Page 92 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

This was wrong. Awful. “Seven, eight,” the woman said.

There was no choice. Leah pulled up her under slip, feeling cold, vulnerable, feeling mortified at having her nipples exposed. She was trembling as she took off her underpants, dread taking over her as she had never felt before. This time she did focus on a random point on the wall. She didn’t want to see their faces as they looked at her, their glee as they savored her humiliation.

Celia approached Leah, then turned to the woman beside her. “What do you think?”

“I need to examine her.”

The old woman frowned. “What do you think you’re here for?”

“Pardon, your highness.”

The woman touched Leah’s belly, and then Leah almost screamed, as the woman pinched her right breast. “I don’t think she’s pregnant,” the woman said.

“Let me see.” Celia groped Leah’s boobs. “Probably.” She turned to the woman. “Dismissed.”

The woman scurried away, her relief clear. The servants here likely had it really hard. Leah pitied them and wished she could do something. Perhaps everyone pitied everyone, but they were all paralyzed in their own fears, feeling threatened in their own way.

The other woman then brought a different under slip, which Leah was glad to put on, and then the dress, which took longer, as it had to be tied carefully on the back. But just not being naked anymore brought her an immense relief.

Celia stared at Leah. “We’re all trusting you, girl. We’re betting on your honor, so remember that.”

So much honor, stripping naked in front of two men. Still, she lowered her head. “I appreciate it.”

“Yes. Good girl. We need good, obedient girls like you, you know? And a party to cheer us up. Forgive me if I’m sour today, but I just learned I lost two grandchildren. Horrible, horrible.”

Leah felt as if she had swallowed a huge, heavy stone. It couldn’t be… No, it wasn’t who she feared it was, or else the woman wouldn’t even pretend to be upset.

“Yes,” Celia continued. “They think I don’t care, but I do. They were stolen from me, taken by that ruffian. Not only did he ruin my daughter, he didn’t take care of my grandchildren. Now they’re dead. Umbraar scum. Should never have touched those kids, after all he had done.”

Umbraar. Umbraar. The woman went on, ranting, but Leah couldn’t focus anymore. She thought about Fel and Naia, so full of life, so full of love for each other. How? How could that be? And the worst was that she knew she shouldn’t dare ask what had happened. Fel hadn’t been nice to Leah, but still, why should this happen to him, when Cassius was here, alive? When this woman was still alive?

Leah bottled down her tears and tried to nod on cue, thinking that at least now she had a chance to talk to Fel, if she found a way to use her necromancy. Perhaps she wanted to understand what had happened or perhaps she just wanted one last chance to see him. That was a selfish wish. The dead should be left alone. She knew it. And yet, and yet… Seeing Isofel once more was too much of a temptation for her not to fall into it.

* * *

Naia wascareful as she moved towards the fae castle and the city. There were some trees along the way—all dry, without any leaves—and she moved from the shade of a trunk to another, to make sure she had some kind of cover. The flames in her hands were the opposite of conspicuous, but she didn’t dare risk quenching them and maybe finding herself lost there.

She found a couple houses like the first one, but they were empty. So far Naia hadn’t seen any fae and she was finding it all very strange. The dried stream bed led to a dry riverbed, with bigger buildings by its margins, where she was sure she’d find someone. Then what? Was she going to ask them something? She stopped, thinking. Well, she could try to hear them, try to glimpse something, try to understand who River was and why he was in that isolated area in the underworld. Right. What were the odds that she would stumble on someone talking about him? Still, she had to gather as much information as she could.

She found a big building made of stones, in a dry grove. Some of the trunks were part of the walls, so that the place seemed to belong in nature.

There was no glass on the windows, and she slipped in—and was shocked. She found herself in a large room with a high, domed ceiling. There were some ten long wooden tables in it, with pieces of weapons on them: mostly bows and arrows. This was a place where they built them.

But that wasn’t what impressed Naia. What caught her eye was that there were some thirty fae here, all sleeping on the hard stone floor, as if they had all gotten suddenly tired from working and lay down.

There was something bigger going on than just whatever was happening at that first house. Naia observed the sleeping fae. There were men and women, all wearing simple tunics and pants. Some of them had accessories like belts, bracelets, earrings, but overall, they dressed simply. Most of them had very long silvery blond hair, but two of them had ash blond hair, and one had light brown hair, lighter than River’s.

Danger be damned. Naia crouched by a worker that was farther from the rest, quenched one of her flames to free a hand, and tapped on his shoulder.

“Hello? Hello?”

His skin was warm like any living person, so he wasn’t dead. With a shiver Naia recalled the day she’d found River and how cold he’d been, dreading what could have happened if she hadn’t found him. What had made her go out that night? She did not know, but she was glad for it. Even here, trying to find out River’s secrets, suspicious of him, she still cared about him. She did, and it would be foolish to deny it.

For now, she wanted to get answers, wanted to understand what was happening. She tapped some more on the fae’s shoulder, but he didn’t wake up. If the fact that they were all sleeping on the floor hadn’t already been a huge hint, now she was certain that this was an enchanted sleep. But then who had attacked the gathering? So strange.

She left that building and ran towards what she thought was the palace, now much less fearful that someone would find her, as she was starting to think that they were all asleep.

And then the question was: why not River? Perhaps he’d been in the hollow when this happened. It made sense. And then, it still didn’t explain the fae she’d seen in the ballroom in Frostlake.

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