Chapter 94

Chapter 94

“Phill*p, bring her here,” I said coldly before Freya could even speak. “If she starts trying to wiggle her hands or mumble anything, you can go ahead and kill her.” I wasn’t sure if he would be capable of it, what with her powerful magic, but I wasn’t opposed to him trying.

Phill*p, good, loyal man that he was gripped Freya by the back of the n*eck and marched her toward me. Remarkably, she wasn’t trying to user her magic against him.

Freya squeaked but did not utter another sound as she stumbled toward me.

“You have some balls showing up here,” I grunted. “If Jamie’s alive, I’m sure this is your last stop. I’m tempted to take care of the situation myself.”

have to

“Isla…” Freya choked, reaching out toward me “Please, you listen-”

“Don’t touch me!” I snapped, jerking away from her.

Phill*p rectified the situation by taking Lavender’s sash and tying Freya’s wrists behind her. He then kept a vice-like grip on my ex-best friend’s arm. I hoped not having the use of her hands wold limit her magic, but I wasn’t sure.

Freya didn’t even resist. “Isla…”

“Luna Moonrose,” I corrected her, my eyes narrowed. It was about time she started respecting me and my station.

Freya swallowed the best she could after Phill*ps tight grip on her throat had done some damage. “L-Luna Moonrose. Please, you have to-”

“I don’t have to do anything but find out if my husband and daughter are still alive and well and lead my people right.” I felt nothing towards her, less than nothing.

Losing Jamie and Margot had hollowed out the place in me where emotions should have resided. I still had hope, but the longer I went without seeing them, the more despondent I became. My former friend’s betrayal couldn’t even register at that depth of loss. “Unless you can help me with any of those, then we’re done here.”

“I have to explain,” Freya pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.

“I am DONE with your explanations!” I shouted. “All they turn into are lies and traps. Did you think with Ashbluff disbanded and the council defeated, you had nowhere else to go. and would try throwing yourself on MY mercy?”

“That’s not why I’m h-” Freya began.

I shook my head. “Freya, whatever you’re here for, it’s for your own gain. I see you don’t have Jamie or Margot with you, so you are basically useless to me, Freya. Jamie would. have you executed right here and now.”

Fright showed on Freya’s face.

The tiniest twinge of regret tickled through me. “I’m willing to let you go, so long as I don’t ever see you again or have to listen to one more of your lame excuses.”

“I caused the accident!” Freya blurted just as I waved at Phill*p to send her on her way.

What?” I hissed.

“I cast the curses. I caused the accident. It was all me, Luna Moonrose. It was all me,” Freya sobbed.

I looked at Phill*p. When he let Freya go, she threw herself at my feet, bound wrists and all.

“I can’t live with myself, you not knowing. You’re my friend. You’ve always been my best and closest friend.” Freya buried her face in my skirt.

My mouth twisted in disgust, and I shoved her away. “How can you even say that to me after all you’ve done?”

“I just wanted to get you, Jamie, and Margot to the human territories where you’d be safe!” Freya insisted, kneeling on the ground. “But it all went sideways. Stefan, Jamie’s uncle, thought he should be the Lycan King, and Ashbluff sided with him and… and they were going to kill you all. I couldn’t stop the alliance, and I couldn’t change the fact they knew about the prophecy, but I could get you out.”

With a frown, I said, “I don’t understand.”

“Hera made me make a poison to kill you AND Margot. She got it into the castle. That’s why you got so sick. She was so sure she’d killed you she left and told the council the mission was accomplished. But I gave her weaker poison than she thought. When they learned you hadn’t died and Jamie was taking you to a hospital, they were lying in wait. I had to get to you first.” Freya rubbed her leaking eyes on her shoulder.

“So you cursed my memories away and nearly killed my daughter because you were HELPING?!” I yelled.

“I was trying. I was trying so hard. My powers were so new-I screwed it all up, Isla. I was

could live going to curse away your memories and bind your wolves so the three of you in peace with the humans, but that’s not what happened. That’s not what happened at all.” Freya heaved a s ob. “I hurt you. I hurt Margot. I thought after he started getting out of

the car… I knew I’d done something wrong. I knocked him out and took them back to the -castle.”

“And left me on the road? Thanks,” I grumbled)

Freya looked down at the ground. “They were coming. I had to make a choice. I knew if there was ever going to be a chance of saving your family, Jamie was going to have to be alive to go get you. I-I cast a second curse on Margot, so Ashlar would never be abl find her, no matter where they went, but that made her go blind. I failed. I failed so spectacularly, Is-Luna Moonrose, and all I’ve wanted since then is to get things back on track.”

“By making every wrong move,” I deadpanned.

“Yes,” Freya agreed. “I killed a councilman who came for you all, but I knew there would be others. I only had time to grab Jamie and Margot. I’m sorry, Isla. I’m so sorry.”

“And I’m alive now because..?” I asked out of morbid curiosity.

“I basically made them believe you were unkillable,” Freya laughed bitterly. “After you didn’t die from the poison OR the car crash, they believed it.”

“But they poisoned me anyway, hoping I’d never remember who I really was,” I said.

Freya’s shoulders slumped. “That was Hera’s idea. But yes.”

“And you provided her with the poison,” I went on.

“Yes,” Freya admitted sadly.

“And now you’re here asking for my forgiveness?” I seethed. “Because I’m telling you right now, Freya, you’re not going to get it. The last time I saw my husband, he was chasing you, and I see he’s rather tellingly absent from our little conversation here. So, what did you do with him?”

“I lost him in the woods. I’m a coward: I didn’t want him to kill me when he found out the truth,” Freya whispered.

“Yet, you have come here to me,” I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “What POSSIBLE reason could you have?”

“I’m here because I owe you. So much. Much more than I can ever give you or make up for,” Freya said. “And… and I think… I think I might… might have a way.”

“A way to what?” I asked.

“To break the curse.”