"You couldn’t keep us away." The twin thing was cute, but it was kind of creepy when they said the same damn thing at the same damn time.
∞ ∞ ∞
"Come in, Kaede."
I pushed the heavy door open the rest of the way and stepped into his office, Rome and Remy behind me. Roki was still there, I could see the top of his head over the tall-backed leather chair in front of Uncle Tatsuo's desk.
For the first time since I started school, Tatsuo decided I needed my uncle more than the headmaster. He stood up and walked around the desk, opening his arms to his niece.
Taking him up on his offer, I hugged my uncle and let him hold me. "I am so sorry for your loss, Kaede. David was a bright young man. He was good for you."
I nodded, having no doubt in my heart that I didn't deserve David. I'd just been lucky, damn lucky.
Uncle let me cry against him until I was ready to let go. When I finally did, he pulled me to the chair and helped me sit. "Your Hiroki and I were just discussing your enrollment at the school. I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Do you wish to go home?"
"Is it even an option?"
He returned to his seat, and I took the opportunity to shoot Roki an angry glare. He nodded once, realizing he had screwed up. It wasn't that I was opposed to the idea of going home, I was opposed to him discussing it without talking to me.
"Well," Uncle continued after he had settled in his almost throne-like chair, "There have been two deaths at the school. While that is not unheard of in past years, it certainly opens things up for review."
The reality of it hit me like a ton of bricks. There might be a chance I could go home, and the more I thought about it, the more I got excited about the prospect. But then I thought of Rome and Remy, and my heart sank into the pits of my stomach. Maybe lower. Can I leave them? Can I forget about David, and them? The answer was no. I would never forget any of them. Not even for a moment. Could I still leave? Maybe.
"Honestly, I don't know, Uncle. It might be safer with everything happening, but…"
"You would miss Hiroki and the Lateran brothers."
"Wait, what?"
"You would miss Hiroki and–"
"I freaking heard you. I'm asking what the hell you meant. You would send me home but not Hiroki? I'm the reason he's here in the first place!"
"It is not a question of what I would or wouldn't do. Decisions such as these are left to the board of directors. While they might be inclined to let you go, there is no chance for Mr. Nishimura to be released from his contract. We were discussing this before you joined us."
I looked at Roki, and he gave a slight nod.
"Then my answer is no."
"Kaede-sama…"
"Nope. No. Non. Nein. Nō. Nei. Bangō. Fuck that." The twins seemed a little disappointed that I would stay for Roki and not them, and I didn't blame them, but there was a huge difference in missing someone horribly, and not being able to live without him. Not to mention the fact that it was my fault he was there in the first place. He didn't fuck up and get sentenced to school, I did.
"Kaede-sama! It will be fine. You should go."
"No."
"He's right, Kaede." Remy agreed.
Rome was nodding.
Uncle Tatsuo was looking at me expectantly.
All that was missing was the Jeopardy Theme Song playing annoyingly in the background. "No. And you can't make me." I looked at my Uncle. "They can't, can they?"
He laughed and shook his head. "No, Kaede. They cannot make you. I do not know if it is even feasible or how the board would respond to such a request." He paused to think in his huge leather chair. He still managed to fill it, even in his human form. "Why don't we do this. Do not give me your answer now. Think about it. Discuss it with the boys. In the meantime, I shall present the possibility to the board members and gauge their reaction. Is this acceptable?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but Roki reached over and covered my mouth with his hand. "Yes."
Of course, I licked his palm. When he pulled it away after answering, I sighed and nodded. "Fine. I'm telling you I'm not going, but there is no harm in waiting to see what they say."
"Very good. You," he paused to point a long, slender finger at me, "are excused from classes for the remainder of the week. I shall let your instructors know."
"Thank you, Uncle."
He nodded. "You all are dismissed. Get some rest."
"Not much else to do with everyone else in class."
"Stay out of trouble, Kaede."
"Uncle, I'm too tired to get into trouble."
He nodded, but it didn't seem like he believed me very much.
Chapter 17
The last thing I was expecting was a soft knock on my door. Hiroki had left for class over an hour ago, and the rest of the students should have been studying hard to be good little humans, too. Ignoring it, I put my pillow over my head after burying my face into my mattress.
They knocked louder.
"Who is it?"
There was a muffled response that I couldn't make out, even with my supernatural hearing.
"Whoever it is, you suck dick." I growled and stood up, padding over to the door in my boxers and T-shirt. I wanted to give whoever it was a stern, disapproving look, but it was Fress and Kottr. "Ha! I was right."
"About?"
"Nothing. What do you want?"
"May we come in?"
Looking down at my attire, I almost said no, but they would probably be more interested in Roki wearing the outfit than me. "Sure."
Stepping back, I let them into my room.
"Sorry for the intrusion," Fress said meekly. I noticed when the two of them were together, he did most of the talking. It was a shame, because the timbre of Kottr's voice was much nicer. Not that there was anything wrong with Fress'.
"It's okay. I was just lying in bed. What can I do for you?" I motioned for them to sit on Roki's bed and sat on mine, propping myself against the headboard.
"We came for a few reasons. First and foremost, to apologize."
"For what?"
"Not being able to save your mate." Kottr finally spoke and then looked down at the floor, guilt weighing heavily on his face.
The familiar lump that appeared in my throat whenever I thought about David, or someone mentioned his name, made a reappearance. I swallowed before answering. "You had your hands full with Sabine. Sorry if I got any blood on you. And you have nothing to apologize for. I didn't know she had an accomplice with her, and neither did you."
"We are still sorry and can only imagine what you are going through. Is there anything we can do?"
"Not unless you can bring him back."
"Sadly, no. But we can bring you to him, if you would like to say goodbye? He is with our Mistress…"
I blinked in confusion. Their words not quite clicking in the old Kaede-brain. "I'm sorry. What?"
The looked at each other, silent communication passing between them before Fress got up and sat next to me on my bed. "Do you not remember your trip to Sessrumir? Where our Mistress gifted you with the Seidr? The day you became a volva."
"Did you just call me a pussy?"
He tilted his head in confusion. "Volva. Seer. Those gifted with fate magic."
"Oh. I thought you said vulva which is something entirely different. But yes? I do remember. When I died, I ended up in her hall… But I came back. Why can't David?" The more I thought about it, the more excited I became and sat forward, practically ending up in Fress' lap.
He put a hand on my shoulder. "Because his body is dead. He died the moment the axe struck him, and no amount of magic could have kept him alive. You were stabbed. Your spirit was separated from your body in death, but the damage was not hopeless, and our Mistress used her magic to keep your body on the verge of death. He was…"
"Yeah. I was there. I saw." My heart broke again.
"But his spirit goes on to the next realm. Our Mistress is holding him for you…should
you wish to say goodbye."
I wanted to scream, "Yes! Of fucking course, I do!" But my mind was blank, fear overwhelming me. I didn't know if I had it in me to talk to him again, to say goodbye. To be forced to spend another minute with him, and then have him ripped from me again. I wasn't that strong of a person.
"You do not." He wasn't asking, he was telling me. "I am sorry, I thought you would have wished time to tell him the things you did not have an opportunity to."
"It's not that."
"What is it, Kaede?" He tilted his head and ran the backs of his fingers over my cheek, wiping away the tears that I hadn't felt but should have expected.
"I'm afraid."
"Of him?"
"Of saying goodbye. Of losing my mind after going through losing him again."
"I understand. We are sorry to have asked."
"No!" I leaned forward and hugged him, grateful for their thoughtfulness. And of Freya's. I was being a moron. Again. If I didn't say goodbye, I'd regret it for the rest of my life, and I owed it to David. He loved me enough to lay down his life for me. "You are very kind. Yes. Please."
"Are you sure?"
"I was being a vulva."
He chuckled in understanding. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be. Should I change?"
They both nodded, giving me strange smiles and standing. Fress reached out a hand and pulled me from the bed. Feeling something snap inside me, I looked around…and saw myself still sitting on the bed, a blank stare on my face. I reached out as my body toppled over sideways. I passed right through my hand and gave a muffled squeak.
"Be at ease, Kaede," Kottr rumbled, almost purring. "Not all of you may travel to Sessrumir."
Nodding in understanding, I had to ask, "How um…do we get there?"
They smiled and each took one of my hands, leading me out of my room, down the staircase, and outside. Just like before, even standing outside in nothing but my sleepwear, I wasn't the least bit cold. Nor did my breath fog in the morning sun. We had made our way outside in the middle of the break between classes, but nobody even looked at us. One student even walked through us.
I shuddered as a chill ran through me. "At least buy me dinner first, jerk!"
He couldn't hear us, either. Thankfully.
Fress hissed with laughter and let go of my hand, dropping to the ground on all fours and shifting into the same bluish hued mountain cat I'd seen before. Kottr shifted into his gray and a golden chariot materialized behind them, magically tethering itself to them. They both looked over their shoulder, and it didn't take a cat whisperer to know they were telling me to get my ass in.
"Keep it under the speed limit. And does this thing have seatbelts? I almost fell out three–" I had to grab on to the front edge of the chariot as it surged forward.
At least in my non-corporeal form, I didn't have to worry about freezing to death riding in an uncovered chariot through the hills of Iceland in winter. Especially when the chariot left said Iceland and pointed upward into Icesky and then Icespace. Non-corporeal or not, I started shivering and it had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature. Or lack of oxygen.
We leveled out, and then our nose dropped. Against my better judgement, I looked over the edge of the chariot and gasped. There really was a rainbow fucking bridge and waterfalls, and castles, and gods. Oh, my. Like any puny, somewhat mortal, I hurled. Thankfully, no non-corporeal chicken spewed out. It was more like a ghostly dry heave, and I just closed my eyes until I felt the wheels hit solid ground. I hit solid chariot floor and hung on for dear afterlife as we bounced over ridges in the same well-trudged path I had followed on my previous trip.
"At least…I…have a…ride this time."
We skidded to a stop in front of the familiar golden doors. Fress looked over his shoulder at me expectantly. Sighing, I stepped off the back of the chariot and fought the urge to kiss the ground. Instead, thoughts of David flooded my heart, and I found myself running toward the doors. As if on cue, they opened and I didn't stop until I was inside.
"That may be the most exuberant entrance I have ever seen into my hall."
I froze, fear outweighing my excitement. Freya was above me again, and I felt the ethereal blood in my veins freeze. "Nobody has ever had a greater reason to enter," I said respectfully. "Thank you." Finally, I built up the courage to look up at her and smile.
"Do not thank me yet." She started down the staircase, her slippered footsteps sounding like muted thunder with every step.
I bowed my head as she approached and felt her long, slender fingers through my hair.
"No gift of this magnitude may come without a price, my child. You understand that, don't you?"
"Yes, Freya."
"Good. Come have some tea, and we shall discuss payment."
The thrill of seeing David almost vanished as apprehension and fear warred inside of me. She might have given me the power to change fates, but apparently not my own. I just wish I had learned to master whatever that power was before David died and became a bargaining chip.
As soon as we sat on her luxurious couches in the sitting room, the elf brought us more tea. The chill that had settled in my bones on the ride and intensified at Freya's bargain, became minutely more bearable with the first sip. "What do you want?"
Freya eyed the contents of her cup, slowly brought it to her nose, and inhaled before gradually taking a sip. She swirled the contents gently in her cup and set it back down. "I think you know."
"Find Fenrir and kill him?"
"Just your promise."
"Pardon?"
She crossed her legs elegantly and folded her hands over them. "I can hardly keep the spirit of your David in my hall for the time it would take you to complete such a monumental task. All I ask in return for a chance to say goodbye to your beloved is your word that you will work to this end."
She didn't say when…
"Immediately."
Fuck.
"Such vulgarity."
"Will you tell me where he is?"
She shrugged. "You know his spirit is bound in your world and where. His body resides in Helheim. Do you think any mortal or god knows where besides his jailor?"
I thought of Sabine. She was close enough to Hel, that she might have been of some use. Before I ripped her throat out. Hopefully she was even closer to Hel. Maybe her mother. But nobody has seen Headmistress Lateran in over a month.
"I doubt even they knew. Hel would not let such information out. She draws even more power from the body of her brother. It is the main reason she doesn't wish him released on the Aesir gods. She is Vanir. She could not care less."
For all her high and mighty attitude, she just doesn't want to lose her battery backup?
I could feel Freya rummaging through my mind for an explanation of what a battery backup was. She chuckled when she found it. "More of an amp, but battery backup works just as well."
"So, just to make sure I got this straight, I promise to set forth on a glorious mission to find Fenrir and kill him, and I get to see David?"
She nodded.
"Deal." I stuck out my hand and she looked at it like it was covered in bio matter. It might very well have been as I tried to think if I touched myself inappropriately since the last time I washed my hands…
"Very well," she answered and stood, ignoring the rest of her tea. "Follow me."
The elf bowed as she passed, and I thought she flashed me a sad look, but I wasn't sure.
We exited the room, and she led me up the stone staircase she had just come down, without the thunderous footy steps this time. She must have saved those for grand entrances only. When we reached the top of the flight, we turned, and I gasped. There was a literally endless hallway lined with doors on both sides.
"Woah. You should open a hotel."
"It is. Of sorts. The price for a night's stay is much greater than most would want to pay." She laughed at her own joke. I just gulped and silently agreed with her. "Don't dawdle."
>
I understood why when we took our first step. A thousand doors whisked by with just one step. From her pocket, she pulled out an amber key, and unlocked the door on her left. "Kaede…"
"Yes?"
"He may not be the same David you remember. The dead quickly lose their memories. If he is happy, I suggest you do not ruin that for him."
"I won't." I couldn't. Not to the man who had literally given me everything.
She nodded, sensing the truth. "Simply knock when you wish to leave."
"Thank you." The tears were already threatening to leak out. I was so fucked.
With a gentle push, the door creaked open, and Freya let me in, gently shutting and locking it.
The room itself was rather simple, but beautiful. A bed, a desk, a chair. Some writing implements. But the view… There was no door to the outside balcony, it was just open and afforded a grand view of all of Asgard off in the distance. David was standing on that balcony, taking in the sights.
"David?" I called his name softly, slowly walking toward him.
He turned and smiled. "Is it my time?"
I choked down the little sob and made my smile a little bigger. "Not yet. They said I could visit you before you go."
"Oh. That was nice of them. And you. I know you…"
"Yes."
"Kaede?"
The tears started pouring free. I nodded at him, giving him a genuine smile this time, happy he at least remembered my name. "Yep. That's me."
"You didn't say yerp." He chuckled and held out his arms.
We nearly fell over the stone railing as I flew into them. "David," was the only word I could coherently get out as I turned into a blubbering mess.
"Shhh. It's okay."
"No, it's not! I miss you."
He kissed the top of my head. "I've missed you more."
I sighed, melting into his embrace and pressing my face against his chest. "Freya let me say goodbye to you."
"I know. She told me you were coming. I told her not to let you."
"What? Why?"
"Because the price was too high. Stay away from Fenrir, Kaede. There is no way to kill him."
I decided at that moment to follow Freya's advice and keep David happy. Even if it meant lying to him. "I figured, or someone would have done it long ago. Don't worry. I'm…going back to California."
A Tail of Two Kitties: A Reverse Harem Academy Tail (The Fox and the Hounds Book 2) Page 16
