The Seducer (Men of the North Book 4)

by Elin Peer

  My training to be a priestess had started when I was only twelve and since then I’d studied theology, philosophy, and anthropology among other things. The high priestess I had trained with had taught me about energy work and now I always anchored myself at least twice a day.

  When I first told Hans that I was keeping Finn for five days, he had objected and explained to me that they had a busy schedule to follow. It wasn’t until he called up Isobel, the chairwoman of the Council, herself, that permission had been granted. Isobel hadn’t understood why I would want to spend more time with Finn, but she had accepted my request and that was all that mattered.

  It was hard enough for me to understand my motives, and I wasn’t sure I could explain them to others since spending five more days with Finn made no sense from a rational point of view. Yet, there was an energy-based pull in me, and a need to understand him better. Not to mention that the challenge of helping Finn evolve to our level would be my greatest challenge as a priestess yet.

  There was no time to meditate tonight. Still, I was relatively calm when I left the bathroom and climbed into bed next to Finn.

  “I can’t sleep like this,” Finn complained, low, but I still turned off the light.

  “Athena, I mean it, I can’t sleep like this.”

  My back was turned to him and I was on my side. “It’s okay, I didn’t sleep that first night either.”

  “I already apologized for that, didn’t I?” Finn rumbled low.

  “What about Magni?” I asked. “Do you think he’s remorseful too?”

  Finn stiffened and there was a shift in energy in the room that made me turn over to watch him. “What is it about Magni?” I asked. “I remember how you always got quiet when I blamed him for kidnapping me, and now you’re doing it again.”

  “That’s not true. When I got here, I specifically told you it was wrong of him to kidnap you,” Finn reminded me.

  “Uh-huh, but that’s your words, not his.” I studied him with interest. Finn was ungroomed compared to a Motlander man, but although he

  clearly didn’t spend as much time in front of the mirror as someone like Hans, his long curly black hair looked shiny and healthy. And his black earring which covered almost his entire earlobe gave away that he cared about his appearance.

  His dark brown eyes narrowed when he turned his face and looked at me. “If you’re hoping for an apology from Magni, you better prepare to wait forever. He’s not that kind of man.”

  “Then what kind of man is he?” I asked with a soft voice.

  Finn broke our eye contact and focused on the ceiling.

  “I can see you don’t want to talk about him, but what he did to me was awful and I would like you to acknowledge that.”

  Finn stubbornly kept his gaze on the ceiling and pulled at the ropes above his head. “I already did!”

  “Saying the words is different from meaning them, and I don’t believe your apology was very sincere at all. You just want me to break the curse.”

  Finn’s chest rose and fell in a deep sigh. “I said I was sorry, and that’s the best I can do. If you’re looking for someone to speak badly about Magni, then I’m not your man. Magni is my best friend and I’m indebted to him.”

  That sentence had me instantly interested. “Indebted how?”

  “It’s personal, but I’ll tell you this much: he saved me when we were boys.”

  “In what way?”

  Finn ran his tongue over his teeth but kept quiet.

  “Did Magni save your life?”

  Finn didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either.

  “He did, didn’t he?” I probed, and the way his jaw tensed as if annoyed that I’d guessed his secret made me sure. “Now you have me curious. How did Magni save your life?”

  Finn tugged at the ropes again with another annoyed huff of air. “I really don’t like being tied.”

  “That’s too bad, because you’ll be tied again tomorrow night.”

  His head whipped in my direction. “What the fuck! I only tied you down one night.”

  “True, but your second night will be for the fear I endured.”

  “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you tie me down two nights in a row.”

  “Look at the bright side,” I suggested. “At least you know that in five days it’s all over, and you’ll never have to see me again. I didn’t have that comfort, did I?”

  Finn groaned and perspiration showed on his forehead. “I told you,” he sneered. “I don’t fucking like to be tied.” Every word was spoken with an anger that unnerved me.

  Stay strong, this is for his spiritual growth, I reminded myself.

  “Good night, Finn.” Stretching my arms with a big yawn, I rolled over to position myself with my back to him, when he muttered:

  “Good night, witch.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Bad Memories

  Finn

  Athena’s quiet breathing annoyed me. Being tied to the bed, I would be lucky if I got any sleep tonight. Whatever little revenge scheme the pretty witch was cooking up for me, I would deal with it.

  I wished that it didn’t involve being tied to a bed. There were too many fucking bad memories in my past of being held down with physical punishment. Not that I would ever share those memories with her. If she learned how some of my cruel mentors had disciplined a smart-mouth like me as a child, she would probably go all soft and weepy on me. I shuddered at the thought.

  This would be one of those nights where I didn’t sleep, and maybe it was better than suffering through the nightmares that these bloody ropes would surely provoke.

  The familiar headache I associated from suppressing those memories was returning with a vengeance. Don’t. Fucking. Go. There! I ordered myself, but one clear picture was showing on my inner screen. A man on the floor, his body in an awkward position of self-protection, his face smeared with blood, and his eyes empty. Another kick to his body, but this time he didn’t move or blink.

  “Stop it – it’s enough now, he’s already dead. You killed him!”

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to push the memory out, but from seventeen years of experience, I knew this memory had the power to haunt me and torture me. The best way to not think about it was to focus on something else. I would distract myself, but being tied to a bed in a dark room there wasn’t much I could use to distract myself. If I couldn’t hold back the memories, at least I would control what memories I would remember. I chose to think of the first day I met Magni.

  There was a special excitement in the air that day. Rumors were spreading like wildfire; some said they had seen our ruler walk into the office to talk to Mentor Johnson and that he had a boy with him. Most of us didn’t believe it. There was no way our ruler would come to our school, and everybody knew his two sons were being homeschooled.

  But it was true and before we knew it, all one hundred and thirty of us were lined up outside the school to greet our new student.

  “It’s a proud day,” Mentor Johnson proclaimed, and although he held his chin high and his chest was puffed out, his rocking back and forth on his heals revealed that he was nervous.

  “Our ruler, Lord Marcus Aurelius, is honoring us by letting his son become a student here at our fine school.”

  While he spoke, we were all studying the unbelievable sight of our ruler in person. My first impression of him was that he looked mean, but maybe I was influenced by the fact that everybody knew he was quick to kill anyone who opposed him.

  I had never seen either of his sons, but I knew his older one was fifteen years old like me while the younger was only twelve.

  As the ruler and his son were almost the same height, I assumed the boy to be his older son, Khan Aurelius.

  “Maybe you would like to introduce your son yourself?” Mentor Johnson asked our ruler.

  Lord Aurelius raised an eyebrow before he took one step forward and spoke in a deep rumbling voice: “It is my hope that you will accept my son, Mag
ni, as one of you. He has a bright mind and is an excellent fighter.” The way Lord Aurelius took his time to let his eyes slide over us felt like he was demanding a personal promise from each and every one of us. “You must all grow up to be strong and brave men. But no man is an island and having friends is an important part of succeeding.”

  With those words, Lord Aurelius stepped back again and Magni had officially joined our school.

  If his father had worried that we wouldn’t welcome him, he was wrong. Everyone wanted to be Magni’s friend. Only problem was, Magni didn’t make it easy. For one, he didn’t say much and he seemed annoyed with all the attention he got.

  I was popular because of my humor and ability to make people laugh, but Magni didn’t crack a smile when I was around.

  A week after he arrived, I gave up my attempts at making friends with him and accepted that he was a loner by nature. Not everyone was as smart as me, and some of the boys who couldn’t get his attention in a positive way resorted to provoking him. Two broken arms and four concussions later, even the boys my age were afraid of Magni, and no one dared provoke him anymore. He seemed content to be left alone, which is why I was shocked when a few weeks later, he spoke to me for the first time.

  “Hey, you.”

  I was returning from the study hall to my dorm and saw Magni sitting on a bench alone. At first, I turned around to see if he was speaking to someone behind me, but no, Magni had spoken to me.

  I thought about telling him that sitting on the backrest with his feet planted on the seat of the bench wasn’t allowed, but I didn’t want to poke the bear, so I kept quiet.

  “What’s your deal?” he asked with a deep scowl on his face.

  Not wanting to be the next person to go down with a broken bone or a concussion, I took a small step back and held up both my palms. “I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Oh yeah? Then why the fuck do you keep provoking Mentor Johnson? I’ve been here for three weeks and you take more punishment than any of the other kids here.”

  My heart started racing and my palms grew moist. “Johnson is just an ass, that’s all.” I shrugged to make it seem like I didn’t care.

  Magni crossed his arms. “What are you, stupid?”

  “Yeah, something like that.” I backed away until I felt safe enough to turn my back on him. Then I ran as fast as I could, thinking my secret was safe. That was before I truly understood Magni’s observant nature, and how determined he would get, once he was onto something.

  CHAPTER 7

  Irony

  Athena

  I woke up to Finn making a deafening whistle that made me sit up straight, my hair in disarray, and my eyes popped wide open. “What happened?” I shrieked.

  His chuckle made it clear that the mill wasn’t on fire.

  “You have two seconds to untie me or you’ll have a wet bed,” he warned.

  “You could have just woken me up like a normal person,” I grunted, displeased.

  “Ah, yes, but where would the fun be in that?”

  With fumbling fingers, I started working on the first knot, while blinking and trying to wake up, but Finn only stressed me further by whispering: “Come on, Athena, hurry up.”

  Tired, and not thinking straight, I climbed over Finn to untie the second knot, but this time the knot wouldn’t give.

  “Oh wow, and here I thought that you didn’t like me,” Finn said in a sultry voice. “I guess I was wrong or you wouldn’t be rubbing your tits in my face, would you now?”

  My inner peacemaker was thrown off by his rude suggestion that I was coming on to him.

  “Just trying to save my mattress here,” I muttered and got the knot untied.

  “Right you are.” A slow smile grew on Finn’s face, and it provoked me. That’s why, when I pulled back, I timed my next sentence to give him the full impact of my bad morning breath. “You can untie your own feet, right?”

  When he wrinkled his nose, I suppressed my smile and got out of bed.

  “Breakfast is ready in ten minutes,” I said and walked downstairs, where Hans was already up and folding the blankets he’d slept with.

  “Did Finn’s whistle wake you up too?” I asked and yawned.

  “Yes, it was very loud.” he replied and gave me a sympathetic glance. “Did you get any sleep at all?”

  “Hard to believe, but, yes, I slept well.”

  “That’s great. I couldn’t sleep so I read a little.” He pointed to a book on the table. “I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed one of your books.”

  “Not at all.” Walking over, I picked it up and turned it around to see the cover. “Myths and Legends of the Past,” I read out loud. “Ah, one of my favorites.”

  “I’ve always been fascinated by the past,” Hans explained and piled the pillows and blankets neatly on the sofa.

  “Me too. It’s the mystery of lost knowledge, don’t you think?”

  “Uh-huh.” He yawned.

  “It’s not even six o’clock,” I said and washed my hands by the kitchen sink. “I don’t know about you but I need a cup of strong herbal tea to wake me up.”

  Hans smiled. “Sounds good. I just need to freshen up a little first.” While he walked to my downstairs bathroom, I began prepping for breakfast.

  Five minutes later Finn came down the stairs with his hair still wet.

  “The shower has a dryer function, I can show you how it works,” I offered.

  Shaking his head, he sat down at the round kitchen table, grabbed the cup I’d already poured for him, and took a large sip.

  “Are you okay?” I asked when he started coughing violently.

  “What kind of horrible coffee is this?” Finn sputtered and looked at me with blame-filled eyes.

  “It’s not coffee, it’s herbal tea with nettle, licorice, lemon, and a whiff of mint,” I explained.

  Finn shook his head with a look of disgust. “Please tell me you have coffee.”

  “Sorry, I don’t.”

  “And you call us primitive,” he muttered and sniffed at the tea.

  “What’s going on?” Hans asked when he came out from the bathroom with his blond hair pulled back in three symmetrical braids.

  “Athena gave me a witch brew to poison me.”

  Hans looked confused and took a seat opposite Finn.

  “Hey, Hansi, you’ve got something on your face there.” Finn was gesturing at his eyelashes.

  Hans’ hands flew up to his face. “What do you mean, did my make-up smear?”

  I looked over. “No, you’re fine.”

  Finn turned to me. “Wait a minute, are you saying he put on that purple shit on purpose?”

  “Yes, and it shouldn’t surprise you since Hans had make-up on yesterday as well.”

  “Huh.” Finn angled his head. “Na-huh, I’m sure I would have noticed.”

  I placed two bowls in front of the men and gave Hans a small smile. “Don’t mind Finn, he’s just messing with you for fun. I like your make-up.”

  Pulling out my chair, I sat down between them and dug into my bowl of sautéed kale, red onions, and red peppers.

  “And what is this?” Finn asked and held up a fork with crispy kale leaves on it.

  “A healthy and tasty breakfast that is also nutritious.” I took another forkful.

  Finn didn’t complain out loud, but his hesitation in eating was in sharp contrast to how I’d seen Finn wolf down his breakfast at home.

  “What?” I asked when he just sat there staring at his food.

  “Nothing, it just looks…ehm,” he trailed off

  “It’s just looks what?” I asked.

  “It looks absolutely delicious.” His mock smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  Hans was busy chewing, but after observing the scene between Finn and me, he leaned toward me and whispered. “I think Finn’s too polite to say that he doesn’t like it.”

  “Yes, that’s it, I’m way too polite.” Finn chuckled and pushed the bowl away.

&n
bsp; With his index finger pointing in Finn’s direction, Hans tilted his head. “That was another example of your special Nman irony, wasn’t it?”

  Finn answered with a genuine smile and it made Hans flash a grin as if he’d just passed a difficult quiz.

  “I’m getting the hang of it,” Hans praised himself and turned to me. “Once you understand how irony works, it’s not that hard. Finn is simply saying the opposite of what he means.” Hans was waving his index finger in the air and grinning. “It’s funny when you understand it. Let me try it out.”

  “This should be entertaining,” Finn said and leaned back with an expectant look at Hans, who was biting his lips in concentration.

  “Okay, how about this one,” he said and smiled a little before he looked straight at Finn. “I think you’re a very sweet man,” he said with laughter in his eyes.

  Finn frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Hans held up a hand and with eagerness he exclaimed, “No, wait, I’ve got a better one, how about…” He gave a pause before he delivered his best piece of irony. “I think Athena is a terrible cook and this breakfast is disgusting.”

  Finn nodded. “That’s right, you tell her, Hansi.”

  Hans smiled. “I’m good at irony, right?” He looked at me and with his hands gesturing in the air he asked me, “Did you see how I was really paying you a compliment there? You know, because irony is the opposite, get it?”

  “Uh-huh,” I said and took another forkful of my kale.

  “Do you want me to try another one?” Hans asked but Finn gave him a light smack on the shoulder.

  “No, it’s better to sprinkle sarcasm and irony a little at a time. You don’t want to give away your whole repertoire at once.”

  Hans nodded. “Okay, then I’ll save a little for later.”

  “Athena my dear, would you mind telling me what the plan for today is?” Finn asked.

  “You’re going to follow my instructions, just like I had to follow yours when I was your hostage.”

  “All right.” He crossed his arms. “And what are your instructions?”