Page 52 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings (Love X Magic #3)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

ACROSS THE RAINBOW brIDGE

Kari

H el handed me a fruit cake, her cold skin brushing mine as she did. Rune was holding the rare snow blossoms of Helheim in one hand and a jar of raw honey in the other.

“Now, what do you say?” the goddess of death asked from where she sat on her throne. The second she handed me the cake, I presented her with a slight bow and retreated ten feet in the opposite direction.

I bowed and held the cake above my head like a complete sycophant.

“We have brought you gifts from our time in Helheim, sent with us by the Goddess of Death. She offers not only these delicious offerings, but me as well, a mortal seeress. I come willingly and have sensed only peace surrounding my entrance into Fólkvangr. I hope you accept these offerings and look down upon us with your loving favor.”

Rune suppressed a chuckle, but Hel ignored her as she offered me a slow clap for my performance.

It’d been the fifth time she’d made me practice that little routine, and my arms were starting to grow sore from holding the densest dessert I’d ever seen above my head.

When I woke this morning, I knew I was in for an adventure, but I didn’t count on trials by fruit cake.

“Ah, that was the one,” Hel said, her teeth on display.

After her first impression of me, she didn’t quite trust I’d have the best sense when it came to Freyja.

I tried to tell the goddess I had nothing against Freyja and wouldn’t be anything but respectful, but Hel would hear none of it.

I couldn’t very well deny her, so I went along with her little speech and got down on my knees with a cake in hand each time she demanded it of me.

Rune had spent enough time among the gods that she was given no speech.

Hel also cared little for Rune’s part in all of this, for the former valkyrie wasn’t the one she was trading.

Rune had tried to get more information out of Hel regarding the matter of the deal, though Hel gave us nothing but stares through mixed-colored eyes.

“Now, Kari,” Hel said, straightening her onyx gown that bled into her endlessly black throne.

“If Freyja accepts you into her council, you’re welcome to travel to my realm to visit your family once per year.

If you have official attendant matters here on behalf of Freyja, I shall permit an extra visit. ”

“Thank you, Goddess,” I said with a bow.

“I did, however, witness your little chat with dear Norfrid,” Hel said, sharpening one of her talon-like nails on the stone of her throne, “and if you ever summon fire in Helheim again, you will be banished from my realm, and you can say goodbye to your precious family forever. Is that understood?”

My pounding heart rose into my throat at the thought. “It’s understood,” I said, because what else was there to do? If it meant I could never see my family again, I would go an eternity without practicing fire seidr. It wasn’t worth it.

“Well then, I believe it’s time for your departure.

For all of your departures,” Hel emphasized as she peered over Rune’s shoulder to where Rayna stood, looming in the shadows.

Rayna bobbed her head in answer, her hands clasped behind her back.

We offered the goddess one last bow before taking the offerings for Freyja and finally exiting Hel’s domain.

“I’d survive never seeing another fruit cake ever again,” I muttered as our boots clacked down the hall.

“Don’t you dare say that,” Rayna said with the faintest of gasps. “It might just come true.”

Rune laughed, looking between us, and I offered them both a lazy smile.

We caught Garm in the hall as we made our way to the great hearth to bid my family farewell. Tove hissed at the giant wolf, but Garm paid him no mind as we passed.

“See you later, Garm.” I nodded, since I didn’t have a free hand to spare.

“Oh, and I hope they liked the flowers!” I tacked on once I was out of biting range.

I wasn’t sure if the love he’d found was a secret, but I certainly wouldn’t risk getting eaten over my knowledge of it.

Still, if I could get the misunderstood wolf to smile, even a little bit, I was going to try.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he barked. I hummed as though I knew better, and then suddenly, the air around me grumbled out, “He loved them.”

I gave the wolf a big smile and strode off down the corridor, Tove in tow.

Rune and Rayna were right there beside me too, and the three of us stayed quiet as we headed toward the place I’d told my family to meet me.

It only felt fitting to say “goodbye” in the same spot where I’d finally been able to say “hello again”.

I spotted my mother first, sitting upon a high-back chair.

When we approached, she seemed too busy staring off into the false flames to notice us.

Seidr didn’t travel with a person to the underworld, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she still had a sense, a knowing about her.

I hoped so, for her sake. I couldn’t imagine living a lifetime with seidr at your fingertips, just to die and never be able to wield it again.

Instead of pondering on it longer and growing sad for my mother, I smiled broadly at Odel and opened my arms to embrace my sister.

Malfrid was next, and while she was a little shocked by my tender touch, she leaned into me all the same.

Haddy came barreling over, throwing her arms around both Malfrid and me before our sister could pull away.

“I’m going to miss you so much!” Haddy said with one final squeeze.

“The Goddess of Death visited us, my dear child,” my father’s voice boomed.

I turned to see the bearded man now standing by my mother, a brilliant grin upon her face.

Whatever she was once distracted by in the fire was now gone, as she was wholly focused on me.

“I have to say, I never expected to meet the goddess, but there she was, standing before us. It seems you’ve made quite the impression on her.

Our daughter, can you believe it?” My father lightly nudged my mother.

“I knew you had greatness in you, Kari. Your visions were always so strong and clear. But why is it that Hel mentioned this may be our final goodbye? At first, I thought she came to us as a warning, but then I realized it wasn’t threats she offered.”

“What was it then?” I asked. Rune and Rayna stood far behind me, giving me all the room I needed to speak with my family. What I don’t think they realized was, I didn’t mind them here. It felt right somehow to have them included in this conversation.

“I think it was a message. For you,” she said with a weary smile. “I know she asked something of you, my sweet girl. You don’t have to tell us, but do whatever you have to do to get back to us someday, do you hear me? Whatever it is she wants, you succeed in it, and you come back to us.”

I stared at the woman who’d brought me into this world and wondered how much truth I could spare her, how much I wanted to.

I didn’t want her to know that if I failed, I would be the reason she never saw me again.

Somehow, it seemed easier to lie, to make them think I’d gone back to Midgard, and then one day off into the heavens.

But Hel took that option from me when she spoke with them.

Her meeting with my family was enough to warn me of the severity of the situation, if the fruit cake display hadn’t already.

“I will, Mother. I’ll succeed in anything the gods ask of me,” I said with a tight nod of my head.

As I spoke the words aloud, I felt the verity behind them set into stone.

I would do whatever it took to see my parents and sisters again.

In any trial Freyja put me through, every challenge, I would succeed.

As I said my goodbyes, I noticed Rune laughing with Haddy, pulling her in for a hug.

Odel and Malfrid were giving Tove pets as my mother rubbed soothing circles into my back, and for a moment, everything felt right.

We were a happy family again, untouched by death.

I’d hold on to this moment, whether I won Freyja’s favor or a different fate claimed me.

I had every intention of seeing my loved ones one year from now, and as I waved to them, a fierce determination washed over me.

I didn’t even care that this feeling was exactly what Hel wanted. She’d known what she was doing when she’d sought out my family, and it’d been the powerful motivator she’d expected it to be.

When we exited Hel’s Hall, Apple and Gunhild greeted us in the snow-clad field.

Rune supplied her pegasus with pre-flight scratches, and the three of us began securing our packs to their hips.

I hooked Tove onto Apple’s armor with the harness Rune made him, and then Rune hoisted me up to do the same for me.

Rayna whistled as Rune and I got situated, and I wondered how she was faring with this exceptional change in her life.

She was no longer Odin’s attendant, but Freyja’s once more.

She wasn’t acting as though she’d made a devastating sacrifice, though, and I hoped she’d truly made the decision for herself, not just for her sister.

When Rayna caught me watching her, she tilted her head and shot me a curious smile. “You know bringing you two to Freyja is my first official duty as a Fólkvangr valkyrie?”

“How did she give you such a task? I thought you were unknowingly brought here by a troll,” I asked.

Rayna shifted her weight upon Gunhild, and her eyes flicked behind me to where Rune finished up her preparation for our flight.

“I was kidnapped, yes, but the Goddess had tasked me before I arrived in Hel. As soon as I was inducted into her sect once more, she gave me said duty. I was leaving her hall when I was taken.”

“So why is it that you still wear Valhalla armor? I assumed as soon as Freyja agreed to take you back, she would've asked you to remove the armor of your previous sect. Even when Rune was training her sisters, here in Hel, they gifted her the black leathers of Helheim.”

Rayna looked upon her gold and red armor.

“Freyja thought it may be more comforting to see me just the way you remembered. She wasn’t sure what Hel had told you about the bargain, or how willing you’d be to go to her hall.

That, and my armor isn’t quite ready yet.

Takes even the dwarves more than a few days to create custom armor to your very measurement, you know. ”

“I always thought gold and emerald were your colors anyway,” Rune pitched in from behind me. “And for your first official task, you can get us to Fólkvangr far easier than the way we came.”

Rayna paused, then looked from Rune to me. “Kari’s powerful enough to take the Bifrost this time, yes, but…” She seemed pained as she trailed off, like the words she wasn’t saying burned her throat. “What I mean to say is?—”

“Yes, Rayna, I understand Odin took my seidr,” Rune cut in.

“But surely I have enough residual power within me to withstand the bridge.” She nudged Apple with her boot, and the pegasus made a chuffing sound as she walked forward through the snow.

Gunhild followed her lead, the two winged creatures walking side by side within a few steps.

When Rayna could meet our eyes once more, she said, “I see how it may be enticing to risk it, but what if the Bifrost takes more out of you than you have to give? You have tests to pass, Rune, ones you can only take once. If you’re not ready for Freyja when she summons you, everything we’ve been working on for over the past two lunar cycles will be for naught. ”

Rune took a few breaths to think about what Rayna was saying, but then she tightened her grip on Apple’s reins. “It’ll be fine. I’d only be a liability during an extended trip through the path between realms anyway.”

I couldn’t see Rune’s face as she said it, but I heard the hurt in her tone all the same.

If this had happened last lunar cycle, I would’ve been rubbing her lack of seidr and title in her face any chance I could get.

After everything she’d held over my head, secrets she’d kept, and the things she’d done to keep me reliant on her, I would’ve cherished each time her smile faded as she remembered once-simple tasks she could no longer perform. Now, I only felt her pain.

I didn’t want her to risk her chances of passing her tests, but selfishly, I didn’t know if I could spend the next week with her as she relied on Rayna for each meal, for protection, and a place to sleep, much like I had on our way here.

I didn’t want her to fall apart on me, so I sucked in a deep breath and allowed myself to be selfish.

“She can handle it. Now, let’s go. You have a task to complete, don’t you, Rayna?”

Rayna conceded, and with a nod, she led us in the direction of the bridge.

Rune leaned into my back, brushed hair from my neck, and said, “Thank you for believing in me, seeress.”

“Always,” I whispered, my chest tight.

Apple and Gunhild ended all conversation as they took off into the sky.

Their massive wings beat through the chilly air, flakes of snow occasionally blowing through their feathers.

As we grew closer to the Bifrost, I felt my teeth clench, my mind running through possible scenarios.

Last time I’d gone through the Bifrost, I’d been unconscious, but this time, I was on full alert.

Part of me yearned for the adventure, for the incredible chance to use the bridge of the gods without perishing in the process.

I felt a swell of pride in myself and my growing seidr that allowed my mortal body such passage.

Yet, as the bridge grew closer and stunning rainbow hues lit up the sky, a deeper feeling nagged at me in the back of my mind.

Rune pushed her chest further into me, her thighs clenching around mine.

My gaze dropped to where she held Apple’s reins in one hand, the horn of her saddle with the other.

I didn’t hesitate to place my palm over her hand that gripped the horn, and, despite my nerves, a smile crept onto my face when her thumb caressed mine.

As the colors bleeding into the clouds grew deeper, more vibrant, I repeated the words to myself I’d spoken to her like a chant.

I believe in us, Rune. I believe if we stick together, there isn’t a single thing we won’t be able to accomplish.