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STEEL MET STEEL AND my muscles protested. I fell on my ass hard enough for my teeth to cut into my tongue, coating my mouth with an iron tang.
“Again,” my uncompromising keeper snapped.
“What do you mean, do it again?” I snarled. Reyfyre tortured me daily, pushing me beyond my limits until I was a shaking pile of skin and bone. But at least the bastard was easy on the eyes. He was a mountain of a man, with the refined, sensual features of the fae and the viciousness of the wraiths all wrapped into this luscious package. Too bad there was very little true trust between us.
“Lift your sword and try again.” His voice was calm, but his eyes blazed.
I should be grateful, but I was in pain most days, so sparring in the woods with Reyfyre wasn’t my idea of fun. I would rather sit in front of what he called television and watch what was happening in other people’s lives.
Reyfyre called them soap operas, but they were addicting, and the people on the screen appeared so real. Their stories were so tragically intertwined that watching days on end wasn’t enough to satisfy my cravings. He told me they were actors like those who used to act in plays in the old days.
Logically, I got his argument, but I’d been transplanted from ancient Greece to this modern world that surpassed Asgard in most of its conveniences and innovations. My mind could not wrap around all that surrounded me, but I was very thankful for the wonders of working plumbing.
The thing that burned the most: even without Hippocrates, the medical field he had once been a pinnacle of thrived. So, killing him had been all for naught as far as I could see.
I lifted my sword again and charged Reyfyre, but he was faster, parrying my strike, stepping aside, and letting me fall on my face. Again. This was so different than sparring on Asgard had been. In those days so long ago, I had been the ferocious one, but now I was the weaker soldier. The one cursing my sparring partner.
I was sure this torture was delighting the wraith side of the man, but right now, all I wanted to do was curl up and nurse my wounds. I used to be the fiercest Valkyrie. Now, I was just a shadow of my former self, and it stung.
Reyfyre glanced at his watch. “You need food.” He sent our swords back to the cloakroom in his house with a wave of his hand, and then helped me to my feet. His scan of me made me shift under his scrutiny. “You are gaining muscle, but not fast enough.”
“At least I can walk and hold a sword now.” I steadied myself next to him on legs that felt like rubber.
We followed the well-beaten path through the woods; our feet crunched over sticks and leaves from the prior fall. Perpetual spring brought forth a bounty of flowers and berries, along with raging streams cutting through Reyfyre’s property. Although the time I had spent healing and training here had nurtured my fury to the point of a finely honed knife.
Every time I saw Odin or Thor on television while I was healing and gaining strength, I wanted to tear through the screen and deliver justice. In that respect, Reyfyre and I were alike.
The only thing that had not revived with sustenance were my wings. I think they just deteriorated over the centuries from lack of use. I had seen my feathers fall out in that cave, and watched as the wind swept them away. But I couldn’t even bring the bones to the surface. It was as if the rot of time ate them.
It was just another reason for my hatred of Odin and Thor to fester.
As we entered the rustic-looking log cabin in the remote Canadian landscape, Reyfyre dropped to the overstuffed couch and flipped on the television with a wave of his hand. His magic fueled this place as much as the solar panels. I had no idea how the satellite dish on the roof worked, but Reyfyre said it brought us television reception, which was important, because we needed to know the moment they discovered the cave where they had chained me was empty.
I would have thought they’d know the minute Reyfyre broke through Odin’s magic, but no mention of it had come across the broadcasting channels. Reyfyre had also altered my hair with both magic and dye. I felt like a walking rainbow and it reminded me of the Bifrost. After the first few days of shock and indignation, I had grown used to it. I’d even dare to say the look was sexy on me, but I’d never admit that to Reyfyre.
Not only was Reyfyre training me to get back into shape, but he was also teaching me basic magic spells. I had already learned to light the fireplace with a spell. So, I had the basics of fire casting down, which was handy when matches were soggy from being dropped in the stream. I learned how to illuminate a dark space, too, but that was the extent of my magical showcase. I wished I could retrieve things like he could. Or stow them away like he had with our swords, but he said that wasn’t spell work. That was an inherent magic that the fae held. And like all things fae or wraith, he did not delve into it further. Even when I battered him with questions.
The screen caught my attention, and I blinked as the press gathered around what used to be the United States presidential address podium, according to Reyfyre. The White House gleamed in the background as an empty podium sat in the center of the screen. The United States emblem had been replaced by Odin’s knot overlaying Vegvisir. It was an abomination.
Reyfyre straightened and emitted a low growl, baring his teeth at the television. That was his usual reaction to anything Odin-related.
He wasn’t alone in his reaction. Seeing Odin made me seethe. His sentence for my imprisonment had been born of cruelty and not justice. He was not a sovereign. He was a monster in disguise.
But Thor was another story. Every time he appeared on television, I froze, with my heart fluttering with fear. It overrode my common sense, and I couldn’t shake it. Whenever I saw Thor, my mind snapped back to that gleeful gleam in his eyes while he raked his blade across a nearly dead Hippocrates’s throat. Hippocrates’s death hit me all over again, as if it were fresh and not thousands of years gone by. I hated Thor with a vengeance that left me trembling.
Reyfyre’s hand grasped my knee, grounding me in the here and now instead of the past. He knew what seeing them did to me. He had seen it countless times since he rescued me. His grip was unrelenting and bordered on pain as his own fury coursed through his body. I covered his hand and squeezed my thanks for his support.
Thor’s jaw was tight enough to see the muscles in his neck stand out. His lips were nonexistent and the hushed whispers beyond the camera silenced. His hammer was clenched in his hand, as if he might just send everyone in the near vicinity to Valhalla in one swing. This display of anger was new. It was as if someone had stolen his puppy and they were going to pay dearly for their transgression.
Odin wasn’t any more settling as he stepped into camera view. His eyes were infernos of fury. His nostrils flared as he stepped close to the microphone and when he spoke, chills gripped me.
“A very dangerous adversary has been unleashed from her dungeon.” He glanced directly at the camera. “A dungeon that was never meant to be opened.”
Odin’s growl made me sink deeper into the back of the couch. Unless they had someone else hidden away here on Earth, he was referring to me. Now I understood Thor’s feral demeanor. When I had begged for Hippocrates and fallen on my knees for him, Thor had been livid enough to beat Hippocrates to within a hair’s breadth of death. Then he had done what I failed to do. He killed Hippocrates, bathing me in his blood. That sadistic bastard wanted to ensure I suffered, and it had nothing to do with disobeying an order.
Reyfyre glanced at me and then back at the television. “Thor looks a little put out by all this.”
I snorted at Reyfyre. “I was the only Valkyrie who didn’t sleep with him. It was his mission to punish me for my lack of interest.”
A twisted smile surfaced on Reyfyre’s lips. “I knew I liked you for a reason.” His grip on my leg tightened a fraction as he glanced back at the television. “But they’re a little slow on the uptake.” He sneered at the television. “I’ve been nursing you back to health for over nine months and they’ve only discovered this now?”
“The bastard finally decided to kill me,” I whispered and then gnashed my teeth. “He waited long enough.”
A painting of me from our early days on Asgard when battles frequently raged appeared on screen. One with my black wings on full display and my armor and sword dripping in blood. I glanced toward a mirror on the side wall. I looked nothing like the Valkyrie warrior displayed on television, and I smiled at my reflection.
“A traitorous Valkyrie is on the loose here on Earth. Do not approach her. If you see her, please contact the number on the screen with the location and we will take care of it.” Odin’s glare was enough to let the audience know exactly what “taking care of it” meant. Hell, from what Reyfyre had said, they had already publicly executed anyone who could wage a fight.
“We also are looking for a witch strong enough to break through the ancient barrier that was set around this traitor. Someone strong enough to climb down a mountain carrying another.”
Reyfyre snorted a laugh. “They think a witch could get through that barrier?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “No witch alive could compromise Odin’s magic.” He glanced at me. “They aren’t the brightest bulbs, are they?”
“Do not underestimate them.” I stared at the television as some of the information Reyfyre had given me over the last nine months settled into my bones. “We are the last of our kinds.”
His sharp laugh subsided. “Yes, Kara. We are the last of the resistance. We are the only ones strong enough to wage war.” He returned his glare to the television. “But only if we work together.”
I turned my attention fully to him. “Neither of us can survive Thor’s hammer.”
“Want to bet?”
His venom and audacity shocked me. “No enemy of Asgard can survive Thor’s hammer. It is even written in verse on the side of the damn weapon. It’s why we as Valkyrie weren’t wiped out whenever Thor used it. We weren’t an adversary of Asgard. We protected Asgard. But now...now I want to do harm to both Odin and Thor. The hammer would see me as a foe, and a wraith certainly qualifies as an enemy of Asgard.” I waved at him, glaring at him as if he had lost his mind.
“Ah. But this is not Asgard.”
The sly smile on Reyfyre’s face chilled me even more than Odin’s glare.
“According to the podium, this is the new Asgard.” I pointed to Odin’s seal.
Reyfyre’s smile faded. “But you as a Valkyrie protect the people of Asgard, correct?” He cocked his head as he spoke, reminding me of a confused puppy.
“Yes. That is true.” I still didn’t get what he was trying to insinuate.
“Then the hammer will not harm you.”
Ah. The bulb blinked on in my mind. I saw what he was getting at. It targeted enemies of the people. And our goal was not to enslave humanity, like Odin and Thor. We were champions trying to free the masses from tyranny.
“But Thor and Odin can hurt us.” I stared at the two monsters who needed to be put down.