by Eleri Stone
Her head throbbed with every step. She needed to focus on what she could control. Apologize for her stupid-ass mistake. Replace the wards. Whether she stayed in Ragnarok or went home, she’d make sure they had the most perfectly formed wards Midgard had ever seen.
She would offer to help them figure out what exactly was causing the wards to fail too. She’d thought it was just age causing the instability, but after last night... No. That wasn’t natural degradation. There was more to it. She paused in the hallway as she caught the tail end of her mother’s attack on Lois.
“You’re jealous because she’s more powerful than you will ever be. You liked having her under your thumb and now you have no reason to maintain your position.”
Kathy cut off her tirade. “For heaven’s sake, Joanne, don’t throw oil on the fire. Raquel won’t push Lois out. This was bound to happen eventually.” She paused and conceded, “The timing is unfortunate.”
Conversation stopped as Raquel entered the kitchen and everyone turned to stare.
Grace put her hand on her husband’s arm as if to restrain him. Raquel’s mother rushed forward to lead her to the open seat beside Kathy. Christian kept his place in the middle of the small kitchen, leaning against the counter. Opposite him, Lois glared daggers when Raquel briefly met her gaze.
Surprisingly, it was Elin, seated across the table, who spoke first. “Are you okay, Raquel? You should still be in bed.”
There was sincere concern in the dark eyes that studied her. Elin was offering her support and a little friendly advice too. That look said, Run now and hide until they cool off.
“I need to be here.”
Elin tipped her head toward the center of the kitchen. “They’re just blowing off steam.”
Raquel looked at Aiden. He was furious. White-faced and cold-eyed, not an ounce of welcome in that rocky regard.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “I tried to break my block, but I never thought it would have that kind of effect.”
“You should have known better,” he growled.
She almost tried to defend herself—she’d taken precautions. But this wasn’t about her clearing her name. She’d placed everyone in danger and she’d accept responsibility for that. Clan always came first. Breaking her block was not a good enough reason to have taken the risk she’d taken last night.
“I’ll accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate. It was reckless of me to rush into that experiment.”
“Experiment,” Lois scoffed.
Raquel ignored her. “Your problem isn’t entirely with the age of the wards. When I was restoring them, someone fought me for control.”
Lois squeaked in outrage and Aiden silenced her with a look.
“You were the only witch there,” he said, returning his attention to Raquel. He grimaced. “At least, the only one still standing.”
“It came from the other side.” This was too important to let them brush it aside because they were angry with her. “The spell wasn’t strong, but I got the impression that it had been there for a while, had already become a part of the wards...like a parasite or a virus.”
Aiden paused to consider that, but Lois shook her head in disgust. “You’re making excuses. The wards were fine until you pushed an abominable amount of power into them. You flooded the fault and we’re lucky that anyone—”
“Lois.” Aiden’s voice cracked out like a whip. Lois glared at Raquel and then her expression changed subtly as her gaze lifted to a point over Raquel’s shoulder. Raquel glanced back to find Rane standing there, leaning against the doorframe. Christian moved forward to wrap an arm around her waist. Raquel started to get up, but he waved her down and placed Rane in the chair Elin vacated for her sister.
“You’re making enough noise to raise the dead.” Rane’s gaze swept the room, lingered on Raquel. “What happened to you? I missed something.”
“There was a surge while you were unconscious,” Aiden said. “We took care of it.”
Rane opened her mouth to press for more but seemingly thought better of it and shook her head. “Never mind. I can guess. I heard what she told you about the wards. She’s right. And I know who’s tampering with them. It’s only going to get worse unless we stop it. Can I get some coffee?” She rubbed at her face as Christian poured her a mug and set it on the table.
“Rane,” Aiden said. “What happened over there?”
“I tracked the aberration to Kamis—that’s his name by the way, the Vanir exile. They’ve half-imprisoned him in an ice floe. His legs to the thigh and his arms to the shoulder are locked in one of Surtr’s pits. I found him by chance, saw the glint from his armor as I flew overhead. He’s a witch.”
Lois snorted and Rane met her gaze directly, holding it until Lois flinched and looked away. “The Vanir have male witches as powerful as their females. Kamis is powerful, even I could feel that. They tried to force him to split the portal wide enough for one of the higher-level demons to pass through. He refused. Now they’re draining him using an artifact they dug up from the ice and pouring the energy into the fault. That’s like using a hammer to pound at a mountain, he said. It might break through the rock eventually, but it will take time.”
“Why should we believe him?” Aiden asked, searching her face. “He told you this freely?”
“Right before he asked me to slit his throat.”
A long silence followed that pronouncement. Christian was the first to speak. “I, for one, say we leave him. If we can restore the wards well enough to handle the extra power he’s pouring into them, eventually he’ll wear out. We can’t trust the word of a Vanir criminal.”
Lois nodded emphatically, but Aiden didn’t seem to notice. His attention shot immediately to his wife.
“You know what I think about it.” Grace seemed braced for a fight, and Raquel wanted to warn her to back down. Husband or no, it was a bad idea to challenge the Odin, particularly in front of the senior members of the hunt. Particularly when you weren’t even a member of the hunt. Grace hadn’t been raised clan. What if she didn’t know the rules? “We don’t leave people behind.”
Some of the ice thawed from Aiden’s eyes. “He’s not our people, sweetheart.”
“He’s not a demon either,” she said softly. “He saved Hallie’s life. Mine too.”
Aiden closed his eyes for a beat and then gave a slight nod. “I trust Grace’s opinion, and she’s had the most contact with Kamis. I trust Rane’s judgment as well.”
Christian looked as if he wanted to argue with Aiden, but he turned to Rane instead. “If the Vanir—”
“Kamis,” she corrected.
A muscle ticked in Christian’s jaw. “If Kamis didn’t hurt you, who did?”
A shadow crossed Rane’s delicate features. “A pack of midlevel demons. They caught me when I tried to help Kamis escape.”
She didn’t say more and no one pressed her. Raquel shook her head. “I don’t understand. What do the jötunn hope to accomplish? If the wards fail here, yes, they can cross into Midgard. But they’ll only destroy this one town. They can’t survive here long enough to reach any of the other clans on this side. If the distance from the fault doesn’t kill them, then the humans will.”
“It’s personal.” Rane looked at Grace. “The demon you killed was Surtr’s consort. He wants revenge on you personally and all of us by association. It’s not safe for you to cross into Asgard again.”
“It’s not safe for any of us,” Christian said.
“I have to go back,” Rane said. “I’m not going to leave him trapped like that regardless of what the rest of you decide.”
“Will the fault hold for now?” Christian asked. To Raquel’s surprise, everyone turned to her for the answer.
She nodded. “Until we can replace the wards, yes. It’s stable at the moment. I...adjusted for the imbalance caused by the extra energy.”
“Aiden,” Grace said. “We can’t leave him like that. I can find him—”
&nbs
p; “You heard Rane. You’re not going over there again, especially now.” It came out harshly. Aiden winced and softened his tone. “Not this time. Please, Grace.”
Some silent communication passed between them and Grace gave a stiff nod.
“I’ll try to contact him then. I was able to reach Hallie when she was trapped on the other side. I might be able to reach him too.”
“Do that. The more we understand about the situation the better. I’ll alert the other clans. Kathy, will you stay to help Raquel and Lois with the wards?”
Kathy’s daughter, Jen, was five years older than Raquel and capable of taking Kathy’s place for the time being. Someday, Jen would take Kathy’s place permanently. “Of course.”
Raquel looked up to find Christian watching her. He gave her a small, tight smile that was not remotely reassuring. He’d defended her to his clan, to his Odin. He was a good man, and she wished more than anything that things could be different. Except in order for things to be different between them, she’d have to become somebody else, somebody she didn’t want to be. She needed to talk to him. Alone. Soon.
Chapter Fourteen
It had been a long day. Fen never did come back to the house, and she never did manage to get Christian alone. Christian was still speaking with Aiden when Raquel’s mother handed her the car keys and shooed her out of the house, insisting she needed to rest. Her mother stayed to help Grace contact the other clans. She knew many of the leaders personally whereas Grace was still viewed with some suspicion, having been raised in the human world.
Audrey drove them home, for once mercifully quiet. Raquel didn’t care whether it was out of kindness or because she was still angry that Raquel had experimented with the runes without waiting for her and Fen. If Audrey wanted to kick her ass over that, she could get in line.
“Who’s that?”
Audrey put the car in park and Raquel looked up, groaning when she recognized the skinny figure sitting on the porch swing.
“That’s Julian. One of Lois’s coven.” Audrey must have heard something in her tone. She waited expectantly until Raquel sighed. “The one who stabbed me.”
“The little twerp. Want me to get rid of him?”
“No. The little twerp saved my life, probably the whole town. I’ll talk to him.” She climbed out stiffly. “Give us a few minutes.”
Audrey nodded and went on ahead to open the door. Julian stood awkwardly at the edge of the driveway until Raquel reached him.
“Are you...okay?” His gaze darted to her chest as if he expected to see the knife still there.
She patted him on the arm. “I’ll be fine. A little rest and I’ll be back to normal by morning...well, as close to normal as I get anyway.”
A few minutes later they were sitting at the island, him with a glass of cocoa, her with ice water and a bottle of ibuprofen. Yesterday, she’d concocted a natural headache remedy at Lois’s shop but hadn’t brought any home with her. Wouldn’t Fen be amused that she was popping pills?
Finally, Julian worked up the nerve to look her in the eyes. She expected an apology. Instead, he said, “A wise woman once told me to always have someone double-check my work, because everyone makes mistakes and mistakes can kill you.”
She snorted. “Oh yeah? What happened to her?”
He turned the mug in his hands. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
“Have you been waiting here all day for this?”
“No.” His smile faded. “I won’t apologize for what I did. I’m sorry I had to do it but not that I did. And it’s not the reason I came.”
She nodded for him to continue.
His gaze slid away, and he stared down at the cup in his hands. “I should have stopped you.”
“You did stop me.”
He shook his head. “Sooner. I should have stopped you sooner. I didn’t think...I didn’t know it would really happen. I thought, ‘No way would the clan witch do something that stupid.’”
This day was never going to end.
“You couldn’t have stopped it. The runes wouldn’t have had that affect if the wards were functioning the way they were supposed to. There’s nothing you—or anyone—could have done to prevent it. It would have happened sooner or later with or without my help.”
“I had a dream.”
She stilled with her glass half raised to her mouth. Carefully, she set it aside and leaned on the counter. “What kind of dream, Julian?”
“That kind of dream. I saw it happen. All of it. The runes. The circle collapse and the way your power swamped the wards.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Except in my dream, the wards fell completely and...there wasn’t time to evacuate.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “At least, not everybody. I didn’t think it would really happen.”
“That’s why you didn’t hesitate with the knife.”
He looked up and she smiled gently. “Christian said you were, um...enthusiastic about stabbing me. He asked what I’d done to piss you off.”
He blushed. “That’s not—”
“I know,” she said. “It makes more sense now.”
“I knew what was going to happen. I had to do something.”
She patted him on the back, feeling inadequate. Poor kid. It was a high calling and a heavy burden. And she suddenly understood what he was doing here. He wanted her to tell him that it wasn’t true. He’d come to her because she was a clan witch who, now that she’d focused her power, could feel that new dark twist in his magic. He’d come to her because she was an outsider who wouldn’t necessarily feel compelled to report his concerns to the Odin.
“You need to tell Aiden what you just told me.”
“He’ll think I’m nuts.”
“He’ll think he’s fortunate to have both a Verthandi and a Skuld in the same clan.”
Julian laughed bitterly. It was true that Norns were welcomed within the clans, even celebrated, but many also viewed their presence as a sign of misfortune. After all, the complex and ancient spellcraft that allowed the Æsir to survive in Midgard didn’t waste magic. If your clan produced a Norn or a Berserker or a Valkyrie, it meant you needed one.
“Grace will probably be able to answer any questions you have better than I will.”
He nodded but still looked nervous as he pushed his stool under the counter.
“Do you need a ride?”
He tipped his head to the side. “My mom will take me.”
She thought about accompanying him to Aiden’s house anyway, but nothing she could do would ease his way. And this was his clan, not really hers yet, despite what her heart told her. It might never be.
“Julian?”
He turned around and she smiled.
“Thanks for stabbing me.”
When the front door clicked shut, she downed the ibuprofen and closed her eyes for a moment. Audrey had started a shower and suddenly, exhausted as she was, Raquel wasn’t ready for bed quite yet. She wanted to be alone, take a deep breath and try to process the day.
Pulling the fleece throw off the back of the couch, she wrapped it around her shoulders before stepping onto the porch. It was too cold for anyone else to be outside and late enough that there was no one on the road. The nearest streetlamp was two houses down at the corner. For a minute, she closed her eyes. It was peaceful here, very still. The cold air and the quiet made everything sharper. The creak of the wood, the rattle of the chain when she set the swing in motion. She lost her slipper momentarily but swooped her foot back inside on the next pass.
Everything would work out. It had to.
She shivered and thought about going inside. Something—not sound or movement, just a strange awareness of being watched—made her turn her head. Two sparks of gold stared back at her.
Fen.
Standing in the shadows cast by the house across the street. Though in hound form, she knew it was him. Perfectly still. Perfectly silent. It was difficult to pick out the black shape from the darkness. Her breath held an
d she waited for him to come forward, to shift or disappear. But he stood his ground, staring at her from gleaming yellow eyes.
He didn’t move and after what seemed an eternity, she rose from the swing and went inside.
Chapter Fifteen
Fen was actively avoiding her. So was Christian. Somehow she was sure that he knew something had changed between them and was giving her time to reconsider making any drastic decisions. He didn’t drop by at all the day following the surge, only left a message on her phone that he was busy with the hunt, preparing for a possible crossing. Instead of Christian or Fen or anyone that she wanted to see, Raquel found Lois waiting on her doorstep after lunch. The witch pushed her way inside without waiting for an invitation.
“You look like crap, and we have work to do.” Lois handed her a box of supplies. Angelica and wolfsbane by the smell of it, among other things. “Are you certain you’re up to helping? Aiden said you volunteered, but I’d just as soon you finish with your wedding plans. Until you learn a little control.”
Kathy, who’d arrived an hour earlier, came up behind Raquel and took the box from her. “She’s tougher than she looks, and Audrey was kind enough to take over the details of planning for the ceremony.”
There’d been no gainsaying her sister. A natural organizer, Audrey had been itching to take over the wedding plans from day one. Raquel would have let her if she hadn’t needed the distraction—and if she hadn’t been afraid that Audrey would go overboard. Now...she didn’t think there would be a ceremony, but she couldn’t very well call it off without speaking to Christian first, her parents and Aiden. Her father and Christian’s mother, two of the people who’d signed the original contract, weren’t even in town yet.
Lois hmphed. “Kathy asked that I meet you here, but I don’t know that I have all of the supplies we’ll need.”
Kathy, already heading for the kitchen, called over her shoulder. “We won’t need much for this.”
