Torin reached for her, but the door flew open and Echo was by her side. He caught her and lifted her in his arms. Echo threw us an unreadable glance. “She’ll be okay. Dev said she shouldn’t have done it for so long.”
“You can take her upstairs to my bedroom. I’ll find her some Twizzlers.” After a possession, Cora usually needed sweets to rejuvenate. Twizzlers was her candy of choice.
Echo left the room with Cora in his arms.
“Do you want to join the others or stay here and talk to your father?” Torin asked.
“Let’s stay here.” New souls were like newborn kids, able to hear, but not talk. The difference was they understood what was said to them. They were also confused about what was happening to them. Not Dad though.
It took nearly two hours for Cora to recover and Echo refused to leave her side. I took her some Twizzlers then went downstairs to wait when I overheard Mom say, “Echo will find him the best resting place in the hall.”
I entered the room, my eyes locked on her. “What did you say?”
Mom got up and walked around the bed to where I stood. “Sweetheart…”
I pushed her arm away. “What do you mean? Echo is reaping Dad? You went back to being a Valkyrie so you could reap him. You said so yourself, Mom.” Torin was by my side in seconds. “Tell her. She promised. I… She was away at that stupid Council hearing so she could be reinstated as a Valkyrie just for him.”
“I tried, honey,” Mom whispered.
“No. Dad is not going to Hel,” I whispered. He gave me a pained look and my heart broke. He didn’t understand. Hel’s Hall was cold and miserable, and the Goddess Hel was just like the place.
“Freckles,” Torin said.
“No. They did this, Torin. The Norns are behind this.” I was going to make them pay. Tears flowed again. I had thought I didn’t have any left.
“No, they’re not.” Torin wiped my tears and added gently, “They didn’t do this, luv.”
“You don’t know them like I do. I’m going to make them wish they’d never crossed me. They’re not doing this to my father. Not my father. I won’t let them. I won’t…” My voice ended in a wail.
Torin hauled me into his arms and held me tight as sobs rose and shook my body. He murmured words, but I didn’t hear them. Those conniving hags had crossed the line this time.
I wasn’t sure how long I cried, but Torin’s shirt was drenched when I pulled back, and my eyes landed on Mom crying a few feet away. Dad was trying to console her although his hand didn’t exactly make contact with her. When our eyes met, he smiled reassuringly and realization hit me.
“You knew?” I asked Dad.
He nodded.
I looked at Torin. “You too?”
“Yes. Do you remember where and when I found your father after the plane crash? Echo was going to reap him, and I talked him out of it. He is meant to reap your father. It didn’t matter how much time passed. But he and I talked, and he promised to find him the best resting place by the gods. He’ll be surrounded by memories of his life. He could recreate this morning and relive it over and over again, or the day you were born, or when he met your mother. The gods’ wing has private rooms so his world will not be corrupted by another soul.”
I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t think beyond Hel. In Asgard, he could see my mother often, eat, sleep, run, and talk to others. In Hel, he’d be alone with nothing but his memories to keep him company. What was the point of having powers and knowledge when I couldn’t secure my father a place in Valhalla? I didn’t care what Torin said. The Norns engineered this.
Torin lifted my chin and wiped the tears from my cheeks. He was hurting for me. I saw it in his eyes and the way a muscle ticked on his jaw. Tonight was supposed to be our night. Our wedding night. Instead we had death and Hel.
Someone was going to pay for this.
23. Our Moment
The rest of the evening was a blur. I said goodbye to my father’s soul, and watched as Echo and Andris escorted him away. Echo might be part of our group now, but my father was too important to trust him to do the right thing. Andris volunteered to go with them. Each step they took was like a dagger through my heart. I kept imagining Dad, not his soul, in Hel. Alone. Miserable.
My tears ran unchecked.
Once he was gone, I just wanted to crawl into Torin’s arms and make him take my pain away. The moment Cora left he whisked me away to my room, lowered me on a chair, and said, “Don’t move.”
I watched him shove a few of my belongings in a bag—panties, tops, and pants—and didn’t bother asking him what he was doing. He disappeared in the bathroom to get more stuff. Then there was silence. He must have opened a portal to his place. I closed my eyes, wishing I were in bed. I wanted to shut out the world for a long time.
My father was in Hel. Tears threatened to fall again. Onyx hopped onto my lap and purred. I couldn’t remember hearing her purr. I stroked her fur.
So sorry for what happened tonight.
“They’ll get what’s coming to them.”
I was sure she’d repeat the same thing everyone kept telling me, that the Norns weren’t responsible. She didn’t. Instead she said, your friend Cora is not so bad after all.
I didn’t respond.
I had no idea she could do what she did. And her Grimnir… We’ll see.
I really didn’t care what Onyx thought of my friends. My father was in Hel. Torin reappeared without the bag, runes blazing. Onyx hopped down to the floor.
“Come on, luv. We’re going home.” He scooped me up and engaged his runes. My bedroom portal responded, but I couldn’t see where we were going. One second we were in my room, the next at a front door. The sun was up. I realized where we were—the castle where we’d gotten married this morning, or yesterday afternoon UK time.
We could have teleported straight into the bedroom, but my wonderful husband was doing the traditional thing and carrying me across the threshold. Tears rushed to my eyes again.
A man opened the door. “Welcome home, Sire. Madam.”
“Thanks, Donovan. Don’t mind the cat. Her name is Onyx, and she belongs to my wife. We’re not to be disturbed for the next twenty-four hours.”
The grandfather clock in the foyer chimed. It was a quarter after eight.
There was no indication there had been a wedding feast. The flower petals were gone. Sounds from our left let me know that there was more than just Donovan living in the house.
Torin didn’t slow down until he reached the bedroom I’d used to get ready for our wedding. My bag was on the bed, pajamas already laid out. The curtains were drawn, so little light came inside. Lamps covered with golden shades cast a warm glow over the room.
Torin lowered me to the floor and smiled. “Welcome home, Raine St. James. This wasn’t how I’d planned the day to end, but I promise you that once we lay your father to rest, I’ll give you a honeymoon to last centuries. Right now, I just want to hold you and make—”
I attacked him. It was the only way to describe it. I threw my arms around his neck and shut him up the only way I knew how. With a kiss. I broke the contact and whispered, “I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want you to hold me. I don’t want to wait. I want you to love me. Make the pain go away.”
He forgot I was new to all this because his primal instinct to claim, own, and brand took over. His mouth covered mine as he scooped me up. The bag and my pjs flew off the bed, but I think I might have used magic to do that. Or the burbling energy unfurling in my core had flowed into him and given him some of my magic.
He lowered me on the bed, reached over his shoulder with one hand, and pulled off his T-shirt, his eyes not leaving mine.
Shirtless, he tugged mine over my head, and then removed the chain necklace with my rings on it. One by one, he slipped them onto my finger. He raised my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on the rings, then my palm. He grinned, joined our hands, and lowered his body until our chests touched.
The
feeling of his skin against mine was heavenly. Maybe it was the runes or my magic, but every touch was heightened, every kiss toe-curling, and every nip erotic.
“Thank you for saying that,” he whispered, his warm breath fanning my skin and teasing my senses. “I was trying to be noble, but…” He paused and kissed me, the moment endless. He lifted his head, his breathing as harsh as mine. “I want you. I need you.” He ran the tips of his fingers along my collarbone. “I will take your pain away. Our pain away, because when you hurt, I hurt.” His hands moved lower and stroked my chest, focusing on sensitive areas. His mouth followed.
He trailed kisses all over my bare skin. From my lips to my belly button, he lingered in some places, nipped with his teeth and soothed with his tongue in others.
I arched into him, the sensation so overwhelming I cried out. He went into hyper-speed, removing everything so our skins could breathe each other in, feel, and memorize the textures of each other. He paused for a moment and studied me, from my face to my feet.
“Perfect,” he whispered.
Something flashed in my head. A memory, but it disappeared so fast I thought I imagined it. Stroking my calf, he started the slow torture of awakening my senses. New ones and old ones.
I had no idea what he could do with his hands and tongue and mouth until tonight. His touch was so intimate, I begged him to stop, when I never actually wanted him to. I bucked as though to push him off, yet held him tighter. Fought hard to breathe in oxygen, when all I needed to breathe was him, his scent and his essence. And yet my mind continued to tease me with images of moments like this when this was our first.
When he looked me in the eye with love and anguish, and then whispered, “I never want to hurt you. Not ever, yet I must,” similar words echoed in my head.
“It’s okay,” I reassured him. “I’m ready.”
He hesitated, fighting demons that I understood, yet didn’t. I urged him with kisses and gentle caresses, reassured him in every way, yet he still agonized.
“Please,” I whispered, hating that everything seemed like a replay when I wanted to cherish this first moment.
He kissed me and whispered, “I belong to you, Raine St. James. My heart. My soul. My body.” Then we were one.
There was no pain, just memories crushing, overwhelming my senses. We’d done this before and the old hags must have wiped our memories. Why? Tears rushed to my eyes, until I met Torin’s.
There was confusion in his sapphire blue depths and I read the questions. Had I been with another before him? When?
Then he jerked as though prodded and his eyes widened, and I realized I’d sent him the images. A growl escaped him when he realized what had happened. Rage washed across his face and he roared with it, but I refused to let them spoil our moment. They will not win. Not with us.
I pulled him down and kissed him, until passion and love once again ruled his head. With every movement, the memories receded. With every sigh and whispered love, we created new ones.
They could steal them as often as they wanted, but we’d always create new ones. Better ones. With our runes blending, my magic flowing into Torin, my senses exploded and I cried out his name.
Curled in his arms, I listened to his heart pound and slowly return to normal. His kisses became languid. He wasn’t done. His, “I’m just starting,” came out near my chest as he caressed me again.
“Don’t you want to talk—?”
“No. They don’t belong in our bedroom.” He turned me around and continued to kiss his way down my back to my waist. I squealed when he nipped my butt. He chuckled and laved the spot with his tongue.
“Scoot back, luv,” he whispered seductively.
He was relentless. Unstoppable. It was as though he planned to replace all the memories the Norns had stolen in one night. When I couldn’t take it anymore, he amped up things until I thought I would die from sensations. This time, I think I blanked out.
When I came to, he was watching me, head resting on the heel of his hand.
“How long have you been watching me?”
He smirked. “Not long enough.”
“That’s creepy,” I said.
He twirled a lock of my hair, spread the strands on the pillow, then leaned back and grinned. “I often wondered what you’d look like with it spread out like this.”
I stroked his arm. “And?”
“You’re breathtaking.” He kissed my knuckles. “You want to try something different?”
Like I said, he was determined to create new memories and I was his willing accomplice. “Yes.”
“You are going to engage speed runes when you’re ready.” He settled on the pillows with his arms behind his head and said, “You’re in charge. You set the pace. You’re allowed to make me beg. Just once, or I’m taking over.”
To actually make him beg? I loved the idea.
By the time we finished, I learned something new about myself. I was bossy and a tease, and I loved watching him beg. But more than that, I loved giving him whatever he wanted.
~*~
We didn’t venture out of the room until six in the evening, which was ten in the morning in Kayville, Oregon. We showered, changed, and headed downstairs.
Onyx was being spoiled by Mr. and Mrs. Donovan, the elderly Immortal couple who’d lived in the castle since Torin had bought it in the sixteen hundreds. I didn’t remember meeting either of them during my wedding, but Torin insisted they’d been around. Mrs. Donovan was preparing our lunch, but she’d already baked fresh scones.
“I’ll show Raine around before lunch,” Torin explained and we left the kitchen, Onyx on our heels. “I’ve made renovations over the centuries,” he explained as he showed me around. Us, I should say since Onyx came along and had something to say.
This is my new home. Plenty of places to hide your dagger.
I chuckled and explained to Torin.
“Why do they want—” He shook his head. “No, we’re not talking about those hags. Not today. Let me show you something amazing.”
He grabbed my hand and we headed upstairs to a hallway with a ceiling shaped like an upside down boat. It was beautiful. We moved from room to room. The paneling showed how beautifully he’d blended wood and rocks when fixing the place. Gilded mirrors and picture frames complemented the furniture and each room represented an era down to the area rug. We were in the drawing room, whatever that meant. I’d already seen the living room and it was cozy with fluffy chairs.
I pretended to faint on a lounge, which Torin insisted was called a fainting lounge. It had only one arm. Like most of the furniture in the room, it was Victorian with ivory legs and gold accents. I noticed he favored that era when decorating bedrooms.
“I always thought these were uncomfortable,” I said, resting my head on the arm of the lounge and resting my feet. They weren’t.
“Try this one,” Torin said, dropping on a chaise lounge. I joined him and he pulled me onto his lap. For the next thirty minutes, we forgot about the tour. Onyx made herself scarce.
Sounds came from outside and I jumped up and raced to the window. Mrs. Donovan was cutting flowers from the flower beds. I could see a pond and a garden. “I want to go outside.”
“Not until I finish showing you around Castle Windhaven,” he said and grabbed my hand.
“Are you going to be one of those bossy husbands?” I shot back.
“Oh yes. Putting you in charge is detrimental to my health, as I found out last night.”
I laughed. He’d loved it. “What is a drawing room?”
“It’s where you receive guests. That’s why it’s close to the main entrance. We also withdraw there after dinner. Or the ladies did while the men smoked their cigars.”
So happy I wasn’t living during those times. My feet were beginning to hurt when we finished. The castle had twelve bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a large ballroom and a smaller one in the main tower, which he called a banquet room, a dining room, a modernized kitchen with an old fi
replace, and a library. The wine cellar was huge and fully stocked.
When we finally made it outside, I was happy to explore. I’d seen a town from the tower, but it wasn’t visible from the grounds. The castle sat on two hundred acres of land, Torin had explained. It had landscaped gardens, an orchard, a green house, and an ornamental lake, stone fountains and even stables. I could spend the rest of my life here and never care. There were three staff houses, the biggest one occupied by the Donovans. The other two were empty, but fully furnished.
After lunch, which was dinner for the Donovans, I disappeared into the bedroom while Torin talked to the two Immortals. When he joined me, we found ways to pass the next several hours. Once again, he helped me forget my worries about Dad and Hel.
We were resting when a portal opened and Ingrid yelled, “Is it safe to come in?”
“No,” Torin yelled back.
I yanked the sheets to my chin then called back. “Yes.”
Ingrid stepped into the room, her cheeks pink. Funny how one moment she could be so confident and cocky and the next shy. Then I noticed why. Torin’s only cover was a pillow.
“Sorry to intrude. In my defense, you left your phones in Oregon.”
“Because we didn’t want to be bothered,” Torin said.
I elbowed him and mouthed, “Be nice. What is it?” I asked louder.
“Cora and some of the swimmers are coming over to see you after school. That is in,” Ingrid glanced at her watch, “less than an hour.”
“Thanks, Ingrid. We’ll be there.”
She nodded. “Okay. Have fun.”
“We were,” Torin said. “Now where were we?” he asked before the portal was fully closed.
We barely made it before Cora arrived with Kicker, Sonya, and Nara, the three co-captains, and several other members of the swim team. Torin and Ingrid played host and hostess, while I sat there and wished I were back at my castle. The house reminded me of Dad. Everything reminded me of Dad, and the fact that he was in Hel’s Hall. Worse, Andris and Echo hadn’t returned.
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