by Bonnie Dee
Gwyneth felt a shock up her legs as her feet landed on solid ground. She clutched Brea tighter and fought for balance. The baby let out a squawk of annoyance.
Gwyneth looked around and found she was in the garden of the castle. It was nighttime. The moon shone overhead, a beautiful array of stars sparkled and a light breeze caressed her face and ruffled her hair. She lifted her face and inhaled a deep draught of the first fresh air she’d tasted in weeks. It smelled like freedom…and felt like a prison sentence. She was back where she’d wanted to be, but without her beloved demon.
She would never see Ragnorak again.
From the way he’d acted, he didn’t even care.
Chapter Eighteen
Ragnorak lifted the bottle and drank. He’d long since given up on pouring the wine into a goblet. What was the point?
Or the point in getting dressed when he wasn’t planning on leaving his room?
Or the point in living, really, since all light had been extinguished from his life?
He knew he was acting like a weak, miserable, useless, lovelorn, pitiable bastard, but straightening his spine and being a man was too exhausting to consider. At least no one could fault him for abandoning his duties to Elohim. He accomplished all his tasks in a timely manner, met with various committees and signed official documents. If he chose to collapse and drink himself into a stupor on his own time, it was his business.
He let out a loud belch and took another drink.
There was a sharp rap on his chamber door and Karnak entered before Ragnorak could snarl, “Go away.”
His steward, secretary, friend stood staring at him until Ragnorak was forced to look up at him through bleary eyes. “What is it?”
“You’re a mess, and it’s time you pulled yourself together.” Apparently Karnak was now also acting as his conscience or perhaps his mother.
“Is it?” he drawled and slumped back into the chair, taking another pull at the bottle.
“Yes,” Karnak stated flatly as he kicked aside an empty bottle and pushed dirty laundry from the other chair to the floor so he could sit. “If you won’t let the servants in to clean, you could at least pick up a little.”
“I like it like this.”
“People are starting to worry. Your nation looks to you. Your confidence is their confidence, and if they doubt your ability to lead…”
Ragnorak glared. “Why should anyone doubt? I haven’t shirked my duties or missed any engagements. What do they have to gossip about?”
Karnak pursed his lips and placed his steepled fingers against them for a moment before answering. “I understand what you’re going through. Before I married Guzel, when I was much younger, I fell in love once, hard, for a woman quite beyond my reach. The affair was like none other I’ve ever had,” he lowered his voice, “even my beloved Guzel. I would’ve given my life for that woman, done anything to become what she needed me to be. But it was impossible.”
He paused and waited for some reaction. Ragnorak took another drink.
“The point is, at the time I believed I could never recover, never love again. But I found another, a different woman, but a dear one nevertheless. My love for Guzel grew slowly but steadily and now it is greater than the flame I once felt for my youthful love.” He paused once more then added, “Svartan, you will find another woman. Look among your own kind this time. There are many who would make you a fine wife and a worthy queen.”
Ragnorak threw the bottle across the room, where it crashed against the wall and shattered the mirror, sending shards of glass raining to the floor. “I don’t want anyone else. I want her!” he roared.
Karnak looked at the destroyed mirror and back to his friend. “In that case, maybe you should find a way to win her.”
“I can’t! Neither she nor the child could survive down here. I had to let them go.”
Karnak exhaled and drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “It sounds as if you’d thought this through thoroughly and there’s absolutely no solution. Hmm. Surprising that a man with your ingenuity couldn’t possibly work out the problem. A little compromise, a little give and take would be out of the question, I suppose.” He shrugged and rose to his feet. “Very well. I’m sure you know best.”
Ragnorak growled his displeasure at his second-in-command’s sarcastic comments. He was in serious pain and deserved sympathy, not flippant remarks. “I’ve given her up because I love her. I’m giving her a chance at a normal, happy life. Isn’t that the heroic thing to do?”
“Certainly, if you want to be a hero who’s alone. All I’m saying is, either put the woman from your mind and move on, or go after her and find a way to make it work. But this wallowing is truly pathetic…sire,” Karnak drawled, taking liberties only a longtime friend was allowed.
The door closed behind him, and the goblet Ragnorak was no longer using crashed against the door. Ragnorak spat a curse before sinking back into his chair. Karnak didn’t know about the other part of the bargain. The gold provided to Midas would ensure the man never tried to invade the underworld. If Ragnorak broke the bargain by taking Gwyneth again, the greedy man might use it as an excuse to forfeit peace between the nations and try for even greater riches.
He pressed his palm against his brow, trying to relieve his headache, but the pressure wouldn’t ebb. He hated when Karnak pointed out the obvious. Of course, he couldn’t pine like this forever. He had to get up and move no matter how exhausted he felt. There was always more work to be done and the people needed him to be a leader in all ways. If he couldn’t have Gwyneth and Brea, he would devote himself to work instead, tirelessly striving to make Elohim the best place it could be. No weakness. No brooding. No more yearning for the impossible. He could live without love. He’d managed to for years.
Rising from the chair, he went to pick up the shattered glass from the floor.
Gwyenth knelt on the front porch of her little house, scrubbing bird droppings from the floorboards. She glanced up at the red-breasted wrens nesting in the corner of the porch beneath the eaves. Were they the same ones from her father’s house? Had they followed her here?
She scowled and clucked her tongue at them. “Go live somewhere else, stupid birds, or at least stop crapping on my floor.”
In her cradle nearby, Brea squeaked, her little noises sounding rather like the birds’ chirps. Gwyneth tossed her scrub brush into the bucket of soapy water and rose, wiping her hands on her apron. She crossed to the cradle and smiled down at her daughter. “You like the naughty birds?”
Brea gave a nearly toothless grin and waved her hands wildly in the air. Gwyneth couldn’t resist her cuteness and scooped her up into her arms, dancing the baby until she giggled and snorted.
Gwyneth held her to her shoulder and jiggled her, singing softly as she gazed across the yard—her yard in front of her house, dappled in sunlight and shadows from the forest of trees that surrounded the clearing. This was what she’d wanted, her freedom and Brea’s to live life without the interference of a man.
Thanks to Ragnorak’s bargain with Midas, the details of which she still wasn’t clear on, she had it all and was fairly content when she held Brea in her arms like this and surveyed her domain. But she couldn’t say she was happy.
There was something missing—someone—and an aching empty place in her heart where he used to be. It was better during the day when she was busy tending house and taking care of the animals and, of course, Brea. But at night, alone in her bed, she missed Ragnorak with a painful twisting of her insides that felt like it might actually kill her. She could scarcely sleep and couldn’t put him out of her mind: his hands on her body, his lips on her mouth and his hardness pressed deep inside her.
She’d thought he loved her, but he’d given her up so easily. Maybe she’d never been more than a temporary passion for him. Probably by now he’d found a woman of his own kind and had almost completely forgotten her.
Movement in the thick shadows beneath the pine trees caught her at
tention. A flash of brilliant scarlet like an oversized cardinal. Gwyneth caught her breath as she recognized Karnak, his silver hair flowing down his back, beckoning her into the forest.
She laid Brea down, ignoring her fussy cries, and descended the steps to walk toward him. “What are you doing here?” It sounded like an accusation rather than a polite greeting, but she couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. She’d never expected to see a denizen of the underworld again.
He smiled and bowed with a flourish. “I’m Svartan’s proxy, checking to see how you are.”
“I’m fine,” she answered absently. “But what are you doing here? I thought no one from Elohim could stand the sunlight.”
He gestured at the pines. “I can’t, thus the shade of the trees, but I didn’t want to come at night and disturb you. Everything is well for you then? Midas has fulfilled his promise and found you a home. He has divorced you and severed his custody rights over the child?”
“Yes, he’s done all that.” Gwyneth nodded. “Although I’m not sure why. What did Ra—Svartan give him in return?”
The man shook his head. “I’m not certain, but I do know this,”—he gazed into her face with his pale eyes—“whatever he’s done has been for love of you. You mustn’t doubt that. He only wants you both to be safe and well.”
“We are, but…” She had no more to add. The subject was too personal.
Karnak hesitated then blurted abruptly, “He suffers. He is slowly wrapping himself in layers of stone, growing as cold and remote as he ever was before he met you. As his friend, I can’t stand by and watch this. I wanted you to know.”
She should’ve felt bad for Ragnorak. Instead a bolt of happiness speared through her at the news. He cared. His coolness when he’d bidden her goodbye was just a show. Stepping forward, Gwyneth clasped Karnak’s hand. “Thank you. I’m glad you told me.”
He dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Now, what are you going to do about it?”
Gwyneth approached the palace gates with some trepidation. She hadn’t returned here since her ex-husband had permitted her to leave, but she had a task to perform, an idea to free Ragnorak from whatever hold his half brother had over him. In addition, if she was lucky, she would also convince her stubborn demon lover that there was hope for a future for them together.
She’d left Brea with a neighbor woman while she went forth on this quest and now she walked alone up the paved drive to the castle. Gwyneth noted the gates had recently been plated in gold. She’d already guessed that gold was what Ragnorak had given in order to win her freedom from Midas. The gates confirmed her suspicion that her lover had paid Midas for her new life.
The guards at the gate, wearing expensive cloth of gold, immediately recognized her and bowed deeply as if she were still royalty. Doors opened to permit her entry through the outer wall to the courtyard and then into the castle itself.
One of the footmen rushed to get Wallace to deal with the unexpected arrival of the former queen. As she reached Midas’s throne room, the steward was there to intercept her. He bowed politely. “Madam, his highness is busy right now. Perhaps you might visit him at a later date or in a more private setting.”
He took her elbow and tried to steer her away from the chamber, but Gwyneth shook off his hand and strode forward. “Out of my way, Wallace. I will see the man now.”
Again the guards at the door bowed and opened the door for her as they were trained to do. She marched into the nearly empty throne room to find Midas lounging on his diamond and ruby encrusted throne. Beautiful women sat on cushions on either side of him and one knelt between his legs tending to his cock. No business was being conducted in the throne room today, and Gwyneth guessed this was a party that went on and on.
She knew no tax relief had been given the landowners or their tenants, the artisans or the middle class, despite whatever new riches Midas had accrued from Ragnorak. A bit guiltily, she prayed her suspicions were correct that Midas was tearing through his new wealth as quickly as he had his old. Only if he desired even more would he fall for her bait.
When he saw her, Midas straightened, pushed the woman in front of him aside and tucked his cock into his breeches as he rose from the throne. He waved a dismissive hand and the women hurried from the room.
“Why have you come here?” he demanded, gazing at Gwyneth through bleary, red-shot eyes. “I’m finished with you.”
Gwyenth stopped in the center of the room and gazed at him coolly. “As a subject of this country, I’ve come to seek satisfaction for a wrong that’s been done. That is the purpose of the court. Is it not?”
Midas glared. “You have no rights, and you’re lucky you’ve gotten off as lightly as you did after lying to your king about your magic abilities. That’s treason. I could’ve had you beheaded.”
Playing with fire, a voice inside her warned, but Gwyneth swallowed the nervous flutter in her throat and pressed forward. She must bait her hook carefully and convince him she had something to gain, too. “As all the world can see, you have palmed off your daughter and me with too little. I need a bigger house and a servant to care for it. It’s the least you can do for us. However, I don’t wish you to…” She cast a glance around her opulent surroundings. “…go short. And so, I have a proposition to make, a bet I dare you to take.”
“A bet?” He laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You have nothing I want or need.”
“But your brother does. I believe he’s giving you some sort of payment for my freedom. If I can show you the way to treble that amount, would you give me what I ask? A bigger house—just two extra rooms would do—and a servant. Compared with what you’d receive, it would be a drop in the ocean.” She paused, watching the sparkle of greed grow in his bloodshot eyes, then added the extra hook that put her at risk. “In addition, if you win the bet, I will give myself to you for one month—to do with whatever you like.”
Ah, she knew Midas too well. When she’d been his legal wife, he’d shown little interest in bedding her, but owning her as a slave to his whim would fire his desire. He would humiliate and abuse her to make up for having been coerced into setting her free.
“I’m listening.” He leaned forward, gripping the arms of his throne.
Gwyneth drew a deep breath. Now that the moment was here, she was almost afraid to announce her plan. What if Ragnorak refused to participate, or what if he couldn’t answer the questions she posed? What if, despite her seeming to place herself on the same side as Midas by her request for the bigger house, he suspected some kind of collusion and drew back?
“I will summon the Demon Lord here and now and ask three questions of him. If he can’t answer the questions, I’ll give myself to you as stated. If he can, the previous arrangement you made will be broken. You may not accept any more riches from the underworld yet you must still leave me and Brea alone.”
Midas frowned. “You choose the questions? And you decide if the answers are right or wrong? How is that fair?”
“Three questions you agree to and the answers will be written down and kept in a sealed box.” She gestured at the opulent room around them. “You’re already wealthy, Highness. You have little to lose and even more to gain.”
Midas rested his chin on his hand and tapped a finger against his lips, considering. Gwyneth was sure she’d struck the correct chord here. He loved people to notice and comment on his wealth. Her one anxiety was that he’d degenerated so far in recent months that he hadn’t actually noticed how little he had left. Surely it couldn’t be much.
Midas lifted his gaze. “Treble the riches and you and the child both return to the palace for a month.”
“Not Brea. Only me.” She wouldn’t use her daughter as a bargaining tool, not even when she was almost certain she would win the bet. “And we get the house and servant.”
He raised a hand. “Very well. Now, as to the questions…”
Gwyneth presented the three questions she had in mind and, after thinking about each one,
Midas scoffed. “No man could answer such drivel. Only the first has an obvious answer. I’ll give you that, because the others are so stupid I know he won’t know the answers.”
Thank God for the man’s overwhelming greed that eclipsed his reason and for his low opinion of her mental faculties. It was astonishing he would accept her questions, but evidently she’d baited her hook carefully enough and now she must reel in her fish.
When Gwyneth’s answers were locked in a box, it was time to summon the man who knew her better than anyone on this earth…or below it. She hadn’t spoken his name aloud since she’d left Elohim, although she’d thought it often enough. Now she prayed the summoning power would work.
“Ragnorak, I need you,” she whispered softly.
The air sizzled and, with a crack of thunder, Ragnorak appeared in their midst.
Chapter Nineteen
He heard his name murmured in his ear like a quiet caress, and Ragnorak knew instantly who called him. Gwyneth needed him. Perhaps she was in danger. Maybe Midas had changed his mind and thrown her into one of his dungeons to punish her for the gold-spinning lie. Or maybe, just maybe, she was pining for Ragnorak. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t deny her call…and wouldn’t have even if he’d had a choice. Like a magnet drawn to steel, he must go to Gwyneth though rock, fire, space or time itself might separate them.
He arrived in the throne room of the palace—thankfully clothed this time—to find it occupied only by Midas, his steward and a few guards, and Gwyneth. She was clothed in sky blue that made her astonishing eyes even brighter and her hair glow more golden than ever. For a moment, Ragnorak blocked all the other people in the room from his mind and concentrated solely on her. She smiled at him, and his blood burned like molten lava through his veins.
