by Amy Sumida
“Take your brother home for now,” Odin said to Naye. “We'll take Vervain to Valaskjalf, and I'll see if I can find anything in my books that may help the both of them. We'll call you with any news.”
“Fine,” Naye said gruffly.
We turned toward the edge and started to leave. But once more, Toby's voice stopped me.
“Vervain,” Toby sounded hurt and confused, and I couldn't ignore that.
I turned and launched myself into his arms in one movement. We just held each other tightly, our heartbeats slamming against each other's through our skin, and our scents melding into one that triggered even more memories: my skin and Toby's pressed together, moonlight and darkness with water binding the two, a little tree hanging over a drifting river, moonshine beneath the earth, and Toby's face above mine. I let the past roll over me, and I knew that Toby was covered along with me. Finally, the tide ebbed, and we felt strong enough to let go and step away from each other.
“We'll fix this,” I promised Toby, and then I rushed back to my men.
Keeping my stare fixed on the heavens, I leapt off the Sky Road and into the Aether. Jumping into space was nothing after the fall I'd just had.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I felt much better when I stepped out of Odin's tracing room and into Valaskjalf. This was the home Odin and I had lived in together when I was married to him in my past life, as Sabine. Just standing within the muted glow of the silver hall gave me solace. I took a deep breath and my clenched muscles relaxed.
“Trevor went to Pride Palace to let Kirill know what's happened,” Azrael said gently. “How are you feeling, Carus?”
“A little silly,” I admitted.
“There's nothing silly about this.” Re came up behind me and rubbed his hands over my chilled arms. “This is an attack. We just need to figure out how to fight it.”
“We know how much you loved Toby,” Azrael added. “If those feelings are returning—especially all at once—it will be difficult for you and we understand that.”
“Let's get her upstairs,” Odin said with a worried look on my face.
We all headed up the wooden stairs at the back of the hall, our footsteps sounding hollow in the narrow enclosure, almost like being underwater. All the Viking halls I'd been in had been built for defense, with narrow passages to the upper levels, despite the fact that they were in the God Realm. It must have been part of the myth that created them because it wasn't practical for the massive gods who lived in them. Odin's shoulders brushed the walls of the stairwell as he climbed.
Odin led us into his bedroom, the same one I used to share with him in my past life. It was even more comforting than the dining hall, and I walked inside it like I was coming home. In a way, I was. I knew the smell of the old books, nestled together on their shelves in the far left corner; leather, damp forest, and magic. I knew the way it felt to lie on the mammoth bed with its heavy, wood base and thick posters; how it felt very similar to laying within my Chinese Wedding bed, in my home in Hawaii. They both felt like rooms unto themselves, and I wondered if that had been why I had chosen the Chinese bed in this life. Perhaps it had been a connection to my memories of my life with a Viking god.
I headed down the steps, into the sunken space around the central fireplace. It was a circular indentation, with the edges formed into a ledge that was padded for seating. Basically, it was a circular couch set into the floor. But I didn't take a seat on the couch. I went to the fireplace and perched on its stone ledge. With a little focus of my element, I lit the waiting logs within the fireplace and sighed in satisfaction when the heat hit me.
My fingers trailed along the warming stone, and memories of my past there started to surface like ghosts rising through the floor and seeping out of the walls. Moans of pleasure mixed with voices raised in anger. I saw Odin clench his fists in fury, and then lay a hand tenderly to my cheek. I watched as Vali ran by; a child with gleaming hair and somber eyes. Then I looked down at a sleeping baby nestled within my arms. This one room was full of a lifetime of memories. And it wasn't even my current life. I wiped my hand across the ledge as if I were wiping the slate clean. I had enough of my recent past to deal with; I couldn't dredge up my past life too.
“There are several things that Eros could have done to you during the transfer of the Death Mist,” Odin declared as he headed to his precious library.
He began pulling out ancient volumes on occult and spellcraft, then took them to a table beside the wall of windows that was opposite the main door. I glanced over at him, and for a second, it looked as if he were floating. The backdrop of tree branches through the wide windows made it look as if Odin were among them. Then I blinked and the illusion disappeared. Illusion; there was something about illusions that I wanted to remember. I should know if I'd been hit with one—my moon magic could make some very convincing illusions—but sometimes magic could be contrary.
“Could it be illusion magic?” I asked Odin.
“Illusion magic,” he mused and started flipping through a book.
“I think he's enjoying this,” Azrael whispered as he took a seat on the couch across from me.
“He's not the only one.” I nodded to where Re stood, perusing Odin's collection.
The men had bonded over magic and their love of the occult recently. Re had shared some ancient Egyptian scrolls with Odin, and Odin had reciprocated by bringing Re here and giving him access to this library. It was easy to forget that Re was a powerful god, and an intelligent one, with all his posturing and arrogance. But he was. In fact, Re was very similar to Odin in a lot of ways.
If anyone could find a solution to my problem in a bunch of books, it was the two of them. But I had a sinking feeling that what I needed wasn't hidden within ancient manuscripts.
“Come here, Carus,” Azrael's voice was low and sexy; impossible to resist.
He held his hand out to me, and I took it, letting him pull me to my feet and over to him. His wings were tucked away, wherever they went when he didn't need them, and he leaned back fully against the couch. I went with him, curling up on his lap and tucking my face into his neck. Azrael wrapped his muscular arms around me, and I took a deep breath of vanilla orchids; the scent that was Azrael.
You'd think that such a feminine scent would be wrong on a man, but with Az, it was just another facet of his magnificence; one of the contradictions that made him so magical. Azrael smelled like heaven; probably because he ruled one of the seven heavens. But he could also look like a demon—Death's true visage was deliciously horrifying. He was the Angel of Death, but also of Compassion; one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, who also cared more for humans than most of the gods I've met. He carried a scythe that could snatch the soul out of a body, but then he carefully transported that soul to its afterlife. And now my angel wanted out; he wanted a new life that didn't involve death. Azrael was a divine puzzle, and I loved that about him.
“Bring back your wings,” I whispered into his ear. “Give us a little privacy.”
Azrael's smile spread across his face slowly, until it seeped into his eyes and turned into something even sweeter than happiness. He leaned forward, and his wings whooshed out behind him. Then Az wrapped that feathered shield around us before he settled back again. This time, I pressed my lips to his and my palms to his chest. His heart beat strong beneath my fingers, and I curled my fingertips gently, kneading his muscles. He sighed into my kiss and spread my legs, easing my knees to the sides of his hips. Azrael's hands swept up my back and into my hair, pulling me closer so he could deepen our kiss. It was fire and sugar; a sweet heat that burned and enticed. I wanted more, and then suddenly, I needed it.
I pulled Azrael's shirt up so I could feel his warm skin as I ground my sex into his. He groaned, pushing his hips up to meet me, and his hands went to the waistband of my jeans, unbuttoning them and then unzipping. A rosy glow rose inside me, and I lost myself completely to the fog of lust that rolled in to consume us and cloud our thi
nking... and it didn't just hit Azrael and me.
I stood to pull off my shirt and step out of my jeans while Azrael whisked his wings away so he could shuck off his clothing. We had lost all ability to think, forgetting about the other men in the room and the whole reason I'd asked Az to open his wings in the first place. But the other men hadn't forgotten about us. As soon as the warm air hit my skin, two pairs of hands joined it. I looked over my shoulder to see Re on one side of me and Odin on the other. Their eyes were hot and full of the red sparkles of my lust magic. I smiled at them and fell back into their arms.
Re and Odin caught me, laying me back on the carpet between them. Azrael dove between my legs, setting his mouth to my sex and showing me both his angelic and devilish aspects at once. Odin and Re used the opportunity to remove their clothing, shucking their garments off in haste. Then they laid beside me; Re's mouth at my breast, and Odin's at my lips. I moaned and growled through Odin's kiss, feeling his magic coast over my body. An invisible phallus slipped inside me, even as Az continued to lick at me ferociously. I cried out and clutched Re's head closer, my other hand going to Odin's erection.
Odin cried out, and I drank it down, pulling his very breath into me. The sucking at my breast was taken over by Odin's magic as Re kissed his way up my chest, and started nibbling on my neck. His wicked fingers caught my free hand and eased it down to his solid sex. As soon as I caught hold of him, Re released me and slid his hand down my belly to my thigh. He gripped me there and pulled my leg out wide, then hooked his ankle around mine. Azrael made good use of the extra exposure, lavishing attention all over me. Lust flared inside my chest, and I cried out, needing even more. I pulled my mouth away from Odin.
“Azrael!” I cried.
My angel rose up before me, and with one swift move, impaled me with his shaft. The feeling of Odin's magic disappeared under the hard reality of Azrael's flesh. I shouted in ecstasy as I worked Odin and Re's rods vigorously and lifted my hips to Azrael. More; I needed more. Re met my gaze and nodded; we'd been here before, and he knew just what to do. This was a gentler version, but we were familiar enough with the ways of Lust now.
“Give her your cock, Odin,” Re said with an air of command.
“What?” Odin snarled and cast a look down at Azrael, who was driving himself into me so vigorously that my legs swung back with every thrust.
“In her mouth,” Re huffed and motioned toward me as he knelt beside my head.
I instantly rolled my head toward Re and sucked him into my mouth. Re groaned as I slid my lips over his golden flesh eagerly. This was it; just what I needed. I massaged him beneath and sucked him deeper. The scent of spice and man filled my nose as the salt of Re's skin enhanced the flavor of the entire experience. The sound of my wet mouth on Re merged with the slap of Azrael's pelvis against mine and became the soundtrack for my desire. I began to glow brighter.
“I tried to be generous,” Re said without regret. “But you're too slow, Oathbreaker. You'll have to make due with her tits now. Go on, get to it.”
“Dear gods, Vervain,” Odin groaned as I gave him one last hand-thrashing before urging him to straddle my chest with a hand on his ass.
Odin licked the valley between my breasts before he slid his cock there and pushed the fleshy mounds over himself. He began to thrust between them, hitting my cheek with every move as he rubbed my nipples with his thumbs. The sensations of flesh within my sex, mouth, and breasts were too much; I came in screaming ecstasy. Lust burst from my body in a crimson glare, exploding outward into my lovers. The men quickly followed me into orgasm, and I was coated and filled with their passion. They collapsed around me once they were spent, and I sighed in supreme satisfaction. Lust receded like draining bathwater, leaving me chilled but relaxed. Aftershocks trembled through my body, making my limbs shiver, and my eyes drift shut. I slipped into sleep without meaning to.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Hey, you. Are you feeling better?” Odin asked me hours later, after I'd woken up in his bed.
“What happened?” I frowned and looked around the room in confusion.
Re and Azrael were at the table near the windows, looking through books. They both looked up when they heard my voice, and gave me sweet smiles.
“Oh, I remember now.” A flush swept up my face.
“It's all right, Carus,” Azrael said. “At least we were somewhere we could take care of things without causing an orgy.”
“Isn't that what we had?” I asked.
“No; we had a foursome,” Re explained with a chuckle. “An orgy involves lots of people of both sexes. We'd need at least one more woman for it to be an orgy.”
“Thank you for clearing that up.” Odin rolled his eyes.
“We really should ease you into ass play, La-la,” Re went on casually. “If this is going to be a consistent thing, you need to be open to options.”
“That's not an option,” I growled at him.
“I'm just saying.” Re held up his hands in surrender.
“Don't you know her well enough by now?” Azrael asked Re with a shake of his head. “Vervain doesn't like that stuff.”
“Only because she hasn't tried that stuff with me,” Re said smugly. “I have this thing I do with my finger—”
“And I never will,” I cut him off and ended that conversation.
“You know; if Eros did this to you, he also did it to himself,” Odin started a new conversation.
“What are you saying?” Re asked. “That we should be on the lookout for orgies?”
“No.” Odin took a deep, calming breath; sometimes speaking with Re took a lot of patience. “I'm saying that Eros is probably not alone.”
“Eros has an accomplice!” Azrael exclaimed. “Of course. He manipulated the Death Mist Goddess easily enough; he probably coerced others to join him as well.”
“So?” I huffed and heaved myself out of bed. “How does that help us find him or end whatever it is that he did to me?”
Odin waved his hand toward the dresser that was built into the foot of the bed. There was a stack of clothing set on it. I gave him a grateful look and then began to get dressed.
“It doesn't help exactly,” Odin admitted. “But it does give us another clue. After what just happened here, I think we can safely say that the incident between Toby and you was an effect of whatever Eros did. Hopefully, it will just be a matter of the magic needing time to calm itself or run its course.”
“It's possible that Vervain's amped up Love and Lust magics sensed the old connection to Toby and latched onto it,” Azrael noted. “When that type of magic is overly stimulated, it's constantly searching for more lovers.”
“Yes, but how did it affect Toby so quickly and so thoroughly?” Odin countered. “There's more to this than we know, and I don't think it all has to do with Eros.”
“We haven't even considered the possibility that this has nothing to do with Eros,” Re said in a low, grim tone.
We all turned to look at him.
“It could have begun with Eros,” Re went on. “But maybe Eros riled up the magic within Vervain, and it has simply remained in that aggressive state. It could be that this was not a part of his plan at all, only a glitch. He intended to kill her, so why bother with cursing her at all?”
“He has a point.” I scowled. “Overkill. Eros seemed certain that I would die. It doesn't make any sense for him to cause this damage purposefully when he believed I wouldn't be alive to experience it.”
“So, you think these aroused states that Vervain slips into are just side effects of Eros' initial attack on Vervain, and this issue with Toby is a separate situation?” Azrael asked Re.
“I think it's possible,” Re amended. “Eros isn't the only god who Vervain has fought recently.”
“You think that Iya had something to do with this?” I asked in surprise.
“You said that you dove at him, and he surrounded you,” Re reminded me. “He became a snowstorm that froze you.”
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“Yeah.”
“You were essentially inside him,” Re pointed out. “Within his magic.”
“Fuck!” Odin swore. “Re's right; that was a perfect opportunity for Iya to cast a curse.”
“But how would Iya know to curse me in such a way?” I asked. “He'd have to know about...”
“Toby may not be in the same pantheon as Iya, but you know how the Native American gods mingle, and you saw how close the Lakota are to Toby and Naye,” Odin said. “There is a high probability that Iya knows what happened between Toby and you. And when you're not strong enough to take on an enemy honorably, you do so with dishonorable means. Like learning their weaknesses and exploiting them.”
“Shit!” I hissed. “Has anyone checked their phones? We're supposed to be staking out Iya with the Lakota gods.”
“That's not until tonight,” Odin assured me.
“But have you checked your phone?” I asked again. “What if he was using Toby and me as a distraction?”
“Torrent's watching him.” Re shoved his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “If there were any movement, he would have texted.” He scanned his phone and shook his head. “We're good; no messages.”
“That's one blessing.” I sighed. “Now, maybe we can actually do a bit of research before we have to join the others.”
“We'll handle this,” Odin said gently. “Go home and spend some time with Lesya. I'm sure she misses you.”
“Thank you; I think that would be good for me.” I kissed Odin and then the other men goodbye.
I went to the door and glanced back into the room as I shut it. The men were together at the table, looking through books with the air of college students. I felt suddenly humble and very blessed. They wouldn't give up until they found a way to fix this, whatever this was. They wouldn't give up because they loved me, and they were united with each other in that love. I could go home and spend time with my daughter knowing that they were looking after me. Arach had been right; I always had help. I was constantly surrounded by people who loved me and had my back.
