Page 91 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
As I tried to swim toward the sky and the distorted light that filtered down from the surface, I felt something grab hold of my boot. My foot was caught in a golden net, refusing me the breath I needed. I swiped the dagger from the strap around my thigh, sawing through the seidr-filled net.
The Mother of the Sea will not have me today.
The net snapped, and I shot toward the surface, as if my freedom had earned me a tail. When my face broke the surface of the water, I gasped and choked and fought for air. I wiped the seawater from my burning eyes, only to find myself sitting in a golden tub, my reflection staring back at me from the large mirror across the bathing chamber. Instant relief flooded me as I sank into the warm, sudsy water of the tub. I closed my eyes and found peace in the distant murmuring of my sisters, the sound of flapping pegasus wings coming from my open window.
Apple?I thought, realizing I had traveled so far and so long without her. I climbed from the tub, my leathers squeaking as I walked toward the window. And then, I jumped.
I landed upon my pegasus’ back, and as she whinnied and shot away, I heard a name call for me once more.
“Rune!” he said, the shadowy figure standing in the window, beckoning me back.
“Epli, turn around!” I called into the air, but my voice was lost to the wind. I directed her reins back toward the window, not needing my voice to tell the pegasus what I wanted. Apple complied, and when she looped around, heading back to the House of Wings, the figure in the window came into focus.
Odin stood there, beckoning me forward. For a moment, I let him, an empty piece of myself recognizing him and yearning to be complete. But when I thought about everything that hole in my chest could be filled with, I realized there was nothing Odin could offer that would truly ever make me feel whole again.
“Apple!” I called out, and this time, my voice carried far and wide. “Take me home!”
I woke with a gasp, not in a golden tub or in a snow sprinkled forest, but on a marble altar, in a hall ruled by the Goddess of Love and Seidr.
“Welcome back, Rune,” Freyja said, her voice almost like a purr. I sat up, attempting to blink away the dizziness that had its grips in me. “You’ve made a choice, it seems.”
“I have,” I nodded decisively. “I’ve returned home.”
The heavy chamber door blew off its hinges, flying across the room and cracking to bits somewhere in the shadows. The force sent me tumbling off the altar, and my body hit the ground with a cold, hard thud.
“Home?” A horrible, wicked laugh filled the air. I didn’t need to see him to know who stood in the doorway.
“What areyoudoing here?” Freyja asked, her lips curling. Odin sauntered into the chamber of truth, running his hands through one of the glowing orbs on the wall. He let out a long breath, sizing Freyja up, then me on the floor.
I didn’t move; I barely breathed.
“It seems as though you have something of mine,” he finally said, a strong finger pointing in my direction. Every muscle in my body tensed, and as badly as I wanted to focus on something that wasn’t him, I didn’t dare a glance at Freyja.
“She’s yours no longer, Odin. You made sure of that,” Freyja said.
“I suppose you’re right. But Rune is mine no longer because she broke her oaths. She’s lucky I let her live after she brought that unwelcome mortal to my realm. The girl's not even a viking.” Odin cast a disappointed glance in my direction. I was unused to seeing him look at me in such a way, and even if I hated that it did, it still stung.
“That ‘unwelcome mortal’ found Odr when no one else could,” Freyja said, her chin raised like the goddess she was. “You were swift to toss her away instead of foreseeing her potential. Rune may have broken her oaths, but perhaps you should’ve stopped to consider why. You usually have more foresight than that. But I’m grateful you didn’t, for now I have the promise of a talented valkyrie, I filled the empty seat on my council, and my husband has returned, all because you don’t believe in second chances.”
“Second chances? Don’t be childish, Freyja. I am an observer of fate. I’d known Rune had found interest in a mortal woman, but I did not intervene because fate had other plans. It was not my responsibility to forgive her for her indiscretions because the consequences of her actions would find her in time. And they certainly did when she brought that living mortal to Valhalla.”
He’d known about Kari?I thought, my skin prickling with an intense heat.
Of course he did. Odin’s ravens were everywhere. I should’ve never believed I could’ve escaped them while on Midgard. Even in Fólkvangr, he was always watching, and he’d found me once again.
“And what consequences do you see fit now?” the goddess asked. She moved toward me ever so slowly. She’d been the first to break the tension, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve assumed she was on the hunt, not preparing to protect.
“You will turn her over to me to handle directly. It’s truly none of your concern what I do after that.”
Something inside me snapped. Patience boiled over, fear fled, and I was left with nothing but molten rage. “I’m not going anywhere!” I shouted, rising from where I cowered next to the altar. “Your time dictating my life is over. You may have sculpted me into the valkyrie you yearned for, but I am so much more than the name you gave me. Everything I despised most about myself were the pieces of you instilled within me. I gladly wash my hands of you.”
Freyja and Odin both turned to me, surprised in their own ways, but I wasn’t sure why. I was Rune Dragomir, and my time in Valhalla was over. I was free to make this decision, and I’d be damned if Odin tried to drag me back, just to have me killed—or worse.
“I have the support of the Goddess of Love and Fertility, as well as her council. If you lift a hand to strike any of us down, I’d tell you to remember who taught you that seidr you wield so proudly,” I started, taking a step closer to Freyja. “You came into the home of the Mother of Seidr and demanded she return something that is no longer yours. You may be the Allfather, but the woman you stand before is as dangerous as she is beautiful. If you want to come out of this unscathed, it’s best you leave now. You’re not the only unforgiving one around here,” I gritted out. After six centuries serving him and entertaining his every whim, he’d done so much worse than toss me aside like Freyja had said. He’d destroyed my identity after making me feel like my title and armor were all I was. He’d stripped me raw and left me bleeding for the wolves.
The bastard smiled, and I ground my teeth together so hard, I feared a molar would crack.
Freyja stepped toward me, but she was still too far away for my comfort. I may have passed her test, but she still hadn’t sealed the deal. I was a human mortal by all standards, and I could fight tooth and nail with this god before me, but we both knew if Odin wanted me dead, he could kill me without lifting a finger.
