by Maren Smith
I hadn’t felt this way about a woman before, ever. I always had complete control over myself and my emotions, but when I was around her, something came over me. The logical side of myself battled with my emotional side and I didn’t like it. Being calm and in control was one of my strengths. My mate should make me stronger, losing control would do the opposite. Being out of control would make me weak. I couldn’t be weak. That wasn’t an option.
My visit with Odin wasn’t meant to be, apparently, as he wasn’t there. Thor had gotten himself into some sort of diplomatic mess and he had gone to help. However, Frigg was there. As was her way, Frigg took one look at me and knew what was on my heart.
“I can discern conflict in you, grandson,” she greeted me.
“Aye, there is a lot on my plate. Dark forces are descending on Morrigan.”
“Yes, but that isn’t concerning you.”
“No.” She was right. I wasn’t scared of battle; I had never been.
“Has it occurred to you why Loki might have left Morrigan for last?”
“I didn’t give it much thought.” Now that she mentioned it, I was curious. “Do you know?”
“Morrigan is the strongest of all the chosen valkyries. Her father being one of the most intelligent beings ever to live and her mother being one of the strongest valkyries, has made her the biggest threat.”
“If she is the biggest threat, why didn’t they take her out first?” I questioned, thinking out loud. “Seems kind of counterproductive. Then again, Loki never does anything the easy way.”
I knew Morrigan was special, but it hadn’t dawned on me that she would be the largest threat to their mission.
I didn’t like it, not one bit.
Loki loved a challenge. If I knew anything about that trickster, it was that he was the Master of Games, and the last thing I wanted was for Morrigan to be a pawn in one of them.
“I’m not sure what game he plays this time, but I know that whatever it is, it isn’t good. I can feel your heart pounding from here. How is it that the heart of the god known for serenity and peace is beating so out of control?” Frigg questioned him.
“The thought of Morrigan being targeted by Loki has me a bit unsettled. Her being in harm’s path is not something that pleases me.” I knew I was growling and took a deep breath. What in the hell was going on? I was used to having a good grasp on my emotions.
“I see,” Frigg said with a knowing grin.
“You know the fate of all beings. Is she the one for me?”
“Forseti, it is not for me to tell you that.” She paused. “But, you already know the answer to that question, don’t you? The question isn’t whether she is for you, but whether you are ready to admit it.”
“I hate that you are right.”
“Aren’t I always?” We both laughed, and for a split second, I was able to put away the anxiety that plagued me.
“Morrigan is a shieldmaiden by birth, half god and half valkyrie. Her powers come from both sides. She is intelligent and fiercely loyal. Her strength is a combination of mental ability and physical. She hasn’t been raised to recognize them, but her human family had her involved in a lot of mixed martial arts, so she isn’t completely helpless. Go quickly and train her. The threat fast approaches. You don’t have much time.”
“I will head back now, thank you.”
Frigg leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Be careful, Forseti. I don’t need to remind you that Loki doesn’t play fairly.”
“I know and I will be. I can’t lose her. I just found her.”
“Don’t let love cloud your judgment. You need to be focused.”
I nodded in agreement, at the same time wondering how I could separate my love for Morrigan from my job to protect her.
“Forseti,” Frigg called as I retreated. I turned back. “Take the horse with you.”
The horse? Winter! Of course! I smiled, Morrigan would love Winter. “Great idea!”
“And Forseti?”
“Yes?”
“Feeling intensely doesn’t make one weak.”
Forseti
When I arrived back at the manor, the sound of laughter coming from the living room beckoned me. I slipped into the room, leaned against the wall and observed the scene in front of me.
Kara sat behind Morrigan, braiding her long blonde hair and wrapping it up on the sides of her head in a typical swordmaiden design. “If the enemy can grab ahold of your hair in any hand-to-hand combat, they can use it against you. By braiding it and wrapping it tightly, there is nothing for them to grasp onto,” Kara explained.
“Yes, I often wore my hair up in buns when practicing Krav Maga.”
“It is best to not to be close enough to an enemy to worry about such things,” added Edda, sitting across from them.
I felt bad for intruding in what seemed to be a bonding moment between the three women.
“Have you started working on recognizing and using your powers yet?” Kara asked.
“Not yet,” Morrigan responded.
“What were you two doing while we were gone then?” Kara accused.
“We weren’t gone long, Kara,” Edda said. “To them, it was only a few hours. Remember, time doesn’t work the same way here as it does on Asgard and in other realms. They were busy… doing other things.” She winked.
“Oh no! It wasn’t like that,” Morrigan stammered. I loved the blush that rose to her cheeks.
“I didn’t see you locked into a deep lovers’ embrace?” Edda teased.
Morrigan’s hand flew up to her mouth, and she traced her still swollen bottom lip with the tip of her pointer finger. I grinned, knowing she still felt my lips pressed to hers. I hadn’t been gentle. I wanted to leave her lips as bruised as her bottom and wanting more.
“It was just that one kiss,” Morrigan reassured them.
“I will tell you one thing,” Edda said, gently. “I’ve never seen Forseti react to someone like he does you. Generally speaking, he is the calmest god on Asgard. He’s never lost control of his emotions the way he does with you.”
“It is because he loves her,” Kara said, as nonchalantly as if she was talking about the weather.
“Love? He doesn’t love me,” Morrigan protested. The certainty in her voice concerned me.
“Of course, he loves you,” Kara responded, coolly. “I don’t have to be a mind reader to know that.”
“I am a mind reader,” Edda added, “and trust me when I say he loves you.”
“I thought he blocked you from reading his mind,” Morrigan stated.
I do. How did she know what I had been thinking? I always had my guard up.
“He does, normally. But when he was holding you, his guard went down. Apparently, the emotions he was feeling toward you prevented him from blocking me out. He loves you, Morrigan. For him to be feeling this way, it means he has found his mate.”
“His…” Morrigan paused, and although I couldn’t see her face, I could feel her emotions and hear the uncertainty in her tone. “Mate?”
“You know, his wife,” Kara added, using the Midgard word for mate.
I had heard enough and cleared my throat, making my presence known. I didn’t like Kara and Edda spilling all my secrets, but besides that, Morrigan had enough going on without adding to the confusion she was already feeling.
All three of them jumped. Kara and Edda exchanged panicked looks. Both had been over my knee before and knew how I ran my team. Gossiping was not allowed.
“Forseti! Oh! I didn’t see you there.”
Kara was the first to speak, I stopped her rising with one hand, motioning her to continue braiding Morrigan’s hair. Coming around, I stood in front of them, hands on my hips, looking down.
“How much of that conversation did you hear?” The panic was clear in Edda’s voice.
“Enough to know that my team members have forgotten some of my more basic rules,” I scolded. I wasn’t angry. This wasn’t the type of gossip that my rules were based aro
und. It wasn’t bitter, hateful and negative. I considered this more along the lines of girl talk. Even so, I would let them worry for a while.
“How was your trip to see Odin?” Kara asked, changing the topic.
“Odin wasn’t there, but Frigg was. She verified that an attack is imminent. We need to get to work on training Morrigan.” Once Kara was finished with the braids, I reached my hand down to Morrigan, helping her stand. Her scent wafted up to my nostrils, a hint of fresh, crisp cucumber. I resisted the urge to pull her into me and kiss her deeply. “Frigg told me that your adoptive family had you involved in martial arts?”
Morrigan
He called them my adoptive family. It was incredibly hard to think of them as anything but my parents and siblings. Who cared if we didn’t share blood or DNA? I loved them regardless.
Forseti stared at me, waiting for an answer. I swallowed quickly, fighting back tears. Where did all these emotions come from? I had never cried before today and now I found myself fighting back tears at every turn.
“I won the lottery with my parents. They loved me the same way they loved my siblings. They taught me how to be a good person, and they taught me how to protect myself in case something happened to me. I am a black belt in Krav Maga. I’ve been in martial arts as long as I could walk and I am rather good at it, if I say so myself.”
“Krav Maga?” Edda asked.
I had almost forgotten they were in the room. When Forseti was around, he commanded my full attention. I was magnetized to him.
“Krav Maga was developed to combine the most effective techniques from a wide variety of martial arts, street and fight training. The Israeli army used it to make them one of the strongest armies in the world,” I explained.
“On Midgard, you mean,” Kara corrected.
“Yes, on Earth.” It was hard for me to imagine another world out there beyond the one I had grown up on. “Krav Maga stands for contact combat. I learned self-defense, arrest and detainment moves. My training focused on cultivating my natural instincts to make me stronger, faster and more aware. I quickly moved to the highest level.” It was an accomplishment I was proud of. I had surpassed even my father and brothers.
“The barest of lessons.” Edda shook her head, dismissing my accomplishment. “We have a lot to teach her.”
“I wouldn’t write her off so easily,” Forseti scolded. “She is the strongest valkyrie we’ve seen born in many generations.”
“How do you know that?” Edda gaffed, looking at me.
I tried to hold back the defensive words tumbling around in my head. Part of me wanted to hear his answer, another part of me didn’t care. I knew I was strong.
“Frigg told me.”
“It makes sense,” Kara said. “Look at who her parents are.”
“Great,” I muttered. “As if the pressure wasn’t already enough.”
“Morrigan.” Forseti took me by the shoulders. “Do you know who you are named after?”
“My mother said the name comes from Celtic mythology. A shapeshifter not unlike Loki. Morrigan was a goddess of war, fate and death,” I recited
“Morrigan translates to ‘great queen’. It fits you very well,” Forseti said. “I have complete faith in you, my beautiful little goddess.” The tender endearment flowed from his lips.
I noticed. I was pretty sure that Kara and Edda noticed, too.
“Let’s get started on discovering your gifts.”
“Did Odin or Frigg give you any indicator to her talents?” Edda asked.
“Strength and wisdom,” Forseti answered. “To start with. I have a feeling that Morrigan has a depth to her. Let us go out back and spar. It will loosen you all up and it will give me an idea as to where Morrigan is skill-wise.”
I liked the idea. I loved sparring. I loved fighting. I knew I should be intimidated by the two valkyries in the room with me, but honestly, I knew they wouldn’t do any irreversible harm to my person.
As soon as I thought about it, I had to stop and ponder why I felt safe with them. Just a couple hours ago, they had kidnapped me. When and how did I get comfortable enough with them not to worry about sparring? How did I start to trust them? Whenever it was, I did feel safe enough to spar. Looking down, I realized that I couldn’t possibly spar, not in this darn dress!
“That is easy enough to fix,” Edda said, once again reading my mind. She touched my arm and suddenly, my business casual work outfit was replaced by shieldmaiden garb. I now wore a black leather battlesuit equipped with chainmail bracer and thigh belts. I felt like I was dressed in a cosplay costume as a valkyrie from a movie. “You look good,” Edda said approvingly.
“On Asgard, we are dressed much more comfortably. Often, when lounging, most of the valkyries don long white robes. It is only when we prepare for battle or are training that we wear our gear. Back in the day, when we were choosing the outcome of battles and escorting warriors over the bridge, we had an entirely different wardrobe. Life has changed significantly. Since there are so few humans left who worship Odin and we’ve essentially stopped interfering in the battles here; there isn’t anyone left to escort home to Valhalla, essentially terminating that job from our duties,” Kara said.
“Someday, we will return and reveal ourselves once again to man,” Forseti added. “Until then, they can’t see those of our world; Odin has seen to that.”
“Wait, you’re saying humans can’t see you? You’ve told me that I’m not human, that I am a valkyrie. If that is true, how can they see me?”
“Humans can only see gods in their human forms. They can’t see our battles and our DNA is so evolved from theirs that they can’t recognize it. They won’t see the dark forces, either. Every now and again, one manages to get to Earth and cause some mayhem before one of our teams takes care of it, but often, humans think the damage is a natural disaster or blame one of their own. Some of the evilest men in Earth’s history haven’t been men at all. There is a reason their bodies have never been found,” Kara answered.
“They can see you as a human. They wouldn’t understand nor see your powers,” Edda added, explaining further.
“I see.”
I didn’t. Not really.
“It will all make sense eventually.” Forseti wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled into his side, walking me down the hall with him as we continued our conversation.
I was getting so sick and tired of being told that. I wanted to understand now.
“I will help you make heads and tails of it once we have battled this force and you are out of danger. We will drink in my uncle’s great hall and I will take time to explain everything. I’m sure your mother and sisters will help.”
“My mother?” It was hard to think of anyone but the woman who had raised me as my mother. Sisters? I had siblings besides my human ones? He wanted to take me to Asgard. I would have to leave Earth? My job? My family and friends? They wanted me to leave everything I knew and start a new life.
I loved my old life. No, my current life. My life. Why would I want to give it up?
“Because that isn’t who you are. You’ve been living a lie your entire life,” Edda interjected, reading my mind again. “You belong with us. You will have a new job, new friends and a new family.”
“Besides, it isn’t like you can’t pop down here and see them whenever you want,” Kara said.
“Stop reading my fucking mind!” I growled at Edda. She didn’t deserve my anger, I realized it the second the words came out of my mouth. She had already explained that she couldn’t turn it off and it wasn’t her fault. I felt Forseti’s arm tighten around my waist. “I’m sorry!” I threw up my arms in pure frustration. “I’m sorry. All of this is overwhelming.”
“I know,” Forseti comforted, kissing my forehead, giving me grace for the swearing. “I wish we had time to allow you to acclimate to it all, but we simply don’t.” We were outside now, behind the house. A few more feet and we were in a large, open field. “Nothing crazy,” he directed,
with a nod toward Kara.
Chapter 7
Morrigan
I saw her leap at me from the corner of my eye and my Krav Maga training kicked in. I reacted, but not quickly enough. For the first time since I was seven, someone was able to land a punch. She hit me hard in the chest. I retreated a step, adrenaline rushing through my body. Screw this! I countered her blow with one of my own, landing a chop to the side of her neck. I heard her laughter as she advanced on me.
Like boxers in a ring, we danced around. She was wearing me out; I knew the technique. No one had ever been able to outlast me; my endurance was often spoken about. But I had only ever battled humans before. I watched her carefully, studying the pattern. Left foot forward, pivot, right foot, pivot, left foot forward. I counted the steps like a marching band member on a field during a show. One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four. One and two and three and my foot came forward, sweeping under hers, landing her hard on the ground. I was actually battling someone with like skill for a change. It was challenging, and I loved it. I smiled, looking at her flat on her back.
Then I was tasting blood. My face hit the ground, and I felt her weight behind me. Blood filled my mouth; my lip was torn. I saw red then.
I spun out from under her and went at her with everything I had. I never realized how much restraint I had shown over the years when battling my human counterparts. I pounded into Kara.
Every bit of emotion that had been building up inside of me for the past several hours came out in my fists, in my feet. I punched, kicked and tossed her around like a baby doll in a toddler’s arm during a tantrum. Several minutes passed as we continued to battle. The sun went down, leaving us in a shadow-filled field.
“That’s enough!” I heard Forseti’s voice in the distance. He sounded far away. It was now dark, and each movement was that much more instinctual. His command didn’t halt my fist. She had been meeting my blows, but I had gotten the upper hand at some point. My knuckles hurt; blood was flowing from both of us. Like a good soldier, Kara stopped. She stood, silently watching me, her only sound the shallow breathing of someone who had exerted a lot of energy. I stalked forward, not ready to end the battle. A victor hadn’t been declared. I wasn’t ready to stop. She didn’t flinch. She stood, stone still.
