Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances

by T. M. Franklin

He released my wrist and dropped his hand back to his side. “Proceed.”

  Was he serious? He simply stared at me as if in answer. My hand was trembling now and no matter how much I tried to stop it or will it to be solid, it wouldn’t. I pressed my fingertips to his forehead and slide them backwards, pushing the hair behind his ear. My heart was pounding loudly within my chest and I was sure he could hear it. I started to move my hand away, but he grabbed my wrist again and pulled me forward until I was sitting in his lap and his lips were on mine. I gasped in shock and he kissed me harder. His fingers became entwined in my hair and my entire body felt as though it were on fire. He leaned back, lifted my hand to his face and leaned his face against my palm. “Where have you been, Alys?”

  “At Himinbjörg,” I managed to answer as my heart tried its hardest to break out of my chest.

  His eyes bore into mine as he asked, “What did you discuss with Heimdall?”

  I had to stop touching him. I had to get away from him. “N-nothing,” I stuttered as I threw myself out of his lap and to the floor. As embarrassing as the move was, it had been necessary. I stood back up and sat in the chair across the table from him before taking a bread roll from the basket I noticed on the table. He must have brought it with him for me since I hadn’t eaten.

  “What did you discuss with him?” he asked me again, as though I hadn’t heard him the first time.

  “It’s a private discussion that I don’t need to tell you about,” I snapped. I was doing this for them. Why couldn’t he see that? Why couldn’t he understand that I needed to set the balance right?

  He leaned forward menacingly, his eyes glowing with fury. “If you try to leave Asgard, I will hunt you down across the nine worlds,” he told me with such seriousness that I almost forgot to chew the bread in my mouth.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Today at least.

  “That promise stretches for your entire lifetime and beyond,” he told me.

  He had never made such intense proclamations towards me before. It was a promise that showed more than anything else could just how much I meant to him. It was also confirmation that I needed to leave soon to right the balance or it might never be restored. “Your devotion terrifies me,” I admitted to him.

  He smirked at me and said, “Good.”

  I took a piece of meat from the basket and before I could ask, he took it from me, created a small flame to heat it, and then put it on a plate for me. “Thank you,” I whispered before eating it.

  “You’re most welcome.”

  I finished eating and stared at the center of the table in front of me. “Loki,” I whispered.

  “Yes?”

  I shook my head and stood up. I couldn’t ask him that. I couldn’t even hint that I was planning to leave in the future. I turned to face my fireplace and rubbed my hands together in front of the flames. “Thank you for being such a good friend to me.”

  I heard the chair scoot across the ground and then his warm arms encircled me and he rested his chin on my shoulder to whisper into my ear, “You are the one who should be thanked for their friendship. If it weren’t for you, I fear the darkness that stirs in my breast would have long since taken over.”

  Darkness? What was he talking about? I turned around and placed my hand on the center of his chest. “Loki…”

  He rested his hand on top of mine and pressed it harder into his chest. “Every time I am with you, the darkness is suppressed a bit more by the light your presence brings.”

  The room disappeared and I saw a well with light at the top and a swirling, inky darkness below, churning and writhing as it attempted to escape. It seemed endless and powerful beyond anything I had ever encountered. The darkness tried to push past the light, but it could not break through. I blinked and could see Loki again. “Does it hurt?” I asked him breathlessly.

  “Your absence hurts far more than suppressing that darkness and dealing with its attempted escape.” Slowly he leaned forward and kissed my lips tenderly. “You are my light, Alys, and without you I would be lost to that darkness.”

  Damn him. Damn him! He had to be lying. It had to be a trick. It was just a way for him to try to convince me to stay.

  “Loki, I…”

  He put his finger to my lips and said, “It is late and you have another visitor coming. I shall take my leave.”

  Another visitor?

  “Will you dine with me tomorrow morning?” he asked. “You did stand me up twice now.”

  I blushed and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  “Dine with me tomorrow for breakfast and all shall be forgiven.”

  “Okay,” I said and nodded my head. It was the least I could do.

  He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and kissed my cheek. “I shall count the hours until we meet again.”

  Someone knocked on my door and when I looked towards it, Loki disappeared. “Who is it?” I asked breathlessly.

  “Thor,” he said in his deep, sexy voice.

  I took a few breaths to try to calm myself and stop the blush that was present before opening the door and smiling at the God of Thunder. “Good evening,” I greeted him.

  “May I come in?” he requested, always the gentleman.

  I opened my door farther and nodded my head. He walked inside and stood in front of the fireplace with his muscles clenched in his back. I shut my door and watched him in silence a moment. “How can I help you?” I asked him.

  Before I could blink, he was in front of me and kissing me. His kiss was fiery and passionate and fierce. It was exactly like he was. When he pulled back, he whispered, “That was what I had intended to do at the stream.”

  My head was still spinning from the kiss as I cleared my throat and tried to speak. “Uh, um, wow.”

  He smiled and kissed me slowly. “I tried to find you after you left, but I couldn’t locate you.”

  “I went to Himinbjörg,” I told him instead of trying to hide it from him.

  His eyes widened and then he glared down at me. “No, you cannot go to Midgard. It is out of the question! Sif is just an angry and bitter girl…”

  I put my hand on his cheek and kissed him to get him to stop talking. It worked and continued to work for several minutes beyond. “This is not what I expected to happen when you came in,” I admitted to him.

  “It is long overdue,” he told me and kissed me again.

  I felt bad for kissing him and Loki on the same day and just minutes apart, but I wasn’t in a committed relationship to either. Truly, I wasn’t in a relationship at all. That meant it was alright, didn’t it? I hoped so. I still felt bad, but a larger part of me was gloating.

  “I should leave,” Thor whispered sadly. “It’s late.”

  “It is late,” I agreed.

  He lifted me up and kissed me fiercely, making my head spin and my heart race. “Meet me for breakfast?” he asked.

  “I can’t,” I whispered without explaining why and prayed to anyone who was listening that he didn’t ask me for one.

  “Lunch, then.”

  Phew. I nodded my head. “Okay.”

  He set me down and kissed my cheek with a butterfly kiss. “Good night, Alys.”

  “Good night, Thor.”

  I waited until he closed the door to throw myself onto my bed and sigh happily. Even if I left tomorrow, tonight made me the happiest mortal in all of the nine worlds.

  3

  I practically skipped on my way to Loki’s place for breakfast, the memory of the two gods visiting me the night before still very present in my mind.

  “You seem in a good mood today,” Odin commented as he appeared to walk beside me.

  “I am. How are you today, All Father?” I asked him with a wide smile.

  “For the most part, I am well. There hasn’t been war recently between the worlds, which is a blessing in itself. My family is healthy and happy. And you are growing into a very fine woman.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to him since I was planning to
leave and somehow I think he knew that.

  “But the only negative is that there is a rumor you were discussing leaving Midgard with Heimdall.”

  Damn that gold-toothed god!

  “It would seem you aren’t happy like I thought you were,” Odin continued. “And that makes me very sad.”

  “I am happy here,” I told him with all the truthfulness I felt at that statement. Aside from realizing that I was ruining the balance here, I was happy.

  “What can I do to make you even happier?” he asked me.

  Create a duplicate of Loki and Thor so I don’t have to ruin the balance of the Aesir? Ha! That was a wish!

  I turned and smiled brightly at him. “I am happy, Odin, I swear it. There is nothing that I need here.”

  “What do you want?”

  “A Pegasus?” I asked with a smirk.

  “I made one once and it was an angry beast,” he admitted.

  I laughed and hugged him, leaning my head against his massive chest. “I want nothing. You have given me everything that I could have ever hoped for and beyond. I am the luckiest mortal in all the realms.”

  “Would you be happier if I brought a mortal here for you?” he asked softly.

  I jerked back from him in shock. What was he talking about?! That could ruin the balance even more! “No!” I practically screamed. What would happen to Asgard if he did such a thing?

  “There are many on Midgard who would kill for a chance to live here,” he told me, “and I’m sure I could find one fitting to your personality and your physical appearance type.”

  What in Asgard was he talking about? “No, thank you. I don’t think adding another mortal to this realm would be a good idea. Besides, even if they fit as you said, they might not like me.”

  “I think you would be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn’t like you,” he said with a smirk.

  “I appreciate the offer, sincerely, but I must decline.”

  “Very well,” he said with a sigh.

  After bowing to him and wishing him a good day I hurried on my way to Loki’s. He was sitting outside of his house when I arrived and smiled when I walked up to him. “Good morning,” he greeted me warmly.

  “Good morning.”

  He pushed open the door to his house and I entered without hesitation. He shut the door and then pinned me to it to kiss me. “I was worried you had forgotten about me again,” he whispered and then kissed my cheek as he ran his fingertips down my throat.

  “Only a fool forgets about the Trickster God,” I teased him with a smirk.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” he whispered and then kissed the left side of my neck. “I have a lot of different foods for you here,” he said and kissed the right side of my neck.

  “I’m famished,” I said and slipped from between him and the door to find his table covered in plates of strange foods. “What is all of this?”

  “These are foods from Midgard,” he informed me. “These are different things they eat for breakfast.”

  “How did you get these?” I asked and walked around the table to survey all of the foods. They were all so different and the smells were very different.

  He smirked at me and said, “Don’t worry about that, and just enjoy yourself.”

  “I don’t know where to start,” I whispered in shock.

  He picked up a round bread-looking pastry with brown and white sticky stuff spread on the top. “This is called a cinnamon roll,” he explained. “Here, take a bite.”

  He held out the roll and I took a small bite from it. It was very sweet and delicious! “That’s so good!” I exclaimed.

  He smiled happily, obviously pleased with my reaction and pulled out a chair for me to sit on. “Try this next,” he said as he picked up a plate with a strange squishy-looking substance. “These are scrambled eggs.”

  Over the next hour I tried all of the foods he had obtained while we laughed and joked about our various reactions to the foods. Most were good, but some were strange and not something I would eat again in the future.

  “I’m too full to eat another bite,” I told him as I held my stomach.

  He popped a fruit called a strawberry into his mouth and chewed on it while looking pleased with himself. “Was this a satisfying meal?”

  “It was incredible and I really appreciate all of the effort you went to for me. Thank you, Loki.” It was a very kind gesture and even if he wouldn’t tell me how he had obtained all of this food, I knew it had taken him a while and a lot of planning.

  “You’re very welcome.”

  I closed my eyes as I relaxed and exhaled a loud and long happy sigh. If every day was like this, I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to force myself away from Asgard. My eyes flew open and I looked at Loki in shock. Was that why he had done it? Was he trying to convince me to stay here? Was he trying to make it hard for me to leave?

  He was looking up at the ceiling with a deep frown on his face as though troubled by something. What went through the head of a god, especially one like him?

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him softly, completely forgetting my anger towards him.

  He looked down, his eyes catching mine and he said, “Trouble is brewing and I’m afraid you might get caught up in it.”

  “What kind of trouble?” I asked softly. The gods were almost always fighting and the nine worlds were notorious for not getting along. That was why Odin had been happy about there being peace recently.

  He stood up from his chair, walked around the table to stand beside me, and then knelt down next to me. “You need not be afraid,” he told me softly. “I will do everything that I can to protect you.”

  “I’m not afraid for me,” I told him honestly. Even being gods, it was possible for them to be killed.

  He smirked and lifted my hand from my lap to rest it on his cheek. “It is very difficult for others to kill us,” he told me. “You should worry more about yourself and less about us.”

  “Loki, what’s happening?” I asked again. Just one touch from him and my heart was racing.

  “War is starting,” he whispered, “and I do not want you to be involved.”

  “Because I’m mortal?” I guessed. I knew very well that I wasn’t as strong as them and it was much easier to kill me.

  “Because I care about you,” he whispered and then leaned up and kissed me tenderly. There was that sweet man again, the one the others never saw. Why couldn’t he show them this side of himself? I knew if he showed them this side of himself that they would view him differently.

  “Loki,” I whispered, “Asgard is unbalanced as it is. What will war do to it now?”

  He stood up angrily, turning his back to me. “You leaving us would only unbalance us more.”

  “Or it could give you the balance you need to ensure your survival,” I whispered without looking at him.

  “Do you think so little of the Aesir?” he asked me with venom in his voice, the voice he usually reserved for the other gods.

  “You know that isn’t it, Loki.” I stood up, ready to leave and avoid this stupid fight.

  He grabbed my arm and jerked me so that I spun around and faced him. “I won’t let you leave,” he growled in my face. “You wouldn’t survive down there.”

  I jerked my arm back from him and said, “You don’t get to order me around. I can do what I want, when I want. And I will survive wherever I go.”

  “Is this because of us?” he asked me softly, his harsh face still on despite the softness of that question.

  “What do you mean?” I asked him.

  “Are you trying to leave because of my advancements and my displays of affection to you?” he asked quietly, like he was afraid of someone overhearing.

  I lifted my hand slowly until it rested against his cheek and said, “Not in the slightest.”

  “Then why do you want to leave me so badly?” he asked, leaning into my hand.

  I felt tears building in my eyes and I took a shaky breath before say
ing, “I don’t want to leave you or Asgard.”

  “Then don’t,” he whispered before kissing me roughly.

  As much as I enjoyed his kiss and the thought that I could stay and be his wife, I knew that I couldn’t remain here. It was going to hurt, a lot, but I had to leave Asgard within the next year. I stood in his arms for a while longer and then left with one more kiss. He watched me leave with a deep frown upon his face, furrowing his eyebrows deeper than I had ever seen before. I walked through the tall grass field, letting my hand drape behind me and the grass whisper along my palm as I began plotting my move. I walked to the arena where everyone learned to fight and practiced each day. Despite being terrible and not able to keep up with anyone, I still liked to learn and practice. I stepped into the arena and was beyond shocked to discover that it was empty. Normally there were at least two people here at any given time, even well into the night. What was happening? Where was everyone?

  My worry grew and so I made my way to the castle and to the council chamber where everyone would gather for battle strategies and preparations. Thankfully, the door was open so I could peek in without alerting everyone to my presence, even though Odin knew I was there immediately thanks to his powers. I peeked in and saw a table with the nine worlds drawn upon it and little carved figures of the different races placed on the worlds. Odin stood at the side of the table, scowling down at the figures and listening to Loki speaking to him. How had Loki gathered them so quickly and begun this serious topic? Had I been daydreaming so much that I had lost track of time as I went to the arena? At the far end of the room I could see Jord and several other gods and goddesses sitting in chairs in front of windows as they listened to Loki as well.

  What was going on? Was he discussing the upcoming war with them? Was it that serious? I thought he meant sometime in the future, not now.

  “If we don’t act soon, they will launch their attack and the people of Alfheim might not survive,” Loki told Odin.

  “Alfheim isn’t without its own army,” Thor countered.

  “Their army isn’t strong enough to stand against the Dark Elves,” Loki insisted.

  “And even if Alfheim is destroyed, what does that mean for us?” Sif asked. “Why should we care if they are destroyed?”