Page 48 of Vow of the Undead
“Are you referring to when his eye was wounded? Don’t worry it has fully healed. You won’t have a one-eyed husband.” Judgment twisted her voice.
“I know it’s healed, I’ve seen it. That’s not—” I sighed.
She folded her arms and popped out her left foot. With a single brow arched, she eyed me. “Why are you asking?”
There was no easy way to form the slew of questions into words. If the mention of blood in the first vision was the king’s blood, or the blood of one of his victims, it wasn’t clear.
But I couldn’t outwardly ask if the king and his courtiers were monsters. I’d out myself as a believer. And if the people turned on me, would the king?
My execution had been pardoned by him and only him. Now I’d found my way inside the castle that housed the runestones with the key to my mother’s freedom. I couldn’t throw it all away.
Blinking, my gaze slid from the dress hanging behind her back to her forest green eyes. “I need to know if he is safe, and if you think he is ever in any danger, would you tell me? Please?”
She clucked her tongue and dropped her arms. “King Drakkar is extremely powerful, but I’ve seen him argue with Ylva and Darius before.”
Since she answered every question I’d thrown at her, I wanted to keep asking. “Have you heard of the lost history?”
She thought about this for a moment. “Maybe.”
“Stories from our ancient ancestors to the wasteland war. My mother—” I stopped and swallowed my words. Nobody needed to know about her visions. “I’ve heard there are missing runestones hidden in Mara’s Keep.”
“There’s a lot hidden in Mara’s Keep. But if it’s not in the kitchens, your bedchambers, the servants quarters, or visible from the windows, I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”
I nodded, sobering to the fact that even someone who’d lived in this castle for years didn’t know how to find the runestones.
“Now,” she continued, “you need to rest. The king saysyou tire quickly and you get cold easily.” She pointed to the fire. “I’ll return in a few hours to keep it burning.”
Without letting me speak, she swiftly marched to the door. I propped myself up on my elbows, though even that made me breathless.
“Am I safe here?”
She paused and turned at the door. The thick hem at the bottom of her skirts swished at her ankles. The pale green brought out the forest in her eyes. “You’re the king’s betrothed. Only someone stupid enough to sacrifice their life would dare harm you.”
I swallowed through my dry throat. Would the man in the tunnels pay for what he’d done? Had King Drakkar spotted him in the darkness? They were both monsters. I had no idea how monsters treated one another, only that they’d left me as curious as I was unsettled.
Flashing red eyes would no doubt appear in my nightmares once I slipped into an uncomfortable unconsciousness.
“And what about the king, am I safe from him?”
Her pale lashes fluttered as she considered this. Finally, she shook her head. “Nobody is truly safe here. But escape is never entirely impossible. Even a bird with clipped wings can escape its cage.”
Cast off this colorless cage.
My handmaiden didn’t match the masculine energy that came with the vision, but her words struck me as oddly familiar.
With that she twisted the doorknob and swung it open.
“Wait,” I nearly shouted before the heavy door fell shut. “It’s shameful, but I was too drunk to remember your name.”
Her arm shot out to stop the door, and her pink lips pursed in a playful smirk. “Shameful? No. Was it stupid not to drink water and eat plenty of food to soak up the wine? Absolutely. Next time you drink, I’m shoving bread down your throat. Then maybe you’ll remember, I’m Stasia.”
Stasia, nearly the same name as my mother’s. Though her full name was Anastasia, she went by Anya to those who did not call her Mother.
When the door eased shut behind her, I lay back on the pillowy bed and pulled the blanket to my collarbone. Despite the all-consuming exhaustion weighing heavy on my eyes, I kept them peeled open so that I would not fall asleep.
The second vision told me to leave Mara’s Keep. If the male voice belonged to Loki, I didn’t know if I could trust it. He was the trickster God, the one who was always playing an angle that often got Odin and Freya, Thor and the others into trouble with the giants or the dwarves of the other realms.
I couldn’t leave until I found the answers Freya promised me. I had a trial to pass before I could understand it all, and tonight led me a step closer to that understanding which meant Freya’s guidance had proved perfect.
