Thankfully, the lokis were gone when I exited Pele’s office. Gods only knew what type of havoc they were creating around town, but that wasn’t my problem.
“Sigrun!” a cheery voice called from the bar.
“Hello, Zareen,” I greeted the daemon as I sat on one of the available stools.
“One sec!” She slid a pint of brown ale in front of me before scurrying through the double doors that led to the kitchen.
I huffed a laugh as I took a deep drink and enjoyed the smooth, almost nutty flavor. It was probably sacrilege for me to think the daemons brewed better ale than anyone in Yggradsil, but in for a penny…
The kitchen doors swung open, and Zareen practically pranced out.
I still found Zareen’s fearsome appearance amusing considering her sunny personality.
While Pele and Asmodeus had this otherworldly beauty to them with their rich, red-toned skin and vibrant turquoise eyes.
Meanwhile, Zareen looked like something from your nightmares.
Her red skin was several shades lighter, and it contrasted sharply with her inky black hair and solid black eyes. The ram horns that spiraled out of her unruly curls only added to her demonic image.
I’d learned not to judge people based on their appearance, but even I had been slightly taken aback the first time I’d seen Zareen.
But Zareen’s terrifying appearance fell apart as soon as she spoke and you realized that it was hard to find a kinder person than her. Or one who could bake such good pies.
“Pumpkin?” I asked hopefully as she placed a large piece of pie onto the bar.
“It is,” she replied with a grin. “Kaysea requested it yesterday, and I managed to save you a piece before she devoured it.”
“Can’t say I blame her.” I snatched up a fork and took a huge bite.
A moan slipped from my lips, drawing attention from a few locals who were also seated at the bar. Their eyes flicked down to the pie, and they snickered.
Anyone who came here often knew of Zareen and her magical desserts.
Zareen set about tending the bar while I scarfed down the pie. It didn’t take me long. In less than a minute, I was looking forlornly at the empty plate.
“I’ll make more soon, I promise.” She planted her elbows on the bartop and studied me. “Haven’t seen much of you lately.”
“Been playing spy for Pele.” I took another sip of ale with a shrug. “I’ll be around more going forward. Just have one last thing to take care of.”
Worried creases formed at the corners of her eyes. “Anything I can help with?”
I smiled at her. Despite looking like a hellish nightmare, Zareen wasn’t much of a fighter. But between her employment with Pele and her growing relationship with Kaysea, she was very much a part of our circle.
“Honestly, that pie was just what I needed, and I didn’t even know it,” I said truthfully. “The last twenty-four hours have been… rough. I was overdue for something sweet. Thank you.”
“Any time.” Her eyes flicked over my shoulder, and I twisted on the stool to see Nemain stroll into the bar. “I’ll be at the apartment tomorrow,” Zareen said, and I turned back to face her. “I’ll drop a pie off on the second floor so Bryn can keep it safe for you.”
With that, she winked and moved further down the bar to check on the other patrons.
I huffed a laugh under my breath. The vampire brats lived on the first floor, and any food that entered their apartment vanished within seconds.
Food wasn’t that much safer on Nemain’s floor because that shifter inhaled food almost as quickly.
Zareen plopped down two more beers in front of me while chatting away with the daemons who had settled in next to me.
I grabbed the drinks, a brown ale for me and something that smelled super hoppy and bitter for Nemain, and headed to where the shifter was waiting for me at our usual table in the back corner of the tavern.
My pace slowed a little as I approached. She looked… tired.
“Oh thank fuck.” Nemain snatched the beer out of my hand and drank half of it down in a few gulps.
“Things went that badly in the dragon realm?” I arched an eyebrow as I took a seat across from her.
“Do things ever go well for us?” She shrugged and took another drink. “All things considered, it actually did go pretty well. We confirmed that some of the dragons are indeed working for Balor.
“Pele suspects that he’s courting species that are powerful and have a chip on their shoulder to use against the fae queens. It makes sense; he only has so many warriors outside of his realm. But we still don’t know what exactly he wants to do with them, so it’s hard to plan for that.”
“Maybe the information I collected in the seraphim realm will be helpful.” My brows furrowed together. “The seraphim are also definitely working for Balor. Which means he’s got dragons, seraphs, vampires, and warlocks. Not ideal.” I grimaced.
Nemain smirked. “Well, we did take out a chunk of the bad dragons on our way out. “Probably only put a dent in their numbers, but they’ll be dealing with a power vacuum while they sort out leadership. Maybe they’ll do us a favor and kill off a few more while they figure it out.”
“I’ve never fought a dragon before. Could be fun,” I said in a bemused tone.
“Have at it, my friend.” She absently rubbed her forearms that were covered by the leather jacket she was sporting. “I’ve had my fill for a while.”
“In that case, how do you feel about helping me hunt down a dark seidr practitioner?”
Nemain immediately perked up. “Pele found where Gullveig is hiding out?”
“Asmodeus actually, but yes, we have a location.” I reached for my beer and wrapped my hand around pint glass but didn’t raise it.
Part of me was definitely eager to get this over and done with, but similar to how I felt after we left the valkyrie stronghold, I recognized that this was another step towards putting my past behind me. The last step, really.
“Something on your mind?” Nemain picked up on the shift in my mood and tilted her head to study me.
Now that I had spent more time with Badb, it was impossible not to see the similarities between the mother and daughter. Although, I kept that observation to myself because I didn’t think Nemain would appreciate it all that much.
“Do you regret it?” I asked softly. “The choice you made for Finn? Setting your life on a drastically different path?”
“No,” Nemain responded immediately.
My eyes flicked up in surprise. I’d been expecting some hesitancy on her part.
“But you hate everything about the fae,” I argued, my brows furrowing together in confusion. “The entire time I’ve known you, it’s been you and Jinx against the world. Now you’ve settled down and live with like five million vampires, who you also didn’t like I might add, and you serve the Seelie Queen.”
“First of all”—she pointed a finger aggressively at me—“I don’t serve the Seelie Queen. We… have an arrangement.”
I gave her a flat look. As a subject of the Seelie Court, she served the Queen Elvinia. End of story.
Nemain turned up her nose, ignoring my pointed expression. “Second, I don’t live with five million vampires, I live with six. And they’re all house-trained.”
“Last time I was at your apartment, there was tomato sauce and what I’m pretty sure was pineapple stuck to the ceiling.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, they’re mostly house-trained. My life is complicated.” She shrugged. “Do I occasionally want to stab somebody? Sure. But that’s what Mikhail’s for.”
I narrowed my eyes at the way her eyes darkened at Mikhail’s name and the way she shifted slightly in her seat.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed. “You fucked him!”
“Fucking finally!” Zareen called out from the bar.
“Don’t start,” Nemain yelled at Zareen before narrowing her gaze back on me. “I know where this is coming from. My mo—Badb caught me up on things.”
I smirked. “Your mother is kind of terrifying.”
“Not my mother,” Nemain said automatically. “You’ve been dragging your past behind you like a boulder for centuries. It’s time to move the fuck on.”
“Duly noted,” I said dryly, feeling a little better.
Nemain was right. And it’s not like there was any going any back for me. The valkyries made it quite clear how they felt about me, even if some small part of me had been hoping that we could work things out.
But it was time to let that hope go and embrace the future I had right in front of me. “You want to grab your vampires and kill some shit?”
“You want to grab your fae lover and kill some shit?” Nemain gave me a sly grin.
“Badb needs to learn to keep her mouth shut,” I growled.
Her grin widened. “Actually she only told me that Niall was traveling with you. But I can smell him on your skin and took a guess.”
“Fucking shifters.” I raised my arm and took a sniff but didn’t pick up on anything. Dropping my arm, I looked at Nemain. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”
“Why?” She slammed down the rest of her beer. “Because we tried to kill each other the last time we met? That’s how you can describe most of my first encounters with people. Hell, you and I tried to kill each other several times if I remember correctly.”
I snorted. She wasn’t wrong. I was fairly certain that Nemain had never befriended anyone without threatening to kill them first. Even her and Kaysea had met under contentious circumstances and Kaysea got along with everyone.
“Besides,” she continued, “I let him live. It was Badb who threatened to kill him if he came back, and she seems to be over that. So I’m good, if he’s good.”
“Thank you.” I let out a sigh of relief.
Even though I suspected Nemain would be fine with how things were developing between me and Niall, it took a load off my shoulders hearing her say it.
“How serious are things between you two?” The playful gleam in her eyes was gone and now replaced with concern.
“Why?” I went still and studied my friend as she pursed her lips together in a hard line.
Her grim expression reminded me of how she used to be a few years ago, when she’d still be deep in her mourning of Myrna and hunting Sebastian. There was a trace of sorrow to it that sent a spike of fear straight my heart.
I narrowed my eyes and asked, “What is it, Nemain?”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for Niall to come with us,” she said slowly, a hesitant admission.
“You don’t trust him?” I could understand why Nemain would feel that way, but I trusted Niall at this point, so she’d just have to deal with it.
I mean, she was sleeping with the former assassin for the Vampire Council, so she really couldn’t throw stones here. Not only was Niall a good fighter, but I wanted him by my side. Something about his presence strengthened me, and I’d need that when squaring off against Gullveig.
“I don’t trust him.” Nemain shrugged “No offense. But that’s not why.”
She paused as she thought over her words.
More unease rippled through me. It was never a good sign when Nemain of all people was carefully thinking over what she was about to say.
“Out with it,” I pushed.
She blew out a breath. “I shouldn’t have won that fight.”
Predatory green eyes met mine, and I knew immediately she was referring to the fight between her and Niall. Each beat of my heart seemed to slow.
“The other fae had already roughed me up real good. I was poisoned and starting to lose control of my body. Niall is an amazing fighter. Adrenaline helped me rally a little bit, but he should have parried my strike.”
The loud chatter around the bar faded away.
My lungs tightened around each breath, and I struggled to piece together a coherent thought.
She had to be wrong… had to have misunderstood what had happened. Nemain was a hell of a fighter. I’d seen her cut through dozens of warriors with her sword.
“You’re wrong,” I breathed.
“I’m not.” She shook her head. “I thought about it a lot afterwards. Replayed the fight in my mind. I should have died that day. The poison had slowed me down and I was barely conscious by the end. My strike against Niall was one of pure desperation. He was toying with me at that point, there was no reason he shouldn’t have blocked that strike.”
I bit back my denial. The fae didn’t like to lie. Sometimes their magic did odd things with the words they spoke, and they were wary of unintentionally entering bargains. Nemain was part fae but she’d never had that concern. I’d watched her lie her ass off on more than one occasion.
She did not, however, lie to her friends.
“I think that’s why my ability to read souls kicked in; it picked up on what I was missing.” Nemain held my gaze. “Niall wanted to die, and he saw me as a way to do it.”
All those times I’d seen something dark and hollow in his eyes. This was what he’d been hiding from me. That easygoing persona he put on was fucking bullshit.
“Open the gateway,” I said harshly. “Now, Nemain.”
Whatever she saw in my eyes convinced her to comply with my demand. She stretched out a hand and after a few seconds, a gateway opened revealing my cottage.
“I’ll get Mikhail and Magos and whoever else wants to come and meet you in an hour or so. I should be able to pick up Gunnar and Viggo, too.”
I was too pissed to say anything else, I just strode through the gateway and headed towards my home.
Niall and I were going to have a chat.