“You are correct,” Frey agreed. “But my mother-in-law does and it was me who seated her on that throne.”
Nils drew in a long, loud breath through his nose.
“Bloody hell,” Frey muttered, looking to the ceiling. “I can’t stand to be in his presence much longer. Where’s that bloody witch?”
“You called?”
Both Noc and Frey turned toward the feminine drawl, and they did this just in time to see the green smoke start to dissipate and Valentine lift her hand in an indifferent gesture. This movement caused the handsome but frightened-looking woman she’d brought with her to tumble back. She slammed into Nils Drakkar, taking them both into the shelves where more bottles fell and smashed on the ground.
“Pity, waste of good liquor,” Valentine noted casually.
“Kristian and his family?” Frey asked.
Valentine looked to him. “Frightened, but no harm had been done. Though I arrived just in time.”
“She’s a witch,” Frey informed Valentine.
“She was a witch,” Valentine returned. “I’ve stripped her of her powers.”
“What?” Nils whispered.
Noc looked to him. He was now holding his wife in a protective embrace Noc didn’t think the man had in him.
“It’s true, my love,” his wife said in a trembling voice. “My magic, she took it.” Her gaze wandered fearfully to Valentine. “Her power is…I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“This is…it is…it’s,” Nils sputtered, “unspeakable.” He speared Valentine with his eyes. “Return it immediately.”
“If you don’t cease speaking to me in this manner, you odious man, you’ll find yourself without a tongue,” Valentine retorted.
“Who do you think you are?” Nils demanded, pulling his wife behind him and taking a step toward Valentine.
When he did, the witch lifted her hand and snapped.
Nils stopped immediately. Both his hands shooting to his mouth, his eyes getting huge, his facing losing all color, he staggered back and Noc watched as his eyes got even more huge and he rolled his jaw around in a bizarre way that was also creepy as fuck.
“Valentine,” Frey sighed.
“I’ll give it back,” she promised, but finished with, “eventually.”
Noc stared at her. “You took his tongue?”
She tipped her head to the side. “I didn’t fancy how he was using it.”
“Bloody hell,” Frey muttered.
Frey’s last man in the room, a guy named Ruben, chuckled.
“I assume you have plans for these two cretins that I’ll approve of?” Valentine asked Frey.
“I’m uncertain you’ll approve of them but I can assure you they’ll be punished,” Frey answered.
She shifted only her eyes Nils and Anneka’s way. “Punished seems a tame word in this instance.”
“They’re going to be inhabiting a cell for the rest of their days,” Frey shared. “Does that suffice?”
“You can’t be serious.” Anneka’s words sounded forced out.
Frey looked to his aunt. “I can’t?”
She took in his face and shrunk away.
“I suppose that’ll do,” Valentine murmured.
Having turned fully to them, she was eyeing them like she would eye a pesky rodent she intended to trap by breaking its back and then dispose of.
“I’m done here,” Frey stated and looked to Ruben. “Keep an eye on them until Lund gets back with the constable.”
“Right, Frey,” Ruben answered.
He turned to Valentine. “Give him back his tongue.”
She gave him a small smile. “Can’t I keep it?”
“Give it back, Valentine.”
“Just for a little while,” she coaxed.
“Valentine, there’s Franka to see to,” Frey reminded her.
That took the witch’s attention. She lifted her hand, snapped, and Nils instantly whispered a relieved yet horrified, “By the gods.”
Frey wasted no time sweeping an arm out for Valentine to precede him, something she did. He glanced at Noc. Noc lifted his chin. Frey moved and Noc followed him.
They were through the kitchens and heading to the main stairs when Frey spoke.
“I’ve known her since she was a little girl. But you were right.”
Noc stopped. Valentine stopped. And they both found that Frey had stopped.
His attention was to Noc.
“There’s great substance to anyone who would endure what she did, doing it for decades to protect her brother,” Frey continued.
Noc said nothing.
Valentine also remained silent.
“Kristian is not as Nils described him,” Frey went on. “But his wit is not as sharp as his sister’s. And his will definitely not as strong. I cannot imagine how he would cope even with the threat of the lash, much less feeling the bite of it. But Franka, what I saw, I don’t even know how she remained standing.”
“She remained standing so her brother would not fall,” Noc pointed out.
Frey shook his head. “I would never think she had this in her.”
“The two people who, from birth, were meant to love her, look after her, protect her, but for Franka they were those two fuckwads,” Noc jerked his head in the direction they came, “it’s no surprise she did everything she could to make certain no one got close. This guy, the one who died, had to be something to tear off the mask she’d been wearing for so long it’s a wonder it didn’t fuse with her skin.”