Page 33 of The Freedom You Seek
“We figured. But I’d like to hear from you what happened.” Dion’s eyebrows were drawn together, and he appeared serious. Gone was the infuriating asshole who got a rise out of riling me up, and this new facet of him almost shocked me.
If Dion was able to behave, I could give him the same courtesy. “Well, the day before it happened, my parentsinformed me they’d arranged my engagement to Jelric Feroy, and I had to bow to their wishes.”
Dion’s features morphed into a tight mask. Only a muscle in his cheek ticked—I’d seen that more often before, and I guessed it was a reoccurring reaction to irritation. He stayed silent, though, so I went on.
“Not that it matters to you, but I hated the idea from the beginning. Not my parents, though—theyconvincedme to meet him and his father, Perran. I bet you’ve heard of Perran Feroy before—he’s successful, famous, a total creep, better known as the King of Merchants, and I believe that’s why my parents wanted this union.”
“So your mother and father sold you to Feroy’s son?”
“That’s one way of putting it. Anyway, the same day I found out about my arranged marriage, Jelric and Perran came over for dinner so my future husband and I could meet. Afterward, not only did I hate the idea of marrying, but I also despised Jelric like no one else ever before. Do you know the feeling of meeting someone and instantly knowing they don’t have a single redeeming quality at all?”
I studied Dion’s face. Somehow, the way his lips had thinned told me he was angry, but it didn’t seem directed at me. He might have been an insufferable prick, but I didn’t detest him as much as I hated Jelric. It was quite obvious that much of Dion’s gruff behavior was some kind of mask, and this talk was deepening my suspicion.
“Jelric insisted on meeting me the next day so we could get to know each other. He made me wear an extremely indecent dress that he’d picked out on the pretense that my clothes would embarrass him and hurt his reputation.”
On his rock, Dion sat so still that he could easily have been mistaken for a statue. Only the hyperactive muscle in his cheek ticked from time to time.
“Long story short, he took me to the stable you’ve mentioned. Jelric thought because I was his bride and future wife, he was entitled to use my body to his heart’s content. And when he tried to overpower me…”
Dion scanned me with a mixture of sympathy and fury, but he stayed silent.
“Yes…yes, he tried to…rape me. He was a lot stronger than me, but with a last desperate effort, I was able to get a hold of his dagger. I only wanted to hurt him enough to stop his assault, but I must have hit something vital. Suddenly, there was so much blood. Too much.” Images streamed into my mind, but I was adamant not to succumb to the painful memories. I took some deep breaths to ground myself and met Dion’s eyes again.
His shoulders were tense, and his features contorted into a vicious snarl. “He can call himself lucky that you killed him so quickly. I wouldn’t have been so merciful if I’d gotten my hands on him. He would have suffered a lot more for a very,verylong time—and then he would still have deserved more punishment.” There was darkness written on Dion’s features, and he looked frightening in his wrath. Yet somehow, that didn’t scare me.
“That’s one way to see it. Anything else?”
“Your story fills in some gaps and confirms some of our theories. Antas was able to examine the corpse of yourbetrothed.” He spat out the last word as if it was the most disgusting thing he’d ever had to say. “What I don’tunderstand is why the fuck did they charge you with murder and tried to execute you when you clearly acted in self-defense?”
My fists slowly clenched and unclenched as I contemplated how far I should let Dion in. Just because he behaved decently toward me at the moment didn’t mean we were confidants or friends. It would be better to leave my parents and their role out of the whole mess. I had no doubt that my father, of all people, hadn’t fought for me. For all that I knew, he might just as well have argued for the right to operate the gallows himself. After all, he’d threatened to dispose of me should I endanger the union between Jelric and me.
“No one of the officials asked me for my perspective afterward. My best friend’s father is Credenta’s mayor, and she was able to sneak into the dungeons for a secret visit, but only once. She mentioned that Perran Feroy was furious because his son had died and pushed for my execution—a life for a life. My friend listened to my story and promised to talk to her father, but my best guess is even a daughter can’t trump a rich, influential merchant.”
“That’s important information. It means it’s likely thisimpostorkingwill send men to hunt you down. At the very least, he’ll put a bounty on your head.”
“Yes. He didn’t seem like the type of person to just let things rest. But hey—you weren’t done with your side of the story.”
“Well, when I spotted the gallows, I connected the dots. Then we quickly planned how we’d act if my gut feeling would be correct.”
I frowned. I was surely missing something, but instead of prying further, I stayed silent.
“When they brought you out, drugged and defenseless, I knew I’d been right. So I waited for my sign to come to your rescue. It was all very improvised and last minute. To pull off a clean extraction in a public place is tricky, so they’d actually started hanging you, and I immediately abandoned the plan, resorted to magic, and left it to the others to deal with the aftermath. Well, except for Ireas. I wanted him to accompany us because he’s a medic in advanced training with extensive knowledge of emergency treatment and general medicine. We took you to the horses we kept ready close by and fled Credenta. You know the rest.”
“You saved my life, and I have to thank you for that. But even after your story, I don’t knowwhy. Why would a traveling group care about a random execution? Where are you from? Why have you been in Credenta in the first place? You don’t seem like the kind of people who travel across the country to visit random town festivals. So, what’s your agenda, Dion?”
His jaw worked as my questions hit him, and the pure disdain in his expression at the thought of taking a journey to an event like the one in Credenta confirmed my suspicion that he and the others had ulterior motives. “Jama, it isn’t that easy to explain.”
“Then try.”
“I only understand half of it myself, at most.”
Oh, this was a sore spot for him. At this speed, I’d soon be fluent in Dion’s facial expressions. He was surprisinglyeasy to read when he despised something—which was almost all the time. “Maybe I’ll understand the other half, and together we can make out the full picture.”
“As if,” he scoffed. “But all right. One day, a few months ago, Antas came to me and told me about a dream he’d had, encouraging him to go on a journey to find something. But Antas isn’t a seer or an oracle, so his dreams are more like vague hunches. This one didn’t tell him what, when, or where exactly to find said something. Only that it was located somewhere in Ivreia, and that he shouldn’t delay his departure.”
“A dream. You’re traveling because of adream.”
“Yes, Jama. You’ve already seen me use magic. Is it so far off that sometimes dreams can show glimpses of a possible future?”