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They held fast. I hadn’t expected anything else.
The voices grew louder and louder, until I knew the mob must be right outside the church’s doors. I heard Father Borodin’s booming voice, but couldn’t make out his exact words.
I wondered if he was trying to calm them, or whipping them into a greater frenzy. But I refused to let myself consider that maybe he had taken out the Beasts.
It was impossible. They simply didn’t have enough men to take them on. So the Beasts must still be alive… and hopefully far from this hellish place.
When the basement door creaked open, every muscle in my body tensed. But it was not the Father or the Augur who came down the stairs for me.
A veiled, hooded figure slipped quietly down the stairs, but it wasn’t until she pulled her veil back that I recognized her. Freya.
She wore plain clothes, no sign of the usual fantastical embroidery that would give her away. And her face… her face was red and shiny, her hands equally chapped. Lines had split open on her palms and were bleeding sluggishly.
“What the hell did they do to you?” I gasped out, shocked by the burns on her skin.
Freya gave me a sour smile. “A lye bath, from my lovely future mother-in-law. Apparently I was not pure enough for her precious son, so I was forced to undergo a cleansing.”
I groaned in sympathy. It happened rarely these days, but some of the old-timers held onto the belief that a new bride wasn’t fully pure until she had been scoured with lye, and fed certain herbs that would make her void her insides for days. “Who?”
“Oleg.” Freya winced as she dug in her pocket. “His mother is just as charming as he is, let me tell you. When they decided you were unsuitable, she demanded a new wife for him immediately.”
My mouth dropped open when she pulled out a small iron key. “Freya… what are you doing?”
“Getting you out of here.” She gazed back at me fiercely, scoured lips dotted with blood. “And you’re taking me with you. I’d rather brave the Wood than let that old bitch scour me again—and I’d cut my own wrists before I let Oleg touch me. Gran was the one who stole the key from Borodin.” A crooked smile spread across her face. “He strong-armed her into giving me to Oleg and threatened to take her cottage, but Gran wasn’t about to take that lying down.”
I nodded. I could not be the only woman who escaped Vostok.
But I needed the monster to get us out of here… and I had to pray I didn’t lose control and harm Freya in the process.
“Then get me out of here, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Freya got to work immediately, unshackling me from the stocks.
For a moment I just slumped to the floor as sensation roared back into my abused nerve endings. A whimper escaped me as I rubbed my wrists. “What is everyone doing out there?"
“Screaming for your blood.” Freya took one of my wrists and rubbed hard. “The Beasts made their demands two nights ago. They left your cloak on one of the runestones. When Father Borodin didn’t give you back, they took two of the men and, ah… left bits and pieces of them on the runestones as well. Everyone thinks you’re to blame.”
I was, in a way. If I had just let Ash go through with it…
But no. That way lay only madness. I couldn’t let a Beast slaughter innocent people.
“He should’ve just handed me back to them.” I shook my head, then stood on shaky legs. The lack of food over several days made my head spin as soon as I was upright. “They won’t stop until they get what they’ve come for.”
“Well, you’re more likely to end up as a blood cleansing if we don’t get moving now.”
We moved upstairs quickly but quietly. The sounds of the angry mob grew louder and louder, and my hands trembled when I thought of what those people would do to me.
"Pull this on,” Freya hissed as we cut through the kitchen. She grabbed a bundle from next to a cupboard that turned out to be a robe and veil. I swiftly yanked them on and arranged myself; in these clothes, I could practically walk out among the crowd myself and be effectively invisible.
But we crept out through the back door of the church and into a silent yard. No one was out here.
“I told Aldis I was going to make a run for it,” Freya whispered, hooking her arm through mine and leaning in close. “I told her to leave a sign if she wanted to come, too.”
“We’ll get her,” I promised. If it was the last thing I did, I would get every single woman out of Vostok if she so desired.
We took the dirt path that edged close to the Wood. The blue barriers were within sight; it took everything in me not to lunge for them and throw myself into the Beasts’ arms.
But after seeing what had been done to Freya, I wasn’t leaving without Aldis as well.
