Modern goddess, p.14
Modern Goddess, page 14
“Do you not want me?” he asked the first woman.
She stuttered and stumbled over her words. “Are the rumors true?” she finally asked while her entire form trembled.
I guessed she must live under a rock. Anyone who watched the balls knew the rumors were true.
He grinned. “That my orgasms kill humans?”
She gulped and nodded. “D-d-do they?”
He leaned forward with that arrogant smile of his. “Yes. This is how we test for other if the truth serum doesn’t work.” He stared at her. “Are you human?”
“Y-y-yes,” she stuttered.
“I do not believe you.” He nodded to the guards, and they rolled a table with chains next to where Thor sat. “If you’re not willing to ride me, you’ll be chained, and I’ll take you however I deem fit.”
The first woman climbed to her feet and inched toward the door as everyone focused on the spectacle of the table. Her face pinched into a mask of horror and panic. The same emotions reflected in the second woman on her knees.
Anger blew through my body, tinting my vision red. “You are going to kill all of us just because...” I couldn’t finish the statement, but it was enough to pull Thor’s attention to me.
He grinned in a sick way that made me recoil. “I’ll get to release this pent-up sexual energy, and if that means a few die for my pleasure...so be it.” He snapped his fingers, and the guards caught the first woman before she could flee. “And if they survive, then they will carry my heir.”
I slowly climbed to my feet and turned toward the makeshift dais where Odin sat, as if bored of this. “And you allow this to happen?” I waved at the spectacle.
“It is a valid way to flush out enemies of the state.”
“What of your people? Don’t they have a suitable surrogate for him?” I waved toward Thor again.
“We are all that is left of my people,” Odin snarled. “So no, this is how we find a surrogate.” He pointed to the woman being restrained on the table.
“No.” I turned toward Thor. “Just. No.” I raised my hands in a boxing stance. “If you can beat me in a fair fight...” I gulped and shook myself. “Then maybe I will let you have your way with me. But only if you let everyone go.”
Thor’s mouth popped open into a small O, and his eyelids fluttered with disbelief. “Are you challenging me?”
I licked my lips and nodded even as Reyfyre’s face flashed before my eyes. “I, um. Yes.” I stumbled. “I am a black belt,” I added and flipped my hair behind my shoulder before straightening my back. Reyfyre had taught me a lot of earthly defense arts, to the point he said I was better than most of the black belts who had taught him. “In exchange for their safety.” I twirled my finger at the rest of the people in the room.
I was willing to take a beating to make sure these people were safe from harm.
“Why?”
“Because they are my people. And they do not deserve to be played with in this manner.” I remained in my ready stance. “Someone needs to take a stand against this tyranny.”
His eyes narrowed and he stood, tucking himself back into his pants. “I don’t think you understand, little girl. I am a god.” Thunder rolled through the ballroom. “I take whatever the hell I please.”
“Then do so without your guards and without the threat of death.” I lifted my chin. “Start acting like a goddamned god and let these prisoners go,” I demanded. “Using them is beneath you.” I spit the words out, letting some of my venom bleed into my voice. Playing on Thor’s vanities had always been an easy mark. And this time, he bristled and glanced at his father.
Odin stared at me with a crease between his eyes. Finally, he gave a sharp nod. “But not the television crew.” He pointed at the man holding the live camera. “Or the other two women. Their fates were sealed along with yours the minute you disobeyed and did not initially drink the serum.”
Fuck.
If glares could kill, Odin would be dead ten times over.
“We drank it, just not the entire cup. Sometimes chocolate disagrees with me, and I didn’t want to spend the evening in the bathroom,” I snapped. “And for having gastric issues, you’re sentencing me to death?” I tightened my jaw and closed my mouth before I told him to fuck off.
The guards escorted the crowd out the ballroom door. When the last one left, the doors closed behind them.
I inhaled through my nose and when they returned, I added, “The guards cannot intervene.”
I knew that was pushing my luck, but if they were here, I might be subdued before I could get the other two out of the building. “And no magic. That’s cheating.” I pointed at Thor. “This will be a fair fight, understand?”
He laughed, so sure of himself. “For every punch you land, I will let someone go free.”
“Thor.” Odin’s reprimand came through in his voice, but the deal was already out there and televised live to the masses.
Arrogant asshole. But I nodded. “That works.”
“And for every punch I land, you’ll suck my cock dry,” he said with a smile. “Before I fuck you over that table.” He pointed at the table still holding one of the women.
“I sure hope you’ll unlock her first.” I batted my eyes.
He snorted a laugh as he stepped closer. He did not wait for me to engage. He swung his fist. I bent back, using gravity to pull my hands to the ground behind me. I flipped over, catching him under the chin with my foot and snapping his head back before I bounced to my feet. Thankfully, my dress hardly moved.
“I’m also a little bit of a gymnast.” It was my turn to smirk.
Thor rubbed his chin as he stared at me.
“I believe that is one point for Karen.” I held up my finger, digging the cockiness in my voice.
Thor shook off the hit. “It doesn’t count. That wasn’t a punch.”
I growled my disdain.
He moved and jabbed to the side at the same time as I tried to spin away. His fist caught my cheek, sending flares of light across my eyes. I flew to the ground as a buzz filled my head.
“I am going to so enjoy those pouty lips around my cock.”
I shook the stars from my brain and stood, a little warier than before. But this time I didn’t wait for him to make a move: I charged and at the last minute, bent back out of the trajectory of his punch and dropped to my knees, sliding under his wide-set thighs. I punched straight up with a tribal cry.
I think I lifted him off the ground with the power of my junk punch. I slid beyond his reach and spun to my feet.
His wheezing breath filled the room, and I landed a kidney punch, driving him all the way to his knees.
He spun, leading with his elbow, catching me in the ribs. The crack of bone echoed in my head and my chest tightened as if a rope had been banded across it. I hit a table on my landing, banging my head enough to warble my vision.
Thor towered over me and held up three fingers.
I raised two. “The elbow doesn’t count, just like my foot doesn’t.” I kicked out, aiming for his dick, but he punched my ankle aside, pulling a cry from my lips as fire engulfed it.
“Three.” He reached for his belt.
“None of it counts unless you honor my deal.” I rolled off the table and hopped away from his immediate grasp. My ankle was raw and sang a wailing scream every time I put my full weight on it.
“Let the girls go,” he said.
I moved farther away until my heels hit wood. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girls who had been pictured next to me on the television escorted out of the building.
The only possible innocent in the room was now the cameraman. He aired this crap willingly, almost salaciously, so I wasn’t concerned they’d decapitate him.
Thor advanced, and I went to slide toward the door, but a hand gripped the back of my neck, holding me in place in a punishing grip. Something solid hit the back of my knees and I fell to the floor. I reached to grab the hand still clasping the back of my neck, but metal clasped around my wrist.
Terror washed through me as the binding locked both my hands behind my back. I was helpless without my hands.
“You promised no guards would intervene,” I challenged Thor.
“It is not a guard,” Odin’s voice whispered in my ear.
Damn it. I should have clarified no one was to intervene. Semantics just screwed me. But Thor approaching wasn’t the worst situation I could be in. I’d have to do what I swore I never would. His hands unthreaded his belt as he stepped closer. With the leather folded in half, he struck out, slapping my cheek with it.
Hot agony blared through the cheek his fist hadn’t connected with, and if Odin wasn’t still holding the back of my neck, I would have sprawled on the floor from the force of it.
He snapped his fingers and the doors to the ballroom opened. A battalion of guards corralled the guests along with the other two women back into the ballroom.
“You fucking liar,” I snarled at Thor, even though speaking hurt my bruised face. I struggled against the bonds.
“This is what happens when you challenge your rulers,” Odin announced loud enough for the entire room to hear and then he crouched down next to me. “These manacles are charmed, just like the ones in the cave.” Odin’s whisper sent goose flesh all over me. “You remember the cave, right, Kara?”
I gulped. “I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.” My voice shook as the lie made my mouth sour.
Thor’s eyes narrowed as he stalked forward. “Don’t you?”
He looked more like a predator cornering his prey than I cared to see, and my heart thundered in my chest.
“After I lost the only woman I ever cared for due to this curse, I went to the cave to retrieve the only being left on this godforsaken planet who wouldn’t die from having sexual relations with me. Imagine my surprise to find the cave empty.”
“Aww. My heart breaks for you,” I sneered, without an ounce of compassion. “And now you just kill whomever you please to satisfy your fucking libido? That’s just pathetic.” If I could only manifest daggers with a look... But all my snarling did was make the bastard more cocky.
Thor grinned and unzipped his pants. “I’ve got three blow jobs coming.”
Fury raged through me, burning away the terror like pouring a fire accelerant on an already out-of-control forest blaze. “You reneged on your end of the deal, so if you put that thing in my mouth, I will bite it off.” I glared up at him, and the entire room gasped.
Thor snapped his fingers, and a guard dragged a man to Thor’s side, keeping a sharp sword at his throat. “Then I will start killing these people until you comply.” He waved toward the huddled and terrified crowd and then glanced at the guard before bringing his glare back to me.
“It’s time to pay up.” He stepped close enough to rub the tip of his hard length on my lips. He took a handful of my hair and yanked back. “And if your teeth so much as scrape my shaft, I will make sure they pay dearly. Now open your fucking mouth and suck, you traitorous bitch.”
“Do not touch her.”
The words echoed around us, and my heart squeezed. Reyfyre’s growling command froze Thor in place, and I turned my gaze to the entry. Reyfyre was equipped to the hilt—blades on his belt and swords in his hands.
His rage pounded through the room like a tribal beat just before a wave of magic plowed over us all.
My restraints blew off my wrists, freeing me from Odin’s hold. Although, Thor still held a handful of my hair. I junk punched him again because there was no way I wasn’t fighting now that Reyfyre was here. Thor dropped to his knees, wheezing from the hit. His grip on my hair faltered, and I spun away.
Odin raised his staff, meaning to cut down Reyfyre. I kicked, hitting the rod dead center. It snapped in two, and Odin screamed as if I had chopped him in two instead. He collapsed over the staff, blubbering like a demented fool.
Then I bolted toward Reyfyre, but a hand caught my foot, tripping me.
“Hold her!” Thor’s growl raged. “I want her to see me beat the living shit out of another lover of hers before I kill him.”
My chest squeezed enough that my shattered rib felt like a hundred knives digging into my soul. I couldn’t watch another who I cared about cut down. I would not survive it.
Hands gripped my arms and yanked me into a kneeling position. Thor stepped near me and placed the sharp edge of his sword on my throat before swiveling his gaze to Reyfyre.
“Drop your weapons,” Thor ordered. “Or I’ll run my blade through her throat.”
“You’re going to do that anyway,” Reyfyre snarled.
“No. But I am going to chain her back up, but this time in my bedroom so I can fuck her any time I please.”
Reyfyre measured his reaction, but the flick of his eyes in my direction was enough. “So, you’re bluffing?” He raised a condescending eyebrow.
Thor moved the blade and slashed my cheek. “She doesn’t have to look like much. She just has to spread her legs and bear my children.”
Reyfyre’s eyes widened.
I gagged on the fiery pain, but shook my head. If Reyfyre put his weapons down, Thor would kill him. I could not allow that, even if it meant Thor permanently disfigured me.
Movement behind Reyfyre pulled my gaze away from his.
Reyfyre reacted, spinning with swords slashing. The guards who had almost been upon him died swiftly. Reyfyre twirled back in our direction with blood splattered on his cheek and the white shirt.
“Now I’m pissed. You’ve ruined my new tuxedo shirt.” His sharp gaze locked on Thor’s. “Stop your guards from attacking and swear on your mother’s grave that this will be hand-to-hand combat only between the two of us, and I will gladly put away my weapons and school your self-righteous ass. But if you draw another drop of blood from Kara, I will castrate you and then force you to choke on your own dick.”
Gasps echoed around the room.
“Don’t.” I couldn’t help the warning, but Reyfyre didn’t even glance my way. His gaze was locked in challenge with Thor.
Thor’s sword dropped to the ground, and he moved toward Reyfyre. Thunder rumbled overhead. “I swear on my mother’s grave.” He fisted his hands.
“What do you swear on your mother’s grave?” Reyfyre was fae. He knew how to manipulate oaths or how to omit critical pieces to leave a loophole.
“That my guards will not intervene and that this will be hand-to-hand combat between the two of us.” The words hissed through his clenched teeth. “But no magic.”
“You can’t invoke magic either.” Reyfyre pointed a sword at Thor.
“I will not invoke magic.”
Reyfyre pushed the swords and knives attached to his body to the ether, but before he navigated the few steps to the ballroom floor, he waved in my direction. The guards holding me dropped to the floor, stone dead. “Anyone but me touches her, and they die.” He grinned at Thor and set his feet. “That includes you.” He cocked his finger at Thor.
I climbed to my feet, shaking my head. “Please, Rey,” I whispered just as desperately as he had before I left the apartment. I couldn’t watch another man I loved get beat to shit and then get slaughtered. It would break me.
Reyfyre’s grin widened. “And that spell that I just cast does not die with me.”
“You son of a bitch!” Thor bellowed his anger and charged.
He used brute strength to intimidate, and I waited for the impact. But Reyfyre casually evaded him and swept Thor’s feet from under him.
Thor sprawled out on the floor, crashing into tables as he slid.
Reyfyre caught my gaze and winked.
Thor charged at his back, but Reyfyre spun and parried, knocking Thor’s punch to the side before he stepped in and used his inertia to land a blow to Thor’s chest, knocking him into a group of people who couldn’t scramble away fast enough.
Thor shook his head as if dazed and then he growled and launched directly at Reyfyre. At the last minute, Reyfyre sidestepped, but Thor corrected himself and tackled Reyfyre.
“Rey!” I yelled as his head banged the hard floor.
Thor’s hands wrapped around his throat, squeezing as he pounded Reyfyre’s head on the floor. Protective black tendrils shot out of Reyfyre, launching Thor across the room. He turned onto his hands and knees, coughing.
I rushed to his side but when he looked beyond me, his eyes widened, and he knocked me to the ground. Air grazed my hair, and I turned, hopping to my feet.
Reyfyre climbed to his feet next to me.
Thor swung his hammer, making it whistle in the air. “A wraith, Kara?”
Reyfyre dropped all glamour, revealing his true form, and he glowed with power. His pointed ears poked through his hair. “And fae,” he said with a raspy voice. Thor had done damage to his voice box with that choke hold.
Thor released the hammer and Reyfyre dove to the ground, trying to take me with him, but I spun out of his grip and shot my hand out with my fingers splayed. Thor’s hammer hit my palm square. Pain radiated up my arm from the impact, but Mjölnir recognized my righteous nature, and did not shatter my bones the way I’d seen it do to countless enemies over the centuries.
Reyfyre stared up at me from the floor with an open mouth, mimicking both Thor and his father.
I had no idea how Thor still wielded this weapon. But I guessed even the magical elements could be duped when there wasn’t anyone else to stand in to protect the people.
“Give me my hammer,” Thor commanded with his hand out, trying to call it back.
I flipped Mjölnir, catching the handle before I caressed the metal. Its sigils glowed, and I looked beyond the hammer at Thor. “I don’t think she belongs to you anymore. You are no longer worthy of her.”
I jumped in the air, closing my eyes as I felt her power fill me, and then I aimed the hammer at the floor, willing it not to harm the innocent and to strip those unworthy of their immortality. Lightning splintered across the room and when Mjölnir hit the marble floor, it snaked out, lifting Thor and Odin into the air.
