Free The Frozen Witch Book One by Odette C. Bell Page A

take your locks off
under any circumstances. Do you understand?” His voice achieved
such a low note of warning, I was certain it would trigger an
earthquake.
    With cold dancing up my back, I forced
myself to nod.
    I walked forward. With every step, I waited
for this hallucination to end, but with every step, it simply
became more real and more horrible.
    I’d gone from being indentured to the
so-called Nordic god of revenge, to being given an ultimatum to
track down a magical hitman by tonight, or suffer the
consequences….

Chapter 6
    I expected to get some training. Something.
Anything. Even if it was just a manual on how to use a magical gun
and track down a hitman.
    I got nothing.
    After my short meeting with Vali, I headed
back to my room, because I had absolutely no other option. The
corridor outside Vali’s office seemed to only lead in one
direction, even though I twisted to the right instead of the left.
It still led back to my bedroom.
    I walked inside, the door clicking open and
swinging shut behind me.
    I fell down to my knees, the sound thumping
through the room.
    I brought a hand up and covered my eyes.
This time I didn’t wait for this stupid nightmare to end, because
this time I understood it never would.
    This was my life now.
    I felt so cold, so very cold. I’d never felt
colder in my life. Every muscle, every bone, every tissue felt like
ice. I wasn’t human anymore. I was a storm, a blizzard come to
life.
    Slowly, I stumbled to my feet. I began to
pace back and forth, back and forth, clutching one sweaty hand into
a fist over and over again.
    More than once, I brought my attention
down and locked my gaze on my bangles. I was terrified of them. As
I tentatively touched a finger along their smooth metal, dread
washed down my back. And yet, at the same time I couldn’t deny the
urge to take them off. I wasn’t an idiot. Take them off, and Vali
would kill me. So instead I settled to staring at them.
    As I continued to pace, the sun, which had
once been high in the sky, began to set. I had no idea when I would
be let out of here for my so-called first mission. All I knew was
with every dying ray of dusk that moment was coming closer.
    Finally, I heard a click behind me as the
door unlocked.
    I whirled on my foot to face Vali’s
secretary, Megan. She was decked out in a stunning white silk
dress, a beautiful sapphire pendant hanging down her throat. Her
hair was curled and set up in an elegant bun.
    “Why are you dressed like that?” My
curiosity got the better of me.
    “Because I’m going on a job with Vali
tonight,” she snapped.
    “A job?”
    “We’re tracking down a target. A
high-level target,” she added primly. “Now, follow me.”
    I didn’t question. I simply took up step a
meter behind her as I followed her out of my room.
    Somehow, the corridor beyond was different.
It didn’t lead in an unending line to Vali’s office. Instead, there
were doors on either side. There were also people. So far, the only
two people I’d seen since I’d woken up this morning were Vali and
Megan. Now I saw others, and they looked weirdly normal. They came
from a great cross-section of society: from teenagers to senior
citizens. A few were guards in blue uniforms, but the rest seemed
to be wearing ordinary clothes.
    I stared at them with complete confusion
crumpling my brow, and they stared back with obvious curiosity. I
heard a few comment that Vali “Had another one. Another
sinner.”
    That word… every time I heard it my hands
would clench into bloodless fists.
    Vali was absolutely right: I had not yet
accepted the fact I was a sinner, and I had not embraced my
responsibility, as he’d put it. And I never would. The first chance
I got, I would get out of here. And hey, maybe that chance would
come tonight.
    As soon as I thought that, my common sense
got the better of me. I was indentured to the god of revenge. Where
exactly could I run?
    With that disappointing thought shifting
through me, my