Dark Deceit (19 page)

L
oki’s blood was
still pumping furiously through his veins, his euphoric high making his head
swim. He had taken two, and now he had taken a third. He had to make a big
enough statement to draw both Bryn and her Mare out into the open. He needed
them to come to him. Looking at the Valkyrie laid out on his bed, he knew she
would be the perfect bait.

Using a length of rope he’d bought from a hardware store, he bound
her wrists and ankles then left her on the bed to come around. He stepped into
the bathroom, stripping off his blood-stained clothes and getting under the
spray in the shower.

He grinned to himself. Two kills in one night plus a kidnapping.
Odin wouldn’t know what hit him. After washing away the gore, he stepped back
into the room and walked over to the ash box containing the Valkyrie’s feather
cloak. He was tempted to kill her right then and there, but he stayed his hand.
The bigger plan had been put into motion and he needed it to run smoothly.

Approaching the bed, he rifled through the woman’s pockets until he
found her phone. Thumbing through the recently dialed
numbers, he found the one he was looking for. Hitting the green button to call,
he held the device to his ear.

‘Hello?’ Brynhildr’s voice was cautious.

‘Brynhildr,’ he purred. ‘Remember me?’

There was silence on the other end for a heartbeat before her growled
response came. ‘Who is this? Why are you calling from Kristy’s phone?’

Loki laughed at her demands, brushing them aside. ‘I’m hurt you
don’t remember me, Bryn. I have not been around for a while, but was
recently...freed.’

A few beats of silence were interrupted by her hissed response.
‘Loki?’ 

‘Who else?’

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Loki took
delight in it. When Bryn finally spoke again, she sounded like she was ready to
strangle someone.

‘Where is she?’

Ignoring her question, he said, ‘I have killed four of your
Valkyries, Brynhildr. I would have had five if your Mare hadn’t stepped in.’
More silence. Loki glanced down at the blonde-haired beauty trussed up on his
bed like a suckling pig. She was still unconscious, her lush lips parted just a
little. Where the needle had gone in, there was a crust of dried blood on the
surface of her alabaster skin. ‘I do so wish to play with her,’ he teased,
enjoying how Bryn’s breathing increased in intensity. With a chuckle, he added,
‘She’s safe as long as you cooperate.’

‘What.Do.You.Want?’ She bit the words out.

So easy,
he thought. ‘You, Brynhildr.’

A low growl escaped, but the sound of it was more masculine, more
animalistic and Loki knew who was listening in. He laughed. ‘Have I ruffled a
few feathers?’ he asked in another purr.

The Mare’s voice resonated with menace through the phone—not the
blinding rage he had anticipated. ‘I’m going to tear you apart with my bare
hands. I’m going to—’ Loki interrupted him, not wishing to hear anymore
threats. ‘Got him leashed yet, Brynhildr?’ Loki mused. ‘Good. Now listen, and
listen well. I have a question for you.’

‘Why are you doing this?’ she spat.

‘How much do you value your life? Would you, oh I don’t know...give it
up for one of your Valkyries?’

A trickled growl accompanied her answer. ‘Yes.’

Loki smiled into the receiver. ‘Right answer. I propose a trade then.
Your life for this Valkyrie’s.’

‘No!’ boomed the Mare as Bryn whispered, ‘Deal,’ into the phone.
There was a loud crash in the background that faded quickly as if shut out from
behind a door. ‘When? How?’

He laughed again. ‘I’ll call again with the information you need.
Bye bye.’

Loki hung up the phone and pocketed it. Throwing his head back, he
laughed. He was going to get his revenge, and he would have done it by crushing
all of Odin’s beloved in the process.

All the parts of his plan were coming together, but there was still
one more blow to come for Odin.

* * *

B
ryn hit the end
call button and cursed. It had been Loki all along. She knew about what had
happened between him and Odin, of course. She’d been warned to stay away from
him, too. She could feel Korvain at her back and she spun around to face him,
suddenly remembering what Loki had called him. Backing up a few steps, she put
some distance between them. If what Loki had said was true, if he was a Mare,
she hadn’t just been fantasizing about fucking one of the most feared creatures
in all of the Nine Worlds, but also a creature that shouldn’t technically exist.

‘You aren’t going to him,’ Korvain snarled, his hands running over
his short, dark hair.

She glared at him. ‘You don’t get a say in this!’

He was suddenly in front of her, his hands fisted tightly at his
side. ‘You can’t stop me from fighting for you,’ he hissed. She looked up into
his dark eyes, seeing the shadows move around in his irises. The raw power
beating off his body called to a deep part of her. Hel, maybe it was just the
instincts all women were born with—find a strong male to protect you. She shook
her head, fighting the feelings that were developing for the male.

‘Is what he said true?’ She had to know. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you
were a Mare?’

His expression turned antagonistic. ‘Yeah, that would have gone down
real
well, wouldn’t it? Or have you forgotten there’s a kill on sight
order on any Mare found in the general population?’

‘That was a thousand years ago. There aren’t any Mares left—not
really. They’re too inbred with the light elves.’

He gave her a mocking look. ‘Thanks for the recap on the history of
my species. The only reason we were hunted is because
your
All-Father
decided he didn’t like us.’

‘No! The reason he hunted you was because you were hunting us!’

He got up in her face, so close she could feel his roiling rage.
‘All we wanted was our independence.’ The words trickled out from between his
clenched teeth, and Bryn took a step back from him. ‘So, now you know.’ He was
across the other side of the room, wearing holes in her carpet. Bryn’s hand
moved instinctively to her neck tattoo.

She should have killed him right there and then, but when she
thought about hurting him, her eyes inexplicably began to well with tears.
Those tears joined an unimaginable throb in the center of her chest. The
thought of hurting him...hurt her.

‘If you’re not going to kill me, you’re going to let me help you.
And I’m going to show you why.’

Before she could protest, he hit the light switch behind him,
plunging the immediate area into darkness. The only source of light they had
was from the hallway light which sent a soft golden strip through the kitchen.

‘Korvain, what are you doing?’ She could see him standing in front
of her, his wide shoulders and muscular chest backlit.

‘Proving something to you,’ he growled. And then just like that, he
was gone. Bryn blinked and looked around her living room.

‘Korvain?’ she asked, eyes still searching. She walked around the
living room, checking behind the couches even though that was a stupid thing to
do. ‘Where are you?’

Something hard and warm gripped her wrist and she was spun around so
quickly that she lost her footing. Another tight grip was formed on her other
wrist and panic bloomed. She thrashed against the invisible bonds, kicking out
her legs wildly, struggling to break free.

She looked over her shoulder toward the hallway. Eir had gone to bed
hours ago, but she could still scream for her help. Bryn opened her mouth, her
lungs filling with air when something was thrown over her mouth, too. A hand.

‘Shh.’ Korvain’s husky voice filled her ear. She could feel the heat
of his body against her cheek. She blinked and he was standing in front of her
again. Shadows seemed to be flowing off his shoulders like water, falling in
sheets from his body.

Her heart went from simply pounding to jackhammering in her chest.
He wasn’t
just
a Mare. He was a Walker—an honest to gods, legendary
Shadow Walker. They were believed to be completely wiped out under Odin’s
orders and under Bryn’s own golden blade.

Bryn licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. He released her arms
and she took a trembling step back. She’d thought he was dangerous before. Now
she knew better. He was lethal.

He was looking at her with such intensity—like he could see deep
down into her soul with those black as pitch eyes. ‘Still think I’m just a
Mare?’ His voice caused her to shiver. As it caressed her skin, she felt all
the sharp bits to it, like thousands of shards of crushed up glass decorated
his words.

She licked her lips again. ‘
Morier
,’ she whispered, fear
making her breath hitch, adrenalin dumping into her bloodstream.

He growled and Bryn’s heart kicked under her ribs, upping the tempo.
‘Are you scared of me now?’

She thought about that for a second. She was experiencing a reaction
that had been pummelled into her by Odin himself. During her time in his army,
she had killed Shadow Walkers under his order, not once stopping to think about
the reasons why. So was she afraid of Walkers? Yes. She had seen what they were
capable of, how ruthless they were when they killed. They were the trained
assassins that took out countless numbers of the Aesir in their fight for
independence.

But was she afraid of Korvain?

She shook her head slowly. ‘No.’

The snarl pushing past his bared teeth was frightening. ‘I’m a
Shadow Walker, Bryn. I’m also the last pure-blooded Mare in existence. I can
disappear like that,’ he snapped his fingers in front of her face. ‘I can get
inside your head, alter your perceptions, feed on your fears.’ He laughed; a
short, sharp sound. ‘I can even make you feel things you don’t want to feel.’
He stalked away from her, rolling his shoulders and neck as if working out a
kink.

When he finally turned back around, he pinned her in place with his
dark eyes. ‘I’m the guy you want on your team.’

She shook her head. ‘No. Kristy is my responsibility, nobody else’s.’

‘Dammit Bryn!’ he roared, crossing the room and taking her by the
upper arms. ‘Why won’t you let me help you?’

This close up, her nostrils were filled with his spicy scent. His
chest was heaving up and down, his lungs working like a bellows under his ribs.
She could see the points of his fangs from beneath his upper lip and her mind
instantly turned to sex. Closing her eyes, she turned her head away from him,
desperately trying to stop his scent permanently embedding in her memory.

‘Because this is my own battle,’ she murmured. ‘And I can handle
this on my own.’

E
ir rolled over
onto her back. As the last vestiges of sleep slipped free of her mind, she
tried to think what had woken her. She lay there for a moment, just listening
to Bryn’s apartment. It didn’t make noises like her house in Beacon Hill did.

She remembered hating the noises it made when she’d first moved in
back in the 1920s. Everything had changed for them so quickly that they were
all left floundering, scrambling to find themselves, to establish new lives.

Kara had been banished and Bryn had learned the awful truth about
her parents. Bryn had left Odin to care for Kara on Midgard with the humans,
and without her there to hold them all together, eventually they had all left
the All-Father.

Now they were starting to come back together. She sighed and rolled
over onto her side. She’d forgotten how good it felt to be with her sisters
again. She’d forgotten the peace she felt when she was with them.

Raised voices from the living room broke apart her silent thoughts.
Rolling off the mattress, she padded to the door and opened it just a little.
The hallway light was still on, blinding her for a moment before her eyes
adjusted.

‘You have to tell her,’ Korvain commanded. Eir could hear the anger
in his voice, but she could also hear his compassion. She wouldn’t have thought
a man like that knew what compassion was, but she suspected where Bryn was
concerned, he could have all the compassion in the world.

‘Don’t tell me what to do. I swore I’d protect them all,’ Bryn
hissed in reply.

‘She has a right to know. It’s her sister.’

‘By blood, yeah, but by circumstance she’s mine. Besides, Loki
doesn’t want Eir. He wants me.’ Eir could hear Bryn pacing, could see her
shadow tracking back and forth along the wall. Her shadow hand ploughed through
her hair.

Eir stumbled back from the doorway, the words bombarding her until
she tripped and fell in a heap on the floor. Her sister. Her sister had been
taken. By
Loki
. Her hand started to tremble and the nurse in her recognized
the effects of shock.

‘Fine! If you won’t tell her, I will.’ Korvain warned. There was a
rolling growl in his voice instantly making Eir’s heart beat faster in her
chest. It was her fight or flight reaction, and if she’d been face to face with
him, she would have chosen flight in a heartbeat.

‘No!’ Bryn yelled, closer this time. They were coming for her. Eir
couldn’t be found in the middle of her room. The idea of standing up was a
sound one—actually doing it was another story.

‘I don’t even know what you’re still doing here,
morier
,’
Bryn hissed. ‘I think you should leave.’

That same growl vibrated down the hall, leaving Eir looking for a
place to hide. ‘I’m not leaving, Cupcake, so get used to it.’

‘Cupcake? Who the
fuck
do you think you’re calling Cupcake?’
Eir felt the vibration of magic when Bryn drew her sword. ‘I suggest you get
out of here Korvain.’

‘Bryn, be reasonable,’ Korvain said in a deceptively soft voice.
‘Put your sword away so we can talk about this.’

‘Get. Out.’

‘You need me,’ he bit the words out.

She made a disgusted noise at the back of her throat. ‘Like a hole
in the head. Now get out of my apartment, out of my club, out of my life, or so
help me, I will tell Odin who and what you really are.’

Eir waited to see who would crumble first. The slamming front door
gave her the answer. She sat there shivering, digesting what she’d heard.
Korvain was a Walker. Bryn had called him
morier
. Now that she knew, she
wondered how she’d not seen it before.

Hushed footsteps began down the hallway. Eir looked for a way to
pull herself up when the door opened, spilling more and more light into her
darkened room.

‘Eir, are you alright?’ Bryn was already at her side. She could see
Bryn was shaking, her confrontation with Korvain still affecting her.

Eir blinked up at the other woman, her teeth chattering. ‘Korvain
i-i-is a W-walker?’ she managed to spit out.

Bryn frowned as she helped Eir to her feet. ‘You’re shivering. Why?’

Eir met the other Valkyrie’s gaze, letting her see the truth.

‘Gods, you overheard everything, didn’t you?’

Eir nodded. ‘G-g-going into sh-shock. Wish I c-could heal
m-m-myself,’ Eir replied, managing a shaky smile. Bryn took her elbow and led
her back to the bed. Gently, she folded Eir back under the sheets, motioning
for her to slide over a little.

To her amazement, Bryn slid in beside her, curling her body around
Eir’s to share the warmth.

‘I’m sorry you had to hear that,’ Bryn murmured after Eir’s body
stopped shaking.

‘Were you going to tell me?’

‘After I got Kristy back, yeah.’

‘But Korvain didn’t agree with you?’

‘Korvain,’ Bryn spat, stretching out onto her back. ‘Korvain lied to
me.’

‘How?’

Bryn picked at her nails, avoiding eye contact. ‘He just did. Just
like every other male in this world.’

* * *

B
ryn had needed
this. Eir was a healer; whether it was an active or a passive thing for her,
she was still a healer. Bryn’s soul just couldn’t take it anymore. Korvain had
lied about who he was, about what he was, about what he could do. And she had
fallen for it all.

Hel, she’d almost fallen for him.

Almost? No, she had gone past the point of no return.

She
had
fallen for him.

She now wanted to know if the dreams were real, or whether they were
simply engineered by him. They had felt real to her, and that was what scared
her. What if he had created those illusions? If he hadn’t have stopped them,
she would have given herself to him completely.

She blew out a frustrated breath. ‘Lies are what brought us here to
the human realm.’

Eir nodded against the pillow. Her pale hair was loose, and with each
movement, the smell of her cinnamon shampoo got stronger.

‘I remember.’

‘Yeah,’ Bryn replied bitterly. ‘So do I.’

Bryn had been
with Odin for nearly a year. Every day, she had begged him to go see her
parents. And every day, he had denied her.

‘Do you remember the oath you took, Brynhildr?’ he asked, looking
stern—looking like her father would have.

Bryn let out a sigh. ‘Obey you in everything.’

He nodded. ‘I don’t want you to go and see your parents.’

‘Why not? I want to see Mother and Father again. I miss them.’

Odin cupped her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. The pale
green one was compassionate. The black obsidian was not. It still made her
uncomfortable to look upon it.

‘Although only a year has passed for you here, ten have passed in
the human realm. Your parents have passed away. They are with Hel now.’

Angrily, she shook her head. ‘No! You lie. That cannot be true. It
has only been a year!’

Odin looked affronted. ‘You don’t believe me, your All-Father?’

‘No!’ she cried. ‘I won’t believe it until I see it with my own
eyes.’

The air began to crackle and spark. Bryn rubbed her arms, her eyes
still not leaving Odin’s face.

‘Willful girl,’ he boomed. ‘You won’t rest until you see it for
yourself, will you?’

Angrily she shook her head.

‘Fine!’ he replied, throwing his hands up. ‘I will take you down to
the humans for an hour and you will see for yourself I have not lied.’

Odin had taken Bryn down to her old village, and she had hardly recognized
it. The port was in the same place, but everything looked weathered and dull.
The grass that had grown close to shore was dead and brown. Even the houses
looked like they felt the weight of the years. According to Odin, ten years had
passed, but it seemed as if more time had disappeared.

Odin followed at her heel, shadowing her every move. At first it
didn’t bother her, but as they moved closer to her old house, she felt unsteady
with having him at her back. She turned to him.

‘Odin, can I have a minute alone, please?’

He studied her face for a long time before bowing and retreating a
few steps to give her the space she so desperately craved. Bryn walked the rest
of the way up her old street until she was face to face with the house she’d
grown up in.

She couldn’t believe her parents were gone until she saw it for
herself. Raising her fist, she knocked on the door. When it opened, a young
woman Bryn recognized from the village stood there. Her belly was swollen with
child, her hand resting protectively against the new life.

She frowned at Bryn. ‘Can I help you?’

Bryn knew this woman...at least she thought she knew this woman.
‘Ingrid?’

The woman leaned forward to look at Bryn’s face more closely.
Recognition lit up her blue eyes. ‘Brynhildr?’

‘Bryn,’ she corrected. ‘Did my parents rent out my old room to you?’
she asked, looking over the other woman’s shoulder and into the house.

‘No, Bryn, they didn’t.’

Bryn looked at the other woman again and laughed. ‘Well, where are
they then?’

Ingrid turned around when someone spoke behind her. She stepped out
of the way and Davin, the boy she used to have a crush on, filled the doorway.
His broad shoulders filled the space now, his forearms and biceps thick with
muscle. No doubt he was a fisherman now, too.

‘Davin, where are my parents?’ she asked, getting a sinking feeling
down low in her stomach. Davin stared at her with pity in his eyes.

‘Brynhildr—’ he began.

‘Bryn,’ she replied out of habit. She had stopped going by Brynhildr
when Odin started using it to discipline her.

‘Bryn, your parents are dead.’

Bryn heard the words, watched them fall from Davin’s mouth, yet she
couldn’t believe them for herself. Her head began to shake furiously, a tear
escaping her eyes.

‘No,’ she whispered.

‘Bryn, they were killed after you were taken away. I saw it happen.
A man with one black glass eye came to their house in the middle of the night
with two wolves. He set the beasts on them both.’

More tears. They burned as they rolled down her cheeks. But still
she refused to believe the words. ‘No.’

‘I saw it myself. I was coming home from the tavern when I heard
their screams. The wolves dragged their bodies out into the street for everyone
to see in the morning. It was a message from the gods.’

Bryn noticed Davin’s hand went to the stone attached to a leather
thong around his neck. The rune for protection was carved into it.

‘We began to make more sacrifices to them, to appease them. We
didn’t want any other people in the village killed. I heard about a year
afterwards, some other families in the next few villages were also made examples
of. Each time, a man and a woman were killed and their bodies were left out for
the village to see. It only happened to the ones whose daughters had left the
house unmarried.

‘Everyone was scared—they still are. Now, daughters are not allowed
to leave the house until they are married, and even then some parents don’t let
their daughters leave until they are with child. They know the gods would not
strike down a woman carrying a new life.’

Bryn stumbled away from the doorway, bile burning up her throat. It
sickened her to know that Odin had killed her parents, and probably the parents
of every other Valkyrie he had brought into the fold.

She vomited up the contents of her stomach in front of her parent’s
house before running. Odin caught her—of course—and demanded to know what was
wrong. She told him everything and he didn’t deny it.

‘Why?’ she cried. ‘Why would you do that?’

‘I am your father now and you are a goddess. Those people were only
humans.’

Bryn shook off the
memories with a shudder. Even after all these years, she hadn’t forgiven Odin
for the part he had played in destroying her life. And she knew deep down in
her heart that she would never be able to forgive him either.

Not ever.