Free Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight by Melissa Wright Page B

couldn’t
decide whether to scream in warning or to root for his demise, for
I knew, also, that his death would release me.
    The panther came into his
view and sauntered closer, enjoying itself too much. Then, without
warning, it launched forward into the chest of the council
member–Magnus White, I now knew. It tore out his throat as they
both landed with a thud on the ground behind him, blood spattering
down the clean white robe, tassels splayed out on the ground. The
cat lingered above him for a few moments, seemingly savoring the
sight of the blood flowing from the fatal wound of its prey. Then
it turned, slow and deliberate, to look directly at me, its dark
muzzle wet with death.
    Fear overtook
me.
     
    I couldn’t stop myself from
talking when I woke, oblivious at first to my surroundings. “The
animals. She’s using the animals.”
    I felt a hand on my
shoulder and I realized I wasn’t alone, Ruby and Chevelle were
there in my now tattered hut. Panic still gripped me.
    “ Easy, Frey.” Ruby tried
to calm me.
    I looked at them again;
they had been watching me sleep. They must have wanted to talk to
me; Ruby had probably explained our conversation to him while I
slept. Our talk about Fannie. A shiver
racked my body.
    “ What is it, Frey?” Ruby
asked, her tone concerned as her hand remained resting on my
shoulder. From across the hut I saw Chevelle’s gaze narrow as he
gave her a knowing look. He must have blamed her for telling
me.
    I shook my head. “No, she’s
using the cats." Even in my panic, I instantly regretted that I had
chosen cats for my own ploy in the castle. "She’s taking them out,
one by one. She knows…”
    He stiffened. “How could
you know that?”
    I didn’t answer his
question but instead kept rambling about my dream. “She knows they
won’t kill the animals, knows she has free reign to slaughter them
all.” I could hear the blind panic in my own voice.
    He leaned forward. “Frey,
it was just a dream. No one knows-”
    “ No.” I
cut him off. “I know .”
    His brow puckered, unsure
of how to respond.
    “ And she’s coming after
me.”
    My head was spinning. I sat
on the bed trying to absorb the whole thing, striving to hold on. I
realized I was rocking back and forth, which probably looked less
than sane so I stopped myself, only to start biting my lip moments
later.
    Eventually, they calmed me
down. Rational thought had returned when I was fully awake and the
dream had had time to lose some of its potency. Ruby sat beside me,
offering me tea and anything else she could think of. It was quiet
for a long time.
    And then it struck me, they
were too quiet. They weren’t shocked at all.
    “ You knew ?”
    Ruby didn’t answer. I
looked at Chevelle accusingly for what seemed like too many
times.
    “ We could not be
certain.”
    How? How could they have
known? The same as before. “Junnie?”
    He replied with a curt and
uncomfortable nod.
    Junnie. I started to ask
why they hadn’t told me but as my mouth opened I remembered the
chain of events that followed her visit. How could they have
explained anything to me? I’d passed out. And when I’d woke, I’d
not even spoken, I’d been obsessed, doing nothing but reading the
diary of my dead mother. They thought I was too fragile to include.
I closed my mouth.
    They might have been
right.
    I blew out an exasperated
breath. So Fannie’s killing
council . And then, in an instant, I felt
like a complete idiot.
    “ That’s why I’m
remembering.” It seemed so obvious now. All I received was another
nod, another confirmation. Just like Ruby had said, as we broke my
bonds, we were breaking hers. And now she was breaking mine. And
she knew it.
    Grey was at the door and
Ruby stepped out to speak with him. I watched her leave and then
kept my gaze on the doorway. I was alone with Chevelle.
    The air was charged, as it
almost always was when I was alone with him. Always thick with
anger or… I stopped myself, embarrassed again at