The Banished Gods Box Set: Books 1-3

by L. A. McGinnis

  But Midgard beckoned.

  The first gods, those ancient Three who locked him away, their descendants still roamed this universe. Their blood called to him. Lured him like a precious jewel. The Orobus pulsed, the veil thinning, the worlds surrounding him sliding in and out of view.

  The unmaking would unleash him upon a universe unprepared for him, life would turn to ash, and all eight realms would become one. Mixing into one another, like blood on a battlefield. He would take Midgard first and kill the descendants of The Three slowly. Punish the immortals in ways he deemed suitable for this long and endless exile he’d endured.

  Odin, especially.

  He would teach them true suffering.

  Their magic was nothing, and he had waited long enough for revenge

  Chapter 28

  In the end, David Barrows left the world much as he’d entered it, with only one black eye and a broken arm.

  There was nothing that Fenrir did to his actual, physical body that caused him to talk, to scream, to beg. In actuality, Fenrir didn’t say a word. He simply stood, staring into the man’s eyes while Tyr held him steady. It was the man’s soul he worked and tortured, not the man’s body. Twisted, dark, and weak, Barrows’s soul had been broken so many times, first in his youth, and then in adulthood, that it was as warped as an old man’s. All it needed was a cane. And in the end, when the screams had stopped as well as the words, and his dark, empty eyes flickered and went dead, Fenrir thought that somehow it wasn’t enough.

  It would never be enough.

  There was nothing this man could do that would pay for what he’d done. Nothing Fenrir could do to him to settle his debt. Because there was no punishment, no pain that would ever truly erase the evil he’d caused Celine.

  But Fen tried. He fucking tried.

  Chapter 29

  Celine woke to the most wonderful of dreams.

  She slept for once, in a dark and solitary calm without dreams or the Orobus, in a wonderful quiet for what had seemed like hours. And when she stretched, it was with a feeling of safety and wonder in a bed so soft and so big, smelling of her and Fen in a room with a ceiling that brushed the sky. Through the windows all she saw was a blanket of stars and the moon that had crested, filling the top pane of the high window overlooking the lake. She walked over and stared across the weaving band of white and red lights of Lakeshore to the dark expanse of water, so black you couldn’t see where it met the night sky, and wondered if this was what heaven felt like.

  She remembered everything.

  There was no escaping these past weeks or the past itself. But for right now, she was here in this magical place, in Fen’s home. She was safe and he’d come for her, and he’d kissed her and she loved him, and everything was pretty much perfect.

  At least for now.

  For someone who’d lived her whole life predicated on the horrors behind her, and the unknown in front of her, these past couple of days had certainly taught her the beauty of living in the moment. When the gentle padding of feet stopped behind her, she leaned back into Fen’s warm, steady body, already learning the right way to curve around hers. Always knowing what she needed and when, how to hold her and what to say.

  After a lifetime of wanting, Fen was perfection.

  “It’s over, Celine.” His lips were in her hair and the words the barest whisper, but she closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment. Gone. The monster was gone. Never again. Never her, never anyone else. Never feel his hands on her, never his hoarse voice in her ear, that rough scratch that tore at her soul. He’d still be in her head, of course, but knowing he would never touch her again made her feel lighter somehow.

  He’d taken her childhood, but she had the rest of her life.

  “Thank you.” It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him about Njor, but instead, she sighed and savored the warm touch of Fen’s hands on her. So strong. So Steady.

  She lifted her eyes and watched the moon climb higher into the sky, so bright it cast a halo around it, a white glowing circle light that rimmed it in iridescence and mist. “I believe Barrows told us everything he knew,” she murmured, “if that matters.”

  “It does. It’ll get us closer to stopping the Orobus.”

  She leaned farther back into him. This was exactly where she wanted to be, with exactly who she wanted to be with. For the first time ever, she realized, she was in the right place at the right time. It felt weird. “What about this thing between us, Fen?” She angled her head up at him.

  She felt the flutter of his heart against her. “Together, Celine. We can decide what to do next, together.”

  “All right, together then.” She sighed. “Well, I suppose I’ll get used to this. Working with someone else. I’ve been alone most of my life, you realize.” She turned in his arms. “And get used to feeling this.” She pulled down his mouth to hers, pressing a soft kiss before pulling away, her thumb following the line of his jaw up into his hair. “Because I’m going to show you every day just how much I love you.”

  Fen’s eyes darkened. “For months, I’ve felt different. I didn’t know why, but it started with my father. And Morgane. With me realizing how lonely I’ve been all these years. With knowing there could be someone out there, waiting for me. I believe I was meant to find you that night. I’d waited months to go to the Otherworld. Months. And then…

  He traced his lips across the line of her jaw, pausing on the slight cleft in her chin. “Imagine my utter surprise, when I found you in there. I don’t feel hollow anymore, love. For the first time in my life, I feel complete.”

  She melted into him.

  “Do you think Fen, maybe, we could both just be…us? I mean, how hard can it be? Everyone else does it, right?” Her heart thundered against his with every hopeful word.

  “It can’t be that hard at all. I love you, Celine. I loved you from the first moment I saw you.”

  Something lit up in her eyes as she smiled. “I don’t know how. I’ll bet I looked pretty bad lying in the mud.”

  He shook his head.

  “No, you were brave and fierce and so damn… I don’t know. You were just perfect.” He looked down at her, searching her eyes. “You knew, even then, didn’t you? You knew exactly what I was.”

  “I knew, Fen. I knew you were the wolf. I knew you’d come to save me that day by the river. That was the first time, Fen, I ever saw someone so clearly in my dreams, as if your entire body was outlined in light. That’s how I recognized you in the waking world. I told you I was waiting for something, remember?”

  He nodded, not taking his eyes from hers.

  “You were who I’d been waiting for. All that time, it had been you. You’ve been the only person who’s ever been there for me, even if it was in my dreams, Fen.” She pulled him back down to her. Pressed another fragile, gentle kiss to his lips. “And so it’s pretty simple, really. I’ve known you practically forever. That’s why I love you.”

  Fen stared down at her with so much emotion in his eyes, her heart stuttered. “By the gods, woman, you humble me.”

  He kissed her back, long and hard and deep, and with a purr, she moved against him. “You and I can be whatever we want to be. Together. But I can tell you one thing.” He swept her up and tossed her over his shoulder, curling his arm around the backs of her knees to keep her from kicking. “It’s going to be in my bed.”

  Chapter 30

  “Damn it, somehow I just knew this wasn’t going to last.” The pounding on the door had started almost a minute ago, and Celine watched Fen slide out of bed and search for something to put on. He didn’t find anything. Not that she minded, but the only way the pounding would stop was for him to answer the door, and the only way he was going to do that was if he wasn’t buck naked.

  She threw the end of the sheet to him. “Here, just use this.” It had to be Tyr, she thought, flopping backwards into the pillows. It sounded like the oak was going to shatter, and she could just imagine him beating on the thing, pisse
d off as hell, having to wait even two minutes.

  “Sorry to interrupt your honeymoon, but there’s things that need doing.”

  “Yeah, no shit. Don’t you think I know that?” Fen’s lovely voice, all husky and wolfish in the morning, made her shiver again.

  Maybe they could grab another twenty minutes before making their appearance downstairs.

  He added in a softer voice, “She didn’t dream last night, so nothing new to report. This can wait an hour, Tyr. Give us that, at least.”

  There was a little disgruntled mumbling, but she figured that was just for show, and then the door shut with a deep, hollow thud and they were alone again.

  He prowled over, dropping the sheet, her eyes following the movement. “We should go down, Fen.” It wasn’t like they weren’t in a world of shit, and here they were, acting like they were on their honeymoon. But the way he was walking toward her, the rolling of his hips told her they were going to take the time. Which was why she stopped him before he reached the bed.

  “Njor was there, Fen. At the hotel. Working with my father.”

  Fen froze then a look of understanding lit his face as everything fell into place. “The Swede. Your father kept going on and on about the Swede. I didn’t make the connection yesterday. I never would have.”

  Celine hurried to explain, “Njor knew everything about the stone. He sent me back into the Otherworld with it in my hand, so the Orobus could get it back, and my…father seemed to believe he’ll be crossing over in a week, maybe two. A fact he confirmed when you were interrogating him.” She refused to say tortured. “Which means we have a little time. Enough, I hope, to still come up with a means of stopping this.”

  His face tightened as she mentioned last night, even as Celine added, “We should go down and see where we stand, Fen. This is a group effort. We should all work together, don’t you think?” Still, he kept silent and it took her a moment to realize it was anger that was keeping him so quiet.

  “Oh, Fen, it’s not your fault. We knew Njor was up to something. You knew it, which is why you brought him here in the first place. Having him confirm it… Well, it only makes you more right. What this does mean is the Orobus has both humans and other gods working for him, which is all the more reason to head downstairs right now and run this new information by everyone.”

  Carefully, Celine reached out to him, sensing the stiffness, the utter fury coursing through his body. She drew him to her and laid her cheek against his chest, feeling his heartbeat, the smoothness of his skin.

  “Please, love. Together, remember?”

  She looked up at him and felt some of his tension slide away as she stroked his arm.

  “Like we promised, we do everything together. From now on.”

  She met the gods’ eyes, one by one, when she and Fen walked hand in hand into the War Room, nodding only to Morgane, allowing a slight, secret smile to play across her face before carefully schooling it. This was a delicate moment, what with Odin looking at her like a pawn he dearly wanted to sacrifice. Not that she blamed him, since she was the only thing between his world and the monster that wanted to destroy it. What was remarkable was that she was still alive.

  “Good of you two to join us.”

  Odin’s voice dripped with sarcasm but at least he was talking. “This is what we know so far. According to what the human gave up, we have a week, maybe two before this thing we’re calling the Orobus is strong enough to cross over. We still don’t know exactly how or where, but we’re pretty sure it’ll be here in Chicago. Tyr and Loki confiscated the notebook with Celine’s writings from her last dream, and Mir’s working through it now. We can assume Celine will continue to have dreams. She will continue to write them down.” Odin studied her, daring her to refuse, but she nodded in quiet agreement.

  “Fenrir tells us that he caught the scent of Dark Elves here in Chicago. Which means somehow, they’ve found a means of crossing over. Also, Anaheim is dead, or dying, and full of black elves and whatever demons this thing decided to stock it with. There’s sure to be plenty of other surprises out there as well. Ullr and Vali are heading to Jotunheim to take a look around. Quietly, please. Either of you piss those fucking giants off, I’ll hand you your asses.

  “Niflheim is all yours, Freyr and Thor, and the same goes. Get in and out. We don’t need anything adding to this shit storm. Loki, you and Balder are on street patrol.” Loki gave the barest nod he’d heard and agreed.

  “Scout for likely points of entry, anything he might use as a dolman or gate. Fenrir said the portal on Svartheim was hidden in a cave, so check the underground as well. Look for a fucking…light, I suppose. Narrow it down, at least.” Odin spun around until he was directly across from Celine. “And you. You will stay here, inside this building until I say you can leave. Do. You. Understand?”

  Fenrir’s growling didn’t even make him blink.

  “I get it. There’s one more thing.” She forced her gaze up to meet everyone.

  “Njor showed up at the hotel. He was working with my father.”

  Dead silence greeted her statement, not one of them blinking or apparently even breathing.

  “He knew. Everything. The spell, the writing, the dreams, the stone, everything.” Her gaze slid to Fen’s. “One thing. The Orobus wants the stone back, so I suppose it just became our bargaining chip. It’s also safe to assume that anything that might have happened while Njor was here at the Tower, the Orobus knows too. Any weaknesses we might have revealed, the Vanir would have relayed back to that…thing.”

  “I’m fucking sorry.”

  With Fen’s words, Celine squeezed her eyes shut. Odin was going to hit the roof over this, perhaps even hold Fen responsible for Njor’s betrayal. She reached out and clasped his hand beneath the table. Together. We do this together.

  “I brought the bastard here in the first place. Motherfucker tricked me and used me to cross the portal.”

  “Well guess what? He’s still here, somewhere.” Odin growled. “Track him down. Haul him back to the Tower, and we do what we should have done to begin with. Squeeze the truth out of him.”

  Turning to Celine, Odin’s voice took on an edge of bitterness. “We’re only one step ahead of this mess because Fenrir found you in the Otherworld. Be glad that he did, because if he hadn’t, you would have been no more than a puppet to that monster. And we’d have no idea of where that bastard was coming through.”

  She blew out a breath. He was right. She gave Odin a curt nod.

  “I want to talk to Mir. I need to see what I wrote down when…my father had me.” The words cost her, tasting sour and strange at the same time. She blew out a breath and then another. Gone. David Barrows was gone. The next words came easier. “See if he’s translated any of it and then maybe we can piece together a strategy. I need to do more research on those markings…possibly come up with some alternative options.”

  “Exactly what makes you think you can?”

  The hint of condensation in Odin’s voice infuriated her, and her response came out more forcefully than she’d intended. “Because for the past six years, I’ve studied nothing but language. It was the reason University of Chicago reached out to me in the first place. When I was sixteen, I wrote this article for an archeological magazine, comparing prehistoric language to the harmonics of the universe. They offered me a full ride. After undergrad, I focused on Sanskrit at first then Sumerian cuneiform, followed by Pictish stones. Until I realized the only studies I was targeting were dead languages and extinct writing forms. Seems that nothing that exists today interested me very much.”

  Celine paused, realizing she was practically crushing Fen’s hand. “But it has to be why the Orobus chose me, you see. The languages. The writing. My theory. It’s all connected.”

  Fen added, “And there are still gaps in her memory, as if parts of it have been redacted. Her advisor, Dr. Ellis, spoke of a project. At the Field Museum.”

  Celine winced the second Fen mentioned the na
me, “Ellis told me you were his liaison on the research team. Said you’d made more headway than any other researcher.”

  “There was that file on your computer. Field Museum. Askesan Bog site.” Fen’s face was thoughtful. “Could be a tie in. It’s worth a look.”

  “Well, I have go over these new writings with Mir, anyway.” She felt unsettled now. Rattled by the realization she was still missing parts of her past. “I’ll have him look at the file. But I don’t remember the Field Museum. Or any project.” When her breathing sped up, Fen began running his hand up and down her back in long, calming strokes.

  “Work with Mir, see what you can find out, then.” Odin nodded, dismissing her. When Celine rose, Morgane stood with her and they went to the door.

  “Fenrir, you and Loki need to talk.” Odin’s mild tone didn’t conceal the fact it was an order.

  “That’s okay, Fen. I’ll catch up with you later.” Celine saved him her very best smile, sending a bright, blinding grin flying across the room to him. Still, he looked troubled when she left.

  Chapter 31

  “So, this is how it is around here.” Morgane’s no-nonsense tone had Celine hurrying to keep up as they made yet another turn through the dizzying array of passageways that made up this building. “Odin’s a supreme asshole. Tyr’s okay, just don’t piss him off. Mir is a big pussycat, even though he acts like a hard ass. Vali never says a word, but he loves chocolate ice cream, always an in with him if you ever need anything. Loki and Balder are both sweethearts. Thor is a complete mystery, and as far as Freyr goes?” Morgane threw a sly glance backwards. “Watch yourself, or he’ll try to flirt you to death. It must be in his blood or something.”

  “Where are we going?” Celine panted. “I was serious. I need to do more research on the stone. I’ve got to figure out how it’s tied into everything.”