“That’s what the orphans called the Immortals who’d hunted them down. There are other Immortals and orphans here in Kayville?”
“And the surrounding county and towns, yes. No one told us who you were. We assumed you were just like them. Now about your dragon, it’s all they talk about in Asgard. First, it was Raine, now you. Show me.”
I laughed. “What?”
“Your dragon. I want to see that part of you.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement, but I couldn’t do it. I glanced around the kitchen. As a child, it had seemed spacious. After Hel’s Hall, it seemed puny. I’d spent many evenings having dinner with them or helping Uncle Tristan prepare a meal for the family. It had been my home in a way and the last thing I wanted to do was destroy it.
“Eirik?”
“If I shifted here, I’d wreck not just this room but half the house.”
“Oh my. You are that big?”
“Yep.” I grinned. “We could go to the forest, and I’ll shift.”
A thoughtful expression entered her eyes. “No, not here. It was foolish of me to ask. Tell me about the goddess. Does she treat you well? Is she loving?”
“She’s my mother, Aunt Svana. Of course, she is nice and loving.”
Svana’s eyes narrowed. “Does she know about me?”
“Of course. You, Tristan, and Raine taught me about love and laughter, giving and sharing. Without you, I would never have known what a real family is, or what a real mother should be like.”
Svana’s eyes grew bright with tears. “Oh, Eirik. That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. You made it easy to love you.” She leaned in and dropped a kiss on my forehead with so much love I was transported back to my childhood. A kiss from her had healed a lot of wounds. I smiled.
“So what is this personal favor you mentioned earlier?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Aunt Svana?”
She sighed, determination entering her eyes. “Do you have time now?”
I glanced at my watch. I had two hours before Celestia’s school was out. I had planned to talk to the principal and then escort her home.
“Where is your head, Son?” Svana snapped her fingers. “I swear, you are worse than Raine. She never hears a thing I say. So here is what I need. I want to meet your mother. We won’t be gone for long.” She got up, walked to where she’d dropped her bag, and removed her phone. Within seconds, she was talking to the guy who ran her store. “Yes, Hawk. I won’t be in for a few more hours.” She paused, listened and then chuckled. “Okay, I’ll see you then.” She hung up and made another call. “I’m going out for a few hours. When will you be home?” Another pause. “Okay. Good. I’ll see you when I come back.” She threw the phone in the bag and glanced at me. “I’ll need something warm, right? And winter boots and gloves.”
“Aunt Svana, are you talking about going now?”
“Yes. You said you are happy and your mother treats you well. I have to see it. Because if you’ve lied to me, young man, I’ll go straight to your grandmother and tell them what I’ve learned. She worries about you. Your grandfather and uncles, Raine and Torin, too.”
I scoffed at the thought of the Valkyrie caring about me and received a censuring glare from Svana.
“Then there’s the story your grandparents heard from Viggo. I’ve waited a long time to have a chat with your mother, so yes, we are going. Right now. And you’ll make sure I make it back because Raine needs me to plan her wedding.”
My mother had a bad rep for not letting people leave her realm, but that was before me. “Of course, you’ll come back. Whatever stories you’ve been told about my mother are exaggerated. And even if there are some truths in them, she’s no longer that person. The Norns wronged her when they took my sister and me away, and she had every right not to trust anyone.”
“Your sister?”
“Yes, my sister. She was an orphan here.”
Svana’s eyes grew luminous with tears. “Oh, your poor mother. To lose two children is horrifying. I’d go out of my mind if I ever lost Raine. Now, I want more than ever to meet her. I’ll get my things.”
“And I’ll tell my guys I’m heading home for a couple of hours. Uh, does Raine know about my dragon side?”
“No, dear. I figured that was something you’d share with her when you are ready.”
Svana might look like she should be running around barefoot with flowers in her hair, but she was very smart and intuitive. “I’ll eventually tell her the truth, just not now. I’ll be right back.”
She tilted her head to the side and studied me as I pulled out my artavus. “Do you remember when I’d ask you to help me in the kitchen and you’d say ‘I’ll be right back, Aunt Svana?’ You’d disappear to your place and hide until I was done.”
I grinned. “I was a kid, and I hated doing dishes. I still do.”
“So you won’t disappear on me?”
“No, ma’am. I take my responsibilities seriously now. Besides, I think it’s time you two met. You laid the foundation of the man I am and Mother has built on it.”
“Aww, what a sweet thing to say, but you got it all wrong. You are shaping your future, becoming the man you are meant to be. Your mother and I only nudged you in the right direction.” Instead of heading upstairs, Svana closed the gap between us and hugged me. “You also gave my Tristan the son he’d always wanted. Now go before I change my mind.” She stepped back and grinned. “I’m excited and a bit scared, to be honest, but I know you will take care of me or you’ll have to deal with Raine.”
An angry Raine was a scary thought, especially now that her powers had emerged. I’d watched her take on seasoned Immortals, using elemental magic to bend the earth and trees to her will. She could bury me alive if I let anything happen to her mother.
~*~
The portal I opened led to the bleachers. Celestia’s class was having PE inside a gym. Daiku and Ranger sat at the very top seats, munching on popcorn while keeping an eye on her. I joined them, scooped a handful of the popped kernels, and watched the basketball game. Celestia lost the ball to the other team and growled in frustration.
“Someone needs to teach our girl the fundamentals of basketball,” Ranger said.
Daiku nodded. “I’ll do it next time she comes to the hall because she is awful.”
“Really awful,” Ranger echoed.
They were right. Celestia couldn’t dribble to save her life and kept running with the ball. I was sure the teacher noticed, but ignored the rules for her. I would ignore many rules for her. She looked cute running down the court, her ponytail swinging left to right. She’d knotted her T-shirt in front, leaving bare a bit of skin in her midriff and the upper part hugging her chest. I wanted to stroke her skin. I adjusted my eyesight, and I noted the sheen of sweat dotting her spine. Forget about stroking it. I wanted to taste her skin.
Scales appeared on my arm. Okay, I wanted to more than taste her. Devour was more like it. I was crazy to want to stay in her school for the next six weeks when the sight of her made my blood boil with need, yet I didn’t see any other way. I had to protect her, which meant I must learn to control the shift in her presence.
I grinned when she cheated for her team by telekinetically directing a ball into the basket. Laughter came from the bottom of the bleachers, and I followed it to two guys in basketball varsity jackets. I knew that look in their eyes. They were mentally undressing the girls. I adjusted my hearing.
“She’s always been hot,” one of the guys, said.
“But she’s become even hotter since she hooked up with the Asgardian,” the taller of the two said. “Look at those knockers. I’m going to ask her to dance on Friday at the party just so I can size them up. I can always tell a cup size when I hold a girl close and hers looks like Ds, but I gotta confirm it.”
What the…?
I didn’t realize I’d moved until I was behind the two guys. I clamped on their shoulders, right by their necks, and barel
y controlled my instinct to snap their necks.
“What party?” I asked, keeping my voice light.
“The one our coven is throw…” the shorter guy’s voice trailed off when he looked over his shoulder and realized his friend wasn’t the one holding him. “Throwing on Friday,” he finished in a rush.
“No more covens, dude. This is the first Guild party,” the tall one said, his eyes still on Celestia. “And I’m hitting on her and her Ice Princess best friend.”
“Shut up, dude,” his friend warned him and backhanded his arm. “She’s taken.”
“He won’t be there, but I’ll get serious cred for hitting on his girl. I’ve had my eyes on her since—”
I’d squeezed on his shoulder hard to get his attention.
“Ouch! Dude, what the…?” His eyes collided with mine. He swallowed.
“Don’t stop now. Since when?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t mean anything. I swear. We were just fooling around.”
“Fooling around? I think you were mentally undressing my girl.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Okay, say I believe you. Does that mean you don’t think she’s hot? And her knockers aren’t perfect?”
His face became red. “Uh-mmm, is that a trick question?”
“It’s a simple one. You either think my girlfriend is hot or you think she’s ugly.”
“Oh, she is hot. Very hot.”
My eyes shifted, my hands tightening on his shoulder.
“Out of my league hot?” he squeaked.
I took pity on him and glanced at his friend. “And your verdict?”
“She’s real pretty. Classy. Powerful Witch. I respect that shit, man. And I don’t lust after other men’s girls.”
“Good, because if you look at her wrong, I’ll know. If you say anything to anyone about her, I’ll know. And if you fantasize about her, I’ll pluck the images right out of your head.” They blinked, their eyes widening. “Oh yes, I can. The same way I heard you call her breasts knockers. And no, she didn’t become hot because we hooked up. She’s always been hot. The difference is now she’s off limits.”
They bobbed their heads.
“Good. Make sure all your jock friends know that.” Without letting him go, I engaged my invisibility runes and disappeared. They both whimpered, but the taller one moaned in pain when I squeezed his shoulder again. My eyes met Celestia’s. She stood in the middle of the court with the ball, staring at me.
How much had she seen?
I blew her a kiss and received a scowl. She’d seen enough. I could already hear her verdict. “No bullying guys at school.” I raced up the bleachers, explained to the Grimnirs where I was headed and left.
Svana was still upstairs and a quick peek at Uncle Tristan found him asleep. I paced and processed everything she had said before I left to check on Celestia.
Viggo, son of Forseti, had accompanied me to Helheim the first time I visited. He must have told my family in Asgard about my mother throwing me in the dungeons, which meant my grandparents must be judging my mother, possibly even condemning her for her actions, and that was unacceptable in my book. I had to set everyone straight about what she did and why.
Svana came downstairs dressed for freezing temperatures. She reminded me so much of Celestia in her ten winter layers I couldn’t stop grinning. A car pulled up just as I started on the portal.
“That’s Femi. Quickly,” she said. “She’ll try and stop me if she learns about where we are going. I don’t have time to listen to her lectures.”
I opened the portal and led her into the cave. The portal closed before Femi entered their house. Now I understood how their relationship worked. Aunt Svana tended to make spur of the moment decisions and run with it, while Femi was the more grounded one, like Uncle Tristan. Raine was a lot more like her father, but they needed Aunt Svana’s flamboyance to balance them. Because of her, my childhood had been very colorful.
~*~
“Oh my,” Svana whispered the second she stepped out of the cave. She lifted her face to the sky and sighed. “I love it.”
Celestia often did that too, and it had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures or the snowy landscape. The magic in the air was the cause. Like Celestia, Svana was once a Witch. It was that strong connection with magic that had caused the Valkyries to choose her.
She opened her eyes, smiled, and took my arm. She didn’t speak or lose her smile when she spied Oskrud ferrying evil souls to Corpse Strand. Or when Garm decided to block our path and sniff her. Of course, being a Valkyrie meant she’d heard of my mother’s hound and Modgie, and her father.
The giantess grimaced when Svana said, “Nice to finally meet you, dear. Such a lovely young girl,” she added as we walked away, and I fought a smile at Modgie’s expression. No one would dare call her a young girl when she was in her Jötun form. She was fierce-looking and used her size to intimidate.
The second we entered the gate, Svana let out a sigh of relief, which told me she hadn’t been as calm as she’d let on.
“It’s a long way to the hall, but I can carry you if you like and race with you the rest of the way,” I offered.
“No, sweetheart. I’m enjoying the magic too much to want to miss a second of it by rushing our walk.” She glanced at her watch. “Besides, we have time.”
I had no idea what she meant by having time. Once again, she didn’t speak and hugged herself to stay warm. I was sure she regretted refusing my offer halfway down the trek when her teeth started to chatter. Grimnirs hurried past us without slowing down. They were used to seeing strangers around the hall now.
I removed her gloves and took her hands in mine the moment we entered the hall. I redirected heat to her freezing fingers, then her cheeks.
“You give out heat?” she asked.
“Yes, I do.” I glanced up and was surprised to see my mother coming toward us with Echo beside her. She was not going to like this. No matter how much she’d changed, she still didn’t tolerate visitors coming to her hall.
“Mother, I want you to meet—”
“Svana Cooper,” she finished, her expression hard to read. “I’m happy you made it okay. I was just about to send Echo to get you.”
Svana curtseyed. “Goddess, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. Call me Svana, please. I got impatient, and I didn’t mind having Eirik as my guide.” She touched Echo’s arm. “Thanks, darling, for acting as a go-between.”
Now, I was thoroughly confused. They’d arranged this visit. Why?
“Come with me, Svana, ” Mother said. “Echo, I’ll see you later. Son, stop hovering. Find something to do.”
A flash of nervousness crossed Svana’s face, but she patted my arm and followed my mother, her hand gripping the strap of her bag. Concerned, I inched closer. Why would she want to see my mother?
“What’s going on, Aunt Svana?”
“Nothing that concerns you, sweetheart. Like your mother said, find something to do.” She glanced at my mother. “I brought you a present.” She reached inside her bag, pulled out a leather-bound book, and gave it to her. “Some of those I took while others were taken by my Tristan, but the majority are his when he bought a camera with a timer.”
“Whoa, are those my pictures?” I asked.
“Go away, Son. Find something to do or go visit Celestia. Svana and I have a lot of catching up to do.” She opened the album as they walked away, their heads close together. “How old was he here?”
I stared after the two women, then turned and went to find Echo. Syn was leaving the gym and pointed me in the right direction. Echo’s unit was a few doors from Rhys’. He mumbled something when I knocked, which I assumed meant come in.
He was lying on his bed and didn’t sit up. Like most senior Grimnirs, he had a spacious bedroom with a sitting area, a case where he kept drinks, and on his wall was an enlarged picture of Cora. I studied it. I believed I took it.
“You snapped my neck.”
“Don’t do it again, junior.”
“Sure, old man. I know it’s unfair seeing how age has slowed you down.” Just as I expected, he took the bait and came after me. I’d like to say I let him, but that would be a lie. He was faster and had me in a chokehold before I could prepare. I knew he was going to snap my neck to prove that he wasn’t slow. If I were here to stroke his ego, I would have let him. I wasn’t.
I went into a partial shift and let scales replace skin. I knew my scales had to be digging into his arm, but he was so stubborn he refused to let go. I extended the shift to my shoulders, neck, and arms, bones snapping and muscles expanding. I reached over my head for him, but he let me go and moved out of reach. I chose not to stretch my arm and grab him. When I glanced over my shoulder, he was staring at me with a frown.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you shift. Does it hurt?”
“Yep.”
“Good.”
“I can absorb the pain.” My voice had grown deeper. “Are you ready to talk now?”
“Not to Rhys if that’s why you are here.” He went to the table at the corner of the room, poured amber-looking liquid into a glass, and tossed it into his mouth. He was in a shitty mood again. “They knew Maliina escaped and never told me.”
I wasn’t here to talk about another soul. “No, this has nothing to do with you or Rhys. What does Svana want with my mother?”
Echo smirked. “They’re keeping you in the dark, too?”
“What do you mean ‘too’?”
“Svana warned me not to tell Cora about her trip here because Cora would tell Raine.”
“So what is it about?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“I’ll owe you.”
Echo chuckled and poured the same alcohol in two glasses this time and offered me one. I sipped and grimaced. The second sip wasn’t so bad. It was obviously an acquired taste.
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