Page 78 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
I shook my head and sat up. “You haven’t caused damage.” My greying palm found her cheek, my nails, long and black, brushing her beautiful olive skin. “I’m thankful for where this journey has taken us, even if it took way too long for me to have faith in it. There’s no way of knowing where we’ll end up, or which tests we’ll pass, but I have no doubt that whateverhappens, we’ll be okay. We’ll make do with any outcome. Together.”
Rune nodded and held a hand out to me. I took it and let her help me to stand. The floor should have been cold beneath my feet, but as I was practicing my seidr, I may have casta warming spell on the stone. As I walked across it to the dress laid out for me on a low-lying table, I spread my toes and appreciated the comfort.
The dress was almost the color of my creamy skin, though it lacked tan markings like I had splattered across my arms. I slid it on over my head and watched as the luxurious fabric rippled to the floor below. It was slightly too long, dragging as I took a step forward, but that seemed to be how all the women I’d seen walking the halls had worn theirs too. It wasn’t functional, and it certainly wouldn’t have worked in Stormheim, but then again, fabric as beautiful as this would’ve never graced my skin in my old village.
Rune walked over to help me secure thin leather armor around my waist. There was no reason I shouldn’t be safe here in Sessrúmnir, but Rune didn’t want to take any chances. We were too close to getting what we both wanted to have things end now. We were back in Asgard, after all, and who knew what monsters lurked around the corners to make us pay for our actions? We hadn’t exactly left the realm on good terms with the Allfather.
“Rayna should be dropping off some of Odr’s effects soon. The more you have of his history, the more you can understand the god,” she said, handing me a light fur shawl. She was wearing something similar, as it was no longer in good taste to wear the leathers of the valkyries. She had light furs fastened across her chest, and her dress was the color of the blood moon. Her full head of brown hair was loose, cascading across her back and shoulders. She was almost unrecognizable, but whenever Ifound myself searching for the Rune I knew, it only took one of her smirks to see past the slow descent into Iris.
“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to find him when the gods have failed to. Freyja herself cannot sense where he’s gone. It’s been three decades now, and I’m supposed to be the one who ends the wait for his return?”
“You are Kari Kettlesdotter, the one who set flame to Helheim. Finding a lost god will not be your first impossible feat, and it certainly won’t be your last,” Rune said, her eyes as fierce as the warrior I knew her to be.
“I did summon fire in the realm of ice, didn’t I?” I asked with a smug smile, just for Rune’s benefit. I feared if I let her see how uncertain I was of my own capabilities, she too would worry we were in over our heads.
“You did,” she said, brushing my damp hair out of the way. She ran her fingers over a feather I’d braided into my locks and let out a soft exhale.
I stared deep into her eyes, the entrance to her very soul. “Why didn’t you ask to join Freyja’s sect? We were there, bowed at her feet, offerings in hand.”
“I wasn’t confident that our offerings were enough for the both of us, and I wasn’t going to risk her listening to my pleas over yours.”
“She could’ve taken us both. You will speak with her, won’t you? We can find more offerings,” I said. Iris was beautiful, but I didn’t know her. What I knew was Rune’s strength, her ability to make everyone in the room know she was not to be trifled with, a warrior who had honed her skills over decades, centuries, who lived in leathers and had a shock of white hair. She was not a brunette girl from a small village that no longer existed. She wasn’t the one her family never bothered to love, or the one Odin had stolen in the night. Rune was not the one who would stay back and let her title be stripped from her, not the Rune I knew.
“Too much was at stake, seeress,” she said, pulling me in to kiss the top of my head. “Once you find Odr, I will offer anything to Freyja to stay here in Fólkvangr with you. I will fight to join the House of Wings once more, to trade my red and black leathers for deep emerald ones.”
“Do you promise?” I said, gripping her furs and pulling her into my chest so we were flush against each other.
“Don’t let my hair fool you,” she said with a smirk. “I’m still a warrior, still a valkyrie at heart, and I will not let anyone, not even the Allfather, get in my way of returning to the sisterhood.”
“Good. That’s my girl.” I pulled her in for a kiss, the taste of hazelnuts and raspberries on her lips. She deepened it, sliding her tongue into my mouth like she fully intended on keeping me right where I was.
“Open up, lovebirds,” a voice called from beyond the door, followed by the sound of harsh knuckles on wood.
“Rayna.” Rune tilted her head back and sucked in a breath to center herself. “Perfect timing, as always.”
I sighed and pulled away from Rune, placing a hand on the back of my heated neck. As I headed over to greet Rayna, I shrugged out of my furs and placed the additional layer across an armchair. When the door swung open, Rayna stood before me, empty-handed. I stuck my head through the doorway and looked on either side of her to see if there was something I was missing.
“I didn’t bring anything with me,” Rayna said by way of greeting. “I’m taking you to it, not the other way around.”
“Oh, okay. Let me collect my things then. Come in.” I ushered Rune’s sister into the room. One of Freyja’s attendants had chosen it for us, though I’d been hoping one of her felines were going to guide the way, much like Garm had while in Hel. The same good fortune hadn’t found us.
I made my way to the bed in the far corner of the room. Sheer fabrics were strung up on a brass frame, vining plants making their way across it from the large clay pots at the foot of the bed. Tove was nestled up against my pillow, and I leaned in to kiss him between the ears. When I did, he made a soft, surprised trill, then blinked his sleep-filled eyes at me. I intended on leaving him in the comfort of the room, but when he stood to stretch, I knew he wouldn’t let me leave him behind. The demon cat launched himself from his spot on the quilt to the basket by Rune’s feet.
Rune jumped back, tripping on her dress and falling toward the stone floor. Rayna lunged forward to grab her arm, but the slippery fabric of her sister’s dress snuck under the tip of her boot. She joined Rune on the floor, and the two women sat there, wrapped in the lunar-red dress from the gods, looking as if they had just lost their first battle.
Tove hissed as he climbed into his basket, and I lost any and all of the composure I was desperately trying to maintain. I burst out laughing, gripping at the leather armor around my stomach that didn’t allow my lungs to fully inflate.
“Damn cat. You won’t be laughing when I tell Apple to throw you off her back,” Rune muttered, trying to collect herself and yanking the hem of her dress out from underneath a frazzled Rayna.
“You would never,” I said with one final, belly-disrupting laugh. Rayna climbed to her feet, giving me space to help Rune do the same. I brushed her ass with one of my tender hands while I supported her with the other. She grumbled something about needing to find some high breeches while she adjusted her crooked bust.
Rune took a wide berth around the feline-filled basket, scowling at my sinister boy as she did. I wouldn’t say anything to him now, but Iwasgoing to find a way to get the two of them tocare for each other just as I cared for them. The constant hissing and threats used to bring me much satisfaction, but I’m not sure how much longer they could go on. I wasn’t willing to lose either one of them if they couldn’t figure out how to get along on their own.
Rayna sauntered away from us, completely unaffected, though I noticed Rune had a slight hobble to her step.
Maybe I shouldn’t have laughed after all.
I’d forgotten Rune wasn't as resilient as she’d once been; she was vulnerable and very much human now. Muttering a quiet apology so her sister couldn’t hear, I checked Rune’s elbows for scrapes. I wanted to be able to laugh and know the fall did little to wound her, inside or out, but until she was inducted into the sisterhood once more, every fall, every scratch was going to be a reminder of what had been taken from her.
