut
curls. The light streaming in through the small, slitted windows
behind her reminded me that it wasn’t even midday. I suddenly felt
exhausted.

“
Why are you here?” I asked,
skipping the introductions.

Her gaze flicked to Rider. “Because this
ignorant ram’s ass tied me to a chair.”

“
Indeed.” I cleared my
throat. “But why were you here, in the castle, before you were tied
to a chair?”

She smiled. “Surely you would know, Lord
Freya.” She added enough sweetness to my name to make it perfectly
clear she’d used the endearment as satire.

“
Veil is gone. The others
are dead.”

Only the slightest flicker of emotion
flashed, too brief to tell whether it was worry or anger, but long
enough to be certain she hadn’t meant to be left behind.

“
I know you are not a spy,”
I said politely, “but it is too dangerous to keep you
here.”

For a fraction of a second, she was relieved
to hear of her coming release. And then she realized she’d mistaken
my meaning completely. “What will it take?” she asked.

“
The truth.”

“
Each holds his own truth.
What will it take?”

“
Why are you
here?”

“
Because I was bored,” she
answered. “That is my truth.”

“
And the others? What was
their purpose?”

“
I cannot know.”

“
Then you cannot live. I
will not waste the lives of my guards watching you, nor risk them
for the same.” I turned to leave.

“
I could guess,” she offered
nonchalantly as my hand reached for the door.

“
What do you suppose, then?”
I asked, turning back to face her.

She shrugged. “Might have been the girl. The
grays seemed very interested in bringing her back.”

“
For whom?”

She shook her head. “I am guessing,
remember?”

“
You’ve heard.”

“
I hear a lot of things, it
doesn’t make them true.”

“
And Veil’s truth?” I asked.
“What is that?”

Her eyes peered into mine. It was more than a
little disturbing, but not as disturbing as her statement. “He does
want you.”

“
Why was he here?” I asked,
forcing my tone to steady.

She glanced at my neck, seemed confused, and
then shrugged it off. I waited. “There was some sort of gift,” she
said finally.

I nodded. “And what do you know of this
offering?”

She shook her head. “Gift. And I know
nothing.”

“
Release her,” I said to
Rhys and Rider. “She’s of no use to us.”

It was essentially true, but mostly I wanted
her to stir a few things up on her way back to the fey lands so
Anvil’s contacts might be able to gather the information we
needed.

Chevelle followed me to the hall, ready to
resolve the disasters left behind by the fey.

“
When Anvil returns, we will
meet,” I said, drained.

When I finally made it to my room, I unlaced
my shirt and took a long, deep breath. I was fairly certain the
kick I’d taken had set me back a few more days, but it wasn’t as
painful as it had been the first time, and I was grateful for that.
I left my boots on but stretched out on the bed and closed my
eyes.

The lightest whisper of footsteps outside my
door let me know my guard was once again on duty. I sighed.

Laying down intensified the fatigue tenfold,
but I didn’t sleep. I searched the mountains, reaching for the
minds of Finn and Keaton. I wasn’t able to find them, so I moved
ahead to my next task and located my hawk. He had fled the castle
in the raid, but was perched nearby one of the gates. I set him to
flight and circled the grounds.

Apparently, the fey had been warned to come
in stealth, because nothing outside of the yards was damaged. I
could see the staff now, annoyed at the mess, but relieved to be
unharmed as they tried to set things to rights. I had a feeling it
was going to take them a while. I continued my inspection, checking
the roofs, crevices, anywhere the fey might be hiding or might have
left a snare.

Eventually, I came to the stables, leaving my
most dreaded chore for last. I really didn’t want to see what
they’d done there this time. The hawk alighted on a post outside
the stable and I was surprised to see Steed walking a mare into the
yard. He must have come straight to check on his stock as soon as
Grey had relieved him of his charge. I hopped to a nearer post.

The poor beast was covered in a shimmering
violet dust and Steed stood beside her, humming while he gently
brushed it away. I bounced to the post closest to them, and saw the
ground was littered with various shades of the stuff. He must have
brought each one out and swept them clean by hand. The way he
looked, I was curious if he did this for the animals or himself.
Surely, he could have been done much quicker by other means. His
hum broke into song then, and I felt the corner of my mouth draw up
back in the bed.

Steed was so engrossed in his work, he had
only glanced at the bird when it landed near him. It wouldn’t have
seemed unusual, after all, because it lived in the castle. But as I
watched him, he began to glance more frequently at the hawk.
Apparently it didn’t normally stalk him.

The mare purred and Steed answered in a low
tone. “Yes, darling.” She rolled a shudder down her back, shaking
out more dust. “There’s a girl,” he murmured.

I cocked the head of my host sideways just as
Steed flicked another glance at it. His eyes narrowed
infinitesimally. I wasn’t certain it was his audience that had him
unnerved, but it sure seemed that way. I thought I’d check. As he
moved to work the dust from the mane of the mare, rubbing between
her ears, he glanced over again. I raised one clawed foot from the
post and held it forward in salute.

Yep, it was the bird. His face twisted into
an unease I’d never before seen on him. Singing stopped, he stared
straight ahead, over the mare’s back.

I sprang to the mare’s rump, landing lightly
about a foot from his face. He jumped.

I felt myself chuckle back in my bed and then
was startled out of the hawk by a familiar voice.

“
Freya.”

I didn’t know why I felt guilty, but I bolted
upright, and then winced at the pain in my side from the sudden
move. Chevelle wore a “that’s what I thought” look. He handed me a
cup, and I took it without thinking. It was warm against my hand
and smelled wonderful. One sip and I was choking and spitting
uncontrollably.