Page 60 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
My face paled, and my stomach churned, “Don’t you dare bring porridge into this conversation.”
Rune laughed, breaking the serious face she’d been donning after she’d been accused of looking down on her sisters of Hel. “What? You don’t like porridge?”
“Don’t even start with me.” I held up a finger in warning.
“Let’s not pretend that Áma wasn’t secretly feeding you in her incantation chamber.” Rune crossed her arms.
“How did you know that?”
“I had a hunch, but you just confirmed my suspicions,” she said with a shrug.
“Yeah, well, unlike someone, she wasn’t going to let me starve.”
“Oh stop. Do you know how long it would have taken for malnutrition to kill you? So dramatic,” Rune scoffed.
“I was more likely to die due to mouth boredom.”
Rune raised her scared brow. “Mouth boredom? That’s a new one. But seeress, if you wanted something to keep your mouth busy, I could have given you a task or two.”
Heat rose to my face, and there was no hiding the blush that surely reddened my cheeks.
“Why are you getting all flustered?” Rune smirked demonically. “There’s nothing naughty about singing your valkyrie captor a little song. Or were you thinking of somethingelseyou could’ve been doing with that pretty mouth of yours?”
I cleared my throat and pushed the hair off my clammy forehead. “Singing, of course. What else?”
“Mmm.” Rune hummed. Her deep blue eyes were hooded, amusement hooking up the corner of her lips.
“Anyway,” I said, pushing out my chair, its legs scraping against the stone floor. “Tell me more about training.” I distanced myself from the valkyrie, standing by the end of the bed where Tove was curled up with one of my used socks.
“My sisters did well, but they have a long way to go,” Rune said. I thought that’s where she was going to leave it, but after a pause, she went on a long tangent about her plans for teaching her sisters, and I swear there was a twinkle in her eye as she did. I wasn’t going to bring it up because I knew she would deny it, but I saw past her grunts of disapproval, and her crossed arms when she referred to the lack of structure their current house mother led with. Before I could get much of a word in, Rune sucked in a large breath and then said, “The training wasn’t the most exciting thing that happened today though.”
“Oh?” I asked, trying not to sound too interested, as I lazily played with the end of Tove’s white-tipped nail.
“I spoke with Hel to report her sect’s progress after training. While I had her attention, I asked her if we could use more of her resources than simply being able to harvest natural materials around the realm,” Rune said from where she still sat at the table, legs crossed at the ankle.
“And?” I asked hopefully, wondering why it took her this long to tell me. Why were we wasting time talking about porridge and soil?
“And she agreed it would be in all of our best interests to be given access to her Cave of Whispers.” She wiggled her brows.
My jaw slackened, and I stared at her before I found it in me to blurt, “TheCave of Whispers?” My eyes widened with excitement.
“The one and only.”
“What are we still doing here?” I hastily dropped Tove’s tail and darted toward the wardrobe where I’d left my heavy outdoor gear. After I wrapped myself in midnight furs and wool gloves, I began jamming my feet into my boots and tying up the laces.
“Hold on, hold on,” Rune said. “You need to eat first.”
“Fine, but let’s do it quickly!” I all but growled, motioning my hand in the air to demand she hurry it up and summon something already. She cleared some space on the table, and within moments, there were bowls of berry soup, rolls of bread, and glasses of ice-cold water.
I scarfed down every morsel of food she gave me and then looked at her expectantly. She finally gave in and began lacing up her own boots. The excitement that bubbled up in me was unrivaled as I imagined all the knowledge that was awaiting me. The Cave of Whispers was a thing of legends and I never would have imagined being able to tap into such an incredible resource while still living. I thought only in death would I be awarded in such a way.
“Are you ready yet?” I moaned as I walked in a circle by our door. Tove woke amidst the chaos, but the sleepy cat looked like he had no interest in following us on our adventure today, and I didn’t blame him. He’d been on more adventures over the past lunar cycle than he had in his entire lifetime. He was due for some rest, and I wasn’t going to steal it from him by making himfollow along. While corporeal, he was still a spirit, and with the traps I’d set both inside and outside our chambers, I trusted that nothing could harm him, himself excluded.
When Rune finally finished strapping on her armor in the most meticulous way possible, I swung open the door, the broomstick rattling against the wood as I did. The two of us walked through Hel’s Hall, and then out to the fields, where we spotted Apple in a patch of grass free from snow and ice. She offered us an excited whinny, then flared her pink and black lips at Rune in anticipation of an Apple. Rune chuckled as she tossed her a red fruit, and Apple received it happily.
She wasn’t wearing her armor, but she still had a thin leather saddle to protect our asses from the intense bones of her spine where they connected to the base of her wings. We climbed aboard, Rune giving me a boost, even though I’d figured out how to mount the pegasus by myself weeks ago. I wouldn’t tell her that though, because I know she liked feeling useful. And maybe I didn’t mind the feeling of her strong hands on my waist, even through the furs and all my other layers. Her hands still gave me a tight squeeze, and the feeling of them made me forget there was any fabric between us at all.
When we were both on, Apple shot into the sky. The jarring movement pulled a scream from my lips, causing a group of spirits to turn our way. I gave them a wave as we took off, Rune chuckling softly from behind me.
