I dropped the dish cloth and ran straight out the backdoor Frey had walked out not five minutes ago.
Then I kept running straight to the hot spring where he’d told me he was going to bathe.
And I kept going as fast as my booted feet would carry me, freaked way the hell out. The hot spring wasn’t far but it wasn’t a two second walk around the side of the house either and I ran hell bent for leather all the way there.
Frey heard me crashing through the trees toward him, I knew this because he had his sweater off, his breeches on and was pulling on his boots which meant he’d already taken them off.
I ran straight into his arms without slowing and his body rocked back a foot on impact but his arms locked around me as he asked urgently, “What’s given you a fright, Finnie?”
I was sucking in breath and I pulled back a bit to wheeze, hand pressed into my chest (like that would help) and then I forced out, “Penelo… Pen… the cat… my cat…” I pulled in a deep breath the pushed out, “I know… this is going… to sound… nuts… but I think… my cat… is possessed.”
I stared up at him to assess his reaction to this dire news as he gazed down at me, brows knit.
“Possessed?” he asked.
“Possessed!” I cried. “By Satan, demons, pure evil, I don’t know! She said, ‘meow’ and in my head I heard, ‘let me out’ and I know,” I shook my head and waved my hand between us, “I know, Frey, that sounds utterly unhinged but I kid you not, that is exactly what I heard not once, not twice but,” I leaned into him, grabbed onto both of his biceps and got up on my toes, “three times. I’ve had that cat for nearly a month and not a peep, not the barest mew and now this! Maybe there’s evil in this world…” Oh shit! “I mean, uh… this forest. Maybe people come here to devil worship or hatchet men live out there!” I swung an arm out to the trees then back to slap my hand on his chest. “Or maybe the ghost of a murdering hatchet man who killed dozens of villagers before they caught him and strung him up lives out there and he’s pissed and he’s possessing my cat!”
Frey’s face got that look I was getting used to, like a weird sort of understanding (of what I did not know and never really did but at that moment I did not care because my fat, ginger cat was possessed by the ghost of a murdering hatchet man) and he said softly, “Finnie, take a breath and calm yourself.”
“I can’t calm myself when my ginger cat is possessed by a murderer!” I shrieked and I swear, I swear to God, Frey looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh before he spoke again and I knew he was trying hard to quell his laughter when his voice trembled with it.
“Wife, as you know,” his face got closer to mine, “women can understand cats, deer, rabbits, mice, small birds and other such animals.”
I blinked at him as my body locked in shock.
Frey spoke on. “And men can understand horses, snakes, hawks, falcons, other birds of prey and predatory or animals used in work or war, for instance, wolves and ox.”
I blinked again.
“Apparently, considering you’ll jump at any indication that Penelope has the merest whim, you didn’t move fast enough and she felt the need to tell you she wished to go outside. Since she actually had to tell you rather than you stuffing her full of chicken and fish before she got the least hungry and gathering her close to nuzzle before she even knew she wished a cuddle and moving to let her out, or in, before she shifted her great bulk fully toward the door, she hasn’t had to share her desires. If you were busy or not paying attention, she would do so. I’m sure you’ve heard the call of a variety of animals.”
I kept blinking.
So Frey finished, “Perhaps, out here in the forest where animals do not near the house due to our activity, you’ve forgotten since you haven’t heard it in some time.”
“Right,” I whispered, “I’d forgotten.”
His mouth twitched then he muttered, “That’s what I thought.”
My gaze on his mouth unfocused as this news hit me.
Holy freaking moly! They had elves and animals talked to you in this world.
That was just… plain… freaking… cool!
“Now are you all right or do you wish for me to find a witch who will scour the forest for traces of ghosts and expunge them?” Frey asked and now he was smiling so I knew he thought I was highly comical.
That was when my brows knit (though, I kinda wanted to hear about witches who could expunge ghosts).
“I’m glad to see my cat scaring the beejeezus out of me causes you such mirth, husband,” I snapped.
His arms gave me a squeeze and his mouth moved to kiss my forehead.
Once he’d done that, his lips still against my skin, he muttered, “You cause me much mirth frequently, wife.”
I blinked at his throat as his words caused my heart to flutter and he let me go and moved away.
Then what he said next caused my belly to drop and my heart to clench.
“Since you’re here, disrobe and join me in the spring.”
I stared at him as he pulled his boots off and I tried to get my heart started again, and, I might add, my lungs working because panic had filled me.
The last three days with Frey had been good. So good, I’d added so many things onto my list of why I liked him, I quit bothering to add them.
I just liked him.
First, he laughed at my jokes.
Second, he had a really fantastic laugh.
Third, he smiled or grinned at me, like loads. It was like he was a whole different person. He still wasn’t exactly Mr. Conversation but in the last three days he’d said not one thing that pissed me off or freaked me out.
Fourth, he was the kind of guy who was busy a lot, had his own things to do and he did them. He was in the stable or shed quite a bit when we weren’t in town. But even so, when he was with you, he was with you. You had his attention and his concentration and you had these in a nice way. He didn’t lie when he said he liked to see my mouth move, he listened to me talk and although he didn’t pour forth bountiful information, he answered questions about the elves, himself, his travels and all sorts of stuff and he was a really interesting guy. In fact, he was way more informative than any of the books Sjofn had left for me, telling me stuff about my Mom and Dad (of this world) in a way that was nice, like he was sharing memories with me though he couldn’t know they weren’t my memories and that he was giving me insight into my parents. And it was cool to know that, although they seemed off with me, they were well-loved by their people, they were known to be a love match even though their marriage was arranged like Frey and mine, they were both respected not only by their citizens but by rulers of other lands and Frey held my father in high regard considering he thought he was intelligent and a fair and just monarch.