I woke only a few short hours after we fell asleep in each other’s arms. While my body was deliciously exhausted, my mind was racing with a million different thoughts. There seemed to be an energy coursing through and around the castle, a foreboding feeling that left me uneasy and unable to rest. I wondered if Raudrich could feel it, as well. Although, from the look of him—arms spread wide across the bed, his mouth hanging open as he slept—he didn’t look like it.

Carefully, I rolled away from his grip and rose from the bed as I quietly felt around on the floor for Freya’s dress. I would’ve preferred to put on my own, but it was all the way across the castle in Marcus’ room and I wasn’t going to risk being spotted in the nude by our other guests.

Yanking the snug dress on, I tied the laces loosely and slipped quietly from the room.

I left the room with no real agenda—I just needed to move, to walk around in the hopes that some exercise might slow the jumble of thoughts inside my mind.

I’d yet to tell Kate what I knew I must. I was worried over Marcus and how he might or might not be adjusting to his new training and life. My thoughts were with Harry and the men who were searching for Calder. Even with my strong dislike for him, I hoped they would find him safe and well. I knew how strongly each of the men loved him.

There were other thoughts, too, happier ones—thoughts of Raudrich and the way I already knew what I felt for him but wouldn’t allow myself to say out loud just yet.

His scent still clung to my skin, and the memory of our night spent together had me walking around the dark hallways of the castle with an embarrassingly goofy grin.

As I wandered, I reveled at how utterly quiet the castle was at night. All were asleep, all except Freya, of course.

I hesitated at the thought. I didn’t know if Freya would welcome my company, but my curiosity eventually got the better of me as I paced back and forth in front of the castle’s main door.

With Nicol away, Raudrich had said himself that Freya would be lonely. Perhaps, she would welcome the company.

I snuck into the nearest empty bedchamber—Paton’s—to grab a blanket to wrap myself in while outside and realized right away why Raudrich had believed Paton would see reason to try and steal his room. The room—if one could even call it that—was little more than a closet. It had no real bed to speak of, only a simple sewn mattress and a small table next to the bed.

Laughing as I thought back on that night which now felt ages ago, I pulled the blanket from the bed and made my way outside.

The moon always seemed to be exceptionally bright on the isle and I was able to make my way to the garden path with ease. The crunch of dead leaves and plants crackled beneath my feet. So as not to frighten her, I called out to Freya and tried to hide the nervousness in my voice. I had no idea what to expect. I’d never seen a ghost before, let alone spoken to one.

“Freya, I’m Laurel. I don’t know if Nicol mentioned me to you or not. I thought you might like some company. I was having a hard time sleeping.”

I still couldn’t see her, but she had the sweetest and most tender voice I’d ever heard.

“Aye, o’course, lass. Company doesna come to me easily. I never deny it when it does. Follow the path to yer left up ahead and ye will reach the garden’s center. Ye shall see me right away when ye turn the corner.”

I relaxed at her welcome and followed her directions with great anticipation. The moment I laid eyes on her, I couldn’t help but gasp. Her translucent figure was breathtaking even from the height of Nicol’s bedchamber window. In person, she was so beautiful it was almost difficult to look at her.

“Hi.”

Freya smiled but didn’t move from her seat as she waved me over to her.

“’Ello, lass. I hoped I would have the opportunity to visit with ye soon. Do ye know how long it has been since I’ve had the chance to visit with a woman?”

“Decades?”

She didn’t look sad as she answered me and I was glad for it. It made it easier to be around her. It was heartbreaking anyway. If Freya appeared to be suffering or if she wallowed in despair, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to stand it.

“Precisely, lass.”

I moved to sit next to her and stared at her with wide eyes until she broke the silence.

“’Tis fine if ye wish to touch me, lass.”

I was very curious.

“Will you feel it if I do?”

“No. Yer hand will sweep right through. Try. I promise ye, I doona mind.”

Hesitantly, I reached as if I meant to shake her hand. It felt no different than waving it through air, though I could see my fingers pass through her own.

“Wow. I…I’m sorry, Freya. I can’t begin to imagine what this is like for you.”

She shrugged rather nonchalantly.

“I made my peace with this long ago, not that I willna welcome a release from this place when it comes. I pray for it every day.”

“It will. Someday, you’ll be free. I truly believe that.”

She smiled and leaned in close.

“I agree, which is precisely why I am so verra glad that ye are here. It has restored my hope.”

“Why do you say that? I’ve far less power than the men that surround you here. I can’t see how I could possibly make you hope for anything.”

She shook her head as she spoke up to disagree.

“Ye are wrong about that, Laurel. Yer presence here has agitated Machara in a way I’ve not ever felt before.”

“That’s only because…” I hesitated. I hoped that saying Machara’s suspicions out loud wouldn’t give Freya any reason to believe them. “Machara worried that I might be here for Nicol. She’s very jealous of him.”

Freya laughed loudly.

“Lass, Machara is a lying shrew. She no longer cares for Nicol. If she is ever free, she wouldna take him for herself. She would kill him without thought or feeling. This state she’s placed me in, it ties me to her. I feel what she feels, and ’twas not jealousy she felt in yer presence. ’Twas fear.”

“Why would she be afraid of me? I’ve no power over her.”

“Why do ye think there are far more stories of faeries ruining the lives of men than of women?”

I hadn’t the slightest idea.

“I don’t know.”

“Men would have us believe that we are the emotional ones, but they only tell themselves that to hide from what they know is true. We hold the power, lass. Faeries know this truth. They know that we are too wise to make the same bargains men strike with them all the time. The day Machara is defeated, it willna be at the hands of the men here. It shall be women that defeat her. Even now, with the two lassies that arrived this night, her fear has grown. With each new lass that steps inside the walls of this castle, Machara’s chances of survival dwindle.”

I liked the idea of that—Freya’s certainty that it would be women that would save the day.

“How do you know that?”

“Because Machara does. She rarely permits herself to think on it, but I feel it each time fear flares up within her. It feels to me almost as if it were destined—a prophecy of sorts—one which she is determined to change. I doona believe she will.”

“Have you ever mentioned any of this to Nicol?”

She shook her head, and for the first time all night, she looked sad.

“No. Nicol carries enough guilt for all that happened. His hope that one day he will free me is one of the few things that has made these years bearable for him. There’s no need for him to know that it willna be him that saves me.”

The sun was slowly beginning to peek over the horizon, and I could see in Freya’s gaze that her night was almost over.

“Thank you for speaking with me. I’ll visit you again.”

She smiled and laid her hand on my knee, although I couldn’t feel her touch.

“Oh, please do, Laurel. Even when Nicol returns, doona feel like ye canna interrupt him. I see enough of him. I would welcome yer company over his anytime.”

She disappeared while laughing. At least even in such a miserable purgatory, she’d found a way to be joyful.

She was a better woman than I ever hoped to be.