A songbird landed beside him, then transformed to Balder. They had tried entering as animals, but somehow, the giants had grown suspicious of a gold stag with a bird in his antlers. His invisibility had not worked, and Balder had said there were magic wards, probably Loki’s doing.
Some of the giants were beginning to snap the vines and come at them again. Siegfried played faster. He whipped his cape above his head, resting it on his antlers, protecting Balder, in songbird form, from the hail along with himself.
A roar resounded from the clouds above, the lightning growing stronger.
“He’s in pain because he needs to be?” Freya’s voice. Yes, he definitely trusted her, except for not having a care for herself.
“On the bright side, Otherworld laws don’t apply in Jotunheim,” Balder said grimly. “She can be as Fomori as she likes.”
The giants had stopped now, scratching their heads and looking into the distance toward the giant tree. The clouds above were black and swirling, a miniature hurricane.
“Those women,” one giant said. “Let’s have us a pretty Beast.”
****
Freya let herself scream as she glared from Mimir to the Well. Hedwig was plastered to the earth as the storm raged around them. Tears stung Freya’s eyes. Mimir drew closer to the Sea Witch. Freya’s wings had become heavy with water.
“Do something, Frey,” Hedwig cried as she fell into the shadow of Mimir’s huge stone hand.
“Freya the Beast. Freya Giant Slayer.” With a shrill cry, she called upon the water that had seeped into Mimir’s stone body, just as she did with the Blood Call. A loud scream rent the air, louder than the sudden rushing of water. Fissures opened along the rocky body. The big fingers shattered, along with the rest of the Jotun, water and boulders exploding outwards. She surged upwards as she urged the water from her wings. Lightning surrounded her trident, and she aimed it at Yggdrassil. “Goodbye, Well. I, Freya, River Queen, claim your Wisdom as my spoils of the booty. Wow. Did I just pirate something again? Yes, yes I did.”
A loud crack shook the entire land. The tree was ablaze with lightning. White light wrapped around its trunk, its branches cracking and falling to burn.
“Ho-lee fuck, Freya.” Hedwig was crouched below, a hand above her head to redirect the stream of boulder-laden water that would have otherwise crushed her. “You’re destroying the great tree, Yggdrassil.”
Freya dove to grab the Sea Witch, pulling her away from the blaze, up into the angry sky.
“Not just Yggdrassil, but the whole freaking Well,” Hedwig shouted, pointing down. Indeed, where the roots of the tree had ripped up, there was naught but rock.
“I didn’t mean to destroy the Well, initially at least,” Freya said, finding she didn’t really care about the destruction she’d wrought. Mimir had brought this all upon himself. “Didn’t really want to destroy Mimir, until he decided to be an ass.”
“Put out the fire,” Hedwig said. “And don’t apologize for the Well. Mimir had it coming for what he did. You just saved me. You can’t feel sorry about Mimir either. It was him or me, and it was a good thing you picked me. My ghost would have come back and haunted you.”
Freya concentrated, trying to control the chaos around her, to bring the clouds together to rain on the burning tree and all it destroyed. The storm was abating, but now she was afraid. Had she caused more danger for herself and Siegfried? She couldn’t think about this now. “What would you have taken with you if you died?”
Hedwig cackled. “White wine and my coral heels. That’s all. And you’re trying to distract yourself again. Look at it this way. The Jotuns have been trying to kill the Aesir for years, sailing in those shitty boats to Asgard and destroying their walls—”
“Why?” Freya asked. “Why don’t the Jotuns like the Aesir?” Freya flew down, landing atop the rubble that had once been Mimir. She set Hedwig beside her.
The Sea Witch pursed her lips, gaze on the rocks beneath them. “Loki kinda rules Jotunheim. So, Loki probably has something to do with the Jotuns hating the Aesir, other than just living here. That, and the Jotun men want some of the Aesir women, even though the logistics usually end up killing the women. Well, not usually. All the time, because it is just impossible to have something that size… Well, you understand what I’m saying.” Hedwig made a gagging sound. “But, you, as an Aesir, had every right to retaliate, especially after a bunch of the Jotuns destroyed Asgard’s walls a few centuries ago. They almost destroyed Bifrost—that’s the rainbow-y bridge thing that leads into Asgard. Somehow they tried to destroy that before some of them got into Asgard, because they’re still seriously dumb.
“You just did everyone a huge favor, except the Jotuns. That includes Siegfried. Did I mention that spending time with you is officially far better than spending time with your mother?”
Freya thrust her fist in the air and fell into her awkward happy dance. She could be happy about this. “Who saved Siegfried? Freya saved Siegfried! Wooh! Wooh! Who just successfully pirated something again? Freya did!”
“Who made the boots that did the ass kicking?” Hedwig chanted, shaking her hips. “The Sea Bitch. Er, wait, actually Siegfried did. Shit. We should probably get back to sea. The Jotuns might have actually seen the tree fall.”
“Ship. Not boat.” They both looked to see Siegfried with Balder, clutching his lyre, at his back. They seemed out of breath. Siegfried whisked a leafy lock of hair from his face.
Freya spread her wings and flew into his arms. “You have your human form back when you want it, No more—”
“You destroyed the entire Well?” He surveyed the destruction around them. “Mimir?”
“Those stone pieces are Mimir, er, were Mimir,” Freya said. She gave his nose a smacking kiss. “Haha. Yes, Freya modified the Blood Call. I was only going to hold him on the verge of explosion, but it didn’t work too well with him being all rocky. So, he went poof.”
She was surprised when he lifted her up by her shoulders and shook her. “Don’t you ever run off like that again. Do you realize you could have been killed? Crushed? Forced to sell your hair to Mimir for whatever you wanted. Made to face Loki? Freya. About the Well—”
Freya gasped. “There is some sort of Vast Hair Conspiracy, isn’t there? But Siegfried, aren’t you happy? We succeeded.”
“Don’t ever risk yourself for me like that,” he growled in her ear. “I will deal with you later. Rest assured of that. But right now, there are angry giants on their way.”
Freya called upon the mists to surround them. “We should shift and make a run for the boat.”
“Ship,” Siegfried said.
“Uh, you can all shift, but my fish tail is pretty useless here,” Hedwig said.
“I can carry you,” Balder said, giving his cape a flourish. “My bird form is fairly strong.”
“I can’t fly either,” Siegfried said with a frown. He sounded ashamed.
“Mighty Freya can save you again.” She struck at her armored chest. She thrust her trident at him, then wrapped her arms around his waist and spread her wings. She got a running start and lifted into the air, flying toward the dispersing dark clouds. She tried not to think how far below the earth was or how far up the sky went.
She needed to get far enough away that she could avoid any of the Jotuns’ range weapons—much higher than she had flown with Hedwig. The heights made her head whirl, and it was worse when she broke through the top of the clouds, seeing Jotunheim through the wispy gaps. The endless sky was above. It was daytime, far different than doing this at night when things weren’t so clear.
When her flight bobbled a little, Siegfried said, “Freya, you look a little ill. You’ve done this before. You can do it again.”
“Look up, Siegfried. I’m not going to, but look up and imagine what would happen if somehow something went horribly wrong and we all got sucked up into the sky instead of being planted on the earth. We’d just keep going up and up and up. Falling forever and ever. Now
that we’re fey, it really could be forever and ever. Who knows if we’d have enough concentration to fade? How else would you end it, being sucked into some kind of endless journey? Haven’t you ever thought of that?”
“Er, no,” Siegfried said, casting her a confused look. “But don’t think about it now. Please. If something like that happens, I’ll have to grow vines to grab us and secure us.”
“This is true,” she said. “I feel better now.”
Chapter Twelve
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” Freya looked up at him with wide eyes. He could sense her excitement, but it was mingled with nervousness.
Siegfried looked down at his naked little slave, skin pale against the green coverlet. Oh, how he was going to punish her. “I won’t relent on everything you don’t want. That isn’t how this works.”
“I wouldn’t want that,” she said. “I’m prepared for what comes next.” She paused. “Why…why do you like to do things like this? The chains, the control?”
“I’ve thought about it a lot.” He would let her delay while he decided on the finer points of his plans for her. “I’ve thought about it more when I read about Bow and Swan.” He turned his gaze from her, looking across the eternal blue sea through the wide expanse of window. “After being a slave at someone’s whim, part of me wants some control over someone else, as sorry as that sounds. I want someone to put their complete trust in me, someone I can trust. Does it make me less of a man if I say that I feel safer having control?”
“No. It makes you honest for saying it.” Freya was sometimes so simple, but he liked that.
He turned back to her and took a seat on the bed beside her. “I’m glad you think so. Then there’s the pleasure I get from it.” He gave her thigh a light spank. She immediately knelt, knees apart, exposing the pink folds of her pussy. “How many ways to be innovative with someone who trusts you to take the lead.” He grazed a fingertip over her clit, savoring her shudder. “So let me ask you the same. What is it for you?”
“Oh, for me?” She looked from his finger to his face. “I’ve always been uncontrollable. Sometimes, it’s comforting to be told ‘no.’ Normally, when people tell me ‘no,’ I do what I want anyways. I said before, I don’t respect the people telling me ‘no,’ and usually they’re saying ‘no’ without good reason. I’ve never respected anyone as a leader before I heard of you. I adopted you as my leader in my head. It’s all difficult to explain, really, but soon after, the fantasies started.”
“Good enough,” Siegfried said. He gave her sex a pat, inducing another shudder. “Some things you can’t fully explain.”
Her brows knit as she tried to focus on their conversation. “You said there were other reasons you thought I ran. I definitely heard an S at the end of reason.”
“Aye. Tell me, Loreley, the truth. What do you think of my appearance, in my other form?” There. He’d said it.
“Master, you’re beautiful. No one could take that away from you. Those antlers make you look virile. The height, more powerful. If you’d come to Folkvang like that and told me who you were, my reaction wouldn’t have been any different. Well, that last’s a lie. There would have been a, ‘Ho-lee shit, the man’s got antlers. How the hell didn’t anyone tell me about that?’ That leads me to wonder how people wouldn’t recognize you then, because, even with the mask, people would have recognized you by your big, beautiful rack.”
He shared another laugh with her and kissed her nose. “I understand, Freya.” All those worries had really been for nothing? “I have two things for you. Although you already received one of them. The boots for your armor. I made those.”
She remembered Hedwig mentioning as much, but she hadn’t thought about it then. “I…thank you. I lost my old ones somehow.”
“I threw them away,” he admitted. “These won’t get stained with blood.” He remembered the significance she’d ascribed to the gift of shoes, of the gift being representative of another helping with one’s burdens.
He smiled slow and reached into his cape. “I had this made for you when I was aboard Balder’s floating island. It’s called Brisingamen, after the three dwarves who crafted it.”
He held it up to show her, and she gasped in pleasure. The necklace was a choker, a collar made of solidified flame in an intricate winding pattern. It glowed, looking almost alive. In the center was a heavy fire opal.
“Master, it’s lovely,” she breathed, gently touching the stone, and then the metal. “It feels warm.”
“And it will keep you warm, no matter what. So you can be naked and not shiver. Lift your hair for me so I can collar you.” He clasped the necklace around her throat. It glowed brightly for a moment. The catch disappeared when it was closed. “Only I can remove this. I thought you’d like that. It is easy enough to attach a lead to it when the desire strikes me. It looks like a lovely choker to others, but you will know the true meaning behind it. I can’t have my slave un-collared, not when one becomes her so well.”
“Siegfried.” His name was a moan on her lips. Her eyes rolled back in her head in sheer bliss. He had come to love the way her face was so readable, that she was horrible at hiding her emotions. He kissed her again. He stroked her pussy, feeding the fires within her. She was so deliciously wet. This was the beginning of the next step, the implementation of his plan.
He removed his hand, ignoring her whimper of protest, and stroked her neck around the collar. “I’ve missed you wearing your other one. But there’s no need for me to ask you to wear it outside of my own desires.”
“And definitely not in front of my mother.” Freya wouldn’t want to admit to her odd desires in front of others, but with Siegfried, it was safe. It was all safe between the two of them. “But you found a way around it with this lovely choker.”
“Besides, my little slave deserves something prettier, even though she is about to be punished.” His hand closed tightly over her ass. “Your first real punishment. All the others before, even for your minor infractions, were more for my enjoyment. Not so this time, though I will enjoy every moment of your torment.” Silence stretched between them. “Speak, Freya. You are always so quiet when we are like this.”
Her brow furrowed in frustration. “I am not sure what to say. I’m too overwhelmed to think, Master. It’s excitement, anticipation, nervousness for what’s going to happen next. I can’t even alliterate.”
He chuckled, then grew stern. “On all fours, Freya.” Once she’d done this, raising her red little ass in the air, he walked away from her. “You always seem to find trouble when I am asleep or incapacitated, or away from you.” He stood in front of the single bare wall of the cabin and slid aside a hidden panel. It was time to reveal more of the secrets within his quarters. Behind the panel, set into the wall, was a small cage. She wouldn’t be able to stand or stretch out fully, but the bottom was covered with furs and a pillow. “This is the answer to those problems. Oh, no, you’ll be beside me at night, but chained to the bed securely. I’ve also taken other precautions there, lest you find some way to get the key.”
****
“Master?”
He turned his back to her and went to the window seat, from which removed the familiar jar of salve from beneath the cushion. He disappeared behind her, palming her pussy in his firm, salve-coated fingers. Then he was gone again, making another trip to that hidden cache and returning with what appeared to be a metal pair of undergarments.
“Fey metal, Freya,” he said, holding them up for her perusal. “And, no, you cannot remove them, just like your collar.” He chuckled at her little gasp. She shuddered as the device was snapped over her hungry pussy. It was cold in contrast to the heat of her skin.
She’d known this was going to be difficult. Siegfried, as always, was living up to her expectations, and exceeding them, pushing her limits. He walked around her, running his fingers over her well-punished ass, along her spine until she trembled.
“I have matters that need attending on de
ck. You, my lusty little mermaid, are going to stay in my quarters.” He scooped her into his arms. She gave him a pleading look, her head lolling against his upper arm. But pleading did no good; he slid open the door of the cage. “If you’re wearing this…” His hand grazed the cool metal at her crotch. “You’ll have a difficult time concentrating on a proper escape.” He kissed her eyelids before setting her inside the cage.
This was different, this small space, looking on at his quarters. Thin bars separated her from the rest of the room. She could see no lock, and it occurred to her that this was fey metal.
When he was gone, there was nothing to do but think, nothing to distract her from all the desire tightly locked away. Her hips gyrated, wanting some stimulation. In frustration, she set to trying to find any way to remove the chastity belt. There had to be some method. How did it respond to Siegfried? Maybe, she could at least find some gratification if she could— No, it fit too well for her to slip a finger inside. With a snarl, she searched again for a lock, some secret catch that would spring her from this prison.
In pure desperation she pressed over the metal shielding her clit. Perhaps if she could press it firmly enough against her body, she might have something solid to grind against. But no, it curved away from her body in that place, would not touch her no matter how she pushed at the device.
“Master!” she roared. This was intolerable.
****
Siegfried, arms folded across his chest, looked out from the helm across the empty decks. It seemed odd for the ship ever to be this silent. But there wasn’t much need of a crew when one had sea beasts guiding the vessel. There were simple foods that could be heated, but not many. Mostly, it was soup, soup he’d prepared himself for his Freya. He’d made a lot of it when she’d been under the spell of the potion. He had sent men, including the dwarves, away on the dinghies to sail for Avalon. Sun Shimmer knew the route to Avalon and had gone there with Hedwig many times.
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