Page 19 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings (Love X Magic #3)

“Anyway, forget about the Norns and the squirrel, even the eagle and the stags. Our two main challenges will be the serpent and the dragon.”

“Can’t we just fly down to Hel on a pegasus or something?”

“I wish it were that simple. The Bifrost Bridge we use to fly to Midgard would be more than sufficient for me to travel anywhere in the nine realms, but you’ve already experienced the strain of it once, and it’s not meant for mortal humans.”

“But I’m wand-wed. I have seidr,” Kari said, holding her fingers in the air, her nails skyward, as if she were performing a spell.

Those beautiful fingers of hers did nothing but wiggle, and I did everything to contain my laughter, to show nothing on my face but indifference. The truth was, her power was nothing.

But I wasn’t going to make her feel bad about it. Well, maybe just a little.

“And how old are you? How powerful is this seidr of yours?”

“Twenty-seven, and I’ll have you know, my seidr is… Well, I can… It’s?—”

“Got it. You’re a mighty, powerful being,” I said. “Let’s just stick to the plan of using the gates, shall we?”

Kari crossed her arms and stared at me, telling me with her eyes that she thought I was the least hilarious person she’d ever met, but I’d have to disagree.

I’m funny as Hel.

áma set a cup of tea down for us each, breaking the tension in the air.

I swore, the Asgardian woman hadn’t had a glass of regular, refreshing water in the past two thousand years.

She lived off warm herbal blends, so whenever I came to visit, I did too.

It didn’t seem like Kari minded, and I guess I didn’t hate the flavor.

But between this, the food in my belly, and the fire, I felt too warm inside, and it was making me sleepy.

I need an ice-cold glass of mead and a shock to my system.

I grabbed the tea and flicked my gaze back to Kari’s. Her blue eyes bore into me, hard and unwelcome, and that was exactly the jolt I needed. My heartbeat picked up a few more beats per minute, and I leaned forward, setting my elbows on the table.

Who needs mead when you have a fiery woman?

“You seem to have a little porridge on your face,” I said, motioning to my own cheek and reminding her of her pathetic meal from earlier, courtesy of me. The intoxicating Aegean blue of her eyes flared, and I had to hold back a satisfied smirk.

“Here?” Kari said, rubbing her cheek, her skin bouncing as she did.

“Still there.”

Kari took a cloth from the table and brushed it over her cheek, probably harder than she needed to. Her poor, beautiful freckles.

“Did I get it?” she asked, looking up at me hopefully.

“Nope…”

“Is it gone yet?” she asked with a frustrated huff, her skin now pink and splotchy.

I shook my head, and that simple gesture resulted in the woman looking as if something in her may very well snap.

She pushed out her chair, but I grabbed her wrist. “Let me.”

Kari paused, her auburn brows scrunching. Flickers of hesitation danced through her eyes, and for a moment, I thought she’d pull away from me, but then she leaned forward ever so slightly. I took that opportunity to release her wrist, and my hand migrated to her face.

I swiped my thumb over her cheek, and when my finger made contact with her skin, I forgot all about the fatigue that had been trying to claim me a moment earlier.

“Got it,” I whispered, my thumb lingering a little longer than it needed to.

Kari sat back and cleared her throat, her hand flexing in her lap. “Thank you.”

“You know, seeress,” I said, sucking the porridge off my thumb, “I can be quite courteous when given a reason to be.”

“And what reason have I given?” she said, not taking her attention from my thumb.

“None. Therein lies the problem,” I said, crossing one of my leather boots over the other. “We have a long journey ahead of us, and unless you want fights and plain porridge every day, I suggest you find it in that little mortal heart of yours to forgive me.”

“Forgive you? For stealing my life?” She raised her voice, the sweet and deadly sound reverberating off the stone walls. She may have kept me awake, kept me guessing, but she was also getting on my last damned nerve.

“I fucking saved it!” My hand came down hard on the table between us, my cool facade splitting.

I was her superior, Odin’s favorite. Never in her life had she met a power equal to mine, yet the disrespect she fed me constantly was worse than plain barley, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“And until you see that, we’re going to have a problem. ”

“There was no porridge on my face, was there?” Kari scowled.

“Of course there was. You think I just make things up for fun? To embarrass you?”

“I don’t know. All I know is I don’t trust a single thing that comes out of your traitorous mouth. Even if I forgave you, even if I thanked you for not letting the raiders end me, what good would that do? I’d still be here.”

“Yes, you would, but we could move on. I’m tired of?—”

“Oh,” Kari laughed wickedly, her pink lips turning up without a hint of joy. “I’m so sorry I’m boring you.”

“Boring me? Never,” I admitted. “Testing my patience? Very much so.”

She lifted her chin in defiance, staring at me a little too long before she said, “Admit it.”

“Admit what?” I asked, tracing the curve of her frown with my heated gaze.

“You being there when I was shot by the arrow wasn’t a coincidence.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I murmured. “I follow death. It wasn’t odd for me to be in Stormheim.”

“You’re a gods damned liar!” she shouted, the legs of her chair scraping on the stone floor beneath us.

A traitor, a liar—I was growing weary of this human telling me what I was.

“Leave it be, seeress,” I ground out between my teeth.

“Your little name for me doesn’t fool me. Neither did the mugwort tea.”

My blood froze.

“Fruit tart, anyone?” áma barged into the room with a plate full of fruit tarts. She placed them down on the table between us and shot me a glance that said I owed her.

“I’d love one, thank you, áma.” Kari grabbed a fruit pastry off the plate, her fingers and jaw tense despite her sugary words.

She brought the treat to her lips, and I didn’t watch as she took her first bite.

I couldn’t give her any more reason to suspect me, and if I ogled her over the way she licked her lips between bites, I’d be in trouble.

“Well then,” áma said, a false smile working its way onto her mouth. “Kari, you and I have a few things we need to work on before the two of you head off to the first gate. Why don’t you come with me to my incantation chamber, hmm?”

Kari got up, but áma held out her hand and said, “Finish your tart here, child. No food is permitted in my incantation chamber, only ingredients. It’s better that way, you see. I’ll meet you there. Rune, show her the way when she’s ready, will you?”

With that, áma was off down the hall, and I was left shaking my head. Pink bloomed across Kari’s face as the awkwardness got its claws into her, and a strange urge to pull her out of it took hold of me. I wouldn’t, though.

Not until she no longer saw me as a threat.