Of Fairytales and Magic by Emma Hamm
Chapter 16
Freya argued for many hours into the wee evening light. Of course she would continue to become the Autumn Thief. She’d already gotten through one of the trials and no, she would not stop because they suddenly discovered she was endangering more than herself.
Every step of her life in the faerie realm had endangered more than herself. She had wandered through the many realms and courts of the fae knowing that every step could harm many people in the process. Freya knew what she was doing.
Obviously, she had no intention of risking the life she now carried inside her. Not unless it was absolutely necessary for them both.
Eldridge gave up at the same time the moon set on the horizon and the sun blasted beams of light through the shattered stained glass in the ceiling. He disappeared into the winding hallways and Freya knew she wouldn’t see him for a while. He wanted time to himself, and he’d earned that right to think without her yelling at him.
But she really wished he had stayed.
Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair and tried hard not to stare at the bracelet of shadows holding her blood within her body. Even angry with her, Eldridge would never risk her health or safety and take his magic away.
“What do you think?” she asked Arrow. “Do you think I’m being unreasonable in wanting to continue?”
“No,” he replied, though his eyes were large and luminous. “You aren’t being unreasonable, my dearest of friends. But I wish we had known you were with child before everything exploded. You’re risking so much by attempting these trials with a child inside of you. Everything will be harder now.”
“Maybe that will work to my advantage,” she whispered. The words fell in the air with so much hope, only to be dashed on the floor when she realized how limp they were.
Of course, the old gods wouldn’t care if she was pregnant. The Owl Mother had only been kind because the babe inside her was a grandchild, and even then, she hadn’t been careful when throwing Freya out of her realm and onto the hard floor beyond.
Arrow shook his head and reached out a paw for her to take. “We both know that isn’t the case, Freya. We’re all on our own when it comes to the old gods, and they will stop at nothing to give you the hardest test to prove yourself. It will not be easy, and they won’t care about the babe.”
“Right.” She took his paw and squeezed it in her own. “Then we have to figure out the best way to make sure I get through this unharmed.”
“I don't know if there’s a best way for that.” Arrow glanced back at the three bronze faces, one of them now flattened against the wall as though the owl face had been painted rather than carved. “I think they want this to be difficult for you. More difficult than the others.”
Her wrist stung at the words. She had already suffered through the pain of one old god. The Owl Mother had made it very clear that pain would be part of these trials, no matter how much Freya tried to run from that portion. A slice through the wrist was one thing, but what would the others ask for?
They were more terrifying than the Owl Mother. And if she feared them more, did that mean they were going to ask for more pieces of her? More than she could give?
Swallowing hard, she turned away from their dark gazes. “I think I need to talk with Eldridge.”
“He’s not in any place to be talking with you, I would imagine. You basically told him you were going to risk the woman he loved and his firstborn child on a very dangerous quest that he couldn’t partake in.” Arrow shrugged. “A man has his limits.”
“Anyone has those limits,” she corrected. “Does he think I’m not affected by this? Of course I’m terrified. I don’t want to be the one who missteps and causes our entire future to dissolve before our eyes. But no one can stop the course this river runs. I have to float, Arrow, or I will drown.”
He touched a paw to her hip, staring up at her with an understanding gaze that made tears prick in her eyes. “I know that, Miss Freya. I just wish I could change it.”
So did she. But this was beyond all of them now.
With a sharp nod, she strode from that cursed room and out into the halls beyond. Her feet carried her through the Autumn Stronghold as though they knew where to go. And maybe they did.
She could feel Eldridge’s power like a thread connected them. A thread that burned bright and golden in her mind’s eye. She could trail that thread throughout the entire world if she needed to, because she could sense him with every step she took.
He was in the first room he’d brought them to. The only room in this entire building where he felt it was safe for them to sleep. Though she wasn’t entirely certain where he’d hidden himself.
Freya paused in the doorway to the shrine, peering up at the dust motes that swirled in the air. The vines had grown overnight. They hung down from the ceiling and dangled in a soft breeze that toyed with their arrowhead shaped leaves.
“You’re still looking for me.” Eldridge’s voice drifted from the rafters. “You know how I feel about this, Freya. No words or argument will change that. You shouldn’t go through these trials.”
“I know what I’m risking,” she replied. Freya stepped into the room and lifted her hand. She teased the glowing dust motes that looked like little dancing faeries, then blew a breath to make them scatter away. “I wouldn’t risk it if I didn’t have to. You said yourself, this is a path I cannot walk off. I’m stuck here until I finish the trials.”
“There must be another way.” His voice shook with sadness and fear.
She wished she could take those emotions away from him. She wished she could change this final adventure into something bright and light for the two of them.
But she couldn’t.
No one could. Not even the Goblin King.
“Where are you?” she asked. Her voice floated through the air and met a single white feather that drifted down from wherever the Goblin King hid.
Freya reached for it and caught the downy feather in her hands. It was so lovely. So soft. And she knew what this meant. He wasn’t hiding from her anymore. In fact, he was entirely himself for the first time since they had met.
“Up here,” he muttered. “There’s a ladder to your right. If you think you’re so capable of adventures, then you can do it yourself.”
The sullen grumpiness with which he said the words was all she needed to guess his current mood. The Goblin King was sulking because he couldn’t control this situation. And now he was going to lash out until she regretted telling him that she planned to do things on her own.
Of course, Freya had seen this behavior before, and she would not fall for it.
She could manage a ladder, considering how early into this pregnancy she was. Besides, she had climbed a hundred ladders in her life.
She found it quickly, leaning against one of the pillars that was supposed to keep the ceiling aloft. Few of the stone pillars looked stable, but if Eldridge had climbed up, then so could she. Freya cracked her knuckles, set her hands on the rungs, and climbed.
Careful, of course. The last thing she wanted was for a rung to come off in her hands and cause her to tumble back onto the ground. The fall might not kill her, but it would definitely knock the wind from her lungs.
The ladder held, sure and sturdy, as though it were freshly made. And it led her all the way into the rafters, at least three stories high. Here, she saw there was a small platform where Eldridge sat, his back to her and legs dangling in the open air.
She made her way precariously across the first beam, with her arms held out at her sides. Freya didn’t look down, otherwise her balance would twist and she’d end up on the floor. She made it to the platform with little difficulty, though her lungs heaved with the effort.
“We’re very high up,” she muttered as she sank down next to him. Freya hadn’t realized how uncomfortable heights made her.
Even looking at the floor made her dizzy. She held onto Eldridge’s shoulder just to sit, but couldn’t take her eyes away from the long fall that awaited her with one wrong move. The room spun. Or maybe that was the floor that shifted in some horrible earthquake that was simply bad timing.
Eldridge grabbed onto her hand and tugged it to his chest. “Look at me, Freya. I promise you, you won’t be able to look at anything else.”
The air shuddered in her lungs, but she ripped her eyes away from the floor to look at the man she loved. Eldridge had dropped all the glamour he used to keep himself from looking even remotely mortal, and an owl stared back at her.
She was so much closer now than she had been in the Owl Mother’s sanctuary. Now she could see the fine lines of dark feathers around his golden eyes. The way one side of his mouth sank into the depths of those soft feathers and how the faint hint of a beak hadn’t quite grown over his nose. But mostly she saw the man she loved in his eyes, even though they weren’t exactly the same as the silver ones she was used to.
Freya cupped his feathered cheek and stroked her thumb through the soft downy feathers there. “You’re still handsome like this, you know. I find you no less attractive.”
“I’m monstrous in this form. Just as all goblins are to mortals.” He looked away from her, but his cheek leaned into her touch as though he craved the contact. “I know this isn’t the visage you fell in love with.”
“It’s another addition to your strange beauty, my love.” She smoothed her fingers over his cheekbones and turned his attention back to her face. “I know you’re a goblin. I always wondered why you were so different from the others, and now I know. The glamour was all a way for you to hide.”
“Not hide.” He shook his head in denial of the words. “I never hid from anyone. But it was a way to make me look more human. More like a ruler rather than some goblin boy who had won himself a throne.”
“Oh, my Goblin King.” Freya drew him close to her, pressing her forehead into his feathers. “Is that why you’re so afraid? Do you think you’re going to lose me and be that lost boy all on your own again?”
“I fear it every day.” Finally, he lifted his hands and tunneled them into her hair. He touched her as though she had already died. As though all that remained of the woman he loved was a pretty ghost with the promise of love in the afterlife.
“I won’t die, you know. I thought you’d have a little more faith in me than that,” Freya said. She giggled a little and leaned into his touch with a soft sigh. “I know this hasn’t been easy for you, and the addition of a child to the mix only made it more difficult.”
“The child made it more real.“
She supposed she could understand that. But that didn’t mean they could stop. Though the inevitability of risking her life also didn’t mean Eldridge’s fear was invalid.
Sighing, she scooted closer to him and set her head on his shoulder. Touching him like this made the heights not so bad. Just like being with him made everything else not quite so frightening. “I know,” she whispered. “I thought the same thing. All of a sudden I was more afraid than when I started.”
He snorted. “Of course this is what makes you afraid. Not the fact that you’re going to be meeting actual gods who are judging if you are worthy of the magic you stole from the Autumn Thief.”
“Hey.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “Lark wanted me to take it. Is that really stealing?”
“Yes. It’s still stealing.”
She shrugged. “Well, then I guess I stole it. But I don’t feel bad about what I did. Lark was right, and I trust her.”
A long silence stretched between them. The wind ruffled his feathers, and she heard the soft sound like a lullaby in her ear.
“A baby,” he muttered. “What are we going to do with a baby?”
“Love it,” she replied without hesitation. “We will love our child within an inch of its life. An embarrassing amount of love that will probably make her or him feel smothered until they’re old enough to realize what a blessing it is to have us as parents.”
Eldridge chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, holding her tight against his side. “I’m afraid I have little experience with that kind of love.”
“Sure you do.” Freya took his hand in hers, holding it against her shoulder and squeezing tight. “You’ve kept me around this long. You know exactly how to love like that.”
Eldridge was quiet for long heartbeats. Had she been too forward? Was he consumed by fear that he wouldn’t be a good father to their child?
But then he kissed the top of her head and breathed, “I suppose I do. But now what do we do, Freya?”
“Unfortunately there’s only one thing to do.” She took a deep breath and tried to feel brave. To feel strong. “We keep going with the trials. We keep proving that I’m worthy of this so we can get out of here and love our child the best we can.”
