Page 92 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
“I was sent to Asgard as part of apeacetreaty. Or have you already forgotten about the Aesir-Vanir War?” Freyja asked, referring to the war between gods that raged long ago.
Odin almost seemed bored as he said, “Yes, yes. No one has forgotten you’re a hostage here. How could we, when you bring it up so often?”
Freyja let out an exasperated breath, pushing back her golden hair, “If you act in violence against me or my council, I will consider it an act of war, and so will my people. After the last war ended in a standstill, do you truly want to head down this path again?”
“Rune is not on your council,” Odin pointed out with a slight hiss. “She’s your mortal guest.”
“She’s passed my test of loyalty, and she would’ve had her initiation into my sect on this very night had you not interrupted,” Freyja pointed out, and I couldn’t help but hold my breath as she did.
A flicker of rage shone in Odin’s singular blue eye. I detested that look. I’d seen it far too many times, and the outcome that followed was always death. I was too weak, too easy to break, and I couldn’t allow such a look to fall upon me.
I sprinted toward the only one who could offer me the protection I needed. I dropped to my knees before Freyja, my bones cracking against stone and splitting my skin and leathers. “Freyja, take me!”
“NO!” Odin bellowed, raising his hand to stop what was coming.
Freyja wasted no time. She bent and placed a kiss upon my forehead, sealing the deal and claiming me as her own. My scalp tingled and my vision went blurry. As darkness consumed me, a blood-curdling scream ripped through the echoing chamber.
My body went limp.
CHAPTER FORTY
SHE WHO BLEEDS FIRE
Kari
My waking vision was a cold, hard retaliation, brutal and swift.
I knew whyhewas here. I knew why he was angry, even, but none of that mattered. I would never let Odin have her. I would set Sessrúmnir aflame if it meant stopping him. He didn’t deserve her; he never did.
The door flew open, and I sprinted through the exit of the council’s incantation chamber. There were murmurs behind me, I heard them during my waking vision, heard them now that I was back in my body and rushing down the hall. The other council members slowly bled into the corridor, but there was no time to explain to them why I fled, not when Rune was alone on a cold stone floor.
I busted through the open entryway of the chamber of truth, wood splinters snapping under my boots. My gaze didn’t scan the room for him, only her. She knelt by Freyja’s feet, a smear of blood on the floor by her knees. The goddess grabbed hold of her cheeks and leaned down to place a kiss upon her.
She’s still alive.
Odin and Freyja’s heads swung toward me, and I only hesitated for a moment. In my vision, I’d been too late, but that future shown to me had already changed by my mere presence. There was no saying what fate the Norns would weave now.
A scream ripped out of me as I ran toward Rune. Her body was falling, slipping between Freyja’s fingers, and I dove to catch her head before it could hit the floor. As I cradled Rune in one arm, my other flew up in front of me, the entire sleeve of my dress engulfed in a red hot flame. The power surged out of me in waves, the fire rising and falling like a beat, a pulse. Glowing tendrils reflected in Odin’s eyes as I waited for him to make his move.
Rune stirred below me. “Kari?”
While I wanted to look upon her face, I would never lose focus in the presence of a predator.
“You’ve gotten what you wanted, Rune. You’re a valkyrie once more, so stand like one,” Odin commanded. Rune would look weak if she stayed on the floor with me, but if she stood, she’d be doing exactly what he wanted.
It was finally time to break the cycle.
Letting Rune go, I crouched like a savage beast, hands on fire, teeth barred. Rune followed suit, pulling a dagger from the sheath on her thigh. Upon her head, a single white hair glistened in the light of my flame.
The man laughed, and my seidr flared brighter.
Freyja stepped forward, white wings ripping through the back of her gown and stretching out on either side of her.
Great gods!I thought as I watched the woman materialize a deadly spear in her hands. Golden armor snapped into place across her chest and hips, the gleam of the polished metal a threat not to come any closer.
“Kari and I have both seen the violence you planned to inflict upon my own,” Freyja called out. Her entire body vibrated with seidr, and it was then I realized I truly only had a morsel of what the gods could give. I may have been a powerful human, but she was the mother of seidr, and I could taste her power in the air. It sliced across my skin, mixing with my own.
The golden sconces on the wall behind Odin groaned as they twisted into sharp, deadly weapons. The gold around the god’s neck began to melt, dripping down his robes in metallic trails. The man squinted, as if our will was more of an annoyance than anything.
