Warrior Rogue (The Drift Lords Series)

by Nancy J. Cohen

  Urd glanced up, a small smile on her mouth. “Ah, Alba. I remember her well.”

  “Is she sending me a message?”

  Verdandi knitted, her fingers going faster. “You must find your own path, daughter of Odin.”

  Jen’s teeth clenched. “I didn’t come all this way for riddles.” She spied the feathers laying on the coffee table and lunged forward, grabbing them in her fist. “You want these back? Give me answers.”

  “Find the stone.” Sylvia spoke in a calm voice as though she’d anticipated Jen’s actions.

  “In a graveyard? Where?” Jen strode to a ledge that overlooked the gushing river and poised her hand threateningly in the air. Spray wet her face. “Talk, or I’ll let these go.” She spoke loudly to be heard over the waterfall.

  “There’s no need for dramatics, young lady,” Urd said with a disapproving frown.

  “The gravestone represents a rune stone.” Verdandi, still seated and holding a teacup, fixed her gaze on Jen. “Loki is trying to reach you through your dreams, and Alba is warning you. The demon wants you to find the spell that will unlock him from his eternal prison.”

  “Loki?” Wasn’t he the evil spirit manipulating King Jorg, the Trollek ruler? According to Nira, Loki meant for the beasts to keep the rifts open until the widening drift caused a catastrophic blast, tearing apart the multiverse. Then he would rule over the ensuing chaos.

  “Find the wrong rune,” Verdandi added, “and the Dark Lord will be free. Find the right one, and it will seal him away forever.”

  “You’d better hurry.” Sylvia spoke in an idle tone. “Ragnarok nears and then he will have no more need of spells.”

  “If I recall my mythology correctly, the gods were defeated in the last great battle. Do you want to risk that same fate happening again? What do you see in your future?”

  Sylvia narrowed her eyes. “You must unite with your five sisters,” she said, ignoring Jen’s question. “Your timepieces hold the key to reading the rune stone.”

  “The prophecy says we have to join forces with the six sons of Thor.” Jen backed away from the water’s edge so she could hear more clearly.

  “Sylvia, tell her about the other weapon. You don’t have to let her know the outcome.” Urd conjured a plate of sandwiches on the coffee table. The aroma of bacon entered Jen’s nostrils, making her realize she was famished. Her stomach rumbled.

  “There is a way to dispel the beasts who follow the demon’s bidding.” The child pushed a braid over her shoulder. “So it is written in the Book.”

  “What book? You’re not the first person who’s mentioned it to me.” That tempting fragrance pulled her closer. She was so hungry.

  Sylvia bounded to her feet. “Want a bite?” She picked up the tray and held it out.

  Urd smacked her lips. “It’s sliced turkey on a croissant with Swiss cheese and bacon. Your favorite.” She rose, her skirt swaying at her ankles. Hadn’t she been wearing pants before? The old woman looked spruced up, like a lady at a luncheon.

  Verdandi stretched and stood. “Take a few sandwiches along with you. You can give some to your young man. He’ll be ravenous when he awakens.”

  True. Her mouth watered. She couldn’t stand smelling the tantalizing scent without grabbing a bite.

  Jen moved forward but her steps took her toward the precipice instead. The three Norns faced her in a semicircle, standing between her and the routes out of the cavern. She teetered on the bank, the rush of water loud in her ears.

  Verdandi approached, her eyes glowing, her thin mouth spread in a deceptive grin.

  While Jen stood stupefied, Verdandi nabbed the feathers from her grasp. And then the goddess of Present shoved Jen in the chest, pushing her over the edge.

  Jen screamed as she toppled into space. Images swirled around her, a mixture of past memories and faces of people she loved. Dust spun in a vortex, gathering her into its embrace, sparkling with light. The light grew brighter, blinding her.

  She landed with a jarring thump on a soft surface. Her vision returned. She’d come to rest outside in the fresh air next to Paz under the oak tree. Birds twittered and leaves drifted down from an overhanging branch.

  After taking a moment to calm her racing pulse and regain her equilibrium, she leaned over Paz’s still form. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, but the scorch mark remained on his chest and his skin was pale as a cream camisole.

  The Valkyrie had promised he would live but didn’t say if he’d regain consciousness.

  She scrubbed her face then stared at her hand. Her skin wouldn’t always stay so firm. One day, she’d be like Urd, her flesh wrinkled, her veins prominent, her skin texture like thin tissue paper.

  Unless she drank the water from the Fountain of Youth.

  Jen withdrew the vial from her pocket and stared at the clear liquid below the stopper. To be youthful and retain her beauty for the rest of her days—oh, it was so tempting. Paz might never recover. He wouldn’t know the difference, and neither would his teammates. She could say he had succumbed to his wounds.

  She would look the way her mother had always wanted her to be: slim, lovely, and blemish-free forever.

  But then Paz would never wake up. He’d never gaze at her with his intense blue eyes or make love to her with passionate fervor. She would never again feel his warmth next to hers, his hard body against her pliant form.

  She let out a shuddering breath. This sacred water was meant for him. She hadn’t come here to sacrifice her Drift Lord to a selfish whim. They could grow old together. He wouldn’t care if she looked like Urd in her later years.

  That is, if he’d have her. She wouldn’t blame him if he walked away after the way she’d treated him. But she wouldn’t let him go without telling him how she felt.

  She stroked his cheek, admiring the angles of his jaw, the peacefulness of his face in repose, the tilt of his lips.

  He was her warrior, and by all that was holy, she’d go to the stars with him if that’s what it took.

  Jen uncorked the vial and dribbled some of the liquid on his chest wound. Then she pried open his mouth and poured in the rest. She squeezed his jaw shut. He coughed and swallowed.

  And she waited.

  She rocked back and forth with her arms around her knees, praying this effort would make a difference. If only she could prove to him that he was her hero, no matter what challenges he faced or what job he held. It was the man who mattered, and she accepted now that they were meant to be together.

  “Jen?”

  Paz’s raspy voice made her head turn. He’d opened his eyes and gazed straight at her.

  “I’m here, my love.” Her spirits lifted with joy. Moisture flooded her eyes as the bluish tinge to his lips receded and healthy color filled his face. “How do you feel?”

  “Not bad, considering I’m still alive. My skin tingles all over.” When he noticed the charred mark on his shirt, he grunted with dismay. But as he lifted the fabric, his skin showed clear, unbroken flesh. His brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. How am I healed?”

  She leaned over and kissed him. “I’ll explain later. It’s time to go home.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Are you sure I’m not hurting you?” Jen tickled Paz’s arm as they sat on the couch in the safe house. A crime show played on TV but their attention focused on each other.

  Paz wore jeans but no shirt. The air-conditioning ran incessantly in the August heat.

  “Leera, your touch will always electrify me.” He put his arms around her and kissed her with the hunger of a depraved man.

  She tangled her fingers in his hair. She had on shorts and a tank top, and he slid his hands underneath to fondle her breasts. The circular motions of his thumbs made coils of warmth shoot straight to her groin. Her lips answered his quest, and their tongues danced a duet until she came up for air.

  “Did I express my gratitude to you yet?” He nibbled on her ear. “You saved my life.”

  “Yo
u can show me again.” She couldn’t get enough of him and splayed her fingers on his powerful chest.

  A week had passed since their return, and despite Paz’s claims to be well enough for duty, Zohar had ordered him to remain in the house and monitor communications.

  He’d established an uplink to Primer Pedar on Karrell and confirmed that the regent had sent a new ship their way, this time an armed cruiser with a full crew complement.

  Meanwhile, Zohar and Nira had left with Dal and Lianne to deploy their weapon at Shirajo Manor. The resultant collapse of the main rift had a domino effect as Paz had theorized and shut down the entire sequence of inter-dimensional gates.

  While on Togura Island, Zohar had received a tip about where Kaj was being held. He’d left on a rescue mission immediately following their success at the fortress. Nothing remained of Morar’s headquarters except a huge crater. Reports of hot ash and rocks spewing from the island’s volcano had authorities alarmed, and they’d warned residents to evacuate. An eruption appeared imminent.

  Zohar figured he’d angered Loki by disrupting the demon’s well-laid plans. Earthquakes and other natural disasters were rising in frequency. If the rifts wouldn’t cause Ragnarok, Loki must be looking for another means to bring about worldwide disaster.

  Paz had mentioned a heavy presence he felt each time he passed through a rift. Zohar shared the experience. They figured it must be Loki, attempting to drag them down into the depths. The demon’s power would only get stronger as the end of days approached.

  In the meantime, a sizable force of Trolleks remained stranded on Earth. True to her word, Algie had stepped into the void and declared herself queen. With King Jorg on the other side of the dimensional barrier, no one refuted her claim.

  Zohar had assigned Yaron the task of tracking the Trollek scientist with the goal of sabotaging her experiments and destroying her research.

  There was also the army of mind slaves to consider, sleeper agents who may have already been called to active duty by their new liege. When the team’s ship arrived, Zohar wanted Yaron to continue his lab work on board. He’d been analyzing Nira’s blood in the hopes of devising an antidote to the confounding spell.

  Kaj’s assignment, when he recovered from captivity, would be to contact Agent Monroe to evaluate the government’s position.

  Meanwhile, Magnor had set off to look for the Book of Odin that Jen had heard mentioned several times. She’d told the team it might hold information on a weapon to defeat the Trolleks.

  They had plenty to do. The women still had to locate their three other sisters and then find the rune spell that would banish Loki forever. Zohar had promised to help them. Meanwhile, they needed allies against the demon’s power.

  After their ship arrived and Paz established a comm uplink, the prince wanted him to contact the Videns. Did this Trollek faction of disgruntled scientists support Algie or oppose her? What other allies could they gather?

  For now, Paz and Jen had to hold down the fort. Holding down their need for each other was another matter entirely. Jen could barely control her response to Paz’s rising passion. The evidence bulged between his thighs, giving her a thrill knowing she’d been the cause. She wanted to feel him against her, flesh to flesh.

  She snatched at his belt, fumbling with the buckle. He helped her relieve him of his pants and then she followed suit. Jen tackled him on the sofa, pinning him down, and then showed him how much she cared by sheathing him in her heat.

  His head fell back and a look of bliss enveloped him. “Ah, Jen, I can’t live without you.”

  He filled her in more ways than one. As she rode him, her hair hanging down and sweat beading her forehead, she absorbed his words.

  “You don’t have to,” she said when it was over and they lay naked with their limbs twisted together.

  “What?” He disengaged himself, leaned up on an elbow, and regarded her with a tender expression.

  “Live without me. If…if you want, I’ll come with you.”

  “You would do that for me, give up your work here, and travel the stars?” He spoke in a husky tone, his gaze sweeping her face.

  She traced her finger along his biceps. “I don’t want to live without you either. You make me whole. When I’m with you, I can be myself and not worry about what people think. You were right when you said we’re meant to be together. I love you.”

  His eyes sparked. “You are mine, leera. I love you, too. But there is something you should know. I haven’t told you the truth about my work.”

  “No kidding. Nira said you’re a communications system design engineer. So why do you have a job as a field tech?” Was he about to finally open up to her? She hoped so. That would bring down the last remaining barrier between them.

  He frowned. “I’ve lain low for two reasons. One, it pleased me to annoy my father by being a lowly technician.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The old man didn’t approve of me, ever since my genetic ability to sniff cors particles manifested itself. He called me a freak for my differences from other kids.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “He’d had such high hopes for me, you see, and then I had to go for Drift Lords training.”

  “I gather this was mandatory?”

  “The trait is rare. Those who possess it have a duty to defend our worlds.”

  “Your father should have been proud.”

  Paz snorted. “My father had a great deal of pride in his bloodlines, and he regarded mine as tainted. Plus he ruled our household with an iron hand, if that’s the proper expression. He expected us to live up to his standards. My goals weren’t the same.”

  “What did he do for a living?”

  Paz’s lips curled in a cynical smile. “He owns a merchant space fleet. It’s been in our family for generations.”

  Whoa, they owned a shipping fleet? No wonder Paz acted at home in her family’s moneyed presence.

  “Oh, so that’s what you meant about having experience on various ships. I suppose your dad put you to work to learn the business?”

  Paz nodded. “He had posts ready for me and my elder brother, Renslow. Renslow was always the perfect son, conservative and yet ambitious. My brother had a good head for leadership, while I wanted to travel and see the stars. Father meant for me to take a financial position in the company, but I didn’t want any part of his plans.

  “During the Great Purge, he paid big credits to stay off the Royal radar. Father should have utilized me in the company then in a way that benefited us both, but he couldn’t get past his disappointment in me.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Paz rolled on his back and folded his arms under his head. “I had a gift for different languages. Whenever we had guests for dinner at home, I’d listen to their dialects and practice them in private. I wanted to learn how to better communicate with people from other worlds.”

  “I’d think that would be useful even in the merchant fleet.”

  “Yes, but it wasn’t the role Father wanted for me. When he wouldn’t agree to pay for my advanced education, I left home and never looked back.” He stared at the ceiling. “After I completed Drift Lord training at the Academy, I joined SattCom Networks. The job allowed me to travel and paid well. I saved my money and used it to study engineering.”

  “Didn’t you keep in touch with your mother or brother?” A surge of sympathy washed over her. It must have hurt to have been rejected by his father that way.

  “Mother was afraid to defy my father, so she never answered my messages. As for Renslow, he considers me nothing more than a construction worker. He thinks I go off with my buddies on mysterious trips just to risk my life for no reason. There is little affection between us.”

  “I’m glad you’re telling me these things, Paz.” She gave him a misty smile. “You know, my hangup has always been that I’ve wanted to be accepted for who I am, and not remade into the image my mother wanted for me. And yet, I internalized her values an
d then tried to change you the same way.”

  His lips pressed together. “That’s why I didn’t want to reveal my background. I wanted you to like me for myself, especially because you represent the very wealth I’d turned my back on. And inside, I doubted you’d care once you got to know the real me.”

  “I’m not your father.” She leaned over and kissed him. “You have my heart and my love, no matter who or what you are.”

  “You, too.”

  They spent the next several minutes cuddling and kissing, then she broke away, unanswered questions still hovering on her tongue.

  “So you trained as an engineer with the money you saved as a technician, but you didn’t let your employer know about your step up in qualifications?”

  Leaning on an elbow, he shook his head. “We build comm platforms throughout the Star Empire. But the relays are slow, especially between star systems when there’s a delay between transmissions. I’ve been working on a new system. It will create artificial wormholes to allow for real-time communication. There wouldn’t be any lags like we have now.”

  “Wow, that sounds like a revolutionary design.”

  “It is, but I’ve never built the prototype.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s dangerous. If people learn about my research, they’ll try to steal it. If put into use, this invention would give our military an advantage, so our political opponents might attempt to stop me. So would SattCom, because my architecture isn’t propriety like theirs. They’d lose their monopoly. But the real thing holding me back is that I don’t have the necessary skills to bring the prototype to market.” His eyes glittered. “However, you do.”

  “Is that right?” So the man needed her talents to complete his work. A warm glow filled her. Together, they could accomplish anything they set out to do.

  “Your actions with the Norns taught me that some risks are worth taking.” Paz stroked her arm, making sensual circles on her skin. “If you join me, I’ll quit my job at SattCom and move my laboratory here. There’s no need for you to uproot yourself.”