Forget thinking he was in love. He was in love with this woman.
Odin will kill her.
Fen’s words rattled in his brain as the world yawned around the two of them in terrible silence. He would find a way to fix what the world had done to her. He would find a way to make this right.
For Morgane.
He’d rescue her mother from the Underworld as well, and then spend the rest of his life protecting what was left of her family, if it was the last thing he did. He would piece her life back together because they had torn it apart.
And because he loved her.
24
Rolling over the next morning, Morgane found herself alone. She’d slept for hours. The spot next to her was still warm, the sun casting its first radiant bars of light across the room, the day before her ripe with possibilities.
That was the first few seconds after she opened her eyes.
The next few drove home the truth. Her mother was gone. Her sister was back, with something vile and insidious churning inside her. Last night she, Loki, and Balder had covered a lot of ground.
All except for this one thing.
What was wrong with Ava? What was inside of her? Would she ever be all right? Struck by the fact Ava had been left alone, in a room by herself for, Morgane checked the clock, at least ten hours, she scrambled out of bed. The urge to see her sister was overwhelming. If Ava was forfeited to the Underworld, Morgane was determined she wasn’t about to let her sister go without a fight.
Rushing out, she flung a huge robe over Loki’s shirt and bolted for the door, taking the steps two at a time up to Ava’s room, not bothering to knock before throwing the door wide.
Sweeping into the room, she stopped dead in her tracks, transfixed by the vision of her sister outstretched in front of dawn’s golden glow, a sea of darkness engulfing her, her body barely an indistinct stain against the light. Morgane’s mouth dried out. She could feel its alien presence all around them, whatever it was, as blood pounded in her ears. The darkness hung in thin tendrils of shadow all around her sister, suspended in wisps against the sunlight, questing through the air, as if searching for something.
The door banged shut behind her with a boom, shaking the floor, sending the window behind Ava quivering. The blackness sucked back into her, leaving only Ava, a thin, elegant sliver, outlined against the rising sun. Her sister turned and smiled, something truly wicked dancing in her eyes, while Morgane’s heart thundered in her chest.
She approached her sister as if she were a feral lion. “Ava? What are you doing?”
“Watching the sunrise. As requested, sister.” Ava’s eyes were holes punched into a pale face, her hair matted around her head, as if she’d tossed and turned all night. Or not slept at all.
“I mean before I came in. What were you doing?”
“I was thinking I’d never see this again. The sun. How wide open this world is. She told me enough times I’d never see it, and I guess I believed her after a while.” There was a cool liquidy darkness lining her voice, which Morgane didn’t remember being there before.
Her feet seemed rooted to the spot, but she forced herself to take another step forward, the robe dragging on the ground behind her.
“There’s something inside of me, you know. And I don’t know what,” Ava offered, matter-of-factly.
“I know, that’s what I came to talk to you about.”
“I’ve felt it ever since I got back. A new place inside of me, with a pushy, churning sort of power. It wanted to escape. So I let it out.” Her lips curved upwards. “Only a little. So it could see the sun too.”
Holy shit.
Ava’s face was deathly pale, her eyes dark, the shadows beneath them purple bruises against her snow-white skin. “Okay,” Morgane said, balling her hands to keep them from shaking. “Okay. This is what we’re going to do. You’re going to watch the sun. I’m getting you breakfast. Then you’re going right back to bed. You need sleep.”
“I can’t sleep. I tried all night but couldn’t. It talks to me, you see.” An empty, hollow smile bloomed on Ava’s lips. “The darkness. It wants to know about this world we’ve come to.”
Morgane ignored that. She had to because if whatever was in Ava, talked? If it talked, if it wanted out and wanted to see the sun…then…
Morgane didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to think about this changed creature in front of her, with her sister’s penetrating eyes and carved out body and foreign, otherworldly presence. “I’m getting you food. You will eat and then you will sleep. I’ll figure this out, and everything is going to be okay. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” Ava said simply. “I would like some orange juice.” She hesitated, her voice softer now. “And something sweet. A donut, maybe, or candy if they have any?”
Shaking, Morgane out pushed through the door and closed it, made it three or four steps before she put her back to the wall and began to sob. What was wrong with Ava? What in the fuck had Hel done to her family? It seemed as though she was intent on wiping them out, one by one, while Morgane watched. After scrubbing her face dry, she crept down to the empty kitchen, snagged strawberries, grapes, a bowl of healthy looking granola and yogurt, loaded it onto a tray, and headed back upstairs.
Nobody could know about this. Nobody. If they discovered that whatever was inside Ava was capable of getting out? The gods were skittish enough about having a human in here, but a human infected with some black, evil-feeling presence that leached out? It would be over.
The way Morgane saw it, there would only be two options. Send Ava back to the Underworld or kill her. Okay, that was actually the same thing. Two birds, one stone.
Pulling herself together, she nudged the door open with her hip, swung the tray around, and balanced it on one hand. Water stopped running in the other room, and Ava walked out, wrapping her hair in a towel.
“I don’t have anything to wear. Whatever this was”—she fingered the ruined clothing she had come back in—“isn’t even worth putting back on.”
“Don’t look at me. I’ve only got the clothes on my back.” Morgane shot her an apologetic smile. “Well actually, I have Loki’s clothes on right now, but you know what I mean. I can grab a few things from my apartment this afternoon. Hope you like black.”
Morgane took a step nearer as if she was being lured in. This close, she sensed the depths in the power trapped inside her sister, felt the awful, bottomless stretch of it. “Ava. Don’t let anyone know. Not a hint of what’s going on. You understand, right? If these guys found out what was in you? It wouldn’t end well.”
Ava only looked at her before saying too quietly, “Not an idiot, sis. You think I hustled cards all those months only to lose my ass to a bunch of muscle-bound morons? I met Odin. I know exactly what sort of man he is. We’ll play this however you say. I’ve got no problem keeping my head down. But you have to tell me everything you know.”
Morgane did. As quickly and succinctly as she could. Backtracking a bit here and there because there were parts she didn’t get right the first time through. Other parts Ava didn’t believe.
The first time through.
“Are you completely crazy? You came here to hunt them? You knew what they were, saw what they did to us… And still, you got on a plane and came back to this city?” The accusation quivering through Ava’s words only made Morgane feel worse.
She still deserved an answer, even though in retrospect, her plan did sound insane when she said it out loud. “Yeah. I sold the house, the cars, everything. Then I took all the money from Mom and Dad’s insurance and dumped it all into one account. Enough to live on, for maybe ten years, as long as I didn’t overspend.” Running a hand through her snarled hair, Morgane hated how badly it shook at the memory, even when those days seemed forever ago. “And then I came back.”
“Whatever for?” Ava’s voice sounded hollow, cold as she pushed. “Why, Morgane? You should have stayed away. Stayed far enough away so n
one of this would ever have touched you again.”
“Because I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. And I couldn’t live another day, knowing what I knew. I had to try to do something.” There was no way to explain the person she’d turned into, in those months after she had gone home, after she had lost them. All that rage and hate twisted up together. No place to focus it except at herself. No one to blame. Except herself. It hadn’t taken her all that long to cannibalize herself from the inside out, beginning with why she was the only one left. So yes, the day she had stepped off the plane at O’Hare, even knowing what lay ahead of her, had felt like absolution.
Morgane lifted shadowed eyes to meet her sister’s. “Dad was dead. You and Mom were gone. So I did what I had to do to survive. Just like we’re going to do what we have to do to survive right now. These men are not friends. They are not allies. They are our enemies. Until I say different. Do you understand me?”
“Nice speech.” Then the slight smile on Ava’s lips faded. “And yeah, I know you’re right. What about Loki?”
“Except Loki,” Morgane amended. “He’s on our side, and he’ll help us, even with…this. But he’s one against…however many of these gods there are. So keep quiet and don’t let any of them know what’s doing with us. And for heaven’s sake, watch out for Odin. He can read minds.”
“Morgane?” Ava leaned forward, as if she was seeking answers. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. What this is inside me. But it’s waiting. It wants out, and once it does? I have this feeling bad things are going to happen.”
Morgane’s hands clenched beneath the sleeves of the robe before she reached out and gathered Ava in, feeling every sharp ridge of her spine. “I know, Ava. I’m going to find help, and I’m going to get us out of this.”
Ava clung to her, shaking. “I need clothes, Morgane. Before we can do anything, I need clothes.”
“Later. You’re going to eat first, remember?” Morgane smoothed her sister’s tangled hair back, noting how terribly thin she was. “I brought up some healthy food, which you are going to eat. After that, you’ll sleep. I’ll find you clothes this afternoon. Try to sleep, Ava, you look like you’re about to drop over.”
Sitting back, Ava’s mouth curved upwards in a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You look spectacular yourself, sis.”
“Yeah, I’m well aware of how I look these days.” Morgane tugged the robe tighter so Ava wouldn’t see the scars. “Eat. Sleep. And shut up. I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll get us out of this.”
She had to get downstairs. Find Loki, explain everything to him. Even the things she wasn’t that proud of, like going behind his back and making a deal with Odin. He’d know what to do. He would help her figure out a way out of this, for all of them.
“Got it.” Ava did smile then, and it was glorious.
25
Morgane should have gone straight back to Loki’s room.
She meant to go back there, her feet heading in that direction, when she somehow thought it might be a good idea to see what Mir thought about Ava’s little problem. He was, after all, the God of Knowledge. She wasn’t going to actually ask him anything specific, say, about black evil stuff stuck inside human beings.
She only meant to poke the bear.
See how growly he was this morning.
In truth, it might also be because she was a little chicken shit, looking for any excuse to dodge Loki and put off the myriad of explanations and apologies she owed him. He was due a lot of both, and she was still trying to work out the right way to explain things before this situation got too out of control.
She snorted out a laugh as she watched the grate slide open on the elevator. Out of control. As if her entire life wasn’t completely fucking out of control. Monsters. Gods. Queen of the Dead. What else could possibly go wrong?
“Going up?”
Odin shoved her inside, a mere five feet separating them as the elevator door rattled shut, sealing them in together. “You and I are due for a chat, Miss Burke.”
Backing away until she was flat against the opposite mahogany panel, Morgane surveyed him cautiously. “Thought you worked this out of your system last night. You got what you wanted. I got what I wanted. Besides, for your information, I’m leaving today, and I’m taking my sister with me.” She paused, as much for effect as to watch his face, which remained impassive. “Figured that would make you happy.”
“You leave when I say you can leave. And you and I are not done yet.”
“Too bad. Because as far as I’m concerned, we are. Finished.”
Her spine stiffened as an ugly smile curved his mouth, right before her whole world went black. One minute, she saw the glowing, amber lights of the elevator, the next? Her vision was dark and spinning, exactly like when he’d sent her down to…
No, she screamed inside, no, no, no.
A flash of light, and she found herself face first on the floor of the Throne Room. Footsteps around her, beside her, and finally his boots stopped in front of her face while she heaved herself up. She didn’t make it to her knees before she was jerked up the rest of the way, dangling helplessly in the air, staring into silver-white eyes emptied of any trace of empathy.
“You double crossed me, as I mentioned before.” He went on casually, as if she hadn’t just been yanked through time and space and was completely at his mercy. “You should have done as you were told and not presumed to take liberties with my good will. And now look at you, with no one swooping in to protect you. Not even the God of Fire anywhere in sight.” She flailed about, feet kicking nothing but air as she heard the hiss of metal drawn against leather. “Now, I’m afraid, you are going to find out exactly what happens to those who betray me.”
She kicked, harder and harder, twisting in his hand, frantically searching for the source of the ominous, metallic hiss, for his other hand. What is in his other hand? What is that sound?
The knife he plunged into her heart went through her chest completely. A single blow, so swift and so ruthless she swore the tip punched out through her back. The agony of it, metal through flesh, tore her apart while Odin’s lips feathered her ear, leaving his final words echoing through her,
“Tell Hel, when you see her, I’ve kept my end of the deal. We came up with an arrangement, you see. One that ensures this world remains mine. Forever. Unfortunately, you were the asking price. For this, I am truly sorry. Goodbye, Miss Burke.”
26
Sounds. There were so many sounds then.
Screaming. Shouting.
Everything after that moment became a mix of things happening very quickly, and things happening very, very slowly. Morgane felt Loki’s hands under her shoulders as she was turned, tasting the coppery tang of blood, perceived the slickness of it soaking the floor beneath her. Words blurred, fuzzy words hovered in the air above her as she tried, really tried to focus on Loki’s face. But he swam in and out, even his intense, penetrating eyes fading away.
His hands lightened their grasp, but then there was another pair, heavier and warmer, tinged with magic. She knew it was Mir and he was doing his damnedest to see her through this too.
But her chest was too tight, hurt too bad, the deep, gasping breaths she tried to draw wouldn’t come, and the blood soaked through and through. It was everywhere, until it seemed she was floating in a sea of red.
Then Morgane didn’t feel the hands moving her, didn’t feel herself being lifted. And at the very end, she didn’t see a thing as her world went black for the final time.
Odin had vanished into nothingness, in the seconds when Morgane’s body was still crumpling to the ground, while Loki and Mir rushed in, after hearing her initial scream of agony.
After that, the moments had stretched out, impossibly long and impossibly short at the same time as they’d fought to save her.
When they failed, Loki had followed behind Mir as he carried her upstairs. Laid her down on Loki’s bed, looking for all the world like one of her angels, or one of t
heir goddesses, her face porcelain-white but not at all peaceful. Mir covered her with a shimmer of his magic until a blush bloomed again into her cheeks and her lips flushed pink.
“That’s all I can do for now, she’ll stay in stasis for a day, maybe two.” Loki hadn’t answered any questions or sensed the hands laid on his shoulders before the rest of the gods departed. Grief was whispering to him even now, telling him he never should have left her alone.
As it was, he had sat and stared at her face for what had seemed days.
Willing her to move. To sit up. To smile. Before giving in and covering her face with a sheet. Somewhere, during those hours, his grief honed itself into hatred. It grew into a banked flame, growing sharper, hungrier. And now, somehow, his feet had brought him back to the chamber dominated at one end by Odin, the All Father, who had maneuvered them all to this moment.
Where Morgane was dead and nothing else seemed to matter.
All he wished was to burn this place to ash. Tyr and Mir, Freyr and Thor, all of them stepped back when he passed, as if the inferno smoldering inside of him would sear them as he stalked to where Odin sat, waiting on his dais.
“Well, well, well, it’s about time. I thought you’d sit up there forever.” Odin’s silvery eyes narrowed down to slits. “Mourning your mortal woman.” He clicked his tongue. “You never deserved her anyway.”
Loki’s eyes strayed to the pool of dark, congealed blood still staining the floor in front of the throne. Measured the strength of the wall of magic shimmering between him and Odin. “Careful, Odin. Speak her name once more and see what happens.”
The god waved a lazy hand in the air. “She shouldn’t have defied me. She should have done as she was told.” His breathing uneven, Loki managed another step before he was halted by the powerful wall of icy magic.
The Banished Gods Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 16