Page 13 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings (Love X Magic #3)

“Or maybe you reopened the stitches on your many tumbles through the bathing chamber,” I uttered under my breath.

She shot me a look that said me and my many reflective surfaces were to blame.

My stomach turned at the mere sight of her, though she was not what I expected.

I should have known a seeress running through forests screaming at flies and ghosts would be, well…

unique, but I hadn’t expected her anger.

Flies and ghosts were one thing, but she had no qualms about snapping at one of Odin’s attendants, even one who saved her.

“Let me grab a cloth.”

“It’s fine, I can?—”

“I’m grabbing a cloth,” I stated, my words stone. Her mouth gaped then shut, as if she thought better of continuing this fight I’d surely win. I riffled through cabinets in the bathing chamber, yanking a small cloth free.

What had Bodil used, and why did she take it with her?

I scanned the contents of bottled jars upon the counter, popping a few open to take a whiff, as if that would suddenly give me the knowledge I needed.

“I’m a healer, you know!” she shouted from the bedchamber. “If you insist on collecting the materials yourself, I need yarrow, vinegar, and a strip of cloth.”

Her shout curdled my blood. Yes, she had cried, she had squealed, but this shout?

She may as well have screamed out to everyone in the house that she didn’t belong.

If one of the sisters was a healer in their mortal life, they gave up such titles long ago.

We were valkyries, nothing more, nothing less.

I stalked from the bathing chamber, cloth gripped in my fist. “Keep. Your. Voice. Down.”

The door to my chamber swung open, Rayna standing in the doorway with wild perplexity.

Kari stiffened, and the two women stared at each other as if neither was sure the other was safe.

Rayna slowly shut the door behind her, looking from me to Kari.

I didn’t move as Rayna closed in to inspect the seeress.

Even as she stood a mere foot before her, Kari craning her neck to look at the valkyrie, I kept my position.

Rayna needed this. She needed to see this woman she’d never met yet knew far too much about.

“You’re both making too much noise, especially you,” she hissed, her eyes darting back to Kari. “You want to live, yes?”

“I suppose.” Kari swallowed.

“You suppose?” Rayna scoffed. “What a choice, Rune.”

My sister picked up a strand of Kari’s strawberry blonde hair.

Rayna’s hair had looked similar once, when I’d drunkenly dipped her golden braids into a pot of boiled lingonberry.

The white pieces of her hair remained untouched, but the rest of it had been stained all day.

I tried to keep my face steady as memories of her reaction flooded my mind.

“Leave her be,” I finally said, motioning to Rayna’s hand still clutching the seeress’ wet strands. Rayna rolled her eyes and shook her head, dropping the hair a moment later.

“This decision will be your end, Rune,” she said. “If you want to keep her alive, send her back.”

“Of course she’s going back.” My teeth ground against each other. I didn’t want a fight with Rayna, but gods, she was making this all so much harder.

“After we speak to a god of Rune’s choosing,” Kari finally spoke, her chin lifted. Hearing my name roll off her lips did something terrible to me; a shift took place within my very core that I knew damn well would be permanent.

“A god?” Rayna laughed a horrible, twisted laugh. “This just keeps on getting better. Do I even want to know, Rune?”

“Help or don’t, but don’t just stand in my way. Not again,” I said. “I need yarrow and vinegar. Can you fetch some? Please.”

Rayna sighed, her eyes boring into me. “I have some in my chamber.”

As Kari waited, she sat upon the bench in the corner, sipping her still-warm tea and snacking on foods lining a slender tray.

She’d stared out the window, ignoring me the whole time as she mindlessly stroked her cat.

I watched her as she took in the Valhalla sunset, pegasuses darting through scattered rays of dimming light.

Only then did she say, “How long was I asleep for?”

“Almost a day. It’ll be night again soon, and if I don’t leave, it will cause suspicion.”

“You’ll leave me here in this room?” she asked. I wasn’t sure if she was hurt or annoyed.

I nodded. “To go to Midgard, yes.”

“I’m surprised you’re not forcing me to go with you now that I’m not, you know, dead,” she said, her head cocked as she tossed a walnut into her mouth.

She made herself at home upon the seat, her confidence slowly finding its way back to her.

“Not yet, you’re not,” I said before realizing my words betrayed my meaning. She gawked at me and choked on a piece of walnut. “What I mean is, you’re still bleeding. Traveling through the Bifrost takes a toll on a mortal, a toll I’m not willing to take tonight.”

Before she could answer, Rayna came into the room with a basket of supplies. “I had to tell Asta you drunkenly sliced your foot open when she saw me with this.” She motioned to her basket.

“Wonderful.” I let out a sigh. Another strike with Asta was not what I needed. I may have been Odin’s favorite, but I certainly wasn’t the old wench’s.

Rayna set the basket down on the edge of the bed, motioning to Kari. “You said you’re a healer, so help yourself. Rune, I’m assuming you’ll still be coming with me tonight?”

“Of course.” I dipped my head. Tonight would be my first sober venture down to Midgard all year. For some reason, since the seeress arrived, I’d been too on edge to take a drink, even a sip. I didn’t trust the nonsense I spewed once the poison hit my willing veins.

“What do you expect me to do while you’re gone?” Kari asked as she began riffling through Rayna’s basket.

“I’m going to let you handle that question,” Rayna muttered to me. “I swear to the gods, if you’re late, I will chop your hair off, Rune. I mean it this time. We leave out the front tonight. No tunnel nonsense.”

“I’ll be there,” I said. If any other sister had spoken to me that way, I’d have them by the neck. But Rayna’s patience with me was growing thin, and I more than deserved her threats—not that I liked her dishing them out in front of the mortal.

Rayna glanced at Kari one last time before growling and storming out of my bed chamber.

“What’s her problem?”

“You,” I said before I could stop myself.

“Why? You said I needed to be here for a reason mortals couldn’t know. I assumed the other valkyries would.”

I ground my teeth; this woman was pressing my own patience. Why must she have so many questions? What was I supposed to tell her?

“Oh, I took you from the mortal realm and broke at least three valkyrie oaths to bring you to Valhalla, and now I’m hiding you, because if Odin finds out, you’ll probably be killed, and I’ll be tossed out of my sect.” Yeah, just perfect.

Instead, I looked at the seeress and said, “You’ll remain in the room when I’m gone. I’ll make sure you have food and drink before I go. Please don’t alert anyone to your presence. The other sisters…” I scratched the back of my neck. “They can’t know about you until after we speak to Odin.”

The seeress pondered upon this for a moment. “Fine, I’ll be quiet. Do you have any scrolls to study?”

I suppressed a chuckle as she glanced up at me. “I can grab a few from the archive. What’s your preferred topic?” I asked, indulging her just this once. I figured the more distracted she was, the less likely it would be that she found herself in trouble again.

Kari made it known what she wanted to study and which food she preferred, and I summoned a platter of turkey and root vegetables before I left her.

When I headed for the archive, a clearing of someone’s throat brought my attention behind me.

Bodil stood awkwardly, as if she had something to say but didn’t know how to spit it out.

“Walk with me,” I demanded, knowing there could only be one reason Bodil would want to talk. “We can speak in the archive. You can help me find a scroll of spells.”

“Do you think it’s wise to give a mor— her access to the seidr not of her realm?” Bodil corrected herself, presumably not wanting to admit to a mortal lurking around the House of Wings.

I shrugged. “She’ll be going back soon.”

How much could she possibly learn before I took her to Midgard? I didn’t see the harm, especially since she wouldn’t be able to wield seidr of another realm anyway.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

I paused and raised a brow at her, encouraging her to continue. She glanced around, but tonight’s feast was underway, and the halls were empty.

“I don’t know why you took her. Well, I know, but I still can’t wrap my head around how you let your intrusive thoughts win. Either way, I know she must mean something to you, and believe it or not, I don’t want bad blood between us.”

“What are you trying to tell me?” I asked.

“I wasn’t straightforward with you earlier.” Bodil's sigh sounded painful. “If you drop her back into her life on Midgard, she will die.”

“What are you talking about? I’m waiting until she heals from her injuries so there’s no reason she?—”

“It’s not just about her injury. It’s about the natural laws of Midgard. She’s tainted from the heavens now, and that doesn’t just go away. Her wounds, while healing here, will cause her downfall upon returning to Midgard.”

“Well what am I supposed to do with her now? She sure as Hel can’t stay here, and I can’t return her to Midgard just for her to meet her death,” I said, my frustration seizing control of my tongue.

“Take her to Helheim before Odin realizes she’s here. Once he finds her, you won’t be given any other option but to return her and let the natural law take its course.”

“You think Hel will feel any differently?” I asked, not imagining the goddess of Hel would be any more forgiving.

“Helheim is far less exclusive,” Bodil said.

“Yeah, for the dead. Hel takes all the souls she can get, but only after they’ve crossed over,” I said, running my hand down my face and showing weakness to a sister I’d prefer not to.

For all I knew, Bodil was just trying to rid herself, and the entire sect , of me. “I can’t believe I’m considering this.”

She flashed me a look that told me she didn’t want to be in my position, and I wondered if she’d ever been tempted to take her human playthings home with her.

We both knew what she was up to on the long nights on Midgard.

I wondered if tonight she’d give in to temptations or let my failures guide her on a path devoid of depravity.

Either way, I let my predicament be a lesson—a warning.