Page 24 of Loki's Heart
A summons that made clear if Yrsa did not come, he would destroy all in her name.
Her world would join Múspellsheimr in fire and brimstone, and all would have none to thank but her. Their new queen would become ripe for usurping. Ripe to be taken out by all angered by their world being upturned because of her.
While days ago, Revna might have said that Loki was only capable of so much, now she knew he would see through his threats for no other reason than his fury over what had been done to her. Not just his hatred was at work, but his love.
A power he had never tapped into.
One humbling in its own right.
“You think to summon me on my own world, god?” came a familiar feminine growl before the air wavered like glass, and Yrsa stepped through. Dressed from head to toe in a long, clingy blood-red dress, she sauntered his way in all her dark glory, no more affected by the elements than him. Far more alluring nowthat she had embraced true darkness. While she had been too thin before, now she seemed voluptuous. Where her icy blonde hair was once limp, now it was thick and silky.
She was so tempting that Loki stopped chanting and went silent, mesmerized by her.
“No,”Revna warned into his mind but knew her voice fell on deaf ears. Just like that, Loki was lost to her. He might be remarkably strong on this world now, but when it came to a temptress like Yrsa, there was no hope for it.
“’Tis okay, friend.”Cian held her close and threw up a protective barrier between them and the succubus.“Don’t give up hope yet.”
“How can I not when I feel him?”she replied.“When I know what’s in his heart?”
The wavering air Yrsa had just stepped out of became a mirror, hovering close to her as if awaiting its next order. It was the mirror that had told her Revna was the most powerful seer of all.
“I had hoped you would make your way here, my prince.” Yrsa’s eyes turned jet-black and sensual as she took in Loki. “That you would someday find your way to me.” She licked her lips seductively, stopped within inches of him, and gestured loosely at Revna’s prone body. “That you would see there was someone far more worthy of you if you just looked a little closer.”
“And now I have,” Loki said hoarsely, fully aroused. His lustful gaze swept over her. “How did I never see you?” He yanked her close and cupped her cheek not roughly but not softly either. “How did you evade my eyes?”
“You just weren’t ready.” She trailed her fingers down his chest and licked her lips slower this time, making it obvious what she intended to do with her tongue if given half a chance. “Now you are.”
“You need to do something, Cian,”Revna urged.“You need to stop her.”
“I’m here to protect you.”He shook his head.“I will only stop her if Loki cannot.”
What? Why wait? But then, in retrospect, why be in a rush to see not just her love but one of her closest friends wrapped up in Yrsa’s spell? Taken in the worst sort of way?
“No!”She had never been so furious and helpless.“You need to leave me and flee this place, Cian. Get out of here before it’s too late. Before she targets you next.”
She knew even as she said it, he wouldn’t, but she had to try. This was no place for him. No place for someone with foreign magic. Thunder cracked, and lightning splintered across the fire and ash as if it agreed with her.
“Iamready.” Loki’s gaze fixated on Yrsa’s mouth. Her lips were fuller than they normally were. Tempting to be sure. “More than ready.”
“You really are, aren’t you?” the succubus whispered, eyeing him over, sucking him deeper into her web. She grinned at Revna’s prone body before her sly gaze returned to Loki, and she spoke to the mirror. “Mirror, mirror, mine?” she asked. “Who now is the most powerful seer of all time?”
“Seer, seer, divine,” the mirror responded. “Revna remains the most powerful seer of all time.”
Though he had no outward response, Revna sensed Loki’s response to the mirror’s feminine voice. And it wasn’t what she expected. Not at all.
In fact, it impacted him so much, he acted on it.
Chapter Sixteen
Loki had not, even for a second, fallen beneath Yrsa’s supposed allure, so it took everything in him not to smile when he heard her mirror’s voice. When he realized he’d had an ally here long before he arrived.
Or at least a part of an ally.
“No,” the succubus ground out over her shoulder at the mirror when it claimed Revna remained the most powerful seer. Under the impression she lured him deeper and deeper into her web, Yrsa never looked away from Loki. “Iam the most powerful.” She chuckled, a throaty sound not nearly as beautiful as the hissing and spitting of molten lava. Not nearly as tempting as the explosion moments from happening. She gestured haphazardly at Revna sleeping in Cian’s arms. “Certainly nother!”
Yet he saw Yrsa’s renewed uncertainty at the mirror’s response. At unending confirmation that Revna was still stronger than her no matter how depleted she grew.
And that moment of weakness in Yrsa was all he needed to pounce.