Page 36 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings (Love X Magic #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TO SHED YOUR ARMOR

Rune

K ari stared at me as if she would’ve loved to do nothing more than crush me under her wool-lined boots.

I deserved any punishment she yearned to give; not just for the truth she’d heard, but for everything she had yet to uncover.

There we stood, in front of Hel herself, and I could do nothing but stare back at her, my mouth parted with nothing to say.

Kari shook her head furiously, and I chanced one glance at Hel, long enough to know she was growing bored by our silent display.

While amused at first, the only expression she wore on her half-flesh face now was annoyance.

It was evident Kari and I needed to have this conversation later.

Alone. I only hoped I could get the seeress to move past this for now, for all our sakes.

I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the shaking in Kari’s hands when I said, “Kari?—”

The woman next to me spun to show me her back, leaving my drying tongue frozen in its place, cutting off any words I would have spoken.

“Hel, what do you want from me? What can I give you other than my eyes? I know that’s the deal you bartered with my ancestor, but I agreed to no such terms. I accepted no such gift. ”

I bit my bottom lip, not wanting to show fear in front of a goddess, but did Kari really just ask Hel what she wanted from her?

Would she really give Hel other pieces of herself in replacement of her eyes?

I suppose this was about so much more than what she saw in the mirror; this was about the blatant breach of privacy.

Hel had been spying on her and her family for decades, for fuck’s sake, and even in death, she would hold control of Kari’s own vision.

When would she know peace away from this fate?

Hel hummed as she assessed Kari and leaned back in her throne.

Her black hair hung over her partial skull face, and she brushed it back to show the runes carved into it once more.

“You cannot give me anything more than what you already have, but someone else can. I just so happen to know they’re in need of a seeress.

Though, nothing comes free, you know. Or you should by now,” Hel laughed despite herself.

“Who?” I jutted in. I wouldn’t let Kari agree to being some low tiered god’s seeress under false pretenses just because she wanted to get out of this position with Hel. Hel wanted something Kari couldn’t give her, but the goddess of Helheim could still barter Kari like a stack of golden coins.

Desperation never led to anything good, though, and things could always get worse. I would help navigate Kari out of this mess, even if she hated me with everything she had. I wasn’t expecting her forgiveness for what I did, but I would only accept the very best terms for my mortal.

Kari shot me a horrible glance that screamed to stay out of it, but her eyes were never scary to me, so I didn’t flinch. Her brow softened for half a second before it hardened once more and refocused on Hel, awaiting her answer.

“Freyja.”

My head cranked back.

Freyja?

Freyja was wand-wed, just as Kari was. No, not just like Kari—insurmountably more powerful. Why would she bargain for a seeress from Midgard? Something wasn’t right.

“The goddess of seidr is looking for a mortal seeress? Why do I find this incredibly hard to believe?” Kari asked, saying exactly what I was thinking.

“What you believe is of no consequence. The truth remains as it is all the same,” Hel said.

“But I will indulge your mortal mind. Dear Freyja shares Asgard with Odin, and with that comes its…consequences. See, Odin has a love for anything and everything that can bring him glory.” Hel turned to me.

“Rune, you would know of this. You were once a shiny little mortal and he just had to have you, didn’t he?

And when your sister’s talents grew too great in Freyja’s sect, who transferred her to his? ”

“Odin,” I said, though no one really needed me to answer her question. We all knew where she was going with this.

“Mm, yes, he did. So, you can imagine, any talented attendant of Freyja’s tends to be taken from her in time. It’s hard to have a glorious hall when anything that supplies you with it is removed, now, isn’t it?”

“Why does Freyja need a seeress when she herself is wand-wed?” Kari was asking all the right questions, and I had to hold back a grin as I watched her speak with Hel.

Maybe I hadn’t been giving her enough recognition.

Maybe she was more capable of taking care of herself in a realm such as this one.

She’d been alone for a long time before I came to take her life away.

At some point, you learned not to rely on anyone, and me wanting her to need me changed nothing.

“We all have our limitations, though we hate to admit it.” Hel sighed.

“Freyja is my opposite, if you will. She rules over a portion of the heavens, whereas I rule over the underworld. She has no connection to this place, try as she might. But you…you, my little creation, do. She has been missing something for a long while now, and she’s running out of ways to find it.

She hasn’t yet tried seidr of the underworld, however. ”

“I’m not your anything,” Kari growled just as I thought she was making progress. Hel was surely going to steal our souls.

“And even so, your seidr is mine, ” Hel sneered. “You’re my creation, as much as Rune is Odin’s. Your options are limited, dear Kari. You can go back to Midgard just to die and return to me, or you can allow me to trade you, and you may take your feline with you.”

“And what about my eyes?”

Hel blew out her annoyance, waving her hand at Kari dismissively. “Yes, yes. Your eyes shall be yours, just as they were in Asgard previously. Odin and Freyja would never allow me to have such a privileged view into their realm.”

“What will you be getting from Freyja in return?” I asked.

“That doesn’t concern you.”

It did, actually, because what did she want so badly that she was willing to give up her spy?

Because even if Kari hadn’t known it, that was exactly what Kari had been for Hel all these years.

Who knew how many mortals Hel had out there with cursed vision, being able to take over their sight at any given moment without them ever knowing.

It was creepy, and it was damn time she got out of Kari’s head.

I didn’t like the thought of her being used for a trade between goddesses, but returning to Midgard wasn’t an option, and the only way I’d ever be able to go back to Asgard was if I had Freyja’s protection. Maybe this was what was best for the both of us.

“I’ll do it,” Kari blurted out, and I wondered if she’d come to the same conclusion as I had.

Hel pushed herself out of her onyx throne. “Lovely. Assuming Freyja accepts my terms, I’ll give you until the next new moon before you begin your travels back to Asgard. You may both reside here in my realm until then.”

Kari shot me a look, and I couldn’t tell if it was excitement or relief, but she soon remembered who I was, what I’d done, and she robbed me of that stunning gaze of hers.

“Oh, and Kari?” Hel said as she stepped forward off her dais. “Your family dwells within Helheim. When you’re ready to see them, Garm will take them to you.”

Kari’s eyes went wide before she slowly nodded. “Thank you.”

“Yes, well, I’m quite tired of this conversation and must be on my way. Garm?” When Hel snapped her fingers, the double doors swung open, and the grey wolf came prowling through. I turned back to Hel, but she was gone.

“Come with me.” Garm didn’t wait for us before he exited the room just as quickly as he’d entered.

Kari went first, and I hated that wherever he took us, she wouldn’t want me to be there with her.

I followed shortly after, remaining quiet as Garm took us through Hel’s enormous hall.

There were endless halls with endless doors leading to endless rooms. Garm stopped before one of these doors and spat a black key onto the stone floor.

It had a red tassel on the end soaked from his saliva.

I stooped down to pick it up before Kari did.

If she got her hands on this key, she’d lock me out of our room, and I’d never have the chance to explain myself.

Kari turned to Garm expectantly. “Where’s the second key?”

“There’s only one,” he growled.

“And how many beds are inside this room?” Kari asked with skin as white as snow.

“One.” The air encasing Garm emitted the number like an echo. Before Kari could ask any questions or demand alternate accommodations, Garm showed us his bushy grey tail and walked down the black hall lit by torches.

“Well then.” Kari smacked her lips. She looked down at the key, and she knew better than to expect me to hand it over. I said nothing as I jammed the key into the door and pushed it open.

As I entered the room, I shoved the key into a hidden spot in my armor where she wouldn’t dare reach.

The room was softly lit by candles, as if it’d been expecting us.

There were rugs lining the black stone floor and colorful tapestries lining the walls.

It wasn’t dreary, but warm. My room in Valhalla was all whites and golds, but this one was black and shades of red.

They were vastly different, but Hel could have supplied us with much worse accommodations than this.

After hard benches, forest floors, and dwarven beds, I was relieved to see the massive bed in the center of the room, a wispy canopy strung up around it.

Kari blew out a breath to tell me how unhappy she was with our situation, but at least that loaded sigh hadn't been a scream in my direction.

“When were you going to tell me?” she finally asked. I turned to face her then, and my stomach lurched when my eyes met hers. I didn’t want to see her anger, her distrust.