Modern goddess, p.4
Modern Goddess, page 4
Oh great. I wished I still had my wings. I’d just fly us to our destination instead of making my entire body hurt for days on end. I stared down the hulking hills in the distance. “Over those?”
“Yes. I know a path through that isn’t as harrowing as it looks from here.” He glanced at me. “Stop whining and eat your jerky.” He nodded toward the partial piece still clasped in my hand.
Although we had spent time together in the cottage, it was usually filled by the television or books or music. The silence of the surroundings made me feel closed in, as if I were still locked in that cavern. Even with the wide-open space, claustrophobia of only the whoosh of our snowshoes had me on edge.
“Tell me about this realm.” I only knew what I saw on television at his cabin, and he said that wasn’t real. We never really talked much about this realm beyond the fact that Odin ruled it with an iron fist. We never spoke about our pasts, either. Reyfyre had been ultra focused on training and getting me back to fighting shape, so there wasn’t time for much else.
Reyfyre laughed. “I don’t have any references of anything other than this realm. Tell me about Asgard.”
“Deflection much?”
That earned me a tilt of his lips. “I’ll tell you about Earth after you tell me about Asgard.” His eyes scanned the landscape.
“This isn’t a quid pro quo.”
“Isn’t it though?”
“Rey, stop being an ass and tell me what you know about this realm.” I aggressively took another bite of the jerky while leveling my best stop bullshitting me glare.
His sigh could have caused an avalanche had we been on a snowy mountain. “I am trying to conserve my energy while I heal. Talking drains me.”
“Oh.” I chewed up the rest of the bite and swallowed, feeling like a supreme ass for giving him a hard time. “In that case, Asgard was nothing like this.” I waved around me. “We did have mountains capped in ice, but the valleys were lush and green and dotted with farms. And the city rose around the Bifrost. It gleamed a glorious gold with the light of our suns. When they passed in the sky, the Valkyrie training room gleamed with the colors of the Bifrost. It was magnificent, and the Bifrost was stained with all the metallic colors of the rainbow. Kind of like what you’ve done with my hair.” I tilted my lips at the memory of my home. “The air was always crisp and clean.” I sighed, and then scanned our surroundings. “This realm doesn’t seem to have the grand architecture or farmlands like my home did.”
“You haven’t seen much of this realm, Kara.”
“I know. And what I’ve seen, beyond the cabin, isn’t nearly as advanced as Asgard was.” I glanced at him. “We had almost everything you had. Except television. That is a new novelty that I don’t see myself tiring of.”
He chuckled softly and kept the pace moderate. Only the shuffle of the snowshoes and the howling of the wind accompanied us for a while. The sun glare in our eyes faded as the sun rose almost overhead. It was only then that Reyfyre spoke again.
“My parents used to tell me Earth was much less advanced than Faery, as well. When we came, it was only humans. When we arrived, the realms still existed, so Earth wasn’t overrun by other species. Even so, I still had to hide my heritage here. Earth had no clue there were other provinces with intelligent societies out there, so my parents taught me the spell that still to this day hides the one easily identifiable trait of my fae heritage.” He waved to his ear.
“What were your parents like?”
Reyfyre’s eyes went unfocused as he strode forward. “They were militant about keeping our magic a secret. My father had the foresight to keep us under the radar for a very long time. He kept his heritage a secret and hoarded our riches, hiding most of it from being discovered. We lived just barely over the poverty level, but they took me everywhere. They got away with it by saying they were homeschooling me, so no government came after us for missing school. And they taught me fae, wraith, and human history. They made me humble with their knowledge and how freely they shared with me, and even though we lived like nomads, I knew I was cherished. It’s funny.” He chuckled under his breath. “When I was little, the only time my father used his magic was when my mother lost her temper.” He grinned. “She was a holy terror when she was angry, and his magic could only hide so much of her black smoke, so whenever she went ballistic, we moved to another area of this realm. I saw almost every country there is on this planet.” He waved his hand at the land around us.
“So, you’re more like your father?” I asked, because I had never seen Reyfyre lose his temper.
He snorted a laugh. “My dad said I was more like my mother, and my mother said I was more like my father. I guess I’m a good mix of both of them. When refugees of the other realms started to flock here, that was when they started secretly teaching me complicated magic and trained me with weapons. They didn’t want me to be vulnerable. As I said, they had much more foresight than I’ve ever had.”
Reyfyre sucked in his lower lip. “Once they heard what Odin was doing to the realms, they stepped up and started to pull in the higher ranked species on the magical spectrum to form the resistance. And hiding became a matter of survival. Then, more and more refugees from the other lands came to hide from Asgardian wrath as those assholes systematically destroyed the realms.” He side-eyed me, as if I were part of the group that shattered so many dominions.
“If I had been there, I wouldn’t have let that happen. My superior wouldn’t have either.” My eyes misted at the memory of Freya.
“Well, she did.” His razored tongue lashed his words, as if all Valkyrie were evil beings.
“No. Freya didn’t.”
Reyfyre shot me a dirty look.
“She died in Greece. I killed her when she came to punish me for disobeying.” I plodded along next to Reyfyre. “If I had died instead, she may have questioned Odin’s greed.” I could not see Freya buying into the destruction of the realms. It was against her nature, just as much as it was against mine.
“Then she would have died publicly.”
I snorted in agreement. “She could have led the Valkyrie against Odin.” I thought about how angry Freya had been at me for disobeying a direct order, and doubt crept in. She had tried to cut me down as if it didn’t matter that Hippocrates was an innocent.
Maybe my recollection had been tainted with my time in chains, and it was only my wish that she would have stood up against this type of tyranny. My stomach tightened, still pushing the belief in Freya’s view of what was just and what wasn’t.
“They followed him like blind sheep.”
Reyfyre’s growling response made my stomach twist.
“I’m still not sure Freya would have.” I stuck to my gut feeling on that and kept thinking perhaps if she hadn’t come in with swords swinging, I might have been able to convince her of how wrong the assignment was. “So, society hadn’t advanced the way Odin thought it would had Hippocrates and others not been killed?”
Reyfyre glanced at me. “What do you mean?”
“He sent me to reap a healer who apparently had been historically significant. He said there had been others as well, so this race couldn’t build things that would destroy this realm. But I venture to guess it was so they wouldn’t be able to fight back when Odin and Thor came to rule here.” I scanned the tundra slowly, searching for predators.
He walked in silence with that deep crease between his eyes. “He planned the destruction of the realms as far back as three thousand years ago.” He blew a stream of air from his lips that immediately fogged in front of him.
I stopped. I knew Asgard was no longer, but he had never mentioned the remainder of the realms until today. And his words finally sunk in, sending a shiver of dread through my entire form. “Nothing is left?”
He took a couple of steps and then stopped. He didn’t meet my gaze right away and when he finally looked at me, he slowly shook his head. “It’s why things like those spiders are here. Their realm was destroyed. But they aren’t organized enough to be a threat to Odin. There are other things hiding here, too.” He glanced over his shoulder. “But Odin and Thor stomped out most alien species that could put up any sort of fight. The resistance consisted of an array of beings along with a handful of humans who did not like this new world order. If we had been able to stop the squabbling between us all, we might have been able to stop them, but there was no trust across species. There was always tension between us and eventually, the humans gave up on any hope. They’d rather live under Odin’s thumb than take up arms and fight for freedom.”
I started to move again and reached into my pocket, peeling another piece of jerky from the group. I offered it to Reyfyre, and this time he took it. I pulled another strip off and then pocketed the rest. “So why are you trying to save them if they don’t want to be saved?”
He sighed. “I’ve asked myself that same question every day,” he admitted. “But then those assholes do something unimaginable to remind me they are not fit to lead this world. Or I pass another starving child who is nearly freezing to death, and it reminds me that we are this world’s last hope. Someone needs to stand up for those who don’t have a prayer.”
Reyfyre was an idealist. Who would have guessed.
“I just want to pound them into oblivion. It’s not for the same altruistic reasons as you. For me, it’s personal.”
He laughed. “Even without his hammer, Thor is a beast.”
I nodded. “But he’s never gone up against me when I wasn’t chained.”
“You can barely beat me.” A dimple appeared in his cheek as he side-eyed me. “Besides, my reasons aren’t as noble as you think. I do carry the same need for vengeance as you.”
I grunted around my jerky. We ate while walking. I didn’t want to stop if we didn’t have to because if we sat to rest, I wasn’t sure I’d be getting up.
As it was, when the need arose, squatting to relieve myself was a major pain, but there was no other way around it. There were no chamber pots or facilities in this frozen wasteland.
“I certainly hope where we are going is as well-equipped as your cottage,” I muttered as I buttoned up my pants and stepped away from the yellow snow.
“My boat has a well-equipped head.” He continued to walk, picking up the pace a little now that he seemed to have all his color back.
I guessed the jerky was the boost he needed. In the distance, I could just about make out another grove of trees, but these seemed to climb the hillside that rose before us. I hadn’t realized we had crossed the tundra itself, but I guess the long stretches of silence between us with only the shuffle of the snowshoes were longer than I had thought.
But the idea of another spider-infested forest had my pace slowing and my heart galloping in my chest. Another attack from those monsters might very well kill us.
CHAPTER 6
MY FEARS REGARDING SPIDERS were unfounded. But the forest blocked most of the light, making it difficult to navigate. We found a downed tree and hunkered behind it, using some of the dead brush for a perimeter wide enough that our fire wouldn’t catch.
Reyfyre unpacked our sleeping bags and leaned our packs on the tree near where he laid out my bag. He unzipped his sleeping bag and went to sit on it, but yanked his hand back. “Damn it.”
“What’s wrong?”
He showed me his red palm before wiping it with snow. “It’s still tacky with blood.” He opened it all the way and laid it with the inside facing the night sky on the patch of snow opposite where mine was. Blocking the exit of our little camp.
“That sucks for you.” I dug in my bag and pulled out more jerky, offering him a piece.
He shook his head and busied himself with building a fire. We had enough wood from the branches we peeled away from the dead tree to keep us roasting far into the night. And when he had the fire blazing, his back twitched and Reyfyre looked up at the stars peeking through the trees.
Then he spun on his heels and met my gaze. “We’re going to have to share again.” His chin jutted to the sleeping bag under me.
I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to sleep in tacky blood. Even so, I stared him down, searching for an ulterior motive. When I found none, I offered a piece of the jerky again.
“Is this how you intend to get me into bed?” I chomped another bite and let a smile toy on my lips.
Reyfyre snorted a laugh and took the offered jerky. He settled on the bag with me. “I know it’s not ideal.” He took a bite and leaned back against the tree, completely ignoring my comment. “But we’ll have to take turns feeding the fire tonight, so it’s not like we’ll be stuffed in the bag together.” He bumped my shoulder with his in an attempt at humor.
We stared at the fire in silence.
“I need to get out of these clothes, too.” He sighed and unzipped his jacket. He easily removed his uninjured arm, but the other one stuck in the sleeve. “Can you help?” His irritated gaze slashed to me.
I finished the piece of jerky. “What do you need me to do?”
He handed me the portion of the jacket he already took off. “Pull.”
I did and nearly toppled over when it finally gave. The inside of the sleeve was a deep red, almost black now, which was different than the crimson from this morning. “You might want to see if you can scrub some of that out with snow and then let it dry over there with your sleeping bag.”
“Not a bad idea.” He stood, crossed to the perimeter, and crouched, taking a handful of snow to the sleeve. He got most of the offending blood off, but his hands and the snow surrounding him looked a bit like a mini massacre occurred. Enough so that after he laid out his coat, he stripped his shirt and used it to clean his hands and the dried blood caked on his arm.
Reyfyre’s bare chest shimmering in the firelight made my eyelids take a beat. Sure, I had seen him sparring with only a tank top before, but I was too worried about where his sword was to actually study the cut of his abs. And my, were they a set of firm, sculpted muscles that I wanted to run my fingers over just to see whether they were made of flesh instead of stone.
His soiled shirt landed in the flames, and Reyfyre shivered as he dug into his backpack for another one. The blue flannel he pulled out complemented his eyes. He slid it on and buttoned it up all the way to the collar. He didn’t bother tucking it in as he took the seat next to me again.
“Did you want something more than just jerky tonight?”
I chewed on my lip, debating. His jerky was sweet and salty and so very satisfying, and I’d already had a few pieces, enough to make my belly full. “I’m good if you are,” I finally said.
“I could use a couple more pieces.” He put his hand out, and I peeled him off a few before stowing the rest away in my backpack.
I studied his profile as I settled back down. The rings under his eyes were dark with exhaustion. Although I was tired, he had been healing himself all day as we trekked across the frozen wasteland.
“I can take the first watch if you’d like.”
He chewed on his jerky and nodded. “Thanks.” He didn’t say much more, just gulped down the jerky and some water before waving me off the sleeping bag.
I moved to the edge of the bag, half on the bottom layer and half in the snow. He stuffed himself in and then looked over at me sitting on the edge of the sleeping bag as if it was a huge inconvenience to lose a half an ass’s worth of the material. And my ass was pretty small.
He huffed and settled into the bag. “Wake me in a couple of hours.”
I guess when the man put his mind to it, he could fall asleep on a whim. His light snore filled the clearing and I stared at the fire, adding logs when the flames fell to flickers.
SNARLING SNAPPED MY HEAD up, and I blinked at the pit of hot coals. Beyond the firepit, two mangy beasts fought over Reyfyre’s coat. His sleeping bag was shredded to pieces. Thankfully the beasts hadn’t decided to take a bite out of either of us. Yet.
They weren’t big, but what they had done to Reyfyre’s sleeping bag sent a shudder down my spine.
I had dozed off staring at the fire.
What if something bigger had come into our space?
I slowly reached out for a log and threw it on the hot coals, where it promptly burst into flame on impact.
The beasts stopped their vicious tug-of-war and their beady eyes snapped in my direction. They bared their teeth, and their low growl sent a rash of bumps over my arms. The fire didn’t scare them off like I thought it would. My gaze jumped to where our swords sat.
They were too far for me to reach without leaving Reyfyre exposed.
My mouth dried. If fire didn’t deter these beasts, I wasn’t sure what would. And from the mess they made of the sleeping bag, their claws were mighty sharp. I did not want to hurt them, but if they got a taste of Reyfyre’s blood on the fabric, that would make him a target. He might need to magic them away at this pace. I frantically tapped Reyfyre on the shoulder, and the beasts snarled at my movement.
Reyfyre blinked his eyes open, and started a yawning stretch, but stopped as his eyes focused on the destruction on the other side of the fire. He growled my name and sent a withering glare that had me shivering more from him than the advancing beasts.
“Fuck.” He sat up and faced his palms toward the beasts. He muttered under his breath and their growls increased. The fur on their necks stood on edge. “Just go!” he yelled, climbed to his feet, and brought his hands up in the air above his head, making himself appear more like an old crook giving himself up than a wraith. Reyfyre looked ridiculous.
Even the beasts were vexed enough at his antics to stop growling. They seemed to second-guess going on the attack.
They turned to leave, kicking out their back paws as they grabbed both the coat and what was left of his sleeping bag, and fled into the darkness.
Reyfyre slumped down on the bag next to me and reached for another log without so much as a word. But his silence held a reprimand that made me stare at my hands.
