“They’ll be back,” Will said, breaking the trance the forest had put me in.
I shook my head and ran my fingers through my hair. My mother’s magic had done a number on me. I supposed having your spirit ripped out of your body would do that. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Best stay indoors for a couple of days.
Any tension between us had dissipated, replaced with edginess and worry. Will took my arm and supported me as we walked inside. “You should get some rest,” he said.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to fall asleep. There were only so many nightmares I could take. “The couch,” I said. “Let’s just sit for a while.”
Will hesitated, then nodded.
After settling me onto the sofa, Will disappeared into the kitchen and emerged with two steaming cups of tea. I gratefully took one and blew steam over the edge.
He sat adjacent from me on a chair that complained under his weight. I glanced at the other sofa he’d tried sitting in, now a blackened mess. The light he emitted eventually singed cotton. We’d discovered a couple of iron chairs that hadn’t seemed to fit in the lake house, until I realized that perhaps Tyler liked to enjoy his natural form on occasion without destroying all his furniture.
Will turned his cup around in his hands. Only ceramic could handle his touch. “What’d your mother say?”
I set my cup down on the table. “She thought I was dead.”
He stiffened. “So she knows I’m a Valiant.” The unspoken words scrawled over his face with a shadow of guilt that mirrored my own. His thoughts hit me like a stone to the gut. She knows I killed.
“Don’t worry about her,” I said. My confidence grew when I saw Will like this. Guilt could tear me apart, but I wasn’t going to allow it to drag Will under. I might deserve its icy claws, but he certainly didn’t. “She knows I’m trying to help you. She has an alliance with Odin, so she’ll tolerate it.” When he didn’t look at me, I reached out and rested a hand on his arm. His muscles bulged under my touch, but he didn’t pull away. The heat of what he was now scalded my fingers, but I could take it. I was a Valkyrie. I was born of flames. “You are a good person, Will. That’s why you’re a Valiant.”
He glanced at me and a wistful smirk lit his face. “So, you think all Valiant are good people, huh? Guess I better get to know Tyler a little better.”
I laughed. “Trust me. He’s good, somewhere deep down beyond that bravado of his.”
Will’s muscles relaxed and he laughed. The sound was music to my ears and in that moment, I could almost believe everything would be okay.
Except there was a lingering stench of humans outside our walls. They expected bodies to be in that lakebed when they came back.
My smile faded. Where were we going to find bodies?
I’m not usually a morning person, but come sunrise I was up and ready to get my terrible idea over with.
I went to the front door and opened it, inhaling the fresh dewy scent of morning. The trees brushed against one another with a smooth breeze and it would have been a beautiful day, had I not needed to conjure the dead bodies of the Norn.
Will yawned, startling me as I yelped and leaned against the doorway for support. “Will,” I said, “don’t scare me like that.
He laughed and rubbed his eyes. “You’re about as sneaky as an elephant. What’re you doing?”
I sighed. “I wasn’t trying to be sneaky. I’m just looking to see if it’s safe to go out.”
He walked to my side and peered over my shoulder. I stiffened as the sunlight scent of him overrode the calm morning breeze and filled me with another kind of hunger. He was so intoxicating, especially when he was like this. As much as his Immortal body filled me with guilt, it was also familiar to something deep within me. A Valkyrie and a Valiant just seemed to fit together. Maybe that’s why I’d been interested in Tyler.
“I don’t see anyone,” he said, then gave me a handsome smile. “You weren’t thinking of going skinny dipping, were you?”
I hit him on the shoulder. “No, perv.” My laughter diminished and I sighed. “You’re going to think this is super creepy, but we need the humans to stop looking for us. If we give them some bodies, maybe they’ll go away.”
He gave me a raised brow. “Bodies?”
I nodded. “The Norn dissipated a lot of dark energy into the forest when they died. I could use it to create husks of ourselves. It’s the perfect decoy. Then, once you get control over your gifts, maybe we can get out of here without feeling like we have targets on our backs.” I squeezed his arm. “They aren’t going to be looking for us if they think we’re dead.”
Will considered my plan as his crystal eyes swirled with light. He was worse in the morning with the effect, as if the sun itself gave him a fresh dose of power. “How do you know you can even do that?”
I tugged him outside. I couldn’t tell him that Grimhildr’s programming seemed to be feeding me memories that should have been buried. Valkyries learned a lot of tricks, and one of them was how to make humans believe we were dead so we could abandon our posts without messing with more brain cells. It prevented the possibility that someone would be missed, causing an even bigger problem. That’s how conspiracy theories were born… and rightly so.
It didn’t matter that Immortals like Freya played God. What mattered was how I could use it to my advantage. I’d sensed the darkness before, but I hadn’t realized what it was.
Will reached out a broad arm to stop me. His power hummed like a live wire and I forced myself to listen. I’d been so focused on the dark energy that I’d completely blocked out my surroundings.
“Something’s watching us,” he whispered.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, then I felt silly. If a human was out there, then he or she would take one look at Will and run screaming—or just think they’d gone insane. If it was a supernatural creature, then we’d just take them out. Here I was, a Valkyrie that had survived three Norn and a Valiant gone mad. With Will at my side, we could take on anything.
“Who cares,” I said, and pushed his arm out of the way.
Will growled, but shuffled after me. His footfalls seemed to shake the forest. If there was someone out there, Will was going to make sure they knew what he was.
“Will you stop it?” I hissed when we reached the source of the darkness. Puddles of black glistened underneath overgrown brush. “You’re starting to inherit some of Tyler’s bravado.”
Will glared at me. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Ignoring him, I knelt and dug my fingers into the darkness where the Norn had been slain. The second I grazed the suffering and cruelty that was a Norn’s essence, I wanted to yank away, but I forced myself to push deeper into the soil and close my eyes. I drew in that darkness.
Something inside me stirred in recognition.
I realized there were a multitude of things I could do with this kind of latent power. There wasn’t much here, which I found strange. A sacrifice of the magnitude of three Norn and a Valkyrie should have left more of an impact.
Heat burned at my back, reminding me that Will stood over me, watchful and vigilant in making sure nothing came down on us while I worked. Perhaps he was so strong because he’d absorbed a portion of this power into himself. It took a Valkyrie’s sacrifice to create a Valiant.
I didn’t like that thought, and what was stranger was I couldn’t sense any darkness in Will. He was all light and good, and his presence would have been comforting had it not been for the raw tension of his nerves as he surveyed the forest.
“I can’t concentrate,” I complained. “Can you turn down the heat a little bit?”
Will grunted, but backed away until a cool breeze drifted between us.
The icy chill of dark magic wound about my fingertips and struggled up my arm. A part of me wanted to use this to pry Grimhildr’s claws out of my brain, but I would regain my memories in time. Right now I needed to make sure Will could have some sort of life to come back to when h
e was ready… not one where he was hunted.
I focused on my mortal flesh, as well as all those the humans would be looking for. Tyler’s sharp angles and Will’s lean swimmer’s body. When I got to Sam, a tear ran down my cheek, freezing solid mid-way.
When I opened my eyes, it was done. Crude, naked forms half-buried in the soot could have been us. The blood drained from my face to see how accurately I’d recreated bodies.
I was my mother’s daughter.
When I turned to look at Will, I found him watching me with growing scrutiny. If he’d had his mortal face, perhaps I could have read his expression, but as a Valiant, he might as well have been a statue.
“What?” I asked.
He broke from his stare as if he’d forgotten I knelt at his feet, struggling to draw my frozen fingers from the ground. He looked back at the bodies. Roots wound around them and covered their skin. Only the crest of shoulders and faces could be seen over the eerie, dark soil. “Nothing,” he said after a long moment. “I just… kind of wonder how accurate you got the bits under the dirt.”
A blush ran up my chest and engulfed my face. I hadn’t even thought of that. I turned and dismissed his comment. “Think of them as Ken dolls,” I said, plucking that human metaphor from my programming. “But, just to be sure, I’ll take myself and Sam to the lake. You get the other two, okay?”
He glanced at me. “What about Jules?”
I shook my head. “Everyone forgot about her, remember? She wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place.”
Will turned while I made short work of digging up myself and then Sam. I wasn’t strong enough to carry both bodies to the lake in my mortal form, so I slung my doppelgänger over my shoulder and dragged it across the forest. Once I reached the lakebed, I turned back, groaning at the path I’d have to cover. Maybe this would look like some kind of murder, but at least I couldn’t be a suspect. I was supposed to be dead.
I ran inside the lake house and grabbed one of Tyler’s old jackets. Filling it with stones, I tied it around fake-me’s waist and pushed it off the dock into the lake.
After I took Sam, I gathered more jackets filled with rocks while Will got the other two.
He chuckled when he took one of the jackets from my hand. “Hey,” he said, his voice husky and full of humor, “at least you were generous when you thought of me.”
My face had just calmed down and broke out in a sweat again. “I don’t need to know that,” I said, my voice pitching into a shriek. “It’s morphing magic, okay? It works off of DNA. We all were here in these woods long enough for me to find some samples.” The logic was sound, but I knew a component of rebuilding a body came from my own mind. Will didn’t have to know that.
He chuckled and walked back into the woods, this time whistling. Whoever he’d sensed watching us must have given up, or gone after the police. Either way, it could work into our plans. I’d rather the police be out there chasing some phantom that didn’t exist than Will and me.
The final splash sounded, which indicated Will had thrown Tyler’s conjured body into the water. Droplets hit the backs of my legs and I frowned. I was well beyond the docks. “How hard did you throw him in?” I asked. “If you blasted the body I just made, this isn’t going to work.”
Faint heat lingered underneath his metallic cheeks and he stormed past me. “Let’s just say I wasn’t the only one you were generous with.”
By the time we got back to the lake house and enjoyed a lunch of leftover pizza, I pondered what we were going to eat if we had to stay here much longer.
Before I could rummage through the pantry and see if Tyler had prepared for the worst, the sound of dogs made goosebumps spread across my skin.
I ran to the window and gripped on the ledge. My breath fogged the glass and I forced myself to back away.
“It working?” Will asked.
The men had brought long nets and poles. A grumbling engine sounded as they lowered a trailer with a boat. They were serious.
It wasn’t long before they found the first body. My work at recreating flesh didn’t include the ability to make it decay, so our timeline wouldn’t exactly line up, but it would have to do.
No one seemed to care that I’d gotten the details wrong as they shouted and covered the body with a blanket. Wide eyes filled with horror and shock made me almost regret what I’d done. If it hadn’t been for Will’s arm wrapping around me and pulling me into his chest, I could have been lost in the sadness that wafted over the woods.
“Hey,” he whispered, his tone gentle. He brushed away a tear from my cheek. “You did the right thing. They won’t look for us anymore.”
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and settled closer to him. “I know,” I said. It still didn’t make it any easier. Only a Norn caused pain—and that’s exactly what I’d just done.
After the humans had gone, a couple of news crews came over the next few days. The magic that shrouded the lake house held strong and they turned back the moment they got too close to the perimeter.
With the threat gone, all that was left was for Will to learn how to appear as his human self, but that was going to take time. Days turned into weeks and I wondered if we’d ever get away from the lake house that was starting to feel more like a prison.
I found myself outside again, staring into the murky depths of the lake as I stood on the edge of the docks. The humans had plucked the bodies I’d made, but it felt like death left its stink on these waters and it’d never come out. This was where I came to wallow in my guilt—something I was pretty good at by now.
A familiar burn radiated across my chest. My mother was trying to contact me again.
My necklace, an object that usually brought me comfort and warmth, hummed with the softness of a dentist’s drill in my head. I cringed, but resisted. Freya thought she could make me answer her calls. She was wrong.
Another kind of warmth wrapped around my midsection as Will encased me in his arms. He rested his chin on my shoulder as we looked out over the lake. This place still gave me mixed feelings. There was Will, of course, and our first kiss. That memory still gave me butterflies. This place was also where tragedy had begun with the death of his father, then the loss of his own mortal life. Sam. Jules. Will’s mother. All victims of that wonderful and terrible night when Will ascended as one of us.
Will’s breath puffed against my neck. I tried to shy away from him, not in the mood for tenderness. His teeth nipped at my earlobe as punishment. “Your mother put you in a bad mood again?” he asked, recognizing the heat that flickered across my chest.
I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. We fit together like two halves of a whole. And even though I knew that I loved Will, and that he loved me, I worried about letting him get too close. This interlude between the mortal world and Immortal one was just purgatory. It was all going to come crashing down on our heads and I felt helpless to protect him. I’d only made things worse by getting Sam killed, along with his mother. I was beginning to think that Elaina had been right. I’d saved him from the Norn’s curse only to award him with one of my own making.
Will brushed away my hair and tucked the strands behind my ear. “Now, I’m no mind reader, but I’d say your thoughts are going a mile a minute. Tell me what I can do to help.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but there wasn’t a thing he could do. Nothing, except for leaving me to prevent this from getting any worse.
Yet, he couldn’t leave, not while he looked like a god. His skin glowed with an inhuman hue as if he’d swallowed the sun and it rested in his chest. His skin was marbled like a statue come to life and his eyes held a spectrum of crystal that glittered at me with the most mesmerizing gaze. I found myself staring at him in wonder, then hating myself because he couldn’t live in this world while he looked like this. When Odin came to claim him, he’d have no choice but to leave his world behind. I needed to fix him.
I looked away from the gaze that threatened to drag me under. “Tyl
er should return soon.” And then everything would be okay. He’d teach Will how to glamour himself a mortal appearance, then I’d help him get his life back. He wouldn’t have to give up everything just because he’d been dedicated to the gods lifetimes ago.
Will frowned and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. “I don’t need Tyler,” he insisted, just as he always did. He’d become childish and annoyingly confident since inheriting his Immortal body. He grinned and gave me a quick kiss before I could pull away. “Stop it,” I said, but I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up.
“I’ve been practicing,” he said. “Look.” His face shimmered and my world dimmed as his inherent light swept under the surface of his skin. An old scar across his cheek sliced anew and a freckle marred his chin. The familiar visage made my stomach lurch and I reached out to touch him, but the moment my fingers grazed his cheek the mirage wavered.
“That’s very good,” I said, forcing the words through the agony that ripped through me. I’d done this to him. Sweat broke out across his brow at the effort of just trying to pretend to be who he was… who he used to be. “Don’t strain yourself. Once Tyler comes back, he can teach you how to use your powers naturally so it doesn’t cost you so much.” Then he’d have a choice when Odin came for him. He could stay.
He tried to hide it, but I caught the way his chest fluttered and he gulped in breaths of air at the effort it cost him to maintain the façade.
The mirage finally faded and Will gazed down at me with otherworldly eyes filled with crystal, light, and mystery. I hardly recognized him in his Immortal form even though we’d been trapped on the lake for weeks. What sent a shiver up my spine was the sensation that there was the familiar power that rested in him now and even though I didn’t have my memories, I knew it was forbidden to love him, mortal or Immortal. A Valkyrie was not supposed to love. That kind of passion created a bond, and when that bond hardened into something deeper, I was afraid of what came next. There was a reason my mother upheld the laws of the Valkyrie above all else. Perhaps Tyler had a reason for why he should be my mate. If I had to be with someone, it should be someone I cared for, but not someone I loved. That was too selfless, too dangerous.
Valkyrie Rebellion: Valkyrie Allegiance Book 2 Page 2
