He sighed. “I know it’s hard. We both misinterpreted what we are to one another.”
“Misinterpreted?” I squeaked.
“Just hear me out, Val. We thought we were soulmates, that we completed each other just because it hurt so much to be apart, but ever since I took a bite of that fruit…”
My eyes widened. “You lost your feelings for me.”
He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I don’t think it’s that I lost something.” His eyes shot up and those chestnut irises met mine, full of hope and longing, but this time he wasn’t longing for me. “Our attraction to one other, it’s there, I won’t deny that.” He moved so that he backed me against the glass. My feathers crunched against my back, but I didn’t complain as he pressed a hand and leaned so that our breaths mingled. “You’re my Valkyrie. I’m your soul. That’s our bond to one another, and when you gave me what the Norn took away, you gave me back my freedom.”
Pain made my vision blur. I couldn’t listen to Will talk this way as if a bite from some fruit could destroy his feelings for me. “Then what about them?” I asked, not caring anymore how my voice grated with the thousand tiny daggers that plunged through my bruised heart.
He watched them and a low murmur of voices resumed as they pretended not to be dying to know what we were talking about. Daniel cheered, having one his latest hand against his mate. “Their bonds are too strong. Those humans have been reborn so many times with nothing but their Valkyrie to guide them that they don’t know any other way of life. I won’t deny it’s something akin to love.” He turned to me and stroked away my hair, his skin just far enough away from mine so as not to get burned. “The difference is, Val, your heart doesn’t belong to me. It never did.”
My stomach twisted and I clutched at it. I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that I didn’t love Tyler, but for some reason my voice wouldn’t dare utter those words aloud. “I don’t get it,” I whispered. “They don’t burn anyone who tries to touch them.” I met his gaze. “Yet you and I, we burn each other until one of us turns to ash.”
He huffed a laugh and I hated how sexy it was. “After a few centuries, I’m sure even a Valkyrie can learn to contain her passion, hide who she is and pretend.” He dared to press a kiss against my hair, pulling away with a hiss. “But not you, Val. Never forget who you are.”
Allies
Dalia surprised all of us by showing up at our doorstep with a bedazzled telescope in one hand and a giant bottle of wine in the other. She gave me a golden smile as I stood there like an idiot. “Do you always answer the door looking like that?” she asked, her grin only growing wider.
I flared my wings, reluctant to admit perhaps it was pretty stupid to be answering the door, but with so much going on, I forgot that I wasn’t human. “That’s what Grimhildr is for,” I muttered and moved aside so that she could enter. “What brings you here, on foot no less? My closet not good enough for you anymore?”
She laughed. “Ah, don’t sound so sour, dear. It’s not often that I leave the comfort of the Bifrost. Take honor where honor is due.”
“Dali!” Nina screeched and ran on all fours before sweeping the small woman up in her arms.
“You two… know each other?” I asked as I shut the door, more than a little bewildered. “What’s an outcast and a Heimdall got in common?” I grinned, because that sounded like the start to a terrible joke.
Henry followed his mate and laughed. “Well I’ll be damned, it’s the goddess herself.”
Dalia gave him a fond smile, shoving the bottle of wine into my chest before giving his cheek a pinch. “It’s a downright miracle. I can’t believe it.” She waved in welcome as the rest of the couples entered the room. “Iris and Paul,” she said, marveling. “Helena and Daniel.” She swept across the room and gave each of them a kiss.
Will stood in the doorway and smirked. “You should just tell her, Dalia, before Val turns this place into an inferno.”
I realized that the wine I was holding was starting to boil. Dalia frowned. “Well that’s unfortunate, dear. I do prefer my wine chilled.”
“Would you care to tell me how you all know each other?”
Dalia smiled. “You know, the way your mother treated her daughters who broke one of her precious laws that she herself couldn’t even uphold always baffled me. I took it upon myself to care for them and help them find their mates during the recycle process.”
Paul, Henry, and Daniel collectively shivered at the term. Paul gripped his mate’s arm. “Tell her not to call it that. She makes it sound less horrendous than it was.”
Daniel straightened his bowtie, as if that was the only sign that he’d been phased. “Agreed. You shall never use that term in our presence again.”
Dalia rolled her eyes and shoved her way past them. “Fine. But enough chit-chat. I’ve come here on important business.”
Curious, we followed her to the living room. The hearth with flames that never died—not with four Valkyries in the room—illuminated the jeweled telescope that Dalia placed on the floor, the ruby flames sending lights scattering across the polished stones. “I’ve been saving this one for quite a while. Ever since I started picking up echoes of Ragnarök entering the atmosphere, I knew it was a matter of time before Baldr brought the fight to us.”
My wings flared at that. “Ragnarök and Baldr are here?” I wasn’t ready to face them. All I had was a lot of anger and a chewed up pit of Yggdrasil’s fruit in my pouch.
Dalia nodded and motioned to the telescope. “You’re a Frigg. I built this especially for you.”
I looked too Will for reassurance. He knelt and gave me an encouraging smile. “What damage can a little telescope do?”
Narrowing my gaze, I glowered. “When it comes to Norse deities, I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
Dalia might claim to be on our side, but she’d betrayed me before. If Baldr was coming here, I knew I wouldn’t put my bets on the Valkyrie who hadn’t even washed her hair in three weeks because the water would just evaporate before it got anywhere near her scalp. Not that I needed to bathe… but being on earth without being able to do earthly things just made me feel even more out of place.
Before I had a chance to stop her, Nina crawled over to us and plucked up the telescope. She frowned and turned it over before looking through the eyepiece. “I don’t see anything,” she complained before tossing it back down onto the carpet. “Must be broken.”
Helena waved her away. “That’s because you’re a Gina, not a Frigg. The only thing you’re good at is making it rain.” Nina growled and Helena sighed. “And biting people.”
Appeased, Nina smiled. Now that I was getting to know her better, she looked the least like a Valkyrie out of the group. She boasted pointed teeth and her nails were unusually long. I’d just chalked it up to her primal nature, but now that I thought about it, perhaps the reason her nature was primal was because she was a division of Valkyrie I didn’t often come across. The Gina weren’t permitted to live on Muspelheim. They were the only lineage who revolted against our fiery nature and embraced the opposing element. My mother had once talked about them, looking both fond and melancholy about her distant daughters. “The universe cannot be all fire and heat. There must be balance, and that is why the Valkyrie have the Gina to douse the destruction of our flames when we forget not everything deserves to be burned.”
My mother’s words made me soften towards Nina. She’d been an outcast long before she’d met her human.
Helena, poise as ever, elegantly extended her arm and offered me the telescope. “Why don’t you tell us what you see? I will vouch for Dalia, if that helps to change your mind.”
Relenting, I accepted it. “Fine.”
Dalia watched me with the intent of a predator as I lifted the eyepiece to my face. Blocking out the watching eyes as best I could, I focused on the end of the scope… and into the swirling black void that ended with the flashing maw of Ragnarök itself.
I saw Baldr, handso
me as ever, stepping out onto a platform as he greeted an enormous crowd. I frowned, because as the vision came into focus, I realized that he wasn’t on Asgard. The glowing lights and lazy waterfall were part of a sky rise resort just a few blocks down from Dalia’s condo. I’d seen it on the television being advertised as the “party to be.” I’d just flipped the channel every time, uninterested in a social event with a bunch of humans who’d freak out the moment they saw me.
But in this vision, the humans all wore elegant wings and painted themselves with glittering, metallic layers until the more graceful among them might pass as a Valkyrie if I didn’t look too close.
What was Baldr up to?
A single dark spot in the vision caught my attention and I focused on it. My magic worked with the telescope to bring the point at the far end of the venue closer. I drew in a shocked gasp when the darkness cleared, revealing Tyler chained to the platform. He strained against the cuffed restraints, jerking when a flash of glittering black swept through his body like lightning. He cried out as the darkness pierced through his skin, ripping off one of the runes he wore on his flesh.
The crowd was oblivious of him, the air alight with the power akin to Grimhildr’s soft reprogramming. There wasn’t anyone suffering on the platform. There wasn’t a dark form ripping Tyler to shreds before their very eyes. There was only fun and dancing and drinks.
I lowered the telescope and a wave of dizziness swept over me. The hairs on my arms stood on end as my powers as a Frigg hummed. I hadn’t even realized I’d been using them. “There’s going to be a party.”
Iris leaned forward, mesmerizing with her mismatching green and red eye. “The one that’s been playing on TV?”
Nina bounced up and down. “Does saving the world include going to a party? Because I’m in.”
Helena frowned at Nina. “You really are a Gina, completely hopeless and incapable of taking anything seriously. You don’t even know what this means, do you?”
I blinked at her. “Are any of us supposed to know what this means?”
Helena rolled her eyes and waved over her mate.
Daniel seemed to calm her and had she still had wings, they would have settled against the agitation that lifted from her face when he was around. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, seeming to know the calming effect he had on her. “I think what Helena is trying to say is that Baldr’s going to try and set a trap.” He gave me a wink. “He didn’t count on you having allies.”
It's Just a Necklace
I’d been both jealous and suspicious of my new roommates ever since Will had started bringing them in. They all seemed so happy and content, whereas I just felt left out and confused.
The guys, especially, were growing into themselves after lifetimes of living a terrible curse. Where Michael had telekinesis, the others began to display signs of supernatural gifts as well. I wasn’t sure if it was because they’d tasted Yggdrasil’s fruit, or because they’d been freed from a centuries-long curse. Whenever I approached Will about it, he managed to change the subject.
Paul opened up first. I liked him and how easy he was. He was older than the rest of the group, seeming to have been an oddity with the Norn’s curse. He’d met Iris in his late thirties, which also would explain why she looked a bit older to me. Perhaps she was so closely bonded to her mate, she’s matched the age of when he was supposed to die.
It still baffled me that all of these men would have died, over and over again, if it hadn’t been for Will. As Paul gave me a friendly smile, guilt wafted over me, because I would have given them all up if it’d meant Will would have been safe.
“You’ve been quite distant,” he remarked. We reclined on chairs that looked over the city, resting on a long balcony with the soft breeze slipping through my hair. It was refreshing to be outside. The iron chair beneath me managed my heat and I tried to concentrate on the wind, allowing it to sweep away the worst of my embers. “I just recently lost my mortal body,” I said.
He nodded knowingly. “My memories started to return after Will fed me the fruit.” He twisted, revealing a long scar along his neck that I hadn’t noticed before. “This was given to me when Iris lost her body.” He covered it up again with the long layered sweaters he seemed to prefer. Now I knew why. “I’ve kept it as a birthmark through every life since. It was a burn from one of her feathers when Freya cut off her wings.”
I grimaced. “You were there for that?”
He laced his fingers and the only evidence that recalling these memories bothered him was the twitch at his jaw. “Iris should have reaped me during that life, but she didn’t. She spared me, and then she broke the Norn’s curse.” He waved away the memories as if they were a stench that lingered in the air. “Anyway, you can guess the rest. Iris was banished from her homeworld and doomed to watch me turn into a vegetable over and over again. All the while trying to live on a planet incompatible with her nature.”
I frowned. Even though this planet didn’t have molten lava spewing all over the place—for the most part—I wouldn’t call it incompatible. “I find it quite nice, actually.”
He gave me a weak grin. “I didn’t mean the atmosphere. I meant the people. If Iris ever slipped up, Thor would show up and wipe everyone’s memories. Even people she’d turned into friends. When I would turn forty years old, that’s when I was slated to die or turn into a vegetable. Sometimes I’d take my own life because I knew it was coming. I didn’t have the memories, but my heart knew. Other times I’d let the end come, and then she’d have to suffer until I died of old age.” He ground his teeth before continuing. “She’s had to endure so much worse suffering than I ever did. If she wanted any sort of friendships to get through those rough times, she had to hide who she was, on top of everything else.”
I pressed my lips together. “How?”
Taking that as his cue, he struggled to his feet, and I realized his birthmarks weren’t just for show, but lasting deformities that caused him pain. “I usually hide it better than this. I must be tired.” He gave me a wink. “I’ll send Iris in. She’ll be glad to teach you, just as she’s taught me.”
He opened the glass door and called for his mate. She came to him in a flutter of smiles and soft kisses. “Paul. I hope you’ve been kind to Valerie.”
He smiled and cupped her face, giving her a kiss. “Of course.” He slipped inside and ushered her out onto the balcony. “Now you two have your girl talk.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m going to play a game with Daniel and wipe that smug smile off his face. He thinks he’s some poker god. It’s time that someone give him a dose of humility.”
I thought Paul was joking around, until I spotted the wicked grin on his face. He had a trick up his sleeve he wasn’t telling us about.
“Oh dear,” Iris said as she rested her elbows on the rail. “He’s going to get us in trouble, isn’t he?”
I couldn’t help but be put at ease. Iris, with her joyful smile as if she’d gained the whole world overnight—which, now that I thought about it, is basically what had happened. She’d been living a nightmare for gods knew how long.
Her smile dimmed and she looked back out over the city. “So, this party. What do you think of it?”
I got up and joined her as we leaned along the rail. My wings swayed behind me. My feathers grazed her shoulder, then I jerked it back with a grimace. “Oh, sorry, are you okay?”
She laughed and brushed away the ash, revealing flawless skin. “A little touch of home isn’t going to hurt me.”
I stared at her shoulder where I’d burned off the edge of her blouse. “I feel like a walking inferno. I’m not used to everything around me being so… delicate.”
She gave my arm a squeeze and I relaxed. I’d nearly forgotten how much I’d missed touch, just a quick embrace or something as simple as a comforting gesture. “Are you committed to walking into Baldr’s trap? Because that’s exactly what this party is.”
Images of Tyler being drained of his li
fe up on a platform for everyone to see made my stomach churn. “I can’t just leave Tyler defenseless.” I hadn’t told anyone about what I’d seen, but something about Iris’ softness and friendly bi-colored gaze that made me want to open up to her.
“Tyler,” she repeated the name and her brows furrowed. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”
I couldn’t remember Iris, but Tyler was a lot older than me. There was no telling what kind of trouble he’d gotten into before he’d become a Valiant. “He was my guardian for a long time. He went by the name ‘Tyr.’ Before that, he was working under Dalia as a Heimdall.”
Her eyes went wide, giving me a glimpse of the silver ring that surrounded her irises. I laughed, because now I understood where she got her name. “I remember now. I met him once when Dalia first found me.” Her gaze unfocused as she dug up the ancient memories. “He went by Tyr back then, too. He was the first to help me understand the darkness that powers my sisters. It helped me understand that my suffering could ease Paul’s pain. I’m grateful to him.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What is it that he showed you?”
She propped her hands on her hips. “He showed me a nifty trick that you’re going to need to learn, because if you’re really going to this party, we can’t have you walking around a crowded venue in your true Valkyrie form.”
I frowned. “But it’s an angel costume party. The telescope showed me that. I thought the whole point of Baldr’s trap was so that I wandered around a crowded venue in my Valkyrie form where he can easily spot me.”
Iris shook her head. “We can’t do much about your wings and beauty, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
Before I could correct her that she was far more beautiful than I could ever be, she tore up a napkin and sprinkled it over my arm. It immediately caught fire and the remaining ash drifted to the ground.
Valkyrie Uprising Page 12
