Seeress: Book Three (Runes Series)

by Ednah Walters

  “I had a feeling you needed me,” he said, the British lilt stroking my senses. He came to stand behind me and ran his knuckles up and down my arms, his movements slow and sensual. I shivered and leaned against him, welcoming his heat. “Your arms are freezing.”

  “I went outside to talk to Blaine.”

  “Blaine visited you?” He cross-crossed his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, curving his body into mine. I closed my eyes and inhaled. He smelled amazing. But when he rubbed his cheek against the side of my head, I tilted my head, so our faces could touch. His skin was hot.

  “Freckles?”

  “Hmm…”

  “You’re purring.”

  I was. “No, I’m not.”

  “Am I distracting you again?” he whispered.

  He always did. “No. Did you ask me something?”

  He chuckled. “What was Blaine doing here?”

  “Collecting the mail from your mailbox. I invited him over, but he wasn’t interested.” I zipped up the plastic salad bag and put it aside. “He’s a hot mess.”

  “He needs to get his act together.” His breath teased my nape, and I shivered.

  I turned in his arms and faced him, the bowl in my hand acting as a barrier. “He needs to talk to someone, Torin.”

  “Not you.” He lifted the bowl out of the way and returned it to the counter. “You have enough on your plate.”

  “Then you do it.”

  He scoffed at the idea. “I’m not Dr. Phil.”

  I cocked my brow. “Do you even know who Dr. Phil is?”

  “Nope, but he’s the go-to guy when you don’t want to face your demons.”

  “Says who?”

  “Andris.” Torin ran his knuckles along my cheek as though memorizing its texture. “Blaine can sweat away his problems in the gym like everybody else.”

  “That’s not nice.” I leaned back and punched him playfully in the stomach. He smirked. That iron-board stomach of his was all muscle. “He really needs help.”

  “I’ll talk to him.” He shrugged off his jacket and held it for me. I shoved my arms in the sleeves. “It is still too cold for you to be walking around without a coat. I don’t know how you ever survived before me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yet here I am.”

  “You got by.”

  He moved closer until our thighs met and the edge of the counter pressed against my back. His warmth wrapped around me, messing with my senses. He caressed my chin, titling it up, then sideways as though looking for something on my face.

  His eyebrows lifted, his eyes losing their teasing gleam. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I turned and reached for my salad. “You want to share?”

  “Is that your dinner?”

  “Yep.” He made a face, and I grinned.

  “I can whip up something better if you’d like,” he offered.

  I studied his beautiful face: the chiseled cheekbones, the kissable lips, and gorgeous eyes. He was good at many things. Cooking, being a “big brother” to Andris, sports, fixing machines no matter how old or intricate. Best of all, he was good at making me happy. The last six months had been rough, but he’d made them bearable. I didn’t want him to cook for me. I just wanted his arms around me.

  “I’m really not hungry,” I said.

  He brushed strands of hair away from my face. “Then talk to me.”

  I hated running to him with my problems. Not that his broad shoulders couldn’t carry them. My parents didn’t raise a whiner and I didn’t want to start being one now.

  “Freckles, you know I will eventually know what it is, so you might as well fess up,” he whispered, his hands coming to rest on my hips. He pulled me close, our hips locking. Bad idea on so many levels. He had a thing about invading my personal space. He craved contact all the time. “Is it Blaine and his I-hate-Valkyries rant? Because if you want me to shut him up, I will.”

  “No. Dad cringed from my touch today and told me I shouldn’t touch him anymore.”

  Torin winced as though the words had been directed at him. “He thinks you’re trying to see his future.”

  I nodded. “But I wasn’t. I swear. He’s so frail that sometimes when I’m reading to him and I can’t hear him breathe, I panic.” I looked down, feeling foolish. The move created some space between us. Torin up close could be so overwhelming. “I know that sounds insane because on one hand, I hate to watch him suffer this long and on the other, I’m scared he’ll die before Mom comes back.”

  Torin lifted my chin. “It doesn’t sound insane. Anyone’s feelings would be ambiguous if they were in your shoes.” Torin removed the bowl from my hand again, put it on the counter, and picked me up as though I weighed nothing. He headed for the round kitchen table, nudged a chair, and sat with me on his lap. I leaned against his broad chest and sighed.

  Usually I hated it when he babied me, but today, I needed to cuddle and feel loved again.

  He stroked the hair at my temple. “Did you see anything today?”

  “Nah. Same inky nothing.”

  He rested his chin on my shoulder and reached down to play with my palm, running his fingers from the heel to my fingertips. The movement was stimulating and hypnotic. “How was he today?”

  “Same as usual. We read Moby-Dick. He drifted a few times, but he knew when I stopped. Have you guys heard anything from Valhalla?”

  “No. No one died in the pile-up in Seattle. A few old timers bound for Hel left with Grimnirs, but no healthy souls.”

  No wonder he’d come home early. I shivered despite his jacket, and his arms tightened around me. Ever since I’d learned that Norse Pantheon was real and Norns wanted me to join them, things had gotten crazy around here. Nothing was what it seemed.

  Eirik Seville, my childhood friend and first crush, turned out to be the grandson of Odin, and the couple who’d raised him were merely Immortal guardians. But when my tutor took him home to Asgard, Eirik had rushed right back to help us fight off Hel’s private army sent by his mother, Goddess Hel. Turned out they were really after him.

  Eirik being Eirik had made the ultimate sacrifice and headed to Hel to visit his mother on his own terms. Walked through the gates of Hel’s Hall as the long lost son returning home, not a kidnapped victim. It took balls to do that.

  We haven’t heard from him in over three months. We didn’t know whether he was okay or not. Worse, in all that time, no one destined for Asgard had died. People were having near-death experiences all over the place.

  “Do you think we are responsible for what’s happening with the healthy souls?” I asked.

  Torin lifted my chin and pushed wisps of hair away from my face, his eyes darkening. “We?”

  “Eirik and me. I won’t join the Norns and he’s in Hel instead of Asgard where they expected him to go.”

  Torin’s eyebrows lowered. “Eirik made a choice. The Norns saw it coming and tried to prevent it, but it backfired on them. They also tried to influence you and that backfired in their faces, too. Don’t start taking blame for everything that’s wrong in our world.”

  I couldn’t help it. Things started going crazy after I refused to leave with them. Deities, my butt. They were old hags acting like children. If they didn’t get their way, they threw tantrums. The last time I saw them, they’d warned me about not choosing them and to be aware of vindictive gods and goddesses. I was supposed to foresee the exact moment the War of the Gods started, the beginning of the end of our world, and they wanted that knowledge. I ought to send them a memo that my visions were non-existent.

  Torin pressed a kiss on my nose. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Everything and everyone. Do you think Echo could try to find Eirik in Hel?”

  “I’ll ask him.” Torin planted another one on me, his lips soft. The kiss was sweet, a mere whisper, yet I felt it to my core. “Knowing him, he’ll say no just to piss me off.”

  Echo was Cora’s boyfriend and Goddess Hel’s number one reape
r. Every time I thought about them, I smiled. They were an odd couple, but their relationship worked. One of the Immortals had marked Cora with weird runes and given her the ability to connect with souls and hear them. Then she’d fallen for Echo, a soul reaper. I’m talking madly, deeply, and I can’t-live-without-you kind of love. Like what I had with Torin. If Echo loved her as much as Torin loved me, he would not refuse her anything.

  “It might be better to let Cora do the asking.” I angled my head and kissed Torin’s jaw.

  He smiled and lowered his head for a longer and deeper contact. He started to lift his head, but I cupped his face and held him in place. A shudder rolled through him, his heart beating in perfect sync with mine.

  Time lost meaning as we got caught up in the moment. It was the same every time we kissed. He took me to a place where nothing mattered but him. His scent. His touch. The texture of his lips. I forked my fingers through his hair, loving the way the silky strands caressed my sensitive skin. He needed a haircut.

  “About that salad,” he whispered in a thick voice.

  “Not hungry.” He had a way of slowing us down when I didn’t want us to. Except this time, he didn’t put much effort into trying to slow things down. I tilted my head, so he could nibble my jaw.

  I braced myself, but I could never be prepared for the shot of hot sensations when he nicked my ear. His hand moved down to rest on my waist, right where my top and pants met. He stroked the bare skin there, and I trembled.

  “We really need that salad right about now,” he growled in my ear.

  He was right. Without my mom around, things could get out of control fast. She had a way of knowing when to interrupt us. Then there were her rules.

  I buried my face in the crook of Torin’s neck and tried to control my thundering heartbeat. He stroked the side of my face with the tips of his fingers until we calmed down.

  I jumped and finished preparing the salad, adding mushrooms and tomatoes, then a liberal amount of dressing. I glanced over at Torin. His eyes were on me. The heated look unmistakable. I grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge. He’d developed a liking for root beer, the one drink I couldn’t stand. I placed them on the table, straddled his chair, and sat on his lap again.

  He chuckled. “You have a cruel streak in you, Raine Cooper.”

  “And you are a tease, Torin St. James.” I forked some of the salad and was about to give it to him when I noticed the outline of something under his shirt. He never wore jewelry. “What’s that around your neck?”

  He tugged it from under his shirt. The ornate pendant looked old. “It’s the original matrix of my family seal. It belonged to my grandfather, who gave it to my parents. My mother was attached to it. Echo found it at an auction a few weeks ago.”

  Torin was born during the reign of King Richard the Lion-hearted, when family seals were favored by noble families. The writing on the ornate pendant was a mirror image. I recognized de Clare written backward.

  I touched the surface, and Torin disappeared.

  Or maybe I disappeared.

  All I knew was one second I was on his lap, the next I was outside, my thoughts jumbled up and my heart pounding. I looked around, not sure what had happened.

  I was on top of a building. On the ledge. I looked down, my vision blurry as though I was looking through a smoke screen. Dizziness washed over me and for one second, I thought I’d lost my footing. I screamed. At least, I meant to. But there was no sound.

  I tried to move away from the ledge, but my feet stayed cemented to the ground.

  This was bad. I was perched precariously on top of a building without knowing how I got there. Could I be having a vision? Finally?

  Below, sounds from cars, people, and machines added to the craziness. Above, the sun rode high in the sky. It was early afternoon. To my left was an industrial air vent.

  This wasn’t Kayville. My town was small and sat on the valley floor with mountains in the background. This town was spread out with tall buildings atop the flat surrounding land. Then something even weirder happened.

  The clouds sped across the sky as though someone had pressed fast forward. The sun sunk into the horizon and darkness spread across the city. Below, streetlights sprung to life, and people moved at a supersonic speed. Then the voices died down as people went into their homes.

  There was a new moon, so darkness clung to the sky. I shivered and tried to move again. No such luck. I squinted at my watch. My sight was still off, but I think my watch had stopped at three. Three am: the witching hour.

  Light flickered at the other end of the roof behind the air vent. Shadows shifted on the rooftop as though there were people moving about. I strained to see through the hazy vision. I tried to walk again, tried to reach up and rub my eyes, but I couldn’t move my arms either.

  I sniffed and frowned. There was a weird scent. Incense or something. A song rose in the air. It was beautiful, yet eerie and seemed to have a lulling effect on me. My eyes closed.

  No, no, I couldn’t sleep while standing on a ledge. I struggled to stay awake. Then just like it had started, the music stopped. I strained against whatever was gluing me to the ledge.

  Damn it. This was my first vision and I couldn’t even see anything.

  “Do you see them, Seeress?” a voice asked.

  My stomach hollowed, and I stopped moving. The British accent was unmistakably British, like Torin’s. A woman answered, but I didn’t hear what she said. My mind was slow processing everything. Frustrated, I tried to move again and cursed. But like before, no sound came from my mouth.

  “What do you see?” the dude with the British accent asked urgently with a tinge of desperation. He still sounded like Torin. This time I heard her.

  “What you seek will only bring you pain and loss,” the woman said.

  “No, we will bring them loss and pain if they try to stop us. Where can I find them? The last Seeress chose not to cooperate and I had to punish her. So speak the truth or join her.”

  “Then I choose to join her, you cursed son of a—”

  A scream finished her sentence, the sound sending terror through me like a live wire. I landed on all fours on the roof. Finally, I was free. I tiptoed across the roof, my stomach churning, heat racing. I peered around the corner, expecting to find Torin and a dead Seeress at his feet.

  There was nothing but an outline of a circle and runes inscribed on the ground. A fire burned in the middle of the circle, sending a strange smoky scent in the air. There were a few feathers on the floor covered with a dark, gooey liquid that could only be blood.

  Witches sacrificed chickens, didn’t they? These feathers were too big for a chicken. Maybe a giant turkey? I reached down to pick up one without blood but my hand only caught air.

  Realization hit me. The stupid things weren’t real. The whole set up wasn’t real. The runes faded away. The fire flickered and the building disappeared from under my feet, leaving me in total darkness. I opened my mouth to scream.

  “She’s coming around,” Torin said.

  Bright lights shone on my eyelids, and I was lying on my back. I opened my eyes and found Torin. His features were taut, eyes shadowed, and hair a mess as though he’d run his fingers through it. The words I’d heard echoed in my head.

  Had I witnessed something about to happen? Why would Torin want to visit a Seeress? Kill a Seeress?

  “You okay?” he asked.

  No, I was totally freaking out. I shook my head. Of course, he misunderstood and went into his protective mode. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me.

  I tried to wiggle out of his arms, but they tightened. He sat in the chair we were using earlier and placed me firmly on his lap. I got the message: I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  2. OLD RELIGIONS

  Torin’s eyebrows shot up. “That should be my line. Your eyes glowed, and then you slumped over in a dead faint.” His voice was bleak.

  “They’re still glo
wing,” Andris added.

  I looked up and tried not to cringe. They were all here, Valkyries and Immortals—Andris, Ingrid, Femi, and even Blaine. I groaned at the curiosity in their eyes. My first vision and they all had to be here for the humiliating details?

  “You had to call them in?” I griped, elbowing Torin.

  He didn’t even flinch, his jaw set. I hated it when he got that look. It meant nothing I said was going to stop him.

  “I had to send someone to get your mother,” he said.

  “What? She’s supposed to be sequestered until the end of her hearing.” I looked around. “Where is she?”

  “Andris was just about to leave. And FYI, you are more important than a stupid hearing.” His eyes dared me to tell him I was wrong.

  “The hearing is important, too. She comes back and poof goes her only chance to rejoin the Valkyries.” He would send for her and damn the consequences. And knowing my mother, she’d ignore the rules and run to my side. “You know what? Forget it. You are impossible and annoyingly stubborn. How long was I out?” I asked.

  “About an hour,” Torin said. “What happened?”

  I shuddered, remembering the scream. “I think I got my first vision.”

  Torin’s eyebrows slammed down. “You think?”

  The others left the counter and grabbed chairs around the kitchen table, eager for details. Andris was having a lazy Sunday, which meant pajama day. From his messy hair, he’d probably been having a read-a-thon. He winked when our eyes met.

  Ingrid watched him with a hard-to-read expression. She always looked like she’d stepped out of bed ready to wow the world. Perfect hair. Flawless makeup. A body any Victoria’s Secret model would kill for wrapped in the latest designer outfit.

  Blaine grabbed an apple from the bowl before taking a chair. His expressionless face said he didn’t really want to be here, but he was part of the group whether he liked it or not. Femi stayed by the counter, working on her laptop, but I knew she wasn’t missing a thing. She might be a housekeeper slash nurse, but I had a feeling Mom had asked her to keep an eye on us.