by Amy Sumida
My husband glanced back into the room and then over at me. “He's monitoring the success of our followers.”
“Their success?”
“Of their missions; who has accomplished their tasks and who has not.” He stopped to lift my chin and kiss me lightly. “You'll see later. Come along; they're waiting for us.”
The room Ilmarinen took me into was the last at the end of the hallway; its door directly before us. We stepped into an enormous space that was nonetheless full of people. Most of the people were humans, and they were all on their knees. Vainamoinen, Lemminkainen, and some of the other gods in Ilmarinen's pantheon sat in chairs at the end of the room, on a low platform, soaking up the waves of adoration flowing their way. When the humans noticed us, they drew back and made a path for us to reach the platform. As we strode by, they reverently touched the hem of my dress and my husband's pants as they murmured his name. Ilmarinen led me to two empty chairs near the center of the group and seated me gallantly in one before he took the other.
Soft music began to play, and the humans bowed until their foreheads touched the floor. Magic gathered on my skin as human attention focused to a physical point. Worship; this was what it was like to be adored by your followers. I sighed in pleasure as waves of desire and admiration rolled over me. Ilmarinen's hand was in mine; squeezing gently as he basked in the love of his people.
Then the music ended and another song began. The humans moved their attention to a different god. Each god had their own song, played to inspire the humans to worship, and each one absorbed the adoration until finally, it was Vainamoinen's turn. Vainamoinen went out among the crowd and sang to them himself, instead of just playing a recording. They closed in around him; crying and stroking him. He smiled and held his hands out to them to hug them and pet them back. It should have been moving, but I felt a little sick. Then Vainamoinen finished his song and returned to his seat on the platform; the chair just to the left of my husband's.
“Chosen ones, come forth!” Vainamoinen shouted.
Four people stepped forward eagerly and stood before the gods.
“The rest of you may find your rest for the night.” Vainamoinen waved his hand, and the other humans filed out of the room; heading toward the communal sleeping chambers full of rows of bunk beds.
When the crowd was gone, my husband waved a hand toward a table set along the side of the room. “Claim your music and your missions.”
The humans went to the table where four MP3 players waited. Each person took one player, bowed to the gods, and then left. The gods got to their feet and nodded smugly at each other.
“What was that about?” I asked my husband as he helped me to my feet.
“Sacrifice,” he said with a grim smile. “Adoration is lovely, but a god needs blood to remain in power.”
“Sacrifice?”
“Remember the room with the monitors you asked me about?” He lifted a brow. “We monitor news stations to see which mission has been completed. We can feel the power of the sacrifice, but we don't know which human made it, and we like to keep track; be certain they all succeed.”
“Each of those humans has been given a special song that will instruct them on how to sacrifice to us,” Vainamoinen explained further as he moved closer to us. “They will go out tonight and kill in our names, and the magic in the blood shall come to us and empower us so that we may live forever.”
I looked away from Vainamoinen's unsettling stare.
“This is how it's done, Vervain,” Ilmarinen said firmly. “You must accept it.”
“It is the way of Gods,” Vainamoinen added.
Something about the way Vainamoinen spoke struck me deep; his words sank into me and affected me. They calmed me, easing my misgivings, and I smiled as I sighed.
“You're right,” I murmured. “It is the way of the Gods.”
Vainamoinen transferred his smile to Ilmarinen. “See? She just needed it explained to her properly.”
“I see.” Ilmarinen smirked.
“Now, it's our time, my brothers and sisters!” Vainamoinen declared as his arms swept wide. “Let us celebrate our success.”
The room disappeared; replaced by a vast forest. We stood in a clearing and music echoed in from the shadowy realm around us. Ancient trees loomed up toward a clear, starry sky, and a full moon gleamed down on us; coating our skin in silver. The scent of pine and earth rode the breeze and, just beneath it, the lust of Gods. I breathed in deeply and shivered; it wasn't just lust for sex but also for life. These gods had been denied the freedom to be themselves and truly live for a very long time. They wanted it all now; more life, more sex, more blood, more everything.
And I wanted it too.
Something had changed inside me. I kept thinking back to that jolt I'd received from my husband's hand when he was taking another god's magic. It was just a minute or two, but I could still feel the tingle of it as if it were rushing through my blood. Could part of my husband have entered me? Or part of the magic he took? Or both? I stared up at his savage beauty, sharpened by moonlight, and smiled. Would it be so very bad to have some of him inside me? Hadn't I been wanting that all day?
“This dance shall not be interrupted,” Ilmarinen promised me as he took me into an embrace.
With sure steps, my husband moved me around the meadow, among the other gods who also danced as they watched us with knowing looks and greedy smiles. I didn't like the other gods so much. They made me uneasy. But Ilmarinen's serene stare helped me forget the others. I concentrated on him.
“I'm sorry about the way I treated you earlier. I get... unstable after taking magic.” His eyes were so very earnest.
“It's okay,” I whispered. “I forgive you.”
“I have waited thousands of years for you, Vervain.” Ilmarinen stared down at me intensely. “For a woman with a wild heart and fiery passion. Strong, beautiful, brave, and loyal. You are everything I've ever longed for.”
“And you are everything I want, Ilmar.” I laid my hand on his cheek and stroked his stubbled jaw. “My savage lover with an air of elegance. Look at how we dance in this forest in our fine clothes. This is who you are to me; primal essence coated in refinement.”
“One more dance, my love,” Ilmarinen murmured with a hot stare. “Then I shall take you to bed and show you just how savage a lover I can be.”
I shivered with anticipation.
Chapter Forty-Two
I danced with my husband among the other gods, and then he lifted me into his arms and carried me through the forest while they smiled after us. I clung to his thick shoulders and kissed the angles of his face—temples, cheekbones, jawline—while the forest changed around us. Ilmarinen stepped out of the trees and onto a cement floor as the corridor that led to our suite came into view. He smiled triumphantly at me as he carried me over the threshold of our suite and finally set me on my feet.
Ilmarinen locked the door behind us and then took my hand to lead me into our bedroom. As soon as we were near the bed, I turned to him and went into his arms. He kissed me wildly as he undid my dress; his tongue filling my mouth again. I moaned helplessly, not sure that I enjoyed his harsh kisses but also not wanting him to stop. Then my dress was falling around me, and my husband was moving my hands to his clothing. I helped him shed his suit; the expensive fabric scattered over the floor. Jacket, shirt, pants, shoes, silk socks; all the trappings of an elegant man falling away until it was only my savage husband standing there.
My husband's breath came faster as he stared at my body and ran a trembling hand over the curves of my breasts. They ached suddenly as if they were too full, but then he started massaging them, and the ache lessened. I looked down the trail of hair on his chest to the thick patch between his legs and found his shaft hard and eager for my attention at last.
I moved forward but a sound came from the corner of the room, and I glanced over to find a man standing there. I gasped and covered myself with my hands.
“That's
Odin,” Ilmarinen said softly as he tried to ease my arms down. “He's an old friend of mine.”
“Why is he here?” I hissed as I kept my arms where they were.
“I want him here. He's been watching us all day and now, I want him to see me take you,” my husband said. “You will submit to me in this.”
“No.”
“Yes, you will!” Ilmarinen growled and lifted me off my feet only to throw me down on the bed.
I laid there in shock as he crawled up the mattress to loom above me.
“You will obey me in all things, Vervain,” he declared viciously. “If I want a hundred men to watch as I fuck you, you will submit to it. If I want to bend you over in the middle of the club and take you from behind, you will submit to it. If I want you to suck my cock as other women dance for me, you will do it and it will fucking excite you!”
“Fuck you!” I slapped him.
The man standing in the shadows, the one Ilmarinen called Odin, smiled briefly.
Ilmarinen's hand went to my throat, and he squeezed just hard enough to make me aware of his strength. “I don't want to hurt you, Wife. But we must have one thing clear between us; you are mine. I will care for you and protect you, but you will submit to my will. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I whispered brokenly.
“Good.” Ilmarinen released my throat and smiled softly just before he kissed me.
I laid there and let him fill my mouth as a horrible sourness filled my belly. Why had I married this man? I couldn't remember. I couldn't even remember our wedding. Then his mouth moved to my neck and his body shifted between my thighs. I felt his hard length sliding over my sex, and I couldn't help responding to him; something inside me came awake with his touch as if it was programmed to. I moaned and writhed beneath him; sex wet and wanting.
“That's it,” my husband murmured against my breast just before he sucked my nipple into his mouth. He worked at it hard, and I cried out and held him closer. “Tell me you want me to fuck you now.”
“I want you to fuck me.”
Ilmarinen glanced over at Odin and grinned. “Now, tell me how much you love me.”
“I love you more than my own life,” I said automatically. Again, it was as if a script had been written into my mind; words pouring out of my mouth on cue.
“Do you crave my touch, Wife?” He moved lower, setting his face above my sex. “Do you want me to kiss you here? Lick you and give you pleasure?”
“Yes!” I rolled my hips up to his mouth.
Ilmarinen laughed low in his throat before he covered my sex with his mouth. His tongue shot into me as it did when he kissed me; a conquering thrust before he drew out to lick me with lusty growls. I looked down at my husband and threaded my hands through his hair but a sudden image superimposed itself over him. It was the man who stood in the corner. Odin. I saw him doing the same thing to me that my husband was doing. Except Odin did it far better.
I moaned and looked at Odin. Our stares locked, and his filled with tears. His whole body was shaking; sweat beading on his forehead and chest. His lips parted on an anguished cry. Ilmarinen laughed against my sex, and I groaned as I angled myself closer to him. One of his thick fingers entered me and started pumping.
“I'm going to fuck her all night, Odin.” Ilmarinen lifted his head but kept thrusting his fingers into me. “And she's going to love every second of it. You hear that? Her pussy is dripping for me.”
I moaned right on cue, and Ilmarinen's smile gentled as he moved his stare back to me.
“You're so beautiful, Vervain,” Ilmarinen murmured as he stared at my sex. Then he glanced at Odin. “You have to see this, Odin. Come here.”
Odin moved to stand just behind and to the right of Ilmarinen. His massive body shook as if he were freezing.
“Doesn't she look incredible?” Ilmarinen asked casually as he pulled his finger out and rubbed it over my clit. He shoved his thumb inside me then removed it to rub it gently against my other opening. Then he slipped it in me there. “After I come in her pussy, I'm going to make her suck my dick until I'm hard again, and then I'm going to fuck her in her tight ass. Look at how it takes my thumb eagerly. Look at how she writhes for it. Maybe I'll let you get in bed with us and hold her while I fuck her. Or maybe I'll just bring you nice and close so you can see my dick shoving into her over and over; stretching her around me.”
Odin trembled as his jaw clenched and something inside me shook with him. This was wrong. Why would my husband say such horrible things to this man? Suddenly, images of love and laughter filled my head. My sons, my daughter, and my husbands. My life! I screamed as it all came rushing back, and I realized who was touching me so intimately. And who the man forced to watch us was.
My real husband.
“Odin!” I cried out and reached for him; both physically and spiritually, down the cord that bound us.
“Vervain!” Odin shouted as he broke free of the spell holding him hostage.
Ilmarinen gaped at me in shock; too astounded to even notice Odin coming at him from behind. My real husband's peacock eyes flashed with fury and magic as he lurched forward. While he roared and wrapped his hands around Ilmarinen's throat, I sprung up, my hand shifting into a dragon claw, and slashed it across Ilmarinen's throat. Odin twisted, and I cut. One firm yank, and he had torn Ilmarinen's head off his body. He tossed it aside and then grabbed the bleeding body and jerked that away from me too.
“Odin!” I sobbed and reached for him.
“My love,” Odin whispered brokenly as he pulled me into a tight embrace. “I'm so sorry. I tried to fight it, but Vainamoinen has become extraordinarily powerful.”
“It's okay,” I murmured. “He's still not powerful enough to keep us apart.”
“You freed me.” Odin stared at me in wonder. “You sent a spark down our connection and burned away the spell. I had no idea you were so—”
“What have you done?!” Vainamoinen suddenly stood at the foot of the bed; staring back and forth between Odin and I and Ilmarinen's corpse.
Odin grabbed me tighter, and I prepared to trace away with him but before we could touch the Aether, Vainamoinen shouted something at us. I couldn't make out the words, perhaps they were in another language, but I felt their magic rocket through me. Odin and I both went limp; him draped over me.
“Get up, both of you!” Vainamoinen snarled. “Vervain, cover your treacherous, wicked body; I can't stand to look at you.” He waved at my gown on the floor. “It's time for the Allfather and his bride to pay for their sins. Follow me.”
Odin and I woodenly walked after Vainamoinen; stepping through puddles of blood on our way out. I was coated with the stuff beneath my gown and my hem, as well as my train, were soon saturated as well but that was the least of my concerns. I knew what was happening. Unlike earlier, when I'd believed I was married to that murderous bastard, I now knew I was being controlled. This was what Vainamoinen had done to Odin; commanded him but left him aware so Ilmarinen could taunt him with me.
Vainamoinen took us to the room with the magic-sucking machine, and I began to tremble.
“Odin, sit down in the middle chair,” Vainamoinen ordered.
Odin went forward and sat down obediently. Vainamoinen strapped him into the chair and then turned to face me.
“Vervain, get into that chair there.” Vainamoinen pointed at the chair on the end, the one facing Odin.
My whole body stiffened and then started to shake as I tried to stop myself from obeying him. Magic rolled off Vainamoinen in waves, and I knew he'd been sucking up loads of god magic through this machine. It had elevated his magical voice to astronomical levels. So powerful that even a dragon couldn't resist it. I walked to the chair in front of Odin and sat down.
Then I lifted my horrified stare to meet my husband's.
“I love you, Vervain,” Odin declared. “I'll meet you in the Void.”
“I love you too, baby. I'll be there waiting.”
“Oh, how sw
eet,” Vainamoinen sneered; the grandfather persona was gone completely. “It's a shame you didn't show Ilmarinen any of that compassion, Oathbreaker. If you had, we might not be here. My friend might still be alive, and you might have lived another lifetime with your wife.”
“I never knew that Ilmarinen was fading,” Odin growled. “If he had come to me, I would have helped him.”
“He was too proud to ask you for help.” Vainamoinen shook his head. “You should have offered. But the past is past. You killed my friend and now, I will take your wife's magic and kill her. You will die more slowly; suffering through your wife's death first and then the rest of your perverted family. You'll watch them turn to dust while I get stronger and stronger.”
I snarled, but I couldn't even move a finger to attempt an escape.
