The Frozen Witch Book One (14 page)

“Yeah, you must be pretty shocked,” she
continued her one-sided conversation. “When Vali dragged me out of
prison, I had no freaking clue what was happening. But now I’m here
and now I can do this, it ain’t so bad.” She brought up a hand,
flicked her fingers, and played with a magical disc of power.
Somewhat like the man from last night, the disc almost looked like
a hologram. It spread out wide from her touch, and there were
multiple symbols around the inside of the magical ring.

I stared at it with slack-jawed surprise.
This only drew a hearty chuckle from Cassidy. “You must be pretty
new to still be surprised by one of these. I mean, I’m on the lower
end of the magical spectrum – still learning the ropes. Vali only
saved me two months ago.”

There was one word she’d just said – one
word that could finally break me out of my surprised reverie.
“Saved you?” I asked through a swallow. Even though the move was
nervous, my voice still rang with indignation.

“Sure, if he hadn’t come along and given
me another chance, I would have served another few years in prison.
And let’s face it, when I got out, I was destined to reoffend. You
see, I have a talent – a talent for finding trouble. I’m always
hanging out with the wrong kind of people. Anyhow, what’s your
name? We should be friends,” she concluded with some
finality.

I stared at her. And no, it wasn’t only
because she hadn’t taken a single breath between saying she had a
talent for hanging out with the wrong kind of people, to suggesting
we should be friends. Before Cassidy could start patting me down so
she could find my driver’s license, figure out my name, and then
continue this one-sided conversation, someone else scooted
over.

I looked up to see the stiff-lipped,
determined woman I’d figured had been in the police or the army.
“Cassidy, for the love of god, give her some breathing room. She’s
only just found out about this world. It’s a little too soon to be
exchanging numbers.” The woman shoved a hand in my face, and I had
absolutely no option but to grab it and let her do all the shaking.
“Alice.”

“Ah, Lilly,” I volunteered.

Alice crossed her arms and scooted back
half a meter, pushing out a foot and expertly stopping her chair as
she crossed her legs. “What was your crime?” she asked. “I took a
hit, got too involved with the mob. They paid me off, so I turned a
blind eye whenever I saw one of their cases cross my desk.” She
spoke so casually, as if she were talking about nothing more
innocent than where she’d gone to school.

I stared at her with a wide-open mouth.
“So, you’re a cop?”

She snorted. “I was a cop. Now I work for
Vali, cashing in my second chance.”

Second chance.

That word rang in my head. As it did, I
swear it took on the exact tone and force of Vali himself.

Suddenly
, I shook my head and
unashamedly leaned a little bit back. Sure, these guys were being
friendly, but Alice was a bent cop who’d turned a blind eye to the
murderous mobsters of this city. And Cassidy, though bubbly, had
admitted to arson and theft.

Alice was clearly more on the ball than
Cassidy, because her friendly grin stiffened. “You wouldn’t be here
if you didn’t deserve to be. So what did you do?”

I glanced around to see that everyone was
staring at me again.

When I’d first walked into this room, I’d
assumed it was just an ordinary office full of workers from a large
cross-range of society. Now I realized it wasn’t. It was from a
cross-range of criminals, and I very much didn’t belong.

I took a pronounced swallow and pretended
to be interested in my desk. “It doesn’t really matter. Nothing
much,” I began.

Alice snorted. “Something pretty bad,
then? It can’t be murder; Vali never accepts murderers,” she said,
her voice dropping down low. “But trust me, as an ex-cop, I’m well
aware that there’s a full range of other heinous crimes out there.
So put us out of our misery. What did you do to get in here with
us?”

I frowned as I stared from her to everybody
else. I could feel their attention like drills driving into the
back of my neck.

“What did you do?” Alice asked through a
growl. She reached just the right pitch, and it shook through me.
She had been a police officer before coming here, after
all.

“Nothing, okay? Nothing. I stole a few
things when I was a teenager, nothing big. No one ever got hurt.
And I… I got so absorbed by this box—” I suddenly lost the ability
to speak as the memory of that Norse box filled my mind. I could
still see it, still feel it. And as its memory filled my senses
long enough, I swore I could even hear it. “I got so obsessed with
it, that I forgot about an injured friend. I forgot to get a first
aid kit. It wasn’t too bad, though. It’s not like my friend was on
death’s door—” I shook my head as guilt kindled in my gut. “That’s
it. That’s all I did,” I said in a punchy tone, one brimming with
frustration and emotion.

If I’d been paying attention to anyone
other than myself, I would have realized that both Alice and
Cassidy suddenly stiffened. I would have also heard the rather
direct footfall behind me. I didn’t.

“I have no idea why that asshole has me
here, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Someone cleared their throat. From the exact
ominous tone of it, there was only one person it could be. Slowly,
like pig on a rotisserie, I turned. There he was right behind me.
Franklin Saunders. Or, should I say, Vali.

“Do you really have no idea what this
asshole wants with you?” he questioned, voice neutral. Well,
neutral on the face of it. But when you factored in his expression,
his tone was about as deadly as a gun to your head.

I was frozen to the spot, and it was from
more than the way he was looking at me. It was from the reactions
of everyone else. Seconds ago, Alice had seemed like the strongest
woman I’d ever met. Now, she looked almost meek as she stared at
her hands and pretended not to be interested.

Quickly, I glanced around the rest of the
room and saw everyone else was the same. Even Cassidy, who’d been
bubbly and vivacious moments before, now looked completely
withdrawn.

Though I was mortified at the fact Vali
had heard me ragging on him, a flare of anger licked at my
gut.

I wasn’t usually a courageous girl. I didn’t
fight battles for other people. I kept my head down, kept quiet,
and avoided trouble like the plague. Right now, I crossed my arms
in front of my chest and glared back at him.

I watched his eyes narrow. “Is that really
all you did, Lily-white?” he questioned. He said Lilly White in the
same way he always did – like it was a color, not a name: one
uninterrupted string as opposed to two distinct words.

Lily-white
had been my grandmother’s
favorite color. And as I thought of that, I thought of her. My gut
clenched.

“Aren’t you leaving out the most pertinent
detail?” Vali continued. “Your grandmother?”

I couldn’t tell, but he seemed to take a
great deal of satisfaction in saying that – in pointing out I’d
missed my grandmother’s own death. Though I’d had a heck of a lot
to deal with over the past two days, my grief still sat under my
shock and surprise. It was lodged hard in my chest like a pill I
would never be able to swallow. Sure, I’d never gotten on with her.
Sure, I’d been nothing more than a disappointment to her. But she
was still dead. I’d passed up the opportunity to say goodbye and
give her one more chance to change.

Though ideally I wanted to continue
glaring at him, I shifted my gaze, staring at my hands as I
clutched them on the desk.

From far off into the room, I heard people
whisper. “What did she do?”

My hackles rose, and I yanked my head up,
glaring at him. “What did I do? Nothing. I failed to see her before
she died. What the hell kind of crime is that? She never wanted to
have anything to do with me. Struck me off the will. I was nothing
more than a disappointment.” I rose from my chair. I was a smart
girl. Or so I thought. And smart girls don’t try to intimidate gods
of revenge. I couldn’t help myself, though. The frustration was
getting too much for me. It had formed a knot in my gut, one that
was twisting harder and harder, harder and harder. “So we didn’t
play happy families. So I didn’t achieve her crippling, impossible
expectations. You tell me where the hell the crime is in that,
asshole?” I finished with a snap.

Vali didn’t shout at me. Instead, he
crossed his arms in his go-to intimidating move, and I could see
just how much the fabric of his suit had to stretch to accommodate
his biceps. “I suggest you start facing your sins instead of
running from them.”

“Facing my sins?” I practically shrieked.
“What sins. Behind me is a bent cop and a kleptomaniac arsonist.
And you think I’m in the same boat? I accepted a fricking job from
my desperate employer rather than going to see my grandmother. I
had no idea it would be the last night of her life. That’s not a
crime. It’s a tragedy.” I wanted to keep my voice even. God did I
want to keep it even. I couldn’t. On the word tragedy, it shook,
stirring up all the emotions I’d been desperately trying to keep
controlled until now.

Vali’s eyes narrowed again, though I
couldn’t exactly say it was in anger. “The arsonist and the bent
cop are now your colleagues. And I suggest you make friends. With
them you’ll find the only redemption and comradeship you deserve.
And don’t make light of your crimes, Lily-white. You didn’t simply
fail to see your grandmother on her deathbed – you’re the reason
she was killed in the first place.”

Slap. It was the verbal equivalent of a
slap. No, who was I kidding? It was the verbal equivalent of being
sliced right through the heart.

“What?” My voice came out in a throaty,
harsh, shaking gasp. “How dare you suggest something like that. My
grandmother was dying of emphysema. I was the reason she was
killed?! She died of too many cigarettes.”

“Your grandmother was killed because she
was always taking the fall for your crimes. Either conscious or
unconscious.” His voice dropped low in such a rattling growl, it
was a surprise the floor didn’t shake.

“What? How dare you say that. You’re-
you’re a monster,” I said, the only words I could manage through
the choking gasp that shook through my throat.

Just for a second – just for a single
second, I thought I saw his expression change. I thought I saw the
anger and righteous indignation that was the hallmark of his
personality slip. And as it shifted, I saw someone I recognized.
Franklin Saunders from last night.

The second didn’t last.

Vali returned as he took a strong step
towards me. “Incorrect. I am the god who shepherds monsters.
Lily-white,” his voice did it again – sinking right through the
earth, “you are the monster. Now come with me.”

When I didn’t move – when I stood there,
frozen through shock and indignation – he reached forward and
locked a hand on my shoulder.

The threat was clear. Or maybe it wasn’t a
threat. Because momentarily, his touch seemed soft, almost
inviting. Again, the second didn’t last.

Before I could erupt – not that there was
much I could do against the god of revenge – with one hand still on
my shoulder he inclined his head towards the door. “Come with me.”
His tone was pregnant with warning. Obviously he could see my
red-bellied rage.

Something stopped me from screaming at the
guy, and/or trying to kick him in the shins.

Instead, face hot with anger and just a
little shame, I followed him out.

If all eyes had been on me before, it was
absolutely nothing compared to the attention I was drawing now.

I may have just insulted Alice and Cassidy,
but they didn’t look angry – just awed. I got the sudden impression
that Vali didn’t come and pay house visits to just any criminal
under his command.

I managed to hold it together until we
were out into the corridor, but my fuse was progressively burning
shorter and shorter. As soon as the door closed behind me, I let
rip, with more than words. Though I really wanted to control my
expression, I couldn’t. It cracked up like a melting glacier. “I
don’t know where you get off. But suggesting I got my grandmother
killed – do you actually have a heart in that chest? Or are you
just some kind of uncaring robot?”

From experience, I knew that anything I
said could not affect Vali. And yet, as I accused him of not having
a heart, his face stiffened. I watched his cheeks pale. “I have a
heart, Lily-white. I am simply careful who I show it to,” he said.
His words didn’t punch out with echoing, ringing snaps. No. They
were slow, cautious, careful.

And then I saw it in his eyes once more.
That specific look that reminded me not of the cold god of revenge,
but the man who’d picked me up so caringly after my fight last
night.

That curiosity alone was enough to stem my
anger. For like half a second. “Why would you even suggest that I
got my grandmother killed? Anyone with a phone would be able to
look up her obituary. She never looked after her health. She had a
lot of money, just no sense—” I began.

I wasn’t provided the opportunity to
finish my bitter statement. Vali took a quick, snapped step in. “Do
not speak ill of the dead. Especially when they are your family.
This is a lesson you have yet to learn, Lily-white, but one you
must if you are to ever pay for your sins. Loyalty and trust are
all that matter.” His voice took on an almost godly ring, echoing
like a strike of lightning on the word loyalty.