by Hall, Linsey
“Esha!” Ana cried and threw her arms around her friend. Esha’s long black hair tickled her nose.
She heaved a sigh of relief when much of her power drained away. She’d always felt like the power of being a god never fit quite right on her shoulders. Sure, it gave her extra strength, immortality, and the ability to aetherwalk, all of which came in handy. But it also made her feel tense and strange, probably because she’d started out mortal.
And there wasn’t much to worry about as long as they were on the university campus. By law and by magic, the gods weren’t allowed on the campus except by invitation. It better allowed the university staff to manage relations between the afterworlds if they were protected from the wrath of any gods who might not agree with their diplomacy. Ana had a standing invitation from Esha, which got her around the rules and allowed her to see her friend.
Ana pulled away from Esha and grinned up at her. Esha’s smile reached her amber eyes.
“Is that guy—” Esha stopped abruptly, presumably at the sight of Cam.
Ana glanced over her shoulder. Yep. Cam stood behind her with a You’ve been talking about me? expression. Ana turned back to Esha.
“That’s him,” she mouthed. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a normal tone. Esha’s black hair matched that of her familiar, who now sat at her heels staring combatively at Cam. Chairman Meow was the suspicious sort.
“Visiting Warren. His office is in that building. You’re on your way to see Fiona?”
“Yeah, thanks for setting that up. She’s in that one?” Ana pointed to a smaller building at the edge of the lot, and Esha nodded.
“Yeah. And no problem about arranging it. I asked around after you called and she’s the person to talk to. Come to my place after.” Esha’s amber eyes lit up with excitement. “Warren will be working all night. We’ll stay in my tower.”
Cam stepped forward. “Actually—”
“Seriously. Come up after you talk Fiona,” Esha said.
Ana turned to face Cam, wondering if her face showed how much she wanted to stay with her friend. There were guest quarters they could stay at, but it would be so good to see Esha, especially with everything else in her life going crazy. Apparently her face did show something, because Cam nodded.
“Ana, we should go see Fiona,” Cam said.
He shifted on his feet, and she realized that Esha was probably pulling power from him as well, only he didn’t like it. Ana was the only one who really did; other Mytheans gave Esha a wide berth. She and Esha were both outcasts, which might have been one of the reasons they bonded so well.
“Great,” Ana said. “We’ll be over in a bit.”
“Brilliant.” Esha headed into the night, her black cat a silent shadow on her heels.
“All right, let’s figure out where this priestess is,” Ana said, and strode across the cobblestone lot.
A few minutes later, after passing through gleaming wooden corridors and beneath the eyes of ancient portraits, she knocked on Fiona’s door.
“Come in!” The voice echoed through the door and Cam and Ana stepped into a cluttered little office. It was almost a broom closet, but instead of brooms, there was a tiny desk, a chair, and a beat-up laptop. A dark-haired woman turned away from a bookshelf she’d been trying to squeeze a book into and smiled.
“You must be Andrasta and Camulos. Come in. Enjoy the ambiance of my office.” She swept her hand around the space. Her eyes welcomed them from behind glasses. A little black cat peered over the edge of the top shelf on the bookcase. It was a ball of fluff that blinked big yellow eyes at her from where it perched three feet above her head.
“Oh, don’t worry about Fluffy Black. She comes to the office on Tuesdays. That’s her nap spot.”
“Okay.” Ana looked around for a place to put herself. With Fiona occupying the space in front of the bookshelf that stood behind the desk, and the cat on the top shelf, the only space available was to lean against the desk. Ana and Cam squeezed in.
“It’s cozy,” Ana said.
“Sure, like a grave. But whatever. You’re here to ask me about Druantia, the Druid priestess.”
“Exactly,” Ana said. “How’d you find her?”
“I didn’t find her, exactly. I found her boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” Ana had not been expecting that.
“Boyfriend, lover, whatever. The man she’s currently boning. Who, by the way—and this is crazy—is the Logan Laufeyson.”
“What?” Cam’s voice was sharp, disbelieving.
“I know,” Fiona said. “I was shocked too. Everyone thought he was dead. But he’s not.”
“Wait—explain, please,” Ana said.
“Oh, sorry.” Fiona squished her face into what Ana always thought of as an apology face. “For hundreds of years, Logan Laufeyson was a renowned mercenary whose skill was the bow. He sold his services all over southern Europe. He was the absolute best in the world. But he fell off everyone’s radar about three hundred years ago. We thought he was dead—until he popped up and stole an artifact from us. An ancient amulet. No one else in my department thinks it’s worth the effort or the money to go after it, so they dropped the recovery effort. But I know it’s important. I’m sure of it.”
“Why do you care?” Ana asked.
“Ah, well. I care for history’s sake. The artifact should be in a museum. But, on a more personal note, these fabulous accommodations of mine”—she swept her hand around the office—“are the result of a bit of a mix-up with a very important artifact a few years ago. Basically, I fucked up bad. Real bad. I was demoted from field Acquirer to record keeper in this purgatory.”
“I’m sorry,” Ana said. Fiona gave off the vibe of someone who’d been stuck in her surroundings too long, desperate to get out.
“You’re wondering why this is all relevant, I’m sure. Simply put, I’m trying to win my old job back by finding the artifact that I lost, as well as any others that have been stolen. That’s how I came across Logan. I found him living with a woman in Inverness—Druantia, your Druid priestess.”
“Holy shit,” Cam breathed.
“Crazy, right? I was going to go up there on my week off to find him and retrieve the artifact.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Ana asked, glancing around the office. If the woman was used to spending her days in a place like this, was she really qualified to go up against one of the greatest warriors the world had ever known?
“I’m not a desk jockey. I’m a field Acquirer. I’m just being punished here in the stacks. Anyway, I’m not going to challenge him or anything. He’s dangerous as hell. I was going to try to sneak in and steal it. You’d be surprised how often that works.”
“Did you learn anything about Druantia?” Ana said.
“I did some digging when Esha told me you were interested. She’s still acting as a Druid priestess—though with a lesser following than in years past, of course. For the last two hundred years or so, she’s had a shop that sells magics and trinkets.”
“Excellent, thank you.”
“No problem.” She turned and grabbed a notebook off the shelf. With a quick hand, she flipped it open and transcribed an address on a page, then tore it out and handed it to Ana. “Here you go. Don’t scare off Logan. I want that amulet.”
“Sure. Thank you again. Really.”
“Not a problem. I know what it’s like to want something badly. Glad I could help.”
The cat above her head peered down and meowed a tiny meep, as if it agreed with Fiona.
“That’s right, Fluffy. Way to be hospitable.”
Ana huffed out a small laugh, then said her goodbyes with Cam and departed.
Cam’s head buzzed with possibility as they walked across the rolling green lawn toward Esha’s tower at the far edge of the campus. The night was so silent compared to the jungle that it made his skin itch. A pale moon illuminated the damp green grass, and it made him ache for the Amazon.
“So, what do yo
u think?” Ana asked, nearly hopping in her excitement.
“I know what you’re thinking. But I don’t know. I doubt he’s powerful enough.”
It’d be the perfect conclusion to this. Someone to take both their places in Otherworld. But it was unlikely. He wasn’t being cocky. Being a war god took an extraordinary strength of will and a desire to succeed above all else. And skill in war. In all his years as a god, he’d only ever met one person who had what it took.
Ana.
“But it’s Logan Laufeyson,” Ana said. “You heard how she talked about him.”
“Yeah. And though I’ve never met him, I have heard of him. Centuries ago when I was living in northern Canada.”
“News traveled all the way up there?”
“Some news. I listened particularly for news like that. Even I was impressed with what I heard. But he’d have to agree to become a god.”
She sighed, and they trudged along. “I’m operating under the assumption that we’re going to convince this guy to take my place, okay?”
He nodded. He doubted it would work—when had anything been that easy?—but even he couldn’t fully crush the hope that had started squatting in his chest as soon as Fiona had mentioned the man. From what Cam remembered, if anyone on earth was qualified, it was Logan Laufeyson. Lucky as hell he wasn’t dead.
They arrived at the base of the round stone tower that sat near the forest a few hundred yards from the rest of the campus buildings. Cam pushed opened the door for Ana, his eyes following her inside. Christ, he liked looking at her.
“Oh, chivalry,” she teased as she climbed the spiral stair to her friend’s apartment.
He followed behind her, not particularly excited to be spending the night in the home of a soulceress. It was an eerie feeling, having his strength drained away like that. All Mytheans had something extra in their souls, a power that gave them immortality and whatever other strengths were inherent to their species. Esha fed upon that power. And there was nothing he could do about it, which he despised.
But Ana trusted her, and the flat was one of the safest places in the world. Not only was it on the university campus, no Mythean would come to a place where their immortality was drained away by the resident. Even the gods would be affected here.
They reached the top of the stairs and Ana burst through the door without knocking. She leapt over the scruffy black cat sprawled in front of the door. Cam followed suit with a less excited step.
“Gods, I’m so glad you’re here!” Esha said from where she stood in the kitchen of her open-plan flat. She eyed Cam suspiciously, which he figured was par for the course. People didn’t normally take to him easily.
“Gods damn it, this stupid thing isn’t working!” a feminine voice exclaimed.
Cam glanced toward the living room to see a small woman who was all shades of gold—skin, hair, eyes—sitting on the floor in front of the couch, glaring at the glowing screen of a tablet. Her short hair stuck out at all angles, like she’d been shoving her hand through it.
“Hey, Aurora,” Ana said to the woman.
“Huh?” Aurora jerked her head up. After a moment, her eyes cleared. “Hi, Ana. Sorry, I was so distracted I barely even noticed you come in. This stupid tablet is giving me hell.”
“Tablet? I’ve never seen one.” Ana’s voice brightened and she veered toward Aurora. “Show me.”
Aurora handed over the device and explained the problem while Ana ran her fingers over it, fascination evident on her face.
“You should have seen them last month,” Esha said. “They were playing with a flashlight like it was the most advanced technology on earth.”
A grin tugged at Cam’s mouth. Ana really did love technology. Probably because there was nothing like it in Otherworld. Her happiness and fascination were magnetic. He glanced at the other woman whose golden eyes were so like Esha’s.
“Your sister?” he asked.
Esha nodded.
“Here.” Ana handed the tablet back to Aurora, reluctance in her voice.
“Thanks. Hey, Esha? I’m going back to my place. I left the instruction manual over there. I’ll see you tomorrow.” After saying goodbye to Ana and looking at Cam questioningly, she departed.
Ana looked at Esha. “I’m going to get a shower, okay?”
“Sure. Hang on a sec.” Esha turned and rummaged through her fridge, then spun back around and handed over a bottle with a grin. “Here’s a beer.”
“Score. Shower beer is the best.”
“True story. Sorry I don’t have any donuts or we’d have the perfect dinner.”
“Well, I saw you’ve got the Die Hard movies on your shelf, so we could still have the perfect night.” Ana waggled her eyebrows.
“That I do. We can watch one when you’re out.”
“Awesome.” Ana shot Esha a grin over her shoulder that hit Cam in the chest, punched through his ribs, and yanked on his heart. Seeing her at ease, in her element with her friends. Shit, it did something to him. Something dangerous. She took so much joy in life and in other people. He loved that about her, but it gave him the strangest empty feeling. Like loneliness. He shook the thought away. He might be a loner, and his life might lack the joy Ana felt at being with her friend, but he wasn’t lonely. That was ridiculous.
“Can I get you something, Cam?” Esha’s voice cooled when she addressed him.
He turned to catch her still eyeing him suspiciously, then caught sight of the cat doing the same, his citrine eyes offering threats along with distrust. He was big, with a tomcat face and disheveled fur.
“Ah, beer. Thanks. Mind if I take a seat?” Cam shifted on his feet, feeling eerily like he’d stepped into the den of some kind of predator.
“Sure.” She snagged a beer out of the fridge and handed it to him. The sound of water singing through the pipes emitted from the bathroom. Esha sprawled in the chair across from him, but it wasn’t hard to see that the sprawl was an act. “So you and my friend have a history.”
Here it comes. He sipped his drink. Nodded.
“A fucked-up history, from what I’ve heard.”
He nodded again and she gave him an appraising look.
“Hmm. Didn’t expect you to admit it,” she said.
“Well, you’re right. It’s fucked up.”
“You gonna unfuck it up?”
“What do you mean?” But shit, he knew what she meant. Exactly what he’d been fearing since Ana showed up on his river.
Esha’s amber eyes now glowed with the same aggression that shone from her eerie cat. “Get her the fuck out of Otherworld. She hates it. No.” She shook her head and gestured. “She doesn’t just hate it. It’s killing her, from the inside out. She was a fucking mortal. Skilled and driven and strong enough to be a god, but not built for it. Not inside. She’s so lonely in Otherworld that her soul is withering.”
Cam’s grip tightened on the beer bottle as some invisible force squeezed his ribs. At first he thought it was her magic, just a hit to convince him she was serious. No need, lady.
But then he realized it was him, because he was fucking agreeing with her. Guilt was a live thing in his chest, filling him up until he nearly strangled on it. He was responsible for what had happened to Ana. For all the loneliness and misery in her life.
He’d made the decision before he’d ever set foot in Esha’s tower, but only now was he accepting it. He’d go back to Otherworld to save her. No question. He could hardly live with himself now, knowing how lonely she’d been in Otherworld. She was too bright and fun and lively to be in a place like that.
But the idea of going back, to that place where he’d tried and failed, made him sweat. He prayed that Logan Laufeyson was strong enough for the task and wanted the job, because if he wasn’t, Cam’s own life was about to get a hell of a lot more miserable.
Going back to Otherworld—well, shit. He supposed he’d been headed in this direction, he just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it.
“I’ll fi
x this,” he said.
Esha seemed to see the truth in his eyes and she relaxed. The cat didn’t, and Cam had a feeling that the bruiser would be glaring at him all night. It hissed, like it could read his thoughts, and he glared back.
“The Chairman likes you,” Esha said.
He raised a brow.
“Yeah, just fucking with you. He’d eat you if he were big enough. But I trust you to take care of this. Because if you don’t…”
Then he did feel something squeeze around his chest. And his legs, arms, head. His vision temporarily blacked out, and claws of panic pierced his heart while his muscles strained to break free. When the pressure finally released and he opened his eyes, he had to force himself not to gasp in front of her.
“So we’re on the same page.” Esha gave an eerie but genuine smile. “Can I get you another beer?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Keane Hotel, Inverness, Scotland, Present Day
“I can’t believe she wasn’t there,” Ana said as she crossed the street with Cam toward their Inverness hotel. A cold drizzle exacerbated her pissy mood.
“She’ll be there tomorrow.” He held open the door of the hotel for her.
“Yeah. It’s just so anticlimactic. We’re so close, and we came up empty.” After waking late at Esha’s—Cam on the couch and Ana in Esha’s bed with her friend and the space hog of a cat—they’d driven north all afternoon until they’d reached Inverness.
“Tomorrow,” Cam said.
Ana looked around the lobby of the hotel. She’d never have guessed it was another Mythean hotel, complete with protections, from the look of the place. A shining wood registration desk and plush couches decorated the space. It looked like any other mortal hotel in the city.
“Let’s head to the pub,” Cam said after they’d checked in.
