Primeval Prelude: Reverse Harem Siren Romance (Spellsinger Book 4)

by Amy Sumida

  We glared at him.

  “Too soon?” Cerberus asked.

  “Too dumb.” I grimaced at him.

  “A gun,” Freya shook her head as she spoke. “He used a gun, Odin. What kind of a God does that?”

  “A cunning one.” Odin frowned. “And now he's a grieving one. I think we may have just made things worse.”

  “You freed me, so my opinion differs on that.” Freya smirked and then looked at me. “Actually, I need to thank you, Elaria. You've helped me yet again. It's beginning to become a habit.”

  “Cerberus will have a bill for you later.” I winked at her.

  “I would happily pay it,” Freya smiled warmly at me. “Thank you, El. Whatever you need, just name it—anytime.”

  “You could help us catch Mimir,” Odin suggested.

  “That I'm going to do anyway.” Freya's expression hardened. “No one ties me up and throws me in a closet! At least not without my consent.”

  “Could you find the diamond again, Ilis?” I asked her.

  “No; this is too much.” Odin held up his hand. “I can't ask you to keep chasing this psychopath around the realms with us, Ilis. We can find him on our own now. We know what ingredients Mimir will have to replace, and we can track him through them.”

  “Odin”—Ilis shook her head with a smile—“I haven't had so much fun in years. Besides, this is an entire world we're talking about. I think I can spare some time to save a planet.”

  “Thank you on behalf of that planet.” Torin bowed to Ilis. “I shall make your part in this known to all of Tír na nÓg.”

  “I'm with you as well,” Calex said. “That maniac needs to be stopped, and I'm honored to be included in the hunting party.”

  “Just give me a minute to find him,” Ilis added. “Then we can start hunting once more.”

  “I'm going to contact Reyne while Ilis tracks the diamond.” I pulled out my contact charm. “He needs to be warned that Mimir may be returning.”

  “I agree,” Declan said. “Tell him to have the Lesser Fey keep to their villages. If Mimir returns to Primeval, he'll probably go straight to the Amber Temple.”

  “The Trinity Army,” I whispered. “Reyne needs to tell them to vacate the temple.”

  “They're a fairy army,” Freya huffed. “They can handle Mimir.”

  “Freya, it's Mimir,” Cerberus said. “A giant God with the brain of a scholar and the mind of a psychopath. I'm not sure of anything where he's concerned. But I am sure that he'll have something prepared to handle any obstacle that presents itself; especially fey obstacles.”

  “He's just one God,” I said. “Let's not give Mimir more credit than he deserves. He's gotten this far because he manipulated people using his wits, not because he's magically strong.”

  “And perhaps he's not that smart either,” Ilis said smugly. “Mimir is on Drach.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  There were two ingredients for Odin's spell that came from Drach; the Drachen Diamond, and the orinthes flower. The orinthes grew on mountaintops, but only those with such a high elevation that they had snow on them, no matter what time of the year it was. Orinthes had tiny white blooms—rather hard to spot amid snow—and no fragrance. But its hardiness, combined with its beauty, made it powerful.

  It also grew in the one place on Drach where even dragons fear to tread.

  Ilis and Calex directed our travel to the base of one of the tallest mountains on Drach. The Drachen siblings then stared up at the snowy peaks with trepidation before they looked back at us grimly.

  “We cannot attend you on this mission,” Ilis announced.

  “The cold,” Odin concluded as he nodded.

  “We have trained our bodies to hibernate when the cold season comes,” Calex explained to the rest of us. “As soon as we stepped foot in the snow, our bodily functions would start to slow down. Within an hour, we would be in hibernation. Even if we hurried back down, it would be enough time to start the hibernation process and once begun, it's very difficult to stop.”

  “Like a snake,” Cerberus noted.

  “Yes,” Calex agreed. “And like snakes, if we failed to find a warm cave by the time we drifted to sleep, we'd die.”

  “None of us have been there before, but we can see the top, so it shouldn't be a problem.”

  “Shouldn't be?” I asked.

  “Well, if you envision the edge, the edge is where you'll be taken,” Torin said.

  “Precarious,” Banning noted.

  “I can see past the edge,” Gage said. “I could take us all, I think.”

  “You think?” Declan asked.

  “I've never carried so many people along with me,” Gage said. “But it shouldn't be a problem.”

  “Unless some of us end up on the mountain and some don't,” Declan pointed out.

  “We're immortal,” Freya huffed. “A fall won't kill us.”

  “Unless we fall on our heads,” Declan said dryly.

  “Cover your head with your arms,” Freya said. “Didn't your mother teach you how to fall?”

  “My mother taught me how to not fall.” Declan smirked.

  “Touche, fairy.” Freya laughed.

  “I suppose going with Gage is less risky,” Torin murmured.

  “I'll have a hold on everyone,” Gage said. “If half of us end up over open air, I'll pull you back.”

  We all looked at each other and shrugged.

  “Okay; beam us up, Gagey,” I said.

  Thank goodness the mountains on Drach had relatively flat tops. We emerged in a foot of icy snow, but we were all on solid ground. Snow melted and began to soak through my boots almost instantly. I shook off the slush as I looked around the bleak apex. There were jagged bits of rock poking out of the snow, but no other features of note. I searched for the rare orinthes flowers, but couldn't find them.

  It was Odin who spotted the plant. He trudged through the snow to one of the little rock tips and knelt beside it. His fingertips lightly grazed the delicate white blossoms on a tiny plant whose leaves were the same color of the rock it grew on. It was a tricky camouflage; at first glance, the blooms seemed to be flecks of snow on the rock.

  “Fuck; this is fucking cold!” Cerberus stamped his feet in a puddle of melted snow.

  Freya grimaced at him. “Can you focus on searching the area for Mimir instead of spraying me with icy water?”

  “Sorry,” Cer huffed. “You know I'm from Hades. I'm more of a tropical kind of guy.”

  “If you think Hades is tropical, this must be a true hell for you.” Banning chuckled.

  “Thanks for getting me, man.” Cerberus smacked Banning's back on the way to join the other men, who were roaming the mountaintop, looking for Mimir.

  I shook my head as I went to stand beside Odin. I laid a hand on Odin's shoulder and peered at the flower. He was carefully collecting some of them and placing them gently in a leather pouch. Odin looked up at me when he was finished.

  “I figured that I might as well take the opportunity to gather some rare spell components.” He shrugged as he stood.

  “Sure,” I agreed. “But, Odin, Mimir's not here. They're searching the mountaintop, but it's pretty easy to see the lack of Giants.”

  “I know.” Odin sighed. “I don't understand. Ilis said she felt...” his voice trailed off as his gaze fixed on something.

  I turned and followed his stare to another little rock formation. There were more flowers growing on it, and at first, I thought that was what Odin was staring at because the plant looked as if it had been disturbed. But then I saw the sparkle. The mountain glimmered with mineral deposits, but this was different. This sparkle was lighter and much brighter.

  “What is that?” I asked as Odin strode over to the stone.

  “I think I may know, but I'm hoping I'm wrong,” Odin said as he bent to inspect the shimmer. “Blast him to Hades!” Odin shouted as he slammed his palm into the snow.

  “What the fuck, Odin?” Cerberus snarle
d. “Don't do that; I was focused.”

  “In other words: you scared the shit out of him,” Freya added with a chuckle.

  Cerberus gave her a pained expression. “I rescue you, and all you do is torture me.”

  “I know.” Freya smiled brightly. “And you love it.”

  “If you two are done cooing like lovebirds,” Odin said as he brushed the sparkling dust into a small leather pouch, “maybe you'd like to hear about what I've found?”

  “Sorry,” Freya and Cerberus muttered as they trudged over.

  “Odin, what is it?” I asked again.

  “Diamond dust,” he said grimly. “Drachen diamond dust, to be precise. That wily bastard scraped some dust off the diamond and left it here to throw us off his scent.”

  “That's kind of brilliant,” Banning muttered.

  We all looked at him with blank expressions.

  “Well, it is,” Banning huffed. “To cut a diamond, you'd need a diamond saw, and that's not something most people carry around with them.”

  “He's right,” Odin growled. “Mimir had to have planned this as well.”

  “Does he see every possible outcome?” Declan asked.

  “That's how he thinks.” Odin nodded. “He makes plans and follows them to every conclusion, and then he prepares for every contingency.”

  “Devious,” Torin muttered.

  “Whatever he is, he's not here.” Gage shivered. “So, let's get back down to where it's warmer.”

  “Well said, griffin!” Cerberus exclaimed.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Ilis was livid when she heard what Mimir had done. She snarled; her face transforming into something much sharper for a moment. Evidently, Drachen didn't like being tricked, and they especially didn't like anyone turning their diamonds into dust. After Ilis settled down, she focused on finding the diamond again. Then she opened her eyes and started yelling in what sounded like German, but was actually Drachen.

  “I can feel the stone in three places,” she finally spoke in English.

  “Mimir's jumped ahead, now that he knows we've discovered his trick,” I surmised. “We don't even know if he'll be in any of those locations, or if he's already moving on to a fourth; planting diamond dust before circling back to a previous site.”

  “He's playing us.” Banning shook his head.

  “Pixie-leading us,” Declan huffed.

  “So, let's make a new game,” Gage suggested.

  “Go on,” Odin urged.

  “We know Mimir's goal; to take Tír na nÓg,” Gage pointed out. “And we know the best place on Tír na nÓg for him to cast his spell; a place he's already scoped out.”

  “The Amber Temple.” Odin nodded. “Its connection to the land will make the spell easier to cast.”

  “Sweet Sirens,” I whispered. “That's why he got the Trinity to poison the trees. Not to help them, or even to hurt Primeval.”

  “He did it as a test run,” Torin concluded. “He wanted to see how quickly a spell could move through the land via that location. The dying trees gave him physical results to monitor.”

  “That giant asshole is going to die screaming,” Declan said simply.

  “So, we get to the Amber Temple first,” Gage went on. “And once there, we can plan for Mimir's arrival. It doesn't matter if he collects all the spell components; so long as we don't allow him to cast his spell in the temple.”

  “Poor Primeval,” I whispered. “War is coming for it once more.”

  “A war that will save it,” Odin said firmly. “The forest will understand.”

  Chapter Fifty

  As soon as we arrived at the Amber Temple—the deserted Amber Temple—we began to bring in an army. Declan and Torin had gone from Drach to their kingdoms, instead of going straight to Primeval with us. They then began to ferry in their knights—through an annoying process of jumping over to Earth first, and then to Primeval—as well as to bring in a few of mine. I needed to stay at the temple to greet the returning soldiers of Trinity Army and see to lodgings for our growing army.

  I had spoken to Reyne and asked him to keep his people safe in their villages. The trained, Trinity knights would help us defend the temple; making up for any trauma that they unknowingly inflicted earlier. Then—in addition to the Shining One knights we had coming in—Odin brought in several Witches, including Vivian. Gage called in a cadre of Griffins, and Banning brought his Blooders. Lastly, Freya called upon the Norse Gods.

  But not all of them answered her summons.

  “Those slimy motherfuckers!” Freya raged as she stomped into the Trinity meeting chambers that we had made into our war room.

  “What happened?” Odin asked.

  “Freya asked the Norse Gods to help us defend Tír na nÓg against Mimir,” Cerberus explained.

  “And?” Odin growled the word.

  “Hel is missing,” Freya declared.

  “How can Hell be missing?” Banning asked in confusion.

  “The goddess, not the place,” I explained. “One L instead of two. Though, the Norse Hel is a place too.”

  “There's a fucking goddess named Hel?” Banning's eyes went wide. “I bet she's a delight.”

  “She's a goddess who is the daughter of a giant,” Odin said grimly.

  “The Giants,” Vivian whispered. “We thought Mimir wanted the world for the Norse Gods, but the only one he asked to join him was Hel.”

  “Which means that Mimir wants Tír na nÓg for the Jotun.” Odin nodded. “Of course. Again, I am blinded by our past friendship. Mimir has never appeared to be loyal to the Giants, but that was apparently another deception.”

  “Not only is Mimir loyal to them, but they're loyal to him,” Freya reported. “I had Loki talk to Angrboda.”

  “Who's Angrboda?” I asked.

  “Loki's Jotun ex-wife,” Freya said.

  “The mother of Fenrir, Jormungandr, and Hel,” Odin added. Then he looked at Freya. “What did Angrboda say?”

  “That the Giants had been treated as sub-class Gods for far too long and they deserved a world befitting prime deities.”

  “Prime deities,” Odin huffed. “What does that even mean?”

  “It means that all of the tribes of Jotun are sending warriors to Primeval to support Mimir,” Freya said.

  “All of them?” Vivian asked in horror.

  “Even the Eldjotnar?” Ilis asked with twinkling eyes.

  “The Eldjotnar, the Hrimpursar, and the Bergrisar have all joined Mimir's cause,” Freya said.

  I looked at Odin askance.

  “The Fire, Frost, and Mountain Giants,” Odin translated.

  “Fuck me,” I whispered.

  “And Hel,” Freya added. “Let's not forget who Hel could bring with her.”

  “Garm.” Cerberus started to smile. “Speaking as a hellhound, I'm looking forward to facing that dog on the battlefield.”

  “Not just Garm,” Freya corrected him, “Nidhoggr; the Magic Striker.”

  “The Magic Striker?” Declan asked.

  “A dragon,” Calex clarified with a smile. “Though I've heard he's more serpent than Drachen.”

  “He's a corpse-eating monster,” Freya snarled. “Not anything like the Drachen or Ryū. And I'm sure he'll relish the chance to dine on fresh meat.”

  “Disgusting,” Ilis sniffed.

  “At least Fenrir and Jormungandr are remaining neutral,” Freya said. “They won't oppose their family, but they won't help them either.”

  “That's a relief,” Odin said.

  “We can't let them take the temple.” I pounded the table. “We need to get as many soldiers here as possible to defend Primeval's heart.”

  “I will return to Drach and ask out brethren to help,” Calex offered.

  “Thank you, Cal,” I said sincerely.

  “They'll jump at the chance to see this monstrous version of our race.” Cal smiled. “There's no need to thank me.”

  And then he disappeared.

  “The go
od news is,” Freya went on as if a Drachen hadn't just used a diamond to leap through space, “I was able to get several Gods to assist us.”

  “Including Thor,” Cerberus grumbled.