by JD Nelson
“Yes,” Soren agreed. “We feel the same. That is why we have come to you. Erin requires instruction that we are unable to supply.”
“You want her to scry. The wolf said as much.”
“That is it, exactly.”
Surtr’s laugh rumbled through his massive chest. “Is that all? Nothing could be simpler.” He moved to the window and glanced out. “I suspect you will ask me not to delay in this. The rumors of war follow you.”
“Do they?” Soren asked with caution.
“Yes. They speak of war with this young one’s father.”
“It is true, Surtr. We will soon fight our father. Can our rebellion count on you as an ally?”
“You needn’t ask. How can I deny protection to one of my own kind? I am not capable of such a shameful deed.”
I could almost feel the tension leave the room upon his words. We were all aware that the rebellion would soon need all the help it could get.
Learning to scry wasn’t as simple as Surtr had insinuated. After a light dinner of an unknown animal, he taught me the ‘basics’. Which were so far from basic, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to concentrate hard enough to accomplish them.
After several hours, I was only able to see a tiny glimpse of the temple. Surtr said it was because of my human-like fear of fire, and I couldn’t disagree with that. After a lifetime of ‘FIRE BAD’, the prospect of picking up a burning ember with your bare hands to see some smoke-filled vision is beyond terrifying.
Nonetheless, here I stood with that big, scary ember merrily crackling in my palms, while a crystal clear vision of the four of us gathered around the fire pit was perched above it. In the vision, everything seemed normal—Surtr was standing to my left, smiling with approval at my progress while I wasn’t looking, and Soren stood watching with his usual non-expression plastered to his face, but Jakob? He was staring at me with undisguised lust. No, staring wasn’t accurate enough of a word for his actions. He was entranced. I hoped Surtr couldn’t see the unguarded attention I was receiving.
“Jakob, you’re staring at me.”
“I ache for you, älskling,” he said, in a matter-of-fact voice. “Now, please pay attention to Surtr.”
“I will never get tired of hearing that.”
He chuckled at my preoccupation. “Love, he is becoming agitated.”
“Fine!”
“Erin, I promise you. I shall never stop saying it.”
I grinned. “You are so getting laid the next time I find somewhere horizontal.”
“Why wait for that, love?”
Surtr’s agitated voice interrupted my next words to Jakob. “Erin, if you don’t mind.”
Chagrined, I whispered, “Sorry.”
“You must focus, Erin. Push your magic into the ember. It cannot hurt you.”
“I’m sure that’s true, Surtr, but I have a problem with the thought of burning off my eyebrows.” Because of the temple’s faraway location, the flames were igniting, burning higher and hotter to let us see over the distance. I’d hastily slung the flames away from me, in reflex, every single time we’d tried, so far.
His lips twitched. “You will not lose your eyebrows if you concentrate.”
“You could be doing this for me,” I told him, through gritted teeth.
His serene smile widened. “I do know that. However, I will not. How else will you learn? You are being a—what is it they call a coward on Midgard?”
“I believe the word you are searching for is chicken,” Jakob supplied with a smirk.
I bit back the ‘blow me’ comment that was on the tip of my tongue and gripped the ember. I was not going to let him call me a chicken. I could do this. I was the daughter of Odin, for Pete’s sake!
Urging the flame higher, I called to it with my magic and heard an electric snap of connection when it responded. I smiled. The vision now in the ember I held would wipe the smirks right off their faces.
“Aha! You have done it!” Surtr exclaimed, clasping his hands together in joy. “Look, gentle-males, and you will see what you seek.”
I heard Soren suck in a breath over my shoulder as he saw the temple’s crude stone walls against the background of a blazing orange sunset. “Erin, can you pan out over the water a bit?”
“Sure.”
The sudden baritone of Jakob’s voice on my left made me jump. “It is Vänern Lake.”
“Where is it?”
“Sweden.”
Surtr waved the vision away. “Yes, yes. Go to Sweden, but first, Erin, you must learn to scry without touch. Though it is doubtful that you possess the amount of control that it would take to accomplish such a feat, I would feel that my teachings were incomplete without at least showing you how it is done.”
“Okay.” What did I have to lose? Eyebrows grow back, right?
He scooped the now small fire from my hands and cast it back into the pit. “It will be more difficult to command the fire to share its secrets in this way. Nevertheless, it is the most effective way to scry. Are you prepared to start?”
“Yes.”
“Good. First, I will show you how it is done. The fire must be coaxed in a particular way.” He clasped my small hand in his large one. “I do not want your brother to overhear this. He seems out of sorts tonight.”
“Jakob is my true-mate, but Soren is being irrational about my choice.”
“Are you so sure that he is? Your protection is first and foremost in his mind. Look into the fire and you shall see.” He waved his arm and the same view of Soren and Jakob I’d seen before arose, but this time my brother was in high focus. “Do you not see the fear in his eyes?”
Before, when I saw this image, Soren had on his usual mask of disdainful arrogance, but now, his furrowed face had worried eyes. It didn’t make sense. “When I saw this before, he didn’t have an expression at all.”
Jakob’s lustful visage moved in front of Soren’s pained face. “Did he not? Or, were you so preoccupied with your lover that you could not see his fear?”
Embarrassed, I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Fire was never meant to be a way to spy. It was meant to be a way for our kind to communicate. If you concentrate on one thing, such as your mate, you will miss the important things that you should see.”
“Our kind? I thought the gift of the flame was a rare elven gift.”
“And so it is. In the way that it is rare that an elf is born with the talent.”
“That means that we are related, right?”
“Yes, though it must be deep in your lineage. You do not have an inkling of our signature.” He looked at me with a wistful expression. “It is a shame that you are already spoken for. It is hard to find a beautiful female who has the talent.”
I didn’t doubt his words. He lived in such solitude that is would take a miracle for him to find a mate … or to make a friend who is sister-in-law to a Norn. I squeezed his hand with a burgeoning feeling of excitement in my belly. “Have you considered having a Norn find your mate?”
“I have heard stories about the Norns. Are they common where you are from?”
“No, but my brother’s wife is one. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind casting your fate.”
His somber face lit up with hope. “It is a pity that she did not accompany you here today.”
“Why don’t you come back with us? You could teach me to scry anywhere, right?”
“Yes, but do you not worry that this scheme will not set well with the males who brought you here?”
“No. I’m not worried, at all. They want you on their side, and I’m sure that Emelie can spare a few minutes for a new friend.”
Releasing my hand, Surtr pulled me into his strong arms for a hug. Our flames ignited in fiery unison as we embraced. Mine a bright blue and his an orangey-red to match all that outrageous hair.
“Thank you, Erin. No one has ever showed me the kindness you have.”
I smiled up from somewhere around his ribcage. “We’re famil
y, and family sticks together.”
Holding me by the shoulders at arm’s length, Surtr returned my smile with an affectionate one of his own. “I believe that you became beloved to me the moment I met you, dear Erin.”
Stepping back, he reached out as if he were going to caress my face, but instead, he pressed a gentle thumb into the center of my forehead. From the point of contact outward, heat radiated so intensely that I screamed in agonizing pain, until blessed unconsciousness overtook me.
I awoke with a startled gasp. Unsteady and dazed, I sat up and looked around the silent, unfamiliar room I was in with what I knew were eyes of blazing blue flame. My fire was closer to the surface than it had ever been before. I felt fevered, powerful—wrong. Panicked, I untangled myself from the luxury linens I’d been sleeping on and ran to the closest open door, praying that it was the bathroom.
By some miracle, it was. Hurling myself into the marble shower stall, I huddled into a corner and trembled. I didn’t want to burn the place down—wherever I was. God, I hoped that Jakob would show up soon. Hyperventilation seemed to be imminent. Wrapping my arms around myself, I hugged my knees to my chest, staring at the chrome fixtures, before realizing that I was wearing a black t-shirt that Jakob had worn in Surtr’s world. Breathing in his scent seemed to relax me a little, or maybe, it just gave me hope that he would return soon. I doubt that he would’ve gone far shirtless.
“He didn’t,” a female’s ethereal voice said, from across the room.
I jerked my gaze toward the voice, but saw nothing. “Who’s there?”
A stunning silver-haired female substantialized on the edge of the adjacent bathtub, her face strikingly similar to Emelie’s. With a grin that crinkled the corners of her bright silver eyes, she spoke again. “I believe that Emelie’s face is like mine, not the other way around, my dear.”
“You’re Myrgjöl, Emelie’s grandmother?”
She smiled at the mention of her granddaughter. “I am, and you must be the beauty that has swept the king off his feet.”
“I’m not too sure that I had a choice in that,” I told her. From the moment I met Jakob, I knew that I would be willing to stay with him for the rest of my life. There had been more of a connection between the two of us in the first thirty seconds we were together on that sidewalk than I’d ever had with a human man, even the ones that I’d had long-term relationships with.
“It may not seem so, but there is always a choice, child. You could have chosen not to cast that spell, or you could have chosen to stay on Midgard, instead of going to Álfheim with Jakob. Or you could have even chosen to mate with Kristian instead of his brother. These were all possible futures for you.”
I was horrified. “Mate Kristian? Are you kidding me?”
“He was Emelie’s choice for you, was he not?”
“I guess so. She mentioned the castle numerous times, but—”
“But, she made a mistake, didn’t she?” she interrupted.
“I’m not following.” I was more confused than ever. How did Emelie make a mistake?
“She gifted you with a bit of her magic. On accident, of course. You have a unique talent that she didn’t foresee.”
“What talent is that?” I asked, discouraged. Another ability? I was doomed. There was no way that I could handle another one. How did Soren make all of his magic look so effortless?
“Your brother has had thousands of years to perfect his magic,” She reminded me, smiling. “But, I am not here to talk about that stubborn, pig-headed, pain in the ass male. I’m here to talk about your talent for absorption.”
“Absorption? What does it do?”
“What it implies. You can absorb magical talents from other creatures. Next to the Norn’s ability to cast fates, it is the rarest gift of the Norse-lands.”
I thought back to Axel and Kristian’s dropped jaws at dinner the other night. “I shook Kristian’s hand.”
“Yes, you did. You have touched many creatures since your arrival.”
She was right. What powers did I have that I didn’t even know about? I mean, who hadn’t I shook hands with or touched in some small way?
“You have not touched Viveka,” she said in answer to my internal pondering. “Make sure you touch her when you see her, no matter what. Her talent should not be wasted.”
“Wasted? You mean, she’s going to die?”
Myrgjöl climbed into the shower and slid down the marble wall to sit next to me. “She will.”
Shocked, I didn’t know how to respond. I knew she was the enemy and that she was mad as a hatter, but she was my mother. I guess I hadn’t thought that she would actually die.
“It is a pity that she became mad with her quest for power. Things could have turned out so different.”
“Would she still be with Jakob?” I blurted out, like the words were burning a hole in my tongue.
Myrgjöl saw right through my transparency. “You should never doubt Jakob’s love for you, Erin. You are his true-mate. Emelie’s gift to you made sure that your fates recognized that, even if the two of you didn’t, though I suspect the power of influence that you borrowed from him may have been the thing to make him accept it. He is stubborn to a fault about doing the right thing, you know.”
I laughed, in spite of the tears building in my eyes. “He can be … infuriating.”
Smiling a soothing smile, she handed me a lace handkerchief. “Yes, Erin, he can be. However, he is also one of the best males in the Norse-lands. You’ve been blessed with a good match. He will protect you with his life.” She paused in thought, her eyes glazing over in silver. “And he will have to. Now that you are such a coveted commodity, everyone will want you to join their ranks. It will be a constant struggle, Erin.”
Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could catch them. “I don’t think I can handle all of this so soon.”
She wrapped a companionable arm around me. “You can, and you will. There is no reason for you to fear. You are powerful enough to defeat anyone, your father included. I promise.” Glancing at the doorway, she stood. “Shit. I have to go. Here comes your Mr. Tall, Dark, and Hung.” She winked. “Good luck, Erin.”
“Thanks,” I said to thin air, wondering if I’d just had the weirdest dream of my life.
Jakob strode into the bathroom a millisecond later, his hand on the sheath situated on his belt. “Who were you thanking, Erin? Why are you dressed in the shower? Are you crying?” Crouching down next to me, he tilted my chin up to peer at my tear-stained face. “Älskling?”
“I’m fine,” I replied, far too cheerful for the way I felt. “Just a few hundred years of therapy and I’ll be A-Okay.”
He gathered me in his arms, tucking my head under his chin. “Tell me what has happened.”
“Myrgjöl just left.”
“What news did she bring?”
“The news that I have the power of absorption, and that I have to touch Viveka, before she dies.”
His face betrayed his fear. He was worried about the prospect of me getting close enough to my mother to touch her. “I find that I am speechless, Erin. You have touched so many—Emelie, Soren, Nils, Viggo, Surtr, Chase, me…you must be overwhelmed with power.”
“Overwhelmed feels a little understated, Jakob. Have you noticed that we’re in the shower stall?
“Yes, love. Is it Surtr’s magic?”
“It was terrifying, Jakob. My fire felt like it was out of control when I woke up.”
He chuckled and leaned down to kiss me, lingering for a moment. "You will soon learn to master it. Surtr will help you. He is quite smitten with your charm. I have endured hours of his incessant praise of you."
I scoffed. "Poor you, having to hear about how great your mate is, while I was rendered unconscious, then left to wake up scared and alone. That must have been awful for you."
"Terrible," he assured me, laughing at my shocked face. "Erin, you amuse me."
"I'm glad someone is amused."
He strok
ed my pouting lip. "It was terrible because I cannot bear to hear another male sing your praises. You are mine. I, alone, should be able to speak of your perfection.”
Stunned, I mumbled, "Oh."
With a bittersweet smile, he lifted me from the shower and carried me back into the bedroom, laying me on the bed and stretching out beside me. “I am sorry that you woke alone. Stay angry as long as you like.”
I nestled into his warm chest. “Where were you?”
“Smoking on the balcony.”
Looking up, I wrinkled my nose. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
“Erin, I’ve smoked for hundreds of years. It will not kill me,” he reasoned.
“I guess we all have our vices,” I conceded. “Want to know what my vice is?” Stretching up, I peppered his mouth with soft kisses that he returned with a deeper version of his own until I was panting for breath.
“I love you, my mate,” he said, nipping at my lip.
“Enough to tell me where we are and if I can expect my brother to come through the door to interrupt us?”
He chuckled. “We are on Midgard, in Lincoln, Nebraska. And yes, your brother could come through that door, or any door for that matter, if he sets his mind to it.”
“You’re hysterical. Can I ask why we’re in Lincoln, of all places?”
“Viggo owns a large acreage just outside of town. We are using it as a … I suppose you could call it a base of operations. The rebellion will stay there until we plan an attack on the temple, and the open fields are ideal to teach you to use your magic as a weapon.”
“Who’s going to teach me that?”
“I will, morning and night, until my heart does not feel as if it is being ripped out when I think of you in battle. I cannot lose you, Erin.”
“Aw, that’s sweet, Jakob. And graphic. But how will you …” I trailed off as I realized what he was implying. “Whose blood will you drink?”
He reached into the pocket of his jeans. “Emelie’s. She gave us each a vial, in case of emergencies.”
“I see,” I said, making a not so valiant attempt at hiding my feelings about him drinking another female’s blood. Even though she was my friend and Soren’s mate, I had a twinge of irrational jealousy streak through me at her mention.
