Betraying Destiny

by Nora Ash

  “Why? Because I’m a woman? Because my heart is too soft to let me act when Asgard lays forgotten, and we are too busy quibbling amongst ourselves to do anything about it?”

  She rose from the throne and pointed at us—at Mimir. “Ragnarök has been foretold for thousands of years. Who are you to decide it needs to be stopped? You, and those Norn cunts scrambling to prevent the inevitable. But this has to happen, prophet. The nine worlds will fall so that a new dawn can rise from the ashes—a dawn where no one will ever again forget who owns their fealty.”

  “Trud,” Modi whispered. The devastation in that one word tore at my heart, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain radiating through my bonds to both him and Magni.

  “This makes no sense,” I said, more to myself than to any of my mates. I glanced at Grim. My darkhaired mate had his jaw set and soft lips pulled into a thin line—but his focus wasn’t on Trud. He was scanning the walls of the great hall, mismatched eyes searching, searching…

  “She isn’t the Betrayer!” I said. “She’s a distraction.”

  Trud’s lovely face twisted into a nasty smile. “Oh? You don’t think me strong enough, sister?”

  She raised her hand, and a wave of light slammed against my shield hard enough to make me stagger.

  “Shit, when did she get so strong?” Saga spat, and I felt more of his magic flow into me to support the barrier between us and the mad goddess.

  “I don’t need help. Not yet,” I murmured to him as I gently pushed away his offered power. “Focus your strength on the fight ahead.”

  It was true. My magic swelled within me like a great, untamed beast eager to rise to the challenge. It had always felt powerful to me, but now, after uniting with all five of my mates, it was something else. Something more.

  I looked at Trud. “Borrowed power or not, you do not have the strength to stop us. And whoever is pulling your strings knows this, sister of my mates. Don’t make us hurt you to get to him.”

  Something dark and alien flashed in her clear blue eyes.

  “Watch out!” Modi snarled just as another blast of power zinged through the air and slammed into my shield.

  But it was different this time. It wasn’t a wave of light. It crashed into my magic and ripped at it like a vicious dog, tearing at the fabric of my very being with strength that seemed to come from the core of the universe.

  I screamed and dropped to the stone floor, every nerve in my body singed from the unexpected blast.

  But my shield held.

  Above me, my mates roared as one. Fury ripped through our bonds, and I felt the bloodlust descend. Lightning cracked through Valhalla and slammed into the dais up ahead, twice in quick succession.

  I looked up and saw Saga, Modi, Bjarni, and Magni running at the dais where black scorch marks surrounded Trud.

  She laughed as if she were delighted that her own brothers had attempted to kill her in retaliation. I cursed softly and slung my shield out to wrap around my four berserking mates.

  Cool hands gripped underneath my arms and hauled me to my feet. “You have to harden off the connection through your magic to your core,” Grim said, “or he will use it as a connector and tear you apart from the inside.”

  I looked at him and saw the battle lust dancing in his eyes as he stared at the fight in front of us. But he didn’t give in—he’d managed to control his instincts to tear apart the goddess who’d attacked his mate because he didn’t want to leave me unguarded.

  “Is she in control of herself? Or is the Betrayer making her do this? Oh, fuck!”

  The last bit I hissed out as Trud hurled another wave of that awful power against my shield protecting Magni, and it ricocheted through my magic and into my core. I managed to stay on my feet this time, but not without clutching Grim’s arm for support.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Grim growled. “She’s going to kill us if we let her. We can’t afford anything less than lethal strikes. Now focus.” His words were followed by a rush of cool, soothing power trickling through my veins and finding its way to my innermost.

  Like this, his voice echoed through my mind.

  Dark tendrils wove around my golden light as he showed me how to harden the connection between myself and the magic within. I followed his lead, and the next blast that hit my shield around Bjarni only sent an unpleasant tingling sensation through my bones.

  A rumble of thunder pulled my attention back to Modi. His teeth were gritted, his muscles bunched as he swung his sword at his sister with one hand while slinging lightning at her with the other. There was nothing but murderous intent in my redheaded mate’s eyes, but I knew what this would cost him—him and Magni.

  I thought of the wolves guarding Valhalla’s gates and Bjarni’s complaint of what had been done to them to make them mindlessly attack. I also remembered my first meeting with Trud. Her genuine delight at my presence in her brother’s life, her gentleness and understanding of my nature and destiny. The kindness I had felt radiate from her.

  This wasn’t her. Her attempts at killing her own brothers couldn’t be her free will. And it did matter.

  “We have to find out how he is controlling her!” I shouted. None of the four men on the dais heard me—they only had senses for the fight in front of them. They worked together, darting in with blades and magic, intent on finding a way through the destructive power pouring out of the blonde goddess.

  But Grim heard me.

  “Annabel, it doesn’t matter!” he growled. “We don’t have time.”

  “That’s Modi and Magni’s sister,” I hissed at him. “How would you feel if you were forced to kill your brothers when there was another way? She hasn’t betrayed us—someone is forcing her to do this. We will make time.”

  Grim bared his teeth, frustration etched in every feature of his coldly handsome face, but I saw the surrender in his eyes as my words sank in. With a growl, he whipped back around to take in the fight. Moments later, his dark magic floated through the air and encircled Trud.

  “There is… something,” he said through gritted teeth. “He is blocking me. I can’t see.”

  I didn’t pause to think. I clutched Grim’s arm harder and sent a thread of my magic into him. It split my focus from my shields, and I clenched my jaw and forced my protections firmer, but Grim had already latched on to my offering. He grabbed the thread of golden light and forced himself at Trud once more.

  I saw it this time—the dark, horrible entity latched onto the young goddess as Grim surrounded her with our combined power. Like thorns, it bit into her skull and seeped through the brightness that had once been her gentle spirit.

  A flash of pain, followed by roar pulled my mind back into myself just in time to see Saga stumble a few steps before he renewed his attack on Trud. Blood seeped from a gash in his thigh.

  I had let my shield around him drop, too distracted with Grim’s attempts at uncovering how Trud was being controlled to keep all five of my protective barriers as solid as they needed to be.

  Cursing my own stupidity, I strengthened my shields and held.

  “There is… a sigil. Or an idol. He is using… something. She is too strong-willed to be controlled with a simple command,” Grim gasped by my side. From the strain in his voice, it was clear that even with the help of my magic, this wasn’t an easy task.

  “The crown!” Mimir called from the floor where he’d been dropped before my mates rushed at the dais. “It has his touch.”

  Grim swore under his breath, then shouted, “Break her crown! Break her fucking crown, you idiots!”

  Bjarni reacted instantly. Just as Magni grasped her arm and sent a shock of lightning through her shields, Bjarni rolled across the platform to get behind her and shot up, his heavy sword aimed at her head. The weapon struck Trud’s golden crown, and the impact rang through the great hall.

  She shrieked and whipped around, lips pulled back and eyes wild as she focused her full ire on Bjarni.

  I strengthened his shield jus
t in time. The force of her attack was enough to make me stumble and grit my teeth against the aftershock, but my blond mate was unscathed. He struck again at her head, but it was Modi who connected with the golden metal from behind her. He hit her so hard that had she not been enveloped in magic, he would have cleaved her skull in two.

  The power of his strike knocked the crown clean off her head and sent it flying across the dais past Bjarni.

  Trud screamed and seized into a tight arc, her back bowing unnaturally.

  Bjarni cursed and jumped after the golden circlet. He reached it before it tumbled off the edge and stomped his foot on the delicate metal, snapping in in two.

  Trud’s scream broke as instantly as the powerful magic encircling her, and she collapsed onto the wooden platform in a heap.

  Snarling, Modi raised his sword and swung.

  “No!” My cry broke through the hall and I reached for him—for all of them—through our bonds. All four of them jerked backwards as if pulled by physical ropes.

  “It was the crown!” I shouted, already running toward them as fast as my feet would carry me. “Don’t hurt her. She is innocent.”

  I saw the battle lust fade from their eyes, and the horror set in in Modi’s and Magni’s as they turned back to their sister.

  “Trud?” Modi whispered hoarsely, though he kept his sword lifted, ready to strike.

  She only groaned softly in response.

  I climbed the stairs to the dais two steps at a time and threw myself by Trud’s side before Saga could stop me.

  “Hey. Hey, you’re okay,” I said as I let my fingers explore her face and skull with gentle touches. “You’re gonna be okay.”

  She was bone-white and winced when I grazed the area where that cursed crown had sat. I let my magic spill out and found the festering wounds below her skin left behind by its thorny grip. It took more power than it should have to erase the ghostly talons from her flesh, but when it was done, Trud’s eyes fluttered open and she looked at me without a hint of malice.

  “I’m sorry,” she croaked. “I’m so sorry.”

  Behind me, Magni and Modi breathed deeply, and I felt their relief flutter through our connection.

  Modi knelt by my side and cupped his sister’s face. “What happened to you? Gods, I… I nearly killed you, Trud!”

  “I figured out... who betrayed us. But he found me before I could...” She coughed and rolled her eyes back to me. “You saved me. I was trying to kill all of you, and you saved me. Gods, if I… if I had succeeded…”

  “It wasn’t you,” I said, gently stroking her hair out of her face. “Who did this to you, Trud? Who is behind this?”

  A caw broke through the great hall, silencing Trud before she could so much as part her lips.

  We all jerked in the direction of the sound just as a large raven swept through the doorway behind the abandoned throne and landed on one of its armrests. Its mirror image followed, perching on the opposite arm with another caw.

  “Huginn and Munin?” Bjarni said, his voice pitching higher with surprise.

  “Indeed,” a deep voice rumbled from past the shadowed doorway. “I have tried in so many ways to divert you younglings from this tragic course you have chosen. I have put in your path so many obstacles that you have persistently, petulantly climbed over just to meet your inevitable end at my hands.”

  The shadows parted, and a tall figure stepped through. He was swathed in gray robes, matching his long gray hair and beard. The staff in his hand glowed softly as he paused next to his throne and looked at us one after the other with his singular eye.

  Then Odin sighed and shook his head. “You have left me with no choice. The ravens are here to bear witness to the final moments of Ragnarök. Die well, young ones.”

  Thirty-Two

  Grim

  “I don’t… I don’t understand.” The devastation in Modi’s voice was graver than when he had seen his sister on that throne. He stared at Odin, and the sorrow in his eyes suggested that he did understand, even though he didn’t want to.

  “You are the god-king. You… You are the first among us. Your job is to protect us. To protect all the nine worlds. Yet you are the Betrayer? You have brought about Ragnarök? Why? Why could you possibly want to see the end of all there is?”

  “Because deep down, he is a petty, petulant child,” Mimir’s voice rang from the hall behind us. “And because the humans have forgotten about him, he wants them to suffer.”

  I felt it too—the spell that had kept me silent since my meeting with Asgard’s ruler so many weeks ago no longer bound my mind, silencing any words that may give away the Betrayer’s identity. Now that Odin had revealed himself, its magic was null.

  Judging by the vitriol in Mimir’s voice, he had been pleased to find his tongue unrestrained.

  Odin clucked his tongue. “Come now, old friend. I do not expect you to be charitable in your account of events, but at least be fair. All of this is hardly for my benefit. It is for theirs.”

  “I’m sorry—theirs? As in the humans?” Annabel cut in. Sick terror clenched at my gut, and I threw myself up the stairs to put my body between her and the most powerful god that had ever existed. All four of her other mates beat me to it—the moment the brash words were out of her mouth, they encircled her in a tight wall of muscle and blades.

  Annabel ignored them. “You are saying that their complete annihilation is in their best interest?”

  Odin raised his eyebrows as he looked at Modi. “I see you have yet to find a way to muzzle the girl.”

  “My mate does not require a muzzle,” Modi spat, anger rising in the wake of his devastation. “And certainly not when speaking to you.”

  “Ah, yes. Your mate.” Odin shook his head. “I was saddened to find that you abandoned your principles in favor of this nonsense prophecy, grandson. Thor was ever so… angry. The humiliation of both his sons sharing a human woman with Loki’s spawn… tsk. I’m sure some of those poor Jotunns out there are taking the brunt of his fury, but perhaps you should be thankful he won’t make it through Ragnarök.”

  Odin turned his one-eyed gaze to me. “And I see my grandsons are not the only ones to disappoint. Do they know what you have done? Did you whisper all your dark secrets to that human girl while you rutted her like a primitive beast?”

  “I told her everything,” I said softly, “and she still loves me. You won’t win, god-king. She is too strong, even for you.”

  Odin rolled his eye. “I had such high hopes for you. Such power, such talent… Such darkness. And yet I find you here with the rest of Mimir’s sheep, desperately pleading for mercy.”

  “No one’s pleading for anything, old man,” Magni growled. “We are here to stop you.”

  “Oh, it is much too late for that.” Odin waved a hand in the direction of the battle. “Surtr’s army will win and lay waste to Asgard. Midgard will be swallowed by acid and darkness, and there will be nothing left but a clump of clay for me to mold into something new. Something better. Nothing you can do will prevent my plans for coming to fruition. Ragnarök was foretold long before any of you were born.”

  “I can’t help but notice that Fenris is nowhere to be seen,” Saga said. “I do believe that big old wolf had some role to play, according to the prophecies… What was it again? Something, something… killing you? Funny how he seems to be missing from the battlefield. You wouldn’t happen to know what happened to him, would you, seeing as you are just going along with Ragnarök as it was foretold?”

  Odin gave him a thin smile. “Your furry brother sadly got detained. But worry not—Jörmungandr and Hel can destroy Midgard without him.”

  “Perhaps you have noticed that Fenris isn’t the only one who is missing,” I said. “Or have you been too busy hiding to see that no undead armies have arrived here or in Midgard?”

  For the first time, Odin frowned. “You have delayed Hel?”

  “We have stopped Hel,” Annabel said. “As we will stop you. I will not
allow you to destroy my world for this… this temper tantrum. I can’t believe that all this time, it was you, the supposed god-king breaking apart the existence of all there ever was because… because people don’t believe in you anymore. How utterly pathetic.”

  The disgust in Annabel’s voice was unmistakable, and that innate terror in my gut tightened into an icy clump. I reached for her with my magic as Odin’s nostrils drew up, encapsulating her with my essence just in time.

  Power struck against my grip on her, cracking it like an egg and fracturing her own shield. She stumbled backward and into Bjarni’s grip with a gasp.

  “Enough, you insolent whelp,” Odin snarled, and around him the shadows lengthened. “You cannot comprehend the powers at play, prophecy be damned! You are nothing but a writhing worm in the dirt, an annoyance under my shoe. You speak of divine needs? To me? You dare stand before me with your stolen power, brandishing condemnation because a talking head and an insane weaver have told you that you have the right?”

  Another crack of the god-king’s terrible magic blazed through the air and into Annabel’s hastily rebuilt shield. I felt it like a kick to the gut, and nearly bent over double when she went flying off the dais with a shriek, taking Bjarni with her.

  “Annabel!”

  I don’t know who bellowed her name—it could have been any or all of us.

  She lay sprawled on Bjarni’s chest, his thickly muscled body wrapped protectively around her, and the wave of relief that went through me came as much from the connection I shared with her other men as it did me.

  Assured that she was unharmed, Modi, Saga, and Magni swung around to the god-king with mirrored snarls, intent on retribution, but I jumped down from the platform and made my way to Annabel and Bjarni in two steps. As much as my instincts were roaring at me to end the fool who’d dared attack my woman, as much as fear and fury made me itch to throw myself at his throat, I knew where my place was.