Page 47 of Vow of the Undead
A woman stood before me, her golden hair tumbling over her shoulders in loose waves. Her pink lips parted. An ethereal voice came from all around us but it didn’t seem to be hers and her lips didn’t move.
I felt rather than heard the words, though I knew thesedidn’t come from Freya. The presence was a stark contrast from the feminine energy displayed by the woman before me. This was a man speaking.
“Cast off this colorless cage.
Let them think you’re a coward, then rise stronger.”
The woman reached out, something clunky and rough materialized in her hand. Like a small wooden sword, she held the tip pointed at me. Instinctively, I reached for it, only for her to snatch it away again.
A woman’s voice breathed into my ear.“It isn’t Loki’s time.”
The vision cut away with a sharp bolt of pain through my temples.
I came to my surroundings still in a world of stone. A woman had her arm crooked under both of mine as she helped me straighten. Bright hair framed her face. I squinted at her, trying to identify if she was the same woman from the vision, but it was already too foggy, like a distant dream after a rough night of sleep.
This woman guiding me around a corner was even more familiar than the person in Freya’s vision.
She had that same golden hair in full waves like a mane, encompassing her slim body. Compared to many of the pale, entranced servants, her shapely lips and the round apples of her cheeks were a healthy pink.
If I believed in the angels of our ancestors’ neighbors, I would have believed she was one of them.
Ilimped down the hall with the angelic woman’s help. Staring at her, I tried to match her pace, but my body was having none of it.
Somewhere behind us, I was sure King Drakkar and the cloaked man were pursuing me. Though if they were, they’d already be upon us. Even with her hurrying and dragging me along, we wouldn’t be fast enough to run from monsters.
“Walk quicker, my queen,” she said. I slowed her down, and maybe made her one of their targets by proximity. Still, she walked with me, keeping me upright with a wiry strength not unlike Ragna’s. “It isn’t safe to roam the halls near dawn.”
“Where’s Embla? Are you my other handmaiden?”
Suddenly her pinched face and formal posturing vanished. Her brows furrowed and she let out a breath, slightly slumping forward. “Yes, clearly I’m your handmaiden. Why else would I be dragging you along like a sack of flour?”
“Because you’re kind?” I muttered, still in a daze from the vision and the thought of her as an ethereal being.
She snorted. “Kind? Kind of a genius, actually.”
I only blinked at her. My mind was too muddled from the vision, exhaustion, and the chaos of thelast hour.
“And for your information,” she said, all politeness now gone from her tone. “Embla is merely a Lady’s Maid.”
Before we turned another corner, I twisted to catch a glance of the hall behind us. My captor did not lurk our way, and neither was King Drakkar anywhere in sight.
Another servant passed across the end of the hall then vanished into a room.
Finally, we arrived in the same room I’d left so many hours ago. My original dress was clean and dry, hanging from a hook on the ornate cabinet. My handmaiden helped me climb into the high bed where I gently rolled and collapsed on my back.
Staring up at the ceiling, all I wanted was to slide my eyelids shut and sleep for days, but with every minute lost my mother was slipping away.
I turned my head to see my handmaiden pouring water from a pitcher. “Thank you,” I said as she placed a full cup beside the bed on a narrow table with spindly legs. “Why did you say that, about the danger of being in the halls near dawn?”
Would she admit Mara’s Keep was crawling with monsters? Did she know? I really needed to know if it was safe here in my room, or if it was as dangerous as the halls.. Not that I was going to venture out without resting, I would always listen to my body. If I pushed it to the edge, I would take care of it after.
“Because I can’t let you get hurt,” she said.
“Did King Drakkar assign you to protect me?”
Another snort. “Sure.”
“And who protects the king?” I asked. Her brows scrunched. “I mean, if he were to slip up and get hurt, who helps him?”
