Glittering Shadows (12 page)

“Hey, wait!” Hel cried. He grabbed Nan’s arm, trying to stop them both.

Nan shoved him back, knocking him into the people behind him, then she kept running with Sigi. They darted down the closest alley before the bar crowd could rouse themselves to follow, and then
turned again from there.

“Taxi,” Sigi said, spotting a cab. “Taxi!” She flung out her arm, running into the street to stop the driver. They rushed into the backseat and told the driver to return
to Sebastian’s headquarters.

“We should have thought of that,” Nan said. “Old acquaintances.”

“I
did
think of it,” Sigi said. “I wanted to see old friends and explain. I didn’t think they’d be afraid of me—at least, not once I told
them.”

“Well, we don’t know how the situation in the city must look from the outside, with the workers appearing last night and the Chancellor’s story. People must be terrified.
I’m sure once things calm down, you can explain.”

“That makes sense. But seeing Hel look at me like that…” Sigi brought the camera bag into her lap and put her arms around it.

“Was he a good friend?”

“I had a lot of good friends. Hel and I have known each other since we were kids; he was practically my brother. Margie was a good friend, too. Hilarious, and she’d take good care of
you. And Hilda, and Helena…”

“You have a lot of friends,” Nan said, feeling suddenly aware of her own isolated life.

“I did. They’d love you, too.”

“I don’t know.” Nan tried to keep the conversation moving, unsure if any group of people would truly “love” her. “Maybe you could write them letters
explaining—it might be less shocking for them that way.”

“You’re right. It was careless of me to hope I’d run into them and think they wouldn’t question what happened. I just yearn for normalcy.”

“You and me both.”

O
n his fourth morning at the Hands of the White Tree headquarters, Freddy woke to gunshots.

When he came downstairs, a small crowd had gathered, watching as Will and a wiry man named Johan dragged a limp body into the house.

“Anton and Roger were on guard duty,” Will said. “Roger’s nowhere to be found, and Anton’s dead.”

“Roger
shot
Anton?” Sebastian hurried into the center of the commotion, wearing clothes he looked like he’d slept in. “Did anyone see him?”

“Max, Werner, and Keller went out to find him.”

“Bring Anton to my office.” Sebastian ruffled his hair and then looked at Freddy. “Can I talk to you?”

I knew this was only a matter of time
. “You can talk to me,” Freddy said. “From there, we’ll see.”

“I don’t force people to use magic,” Sebastian said, walking with him down the hall to the stairs. “Let me make that quite clear.”

“I assume this is the introduction to some heavy persuasion, then?”

Sebastian threw up a hand. “I do want to know why one of my men would shoot another.” He stopped at the door of his office, nodding at Will and Johan. Ingrid had come up behind them,
and Sebastian shut the door once she’d stepped in, leaving the men outside.

“This
is
what your magic was meant to do, Freddy,” Sebastian said, “allowing this man to have his final say.”

Freddy half-listened, feeling his power pulse in the presence of the dead man. He had never noticed the change that came over him when his magic had an opportunity. He had never gone without
it.

Ingrid cocked her head at him. Her eyes were dark in her pale face. Yet, she didn’t seem sad. Freddy wasn’t sure what she was thinking.

His fingers itched.

“Arabella said I had to stop working my magic, that it was making me sick.”

“That is true, to a point,” Ingrid said. “But this will be a mere fraction of the effort the Valkenraths put you through, and there are herbs that help offset the ill
effects.”

He wanted to believe her, wanted to give in. She would say anything to get him to work for them.

“It isn’t any healthier to suppress your magic than it is to use it too much.” She came closer, looking up at him—she was quite small, barely reaching his shoulder. Her
face was plain, and her dress was simple and longer in the hem than was fashionable. She had to be twice his age. Yet the word that flashed into his mind when she looked at him was
“seductive.” If he listened to her speak for too long, he might do anything she asked.

He thought of Thea. He had seen little of her the past few days. She helped Ingrid tend to the injured, and she seemed more interested in chatting with Sebastian and his men than seeing him. She
danced to the evening music and didn’t pester him to join her. She still hadn’t checked on her mother.

I can’t let her get to me.

He turned on his heel. “If I revive one person, it will lead to more and more. And soon you’ll have someone you don’t want to let go.”

“Freddy, one thing I swore I’d never do,” Sebastian said, “is force a magic user to work. But don’t you want to know, too? What if Roger brings word of you back to
whoever he works for?”

“We could all be in danger,” Ingrid said, “including your girl.”

Sebastian’s expression was brooding as he gently checked Anton’s pockets. Freddy thought he must be casting for a way to convince him.
I’d do the same thing, if it were
someone who died working for me.

“I’ll do it,” Freddy said. “On one condition.” His whole body was growing warm with power, though he knew this was an illusion; he was a slave to his magic more
than it gave him power.

“Yes?” Sebastian said.

“I believe Ingrid put a spell on Thea, a spell that was meant for me. If you’re really working for a righteous cause, you don’t have to enchant us to have our help.”

Ingrid regarded him with such a dark look that he felt a chill of fear. Her look went far beyond her fragile appearance. Those eyes belonged to something ancient.

“All I did,” Ingrid said, “was show her Yggdrasil. When Thea saw Yggdrasil, she forgot her human suffering. It may seem like she has become a little heartless, but she has
simply connected with the greater love of the entire universe. She’ll grow stronger and stronger because of it.”

Sebastian stood like a statue as she spoke, until the last moment, when a small frown tugged at his mouth.

“Do you have anything to say, Sebastian?” Freddy asked.

Sebastian looked at Ingrid, briefly. Then he said, “No.”

“No?” Freddy threw up a hand. He realized he should probably be more delicate for the sake of his friends, if not self-preservation, though he was too frustrated for delicacy.
“I don’t know what madness you have
him
under,” he said, pointing at Sebastian, “but I have gone through too much to see Thea forget all about her mother.”

“I’m not under any madness,” Sebastian replied, but the response was oddly delayed. “What are you accusing Ingrid of?”

Ingrid came closer again. She touched Freddy’s hand in a familiar way. “So suspicious, Freddy…” Why didn’t he stop her? “I understand, seeing you spent all
those years with the Valkenraths. You don’t trust other people. Give Thea time: She will remember her mother as soon as she’s ready.”

“And when will that be?”

“It’s her decision. I haven’t put anything in her mind that wasn’t already there.” Ingrid turned Freddy’s hand over, like she was reading his palm.
“Such power in these hands. You’ve never known what it is to do
good
. Wouldn’t you like to find out? I can feel the magic burning inside you. You don’t have to hold
back.”

Freddy felt short of breath. Trying to resist Ingrid and his magic at once…it was too much.

“I just want to prove that I
can
hold back,” he said.

“You can’t,” she said. “Can you?” She nudged his shoulder, pointing him toward Anton. His skin itched, his hands burned, and he knew he couldn’t walk out of
this room and leave the dead man behind.

He placed his hands on Anton and kept them there until the man’s eyes opened, the magic coming in a tingling rush of relief. Anton looked at the three faces hovering over him.
“Roger,”
Anton said.

“Yes? What happened?” Sebastian put a hand on his arm.

Anton stared glassily back at him for a moment and then said, “God, I thought maybe it was a dream.”

“Not a dream,” Sebastian said. “He shot you.”

Anton took a few tense breaths and then said, “This morning I rummaged in Roger’s coat pockets. I wanted to bum a smoke. I found a letter.”

“From whom?”

Ingrid held up one hand and took Anton’s hand in the other. She glanced quickly at Freddy. “Anton may want to talk to you in private, Sebastian.”

Freddy crossed his arms. Maybe she could make him use magic, but she couldn’t make him leave Anton’s sight.

“Whatever Anton has to say, I trust Freddy with it,” Sebastian said. “He’s worth the risk.”

“I’m telling you,” Ingrid said. “Freddy has no loyalty to Yggdrasil. Until he swears his allegiance, it’s just too dangerous.”

“I will answer for any negative consequences,” Sebastian said. “Anton, please, go on. Tell me about the letter.”

Ingrid paced to the side of the room, trailing her fingers along the wall.

“It was from the king,” Anton said, looking unsure about Freddy himself. “Asking for information about you.”

“You mean Roger is working for Otto?”

“Yes. I asked Roger about it when we started our shift, and he wouldn’t answer. It was obvious he was a spy for Otto, and we got in a quick scuffle. I was trying to get his weapon
from him, and he shot me. Did he get away?”

“Seems he did,” Sebastian muttered.

It had been years since Freddy had seen a photograph of Crown Prince Rupert of Irminau, but as Sebastian spoke to Anton, the pieces fell together with such satisfaction that he smiled.

“Ah,” Freddy said. “
Now
I know why you seemed familiar.”

F
reddy couldn’t have a conversation with Sebastian until Anton had said his final words and asked Sebastian to bless him for the
afterlife.

“I’m not a priest,” Sebastian said.

“You’re my sovereign. It’s good enough.”

Sebastian glanced uncomfortably at Freddy, and then took Anton’s hand and said a prayer for him. Then Freddy let Anton go. It was getting easier to break the magic, though he doubted it
would ever be truly easy.

“Ingrid, let me talk to Freddy alone,” Sebastian said, as Will and Johan carried Anton’s body away.

Her eyes flashed at him, but she said nothing. She walked out stiffly, her face pinched with hurt. Freddy almost felt as if Sebastian had been looking for an excuse to tell him the truth.

“Prince Rupert,” Freddy said. “The last time I saw you in the newspaper, you lost a leg skiing and then drowned while swimming in the river. Was any of that true?”

“Ingrid was able to heal my leg, and the drowning story is what the servants told my father.”

“How did Ingrid heal a missing leg?”

“I’m not quite sure. She had me in a healing trance. She’s quite powerful.”

Freddy was beginning to recognize the distant stare through half-closed eyes that showed Sebastian had lost himself to Ingrid’s enchantment. “So you think Otto knows your identity?
Does he believe you really drowned?”

“It isn’t unreasonable to suppose I did drown,” Sebastian said. “I lost my leg the winter I was sixteen, and all that spring and into the summer I was recuperating and
extremely depressed. He sent me to his summer retreat with my most dearly loved servants in the hopes I would cheer up. As far as he knew, I wanted to die, but he does have spies peppered
throughout the revolution. It’s impossible to say if Roger suspected my identity or not.”

“So you ran away from home deliberately when Ingrid healed your leg. Why leave that position of power?”

“I have no power as long as my father is alive. He abuses people, and he’s killed people I loved—magic users, drained dry until they’re dead. I want to help them, but
obviously I can’t simply kill my father: I have to build an army worthy of challenging him.”

“Why did you come here?” Freddy asked. “Why not incite rebellion in Irminau first?”

“It was easier not to be discovered here,” Sebastian said. “Working in Irminau? That’s the kind of thing he would see coming. Besides that, I love Urobrun, even with all
its flaws. This is how I imagine the future. Or at least, it’s a start. And Ingrid agrees with me.”