Glittering Shadows (19 page)

Soon she would be alone.

T
he Chancellor exited his bedroom and returned to the Chancellery without thanking Freddy. Marlis emerged alone, glancing at the guards who had
been keeping watch so he couldn’t listen in. “As long as you keep Papa alive, you and your parents will be safe.” Marlis wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“The Chancellor won’t even talk to me?”

“He has too much work to do.”

“What’s wrong?” Freddy smothered his anger at being brushed off, even though it reminded him of the way Gerik treated him. He didn’t want to let her go without getting
anything out of her. “You seem upset.”

“Of course I’m upset,” she said, her tone formal. It had never been easy, finding cracks in the Marlis facade.

He took a step closer to her. “You know I hold your father’s life in my hands, whereas you haven’t even found my parents yet. If there’s something going on, you might
want to tell me. Why are you looking for information about the Norns?”

“I—” She shook her head and glanced at Volland. “If there is some girl with powerful magic running around, I need to know more.”

“You’d already known of the Norns when I mentioned them. What have you heard?” Freddy asked, searching her face for a spark of emotion.

Her face was so still she might have been a porcelain doll as she walked away wordlessly. Keeping everything under the surface was telling in its own way, Freddy thought.
If she weren’t
affected, she would have snapped back at me
.

As Marlis left, Volland returned to Freddy with an expression of polite apology. “I’ll show you to a room where you can rest and have something to eat,” Volland said.

After that, servants began a parade of Freddy’s favorite foods. The struggle against his magic had left him even hungrier than his regular magic did, and he didn’t know when he would
ever see the like of such food again. Maybe no one would. Fine sliced meats and veal in gravy with wild mushrooms and mashed potatoes. The frothy clouds of whipped cream, the apple strudel,
chocolate tortes. He thought of old stories where witches fattened people up to eat—they wouldn’t have much luck fattening up Freddy. No matter what he ate, his face always looked a
little too thin.

Just when he was tiring of this feast, Marlis opened the door. “Freddy, I would like to talk to you alone for a minute, please.”

She dismissed the guards and the maids, and perched rather rigidly on a chair.

“I hope you have enjoyed the meal,” she said. “I thought you must be hungry, hiding out as you were.”

“I’m not sure ‘enjoyed’ is the right word, when I know people are out there battling over what’s left, worrying about the winter.”

“How worldly you’ve become in a week,” she said, but the barb lacked teeth. Her eyes were shadowed. “I have no one else except him, you know.”

“I know.” He was softer now.

“He’s in a meeting discussing how to proceed, but it isn’t the same as before. I see it that way, although I’m not sure if he does. I do realize that now—you hold
his power. And that is no way to live.” Her lips formed a tight frown. “He can’t last for long.”

“No.”

She drew out a handkerchief that had been balled inside her hand and twisted it. “Please tell me everything you know about the Norn you met.”

“I don’t know much more. Why don’t we see what your records say?”

“You needn’t look so smug, Freddy, you don’t hold the power here. You hold my father’s life, nothing more, and you know if you let him go, there would be nothing stopping
us from bringing you harm.”

He hadn’t been aware he looked smug, but now he raised his eyebrows. “Really? You don’t think my powers will be useful in the future?”

“I know we’ve already run your powers dry.” She wasn’t meeting his eyes again. “I know if you keep using magic, your body will start to break down.”

If she wanted to rattle him, those were the words to do it. He ran a hand through his hair, remembering Arabella’s talk of abused witches—first every strand of their hair turned
silver, and then it fell out. “I imagine I must still have some years of magic left in me before I’m dead. And if you don’t care about my welfare at all, you’ll be willing
to take those years from me. Your father would.”

The conflict within her was visible in her silence, in the handkerchief twined around her fingers. Her admission that her father couldn’t last for long wasn’t just about the
precarious nature of Freddy’s magic. She no longer agreed with her father. Something had opened her eyes.

“Marlis,” he said softly. “Did something happen…besides your father’s death?” He had almost said,
Did something happen to upset you?
, catching himself
just in time. Marlis would surely get defensive if he accused her of being upset.

“Why would you think that?”

“You don’t seem like yourself.”

“Well, neither do you. You’re keeping secrets.”

“You’re the one who seems to be unraveling, though. Tying me to a chair? Why not just talk to me? Your father told you something that has shaken you so badly that I don’t think
you know where to turn.”

Her brown eyes lifted to his, flashing anger. She shot out of the chair and walked slowly to the window. Her fingers spread along the sill. She lowered her head. “I don’t,” she
whispered.

He slowly got to his feet, to approach her, but she waved her hand at him not to come. “I can’t talk to you either. I can’t trust you. I can’t trust anyone.” She
turned to the door, and now he did hurry to her side to stop her.

Although he couldn’t quite call her a friend, she was from the same world, and even more so if she’d also been told lies. “You could trust me, but it has to be
mutual.”

She shut her eyes and spoke quickly in a rough voice, as if the words burned her throat. “He told me I’m a…Norn.”

The third Norn? Right under my nose?

The confession seemed oddly fitting. She had always seemed serious for her years, holding herself solitary, observing more than she spoke. It was more than her behavior, though: It felt like the
hand of fate, that his path would have traveled alongside a Norn almost from the beginning.

“Is he your real father?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t it?”

She looked unsure. “Well—it matters that he didn’t trust me with the truth. I know you weren’t told much about what you were really doing and why. I don’t think
that was right.”

“Did
you
know what I was really doing? That I brought back soldiers who had done nothing wrong, and they never saw their families again?”

“I didn’t,” she said in a low voice.

“Where are your real parents?”

“I never had them. He said I was stolen from a monastery.” She shook her head as if she thought this was nonsense.

“In Irminau?”

She was silent. She’d looked down on Irminauers. It was tempting to be truly smug at this point, but he wanted to earn her trust more than ever. She
must
come with him.
“I’ve met the other Norns,” he said. “There are three of you, and the two others are in this city. They’re looking for the third.”

“They’re looking for me,” she repeated, like she was finding the whole thing hard to accept. “What do they want with me?”

“They want your help.”

“Doing what?”

“Well…that’s where it gets complicated. The other two Norns aren’t quite in agreement. That’s why I think they need you—to balance things out.”

“Where have you been, Freddy? Who are you with? How do you know so much all of a sudden?”

To tell her about Sebastian would be dangerous. Sebastian had feared Freddy might talk under duress. “The others are with a man who escaped from Irminau. I think he sees the potential in
the good things about this country.”

She sniffed. “And you’ve met him?”

“Yes.”

“What does he want with Urobrun?”

“He wants to defend Urobrun from King Otto’s army and also to see new leaders in Urobrun—a regime where children aren’t kidnapped and lied to, and magic users
aren’t banned in public and exploited in private.” He tried to sum it up in a way she might appreciate. If he mentioned that Sebastian wanted to unify Urobrun and Irminau, it would
scare her off.

“Lofty goals. But I won’t see this country overrun by radicals.”

“Look, I know you don’t see me quite as an equal—”

“I never said that.”

He scoffed. “You didn’t have to say it. I don’t want to see this place turn into a mess either. I have my own hesitations about the revolutionary movement, but who will replace
your father among the current leadership? And do you trust them? Would they listen to you at all?”

A sour expression came over her. “I’m sure they would not.”

“You should come with me,” he said. “Your father will have to pass on—the future is still ahead for you.”

“You’re asking me to leave behind everything I know because of some story.”

“Is it a story?” he asked. “Or are you Urd?”

She looked thoughtful, her eyes far away, and somehow older. “I know that name,” she whispered.

“L
ast night,” Sigi whispered to Nan at breakfast, “when you went to bed, I got talking to Andre about how he met
Ingrid.”

“Who is Andre?” Nan asked.

“He’s the one with all the sisters,” Sigi said, as if Nan would know who that was.

“So what did he say?” Nan asked.

“He was at a protest. It turned violent, and he was hurt. He said Ingrid appeared like an angel and healed his wounds. I asked what the wounds were and how she healed them, and he said he
didn’t remember.”

“I can’t help wondering if she’s spreading her magic too thin. She’s always looking around like she’s paranoid about something.”

“So the whole thing might topple with one nudge.” Sigi flicked her finger at the air.

“Mm.” Nan had been haunted for the past couple of days by the memory of King Otto holding her captive. He knew exactly how to harm a Norn—the pain of music, how the wyrdsong
worked, how they would be reborn after death. She had gone to him for help, to save Yggdrasil. He had held her there for weeks and finally—did he kill her, or did she manage to kill herself?
Why didn’t he help her, if the tree was what provided him with magic users? What had happened after that?

Whatever had happened, Ingrid could no longer be trusted for answers.

“I’m losing you again,” Sigi said. “Are you having another memory?”

“Just thinking.” Walking home from the gathering at Hel’s two days ago, she had told Sigi about the memory of King Otto, though she didn’t relate details. She felt so
vulnerable speaking to anyone about the memories that seemed to assault her at unexpected times. Even the pleasant ones—Skuld’s hutch of rabbits, or Urd’s potato stew.

Thea peered in the room, plate of bread and cheese in hand, her hair freshly curled. “Why are you two hiding out in here?”

“It’s quiet,” Nan said. They had purposefully sought out this room in the far corner of the house.

“Well, Sebastian is back from the UWP meeting. He’s making an announcement in a few minutes, and I thought you’d want to listen.”

The men were gathered around the drawing room. The pocket doors had been opened to accommodate everyone. Nan, Sigi, and Thea pressed in at the back.

“Well,” Sebastian said, taking a drink of coffee, “I’d say it was a success. The UWP is making a valiant effort to stop fighting with one another and mobilize. A few key
figures have been killed over the past week, and that’s shaken everyone into action. They held an election, and Brunner is now officially the UWP president.”

“They are planning a coup d’état,” Heffler said, “and we will support them. The first stage begins tonight.”

“I’ll be acting as field leader for this mission,” Sebastian said. “Heffler will be my second in command. I’ll need one hundred and forty men, so we’ll be
recruiting from our secondary bases as well. Once they arrive, I’ll hold a planning meeting. Will, you’ll be serving as third in command under Heffler. Most of you will be going with
Heffler, while I need about twenty men to follow me for the first phase.”

Sebastian called for volunteers to fill a few more positions. When he mentioned a medical unit, Thea lifted a hand. “I could go as a nurse.”