Free Midnight Soul by Kristen Ashley Page A

father scramble up, felt his
fury sparking the air, and I instantly lifted my hands to the hook,
curling my fingers around.
    “I’ll endure,” I announced to Papa. “Don’t
hurt Noc. I will not fall. Tell her. Tell her I’m still
standing.”
    Noc’s hand returned to my waist and curled
in. “Baby—”
    I looked in his eyes. “He’ll break. Kristian
will break. I must—”
    “She’s used her magic, Anneka,” my father
said from behind me and terror gripped me because I knew he was
sharing this with my mother.
    “No!” I cried. “Recommence! I will not
fall!”
    “Go to the boy,” my father ordered.
    Gods!
    Kristian!
    “ No! ” I shrieked.
    “What the bloody hell?” Frey’s voice came
from the direction of the door.
    I let go of the hook and whirled to my
cousin.
    Lifting my arms crossed in front of me to
cover my bared breasts, I beseeched, “You must stop her! You must
command the elves! You must bring the green witch! She’s going to
Kristian. He’ll break. The green witch must go there and stop
her .”
    Frey’s face was a picture of disbelief and
distress as he stood in the doorway staring at me, Josette cowering
behind him.
    “Explain what’s happening,” he bit out
tightly.
    “We need a doctor, Frey,” Noc stated.
    “She’s committed treason and so has her
brother. For that, she’s being punished,” Papa explained.
    Frey turned to my father.
    “And that punishment would come at the
command of your queen if your daughter hadn’t moved to make
amends,” Frey clipped, twisted at the waist and ground out to
Josette, “Get Valentine. And find a bloody physician.”
    Josette nodded at the same time she turned
and vanished from sight.
    I rushed across the room to my cousin, curled
a hand into his sweater at his chest and begged, “You must go. You
must take Noc. If I withstand what he wishes to mete, they’ll leave
Kristian alone.”
    I was too deep in my state to notice my
cousin for the first time in our lives addressing me gently.
    “And how long has this been the
understanding, Franka?”
    I simply replied on a plea.
    “ Please , Frey, let him finish.”
    Frey looked in my eyes but a moment before
his went over my head.
    “Cover her, Noc, and take her from here.”
    “No!” I cried as I felt careful hands on my
shoulders pulling me from Frey.
    The pain at my back was too immense to
struggle so I didn’t. I watched Frey look to my father.
    “You’re communicating with Anneka?” he
asked.
    “Family business is family business, Frey,”
my father returned.
    Frey’s tone deteriorated while Noc turned me
to face him. I saw his chest bare and felt the agony of the whisper
of material of his shirt hitting my back.
    “Are you… communicating with
Anneka ?”
    “I don’t have to answer that,” Father
retorted.
    “Kristian is more than a week’s sled ride
away. If she’s taking guidance from you, that means you’re a
sorcerer or she’s a witch. Either way, you or she are undeclared.
Which is it?” Frey demanded.
    “This is none of your concern, nephew,” my
father snapped.
    I flinched as Frey roared, “ Which is
it? ”
    At this juncture, my tortured cry slashed
through the room as Noc lifted me to cradle me in his arms.
    “Sorry, Frannie, so sorry, baby,” he cooed.
“Stick with me. Hold on just a little longer until I can get you to
a bed.”
    I battled the pain of his arm against the
torn flesh of my back and looked into Noc’s eyes. “He must
finish.”
    Noc’s face turned hard as he stated, “He’s
not gonna fuckin’ finish.”
    “Noc—”
    “Quiet, Frannie. Frey’s got this.”
    I shook my head fervently as Frey moved out
of our way and Noc took us toward the door. “No, you don’t
understand.”
    “No, sweetheart, you don’t
understand,” Noc declared, striding through the door and into the
hall. “They didn’t get it. Now they’ll get it. And, baby, that
means you are no longer alone.”
    My panic overwhelming me, I barely heard a
word