“It’s nice to meet you.” The woman that materialised behind Freya said.“Who are you?” She asked, watching her warily. She looked like a ghost, pale and surreal and the smile she had on her face did nothing to ease Freya’s mind. “I’m The Seeker. Your little rude friends above call me The Exhumer I suppose.” She said and Freya let go of all defence and called her magic. “There is no need for any of that.”“Where are my friends?!” She growled and set the arrow for her heart. “One wrong word and I will send you straight into the pits of hell.” “The hostility is entirely unnecessary.” The creature drawled. “Wrong answer.” Freya growled and let the arrow fly. She let it miss the creature’s heart by half an inch and her arrow pierced the female’s flesh and... nothing happened. Freya’s brows furrowed with confusion. “Like I said, the hostility is unnecessary.” The creature said. Freya let three of her arrows fly in close succession and not a single one of them made any impression on t
“Wait!” Freya screamed and the woman grinned. “This is what I was looking forward to. The reality is that truth comes with pain, and so does the lie. Do you feel it? Your lies caused someone so much pain that you might as well have just stabbed his heart. It tastes like heaven.” Her hands curled into fists with anger. The woman was putting her on the spot, creating a wedge between them. “Whatever is between us is not your business.” Freya gritted out. The pale ghostly glow around her was getting brighter as if their pain was truly giving her more power. “I know, but I have now made it my business.” She replied. “I ask again, who is Adrian to you?”Freya’s mind spun as she tried to find a way around this sick game and she came out empty handed. For now she needed to play along until an opportunity provided itself. “Who is Adrian to you?” She asked again, her voice rising. “My lover.” Freya replied. “Lie.”Adrian’s cage dropped and she bit her lip to contain her scream. His cage
“Your hand!” She grabbed Adrian’s bloodied hand after the glass cage finally crashed to the ground and shattered. “Fuck the hand, are you okay?” He asked her. “It took me so long to notice the illusion. I’m sorry.” It was what he was trying to tell her for so long and she never deciphered it. “You did well.” He said and gathered her to him for a hug. She held him close, the truths she spoke earlier an elephant between them. “Adrian, about what I said earlier-““Shhh.” He replied and placed a hand over her lips. “We’ll talk about it later.” He said and she dropped it. His air magic floated the body of the Exhumer across the chasm to their feet and Theo finally got free from his cage and marched forward. He kicked the body; positioned his hand below her nostrils and finally stood. “She’s dead. Is this a dream?” He whispered. “Is the Exhumer dead for real?”“Yes.” Freya said, staring down at the body. It turned out this large cat-sized creature was the same one that had been terr
The next few days were bliss. While the dwarves were busy in the day and night rebuilding and expanding their territory, the first letter came to Freya and Adrian only a day after they killed the Exhumer. Someone wanted to buy their services, if they could kill the rogue creature that fed on their livestock at night. “What do you think?” Adrian had asked her and she’d grinned. “Hell yes!”That was five days ago and since then, Adrian and Freya had killed four rogue creatures that they’d been contracted to kill. News about them was spreading like wildfire and the letters kept on piling up. Somehow, she had found her way back to her first job it seemed, doing what she did best; killing. She met Adrian’s gaze from across the grove and he pointed. She followed the line of the pointing and nodded. She and Adrian had never been better. After a day of hunting and killing, she loved nothing more than being in his arms. Being with him was so simple because she didn’t have to think. When s
She and Adrian went with them of course. There were far too many of the crocodile creatures for her to put up a fight without casualties. “Perhaps she just wants to host us for tea.” Freya whispered and Adrian scoffed behind her. They were in a large boat with the crocodiles, sailing the sea towards the tall castle that was coming into view over the horizon. Adrian let out a low whistle when the castle came fully into view. “Impressive.” Adrian observed b“That’s even huger than the castle in my realm.” She agreed. A show-off then? Or someone that loved grand gestures?They pulled up to the bank and the crocodiles climbed off, prodding her to do the same.“Don’t touch her.” Adrian growled and gripped the crocodile’s arm. “Let it go.” She told him and got off. “Let’s find out what the bitch wants.”The crocodiles led them into the castle which looked like what a state of the arts castle in the human world would look like.They came upon a double door which was pushed open and made
Adrian struggled to his feet when the pain in his chest became a little more bearable. “Freya!” She was on the floor, her knees drawn to her chest, her eyes shut tight with her entire body shivering. “Freya wake up!”Her face was carved into an expression of terror but no matter how much he shook her, she never stirred. He turned on the queen with a furious snarl. She had her eyes closed, a smile on her lips and her hands extended towards Freya. “What are you doing to her?!” He lunged at her but the crocodiles were there, grabbing his arms and holding him immobile. He growled and his magic sparked. He had every intention of torching the entire stupid castle to the floor and the queen with it but reaching for his magic made his body start to seize. He dropped to his knees, his jaws locked as the seizures rattled him from head to toe and he tasted blood in his mouth. The magic never manifested because he couldn’t reach it. It felt like someone had built a wall cordoning him off from
Adrian peeled his eyes open with effort, disoriented for a second but the pain reminded him of where he was.A sound of pain made him startle and he found Freya, her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped tight around herself as tears flowed down her face in rivulets. “Freya!” His tongue was heavy and his speech slurred, thanks to the savages that broke his jaw. “Freya!”His body screamed as he stood but he dragged himself to her, putting both hands on the sides of the face. “Freya look at me.” Her eyes were wide open but she wasn’t seeing him. Whatever she was seeing was terrible enough to put that fragmented light in her eyes. He shook her but she flinched and retreated from him. “Mother.” She whispered, a single tear rolling down her eyes. “Release her!”He turned back to the queen with a hiss.“Or what?” She drawled, her lips curved with ecstasy as an invisible breeze lifted her hair. “What can you do, sorcerer? Have you forgotten you are at my mercy? You have none of your powers
Freya couldn’t handle it anymore, she found a way to deal with the pain, she locked herself in her subconscious but the nightmare was still replaying right in front of her eyes. She was rage, she was pain. What did her parents do to deserve to die like this? With every thud of her mother’s lifeless body, her memories returned, her mother smiling, twirling her in the air, kissing her forehead. Her father sandwiching all three of them into a hug, his laughter loud and hearty as he told her stories before bed. She remembered what a happy life she had had as a young child, her secure life cocooned between her father and her mother. It made the torture all the more exquisite. Riordan shattered her life. Since the day he walked into her house and murdered both of her parents, he called upon the darkness in her life and it engulfed her whole. He should have just killed her when he has the chance. She looked at her own bloody hands, shaking uncontrollably and she started scrubbing at her h
“Your mother was the most beautiful female I ever came across, both inside and out. When I heard she died, I was thrown off balance for a while and my court suffered for it. She didn’t deserve to leave so soon.”“No, she didn’t.” Freya agreed. “Prince Zeldaurus mentioned in your letter that you don’t wish to stay in Faerie, probably because he knew I would try to convince you to stay in the Summer court.” He said and she scoffed. “If I wanted to stay anywhere at all, this would be the place. Believe it or not, I don’t exactly have a great relationship with my aunt.” She said and he laughed.“Who does? The Winter Queen is a perfectly complicated creature but she is not without her charms.”“What was their relationship like?” She asked and the king hummed.“It was an interesting dynamics. Your mother and the queen used to be close, much like ying and yang.”“No way...” She said and his eyes crinkled with laughter. “They were. Tiana adored her and worshipped the ground she walked on w
It wasn’t until after they had portaled into the Summer court that Freya could finally draw a breath and admit that they had finally escaped the wicked witch of the north afterall. The Summer court was just as beautiful as the winter court and she thought, maybe even more so. There was none of the harsh beauty of the winter court, everything here was natural and sublime. The sun cast a rosy glow on the horizon and butterflies flitted from flower to flower. It was a lot like where Adrian’s portal had taken her before but this close to the castle, the air was different. The castle stood huge and grand, ornately designed as if it had stood strong through several centuries. Flowers draped the sides of the castle aesthetically and all the Fae were dressed in brilliant and dazzling dresses, looking as light and carefree as the breeze that swayed their dresses. “Come.” Zeldaurus offered his hand she slipped her hand into his, unable to contain her smile. She liked this side of him. This fa
Freya had tried everything she could think of to break out of her room. The door didn’t give way no matter how much she pounded on it. Her claws left no dent on the surface and her claws didn’t graze the walls either. She stared into the white roof, looked at the white walls, the white floors and she thought that the colour white had the power to drive someone mad.When the door opened once again, she leaped into a sitting position but her excitement died down when she found that it was just the Princess. “Were you expecting someone else?” Princess Kastilla asked, a smirk on her lips. “Where is Zeldaurus? He is not still being punished is he?” She asked. “Perhaps, perhaps not.”Freya growled and Princess Kastilla raised her hands. “Easy, Wolfie.”“I never told you I’m a werewolf.” She replied and Princess Kastilla laughed. “Do you have to tell me it’s day?” She countered. “About your questions, the Queen has a soft spot for him. She will let him off the hook soon if she has not
For a second, even Freya was afraid of her power and what it would do. She just knew that she wanted this torture to end and so her power exploded from her fist to do her bidding. There was a flash and when it cleared, the Queen had a shield of ice up, pushing back against her thick tentacles of darkness. The two warriors behind shouted and ran for her and the whipper faltered, gaping with shock. Zeldaurus was up before she could blink, his bloody tattered body lunging between her and the other warriors. “Get out of the way, Zeldaurus.” One of them gritted out, his body shaking with the effort of restraining himself from ripping into her. “No.” Zeldaurus gritted out. In front of her, she saw his huge body ripple and shudder and she knew he was also fighting the urge to snap her neck. “She is not a threat to the queen.” He snarled. “Think! What can a clueless untrained female do to the Winter Queen?”They paused, looking between them and oh, Zeldaurus had never been more wrong. Her
“I did.” Zeldaurus replied. “While in the town, I found a female who seems to have lost her way. She is not registered; belonging to neither the Winter or the Summer court. I have brought her to you so you may chose her court.” He replied. “The woman?” The queen glanced at her again and she felt the heat of being under her withering stare. “Come closer so I may see you.” She ordered. Freya walked up the flight of stairs until she was at the foot of the dais. “On your knees.” Zeldaurus unexpected voice in her mind startled her and she obeyed. How did he do that? Amongst everything else, she had forgotten to ask about that. “Come closer, female. I want to look at you.” She cooed and Freya attempted to stand. “On your knees.” She added sharply and before she could stop herself, she raised her face with a dark glare. “Lower your eyes!” Zeldaurus commanded in her head and she did, but not before she saw the surprise and interest in the queen’s eyes at the action. Biting her tongue
The touch of his lips to hers rocked her like an explosion at her feet. Her hands fisted in his lapels and she pulled him closer. He was still for a moment and then as if she had opened a dam, he flipped their positions and pressed her into the mirror. He kissed her the same way he approached life, thoroughly, profusely, meticulously. She felt it all the way to her toes which curled and she felt her hands shift into claws which gripped him tighter.She wasn’t the only one that felt this, of that she was sure as he finally slowed down and released her. Her chest was rising and falling fast and her lips tingled from his kiss and she thought the perhaps she might finally find peace after this but it was like pouring fuel onto a burning fuse. Her body craved his touch back on her skin, his lips back on hers and she took an instinctive step forward. She finally got the sense knocked back into her when he took a corresponding step backward. She watched as his eyes shuttered entirely but not
Zeldaurus was below with their host, getting ready for their departure and Freya headed for the roof. She took in Faerie around her, a realm so terribly beautiful and perfect. Magic was definitely in perfect sync here. It was mind boggling that the same realm had birthed the terrible barren landscape that she had been stuck in for so long. Footsteps behind her came closer until their host came to stand beside her. “I heard you were in there for years.” Syrelia said.“Yes.” She replied and Syrelia shook her head. “The time contrast still amazes me till date. Prince Zeldaurus wanted to come to you immediately but there was a delay before the portaler could get here. I nearly had to restrain him from coming for you because if he had tried you both would have missed each other.”She scoffed. “Well I’m here now and he’s doing a pretty good job of ignoring me.““The truth is... I’ve known Prince Zeldaurus for a while now and I’ve not seen him interact with any female the way he interacts
After a long and refreshing bath, Freya finally felt human again. Being here now was reminding her of the reason she even came to Faerie in the first place, the reason why she held out for so long even when her trials nearly took her life. She was even more determined now to see it done. For the most part, Faerie had not been a gracious host to her, she had seen horrors here and been stuck in Vienna’s body for years. She couldn’t let all of that be in vain, she didn’t want to. Now more than ever, she wanted to finish what she started and she couldn’t wait to say goodbye to the damn realm. She went below stairs to find Zeldaurus but was met with guards that told her he was in an important meeting and had ordered not to be disturbed. “Snap their necks.” A voice said in her head, sounding nearly mad. She shook her head to clear it of the weird whispers and turned away. “Well I’m sure you can pass a message across to him then. Tell him to find me.”Their shocked faces said that obviou
Whatever this realm was, it was the most wretched place Freya ever came across. Every single day was a battle to remain alive, to stay on top of the numerous dangers that sought to ensnare her. She padded out of the home she had claimed for herself in the three decades that she had spent in the realm she called ‘Bare bones’. In Vienna’s form, she leaped to the ground and took off, flying over the terrain with a freedom she never had before. Not once in the thirty years that she had spent in here had she shifted back to her human form and she had no complaints. Her wolf was exactly what she needed here. Vienna kept the both of them alive and even though she longed day after day for her mates, Vienna understood that there was nothing she could do about that. Freya would not understand and they didn’t need Freya’s human emotions getting in the way. Her tongue lolled out as she hunted and several creatures watched her, none daring to approach. It had been a rough and tedious journey w