Page 25 of Coven Relics
“Anyway, a lot of humans still think like that. Some don’t believe in anything at all. Some of them like reading stories about the old gods. There are a few movies and television shows about some of their mortal children playing heroes. The big thing now is regular old mortal humans getting powers like the gods by some sort of accident and using them to save the world. Superman was technically from another planet, and Batman and Ironman were just really rich. But some of them got their powers because of chemicals or radioactive spiders, and some were born that way because of a mutation.”
“Sounds sketchy,” Bjorn said. “If the gods wanted hybrids and powers to develop beyond what they originally created, they would have done it. They woulddefinitelyget involved if their creations started mutating, and they’d destroy it if there were a substance giving people godlike powers. Theonlyreason no one came for Thorunn and the rest of them when they started killing people was probably that Thorunn made them swear an oath of protection. She’d give them Loki in exchange for them pretending her people didn’t exist. Even gods make stupid decisions.”
I smiled into the blanket. Sleipnir and Bjorn were just so damned adorable. They could be freaking out about all of this, but instead, they just thought about it and gave us their responses.
“You’re thinking about it too hard. Most of them are a commentary on social issues disguised as really pretty people in spandex beating up bad guys and saving the world. Some people read and watch them because they get that. Other people do it because they like explosions and punching. Peter Parker probably decided to sleep off getting bitten by a radioactive spider in real life because he didn’t have healthcare. Gotham wouldn’t need Batman if they put safety rails around chemicals in their factories like they are supposed to. It’s fiction, and it’s fun, though I don’t see why humans need to remake Batman every few years.”
“So, it’s like some of the stories they used to tell about the gods. They teach lessons or try to scare people into being good, even if it’s not true.”
“Some of them don’t teach lessons. They are strictly for entertainment. My twin sister works in a large building full of books. The only fiction in her library is total smut, and I’m here for it. I’m in kind of an unofficial werewolf-porn book club with my twin, Minerva, and I’m pretty sure Reyson is going to join now. He got a little obsessed.”
“I have nothing but the highest respect for Minerva, though it’s strange calling her that. She’s always had impeccable taste in everything. So, how does one prove themselves to join this werewolf-porn society?”
I tried to turn around to look him in the eyes. He loosened his arms to let me. Loki had given him the knowledge to understand English and slang, but did he understand all that? I knew Vikings viewed their women a lot differently than many of the countries they raided. Still, there were plenty of people in this century who dismissed romance novels as being mommy porn, even if they outsold most other genres, and plenty of men enjoyed them and wrote them, too.
Bjorn could have easily decided reading romance wasn’t something a warrior did, but he had a lot of respect for Freya, and he knew she loved it, so he kept an open mind about trying it.
“You’d seriously read romance books just because Freya likes them?”
“Well, Freya is not the only strong woman I have immense respect for that likes those books. You enjoy them, too. I’ve only met your twin a few times, but she seems like an amazing witch. If the three of you enjoy it enough to get together to talk about it, I can only imagine it’s a good thing, and I should give it a chance.”
Oh, damn. There went the feels. Women’s rights weren’t even a concept back in Bjorn’s time, but Bjorn seemed to get it better than some of the troglodytes I dated in college. He was certainly a better man than Valentine. I knew he said no sex, and the Viking looked utterly exhausted, but maybe a kiss wouldn’t hurt.
I pressed my lips to his, and Bjorn took control. That seer certainly had skills in that department. Bjorn broke the kiss and rested his forehead on mine.
“Ravyn, you don’t know how long it’s been since a beautiful woman kissed me, but I’m utterly useless at anything else tonight. You wouldn’t enjoy yourself.”
“You’re something else, Bjorn. The thing is, Iknowhow long it’s been for you. Longer than the five years I swore off men after Valentine and longer than it had been for Killian after he floated in the Aether, got reborn as a bat, Reyson gave him his body back, and I finally got the balls to kiss him and tell him I was into him. You could have just said fuck me and gotten your own pleasure.”
“I could. I knew men that would. Viking women didn’t tolerate that, and those men soon found it hard to find a bedmate. You remind me a lot of a shieldmaiden. Plus, it’s just bad manners.”
I nuzzled his chest with my face. Bjorn yawned, and he was barely keeping his eyes open. I knew if he thought he could perform well, he would have forced himself to stay awake, but I’d never ask that of him.
“I’ve kept you awake long enough, Bjorn. Get some sleep. And just know that none of us want you making yourself sick to force a vision.”
I think all Bjorn heard was the part where I told him to get some sleep. The man was clearly exhausted and passed out before I finished talking. He needed it.
We all watched him go through some shit to try to get a vision. I didn’t regret sleeping in his room tonight at all. I learned more about him, and I liked it.
Chapter19
Killian
Iwas in a pretty damned good mood considering the eclipse was happening at one in the morning, and we still had no idea where Valentine was with his crusty-ass bones. Still, if you weren’t a glass is half full person when you died, you certainly had to become one when you became a familiar to a hormonal teenage witch. The slightest little thing meant the world was ending.
The twins did everything together. Ripley had her moment, and now, it was Ravyn’s turn to save the world. Some good things had happened, too. It was just Loki and me in Ravyn’s bedroom last night. Yeah, I was totally bisexual. Don’t ask me how I managed to die of old age, get reincarnated as a bat centuries later, and randomly be given my old body back by a god to figure that out.
Loki was brilliant and patient. He never pressed for anything. If I had just wanted to sleep since Ravyn wasn’t with us, he would have happily done it. But Ravyn threw me an over-the-shoulder glance and a cheeky wink on her way to Bjorn’s room. I think the little minxwantedme to find out if butt sex felt just as good receiving as it did giving. So, I did her a solid and told Bjorn to try out the gray sweatpants for bed.
If you have a caring partner like Loki, it was pretty damned glorious on the receiving end. We needed to bring that into the repertoire with Ravyn. Ravyn wouldn’t have had a little romp with a Viking seer that night, but those gray sweatpants made her think about it.
Ravyn took her man-exile thing seriously. The only times she was ever tempted was when gray sweatpants were involved. It never came to anything. She’d start flirting, and they’d say something stupid. Then, she noped right out of it. Bjorn and Sleipnir popped out of that puzzle box for a reason. I trusted him not to say stupid shit when she was trying to sexually objectify him in his sweatpants.
I woke up before Loki did, so I went to the kitchen to cook. Sleipnir was already there staring really hard at the toaster.
“Hungry?” I asked.
“I got to talk to Ravyn while we were helping Bjorn. I see why Loki is infatuated. Sigyn was a popular god who was much better liked than Loki, but I think she would have preferred I stay with Odin. She mostly pretended like I didn’t exist. Sigyn would have preferred Loki only pay attention to his children with her.
