Page 21

CHAPTER 21

M ary

That night, after dinner in the mead hall, Sven and Erik led Camille and me to what they called the situation room. As we walked through the winding stone corridors, I couldn’t help but marvel at how quickly my perception of this place had shifted. Just the day before, these passageways had seemed like a labyrinth of captivity. Now, they felt almost like home.

When we entered the situation room, I gasped audibly. The contrast with the rest of the cavern complex was stark and jarring. Gone were the roughhewn stone walls and flickering torchlight. Instead, we stepped into a space that looked like it belonged in a high-tech spy thriller.

The room was dominated by a massive circular table, its surface a gleaming expanse of what appeared to be some kind of advanced touchscreen. Holographic displays hovered above it, showing maps, data streams, and satellite imagery that shifted and changed as if by magic. The walls were lined with banks of computers and monitors, their screens alive with scrolling information and complex algorithms I couldn’t begin to comprehend.

“Welcome to our command center,” Sven said, his voice tinged with pride. “This is where we coordinate our efforts against the Pretorian Guard and their allies.”

I exchanged an awed glance with Camille. Her dark eyes had gone wide with wonder, reflecting the blue glow of the nearest monitor. Despite everything we’d been through, I felt a thrill of excitement. This was real. We were about to be part of something far bigger than ourselves.

Sven led us to the central table, his large hand resting on the small of my back. The touch sent a shiver through me, a reminder of how thoroughly he had claimed me earlier. Camille and I were still naked, while our masters wore trousers and shirts. I tried to push aside that blush-inducing awareness, but my status as a bed thrall threatened to intrude at every moment.

“What you’re about to see,” Erik said, his voice uncharacteristically serious, “is highly sensitive intelligence acquired by our allies in Groupe Synergistique .”

With a few deft movements, Sven called up a series of satellite images on the table’s surface. They showed a vast expanse of ice and snow, broken only by the occasional rocky outcropping.

“This is the northern end of Hudson Bay,” Sven explained. “Just inside the Arctic Circle. For years, it’s been a blank spot on our maps. The Guard, with help from Selecta, has been able to jam most satellite imagery of the area.”

I leaned in, fascinated. The images were crisp and clear, showing details I would have thought impossible from such a distance.

“Recently, however,” Erik continued, “GS developed a workaround for the jamming technology. And what they found was… unexpected.”

With another gesture, Sven zoomed in on a particular area of the map. My breath caught in my throat. There, nestled against the icy shoreline, was what could only be described as a construction site. But it was like no construction site I’d ever seen.

Massive metal structures rose from the frozen ground, their skeletal frames reaching toward the sky like the ribs of some colossal beast. Intricate networks of scaffolding crisscrossed between them, creating a web of activity even in this desolate landscape. But what truly caught my attention was the way the structures seemed to plunge downward, disappearing into the earth itself.

“It looks like… like they’re building something underground,” I murmured, voicing my observation aloud.

Sven nodded approvingly. “Precisely, lille en . This worksite appears to be the entrance to a massive subterranean complex. But that’s not all.”

He manipulated the image again, bringing up a string of code that meant nothing to me. “GS wouldn’t normally have alerted us to this discovery,” he explained. “But their analytic algorithms caught something interesting. The coordinates of this worksite matched a set of numbers in an intercepted communique between the Pretorian Guard and Selecta.”

My mind reeled at the implications. “So this is definitely a Guard operation?” I asked.

Erik nodded grimly. “It seems so. We’ve been searching for Guard activity in the Arctic for several years now. This may be what we’ve been looking for.”

“But why?” Camille interjected, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What could they possibly want to build all the way out there?”

Sven’s expression darkened. “We believe the Guard is trying to build a fusion reactor,” he said gravely. “If they succeed, it would destabilize the already volatile energy markets so greatly that both the North American and European power grids would collapse.”

“Leaving Selecta in complete control,” I finished, the pieces falling into place. The enormity of the situation hit me like a physical blow. This wasn’t just about dominance and submission anymore. This was about the fate of entire civilizations.

Camille and I sat in stunned silence as we absorbed this information. The holographic displays continued to shift and change, showing different angles of the worksite, streams of data, and projections of potential outcomes. It was almost too much to take in.

Finally, Sven broke the silence. “Do you think you understand the gravity of the situation now?” he asked, his blue eyes intense as they moved between Camille and me.

We nodded mutely, still trying to process everything we’d learned. But even as I acknowledged the enormity of the threat, a nagging thought tugged at the back of my mind. The vision I’d had while Sven fucked my bottom—the frozen landscape, the ship in the ice—how did it fit into all of this?

“I understand,” I said slowly, “but… Herra , what about the vision I had? The one with the metal cathedral and the Viking ship? I don’t see anything like that in these images.”

Sven’s expression softened slightly, a hint of pride gleaming in his eyes. “Your vision, lille en , shows that you will have the power to intervene. The details may not match exactly what we see here, but the essence of your prophecy rings true.”

I felt confusion wash over me. My mind reeled as I tried to reconcile the high-tech satellite imagery before us with the mystical visions I had experienced.

“But Herra ,” I said hesitantly, my voice barely above a whisper, “does that mean… was the vision I got somehow from some supernatural realm? The gods or something?” I felt foolish even asking, but I needed to understand.

Sven reached out to cup my cheek gently. “The volur have always walked between worlds, lille en . Between the physical and the spiritual, the seen and the unseen.”

I shook my head, still struggling to make sense of it all. “But I don’t see… you know, a cathedral or a ship in these images,” I protested. “It must be a coincidence, mustn’t it?”

Erik stepped forward then, his imposing presence commanding attention. “Mary,” he said, his voice low and serious, “the Sons of Odin have never been certain whether the volur receive their visions from the gods or from some other source. But we know that though the details are never exact, the intuition is almost unerring.”

I felt a shiver run down my spine at his words. The weight of this new responsibility, this strange power I seemed to possess, settled heavily on my shoulders.

Sven nodded in agreement with Erik’s words. “From some sense humans will probably never fully understand, your unconscious gathered the data and put it together. You identified the threat correctly, even if the specifics of your vision don’t match precisely with what we see here.”

I stared at the holographic displays, trying to reconcile the cold, hard data with the vivid imagery of my vision. “So the Pretorian Guard really is building something like a cathedral?” I asked, still uncertain.

“In a manner of speaking,” Sven replied. “These massive underground structures they’re creating could certainly be seen as a kind of cathedral—a monument to their ambition and hubris.”

“And the Viking ship?” Camille interjected, her voice tinged with skepticism.

Erik’s eyes gleamed with a fierce light. “That, my dear, represents us, the Sons of Odin. It is our destiny to intervene, to sail into this frozen wasteland and confront the threat that lurks beneath the ice.”

I felt a strange mix of emotions swirling within me—fear, excitement, and a growing sense of purpose. But still, doubt gnawed at me. “How can Camille and I possibly help with something like this?” I asked, gesturing to the complex data displays surrounding us. “This seems like a job for commandos or spies, not… not bed thralls.”

Sven’s expression grew serious as he regarded Camille and me. “I understand that you don’t see it yet. But you and Camille possess unique abilities that make you perfect for this task.”

He manipulated the holographic display, bringing up an image of a distinguished-looking man in his late fifties. His salt-and-pepper hair was perfectly coiffed, and his tailored suit spoke of immense wealth.

“This is étienne Beaumont,” Sven explained. “He’s one of the wealthiest men in the world, a key player in Groupe Synergistique . He’s also under close surveillance by the Pretorian Guard.”

My eyes widened as I began to understand. “You want us to get close to him?”

Sven nodded. “Exactly. We will arrange for you and Camille to be ‘placed’ with Beaumont as his newest acquisitions. Given your backgrounds and your… talents, the Guard will immediately recognize your potential value as intelligence assets.”

A chill ran down my spine as I realized what he was suggesting. “You want us to be captured by the Guard,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes,” Erik confirmed, his tone grim. “It’s the only way to get you close enough to uncover what’s really happening in Hudson Bay.”

I exchanged a worried glance with Camille. Her dark eyes reflected the same mixture of fear and determination I felt churning in my gut.

Sven continued, his voice gentle but firm. “Once you’re in the Guard’s custody, you’ll need to use every skill we’ve taught you—both as bed thralls and as volur . Your instincts, your ability to read people and situations, will be crucial.”

“But how will we know what to look for?” Camille asked, her brow furrowed in concern.

Erik stepped forward, calling up a new set of images on the display. They showed complex schematics and technical diagrams that meant little to me. “We’ve prepared a series of seemingly innocuous questions that will help you gather the information we need,” he explained. “You’ll be trained in how to ask them without arousing suspicion.”

My mind reeled at the enormity of what they were asking us to do. We would be walking into the lion’s den, armed with nothing but our wits and our bodies. The thought was terrifying, yet I couldn’t deny the thrill of excitement that coursed through me.

“What about extraction?” I asked, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. “How will we get out once we have the information?”

Sven’s expression softened, and he reached out again to cup my cheek gently. “We will be following your progress as closely as possible, lille en . The moment we have what we need, or if you signal that you’re in danger, we’ll move in to extract you.”

I leaned into his touch, grateful for the warmth of his hand against my skin. I lost myself in the sensation until Erik’s voice brought me back to the immediate circumstances.

“It’s important to your mission that you arrive at Beaumont’s manor as a pair. He is known to have a fascination for girls who find solace in one another’s arms when disciplined strictly. We’ve already begun creating a data trail about you for the Guard to find. We’ll add an important element tomorrow. We’re going to make a video of the two of you being punished and then having sex with each other.”

“What?” Camille asked, her eyes wide as she gazed at her master, whose face had gone very serious. “ Herra … we…”

“We didn’t do anything,” I finished, looking my plea into Erik’s and then Sven’s eyes.

“I know, lille en ,” Sven said, his eyes compassionate despite the firm set of his jaw. “But in this world your masters will often whip you simply because they enjoy it. That in itself is something you two must accustom yourselves to enduring—and, indeed, enjoying… or at least acting as if you enjoy it.”