Page 9 of Loki's Heart
“True.” Not offended in the least, Loki’s grin broadened. “What better way is there to take things in? Mortals?Women?”
“Something you might want to narrow down,” the overly truthful seer said. His strange gaze that seemed to see everything and nothing all at once went from Revna to Loki before he shared something she downright refused.
Chapter Six
“Iwillnot,” Revna ground out. “My heart is my own.” She shook her head. “No one else’s.” She frowned at Loki before turning her dismay on Truthsayer. “Especiallynot a god like Loki.”
“Like me?” Still grinning because he couldn’t help himself, Loki perked his brows at her. “A god with the power to fulfill your every fantasy?” He eyed her over yet again with appreciation, lingering on the tiny flicks of fire gathering below her waist, telling him everything he needed to know. “A god who will make life very pleasurable for you?”
The truthful seer had recommended something he very much approved of. If Revna really wanted to protect Loki and make it harder for Yrsa to unleash her succubus magic on him, she should bind their hearts. It would help keep him tethered to the other half of his heart and make Revna stronger when she went up against the evil queen, as he very much liked to call her. She sounded particularly nasty. Typically, he would find that enthralling but instead found it unacceptable.
He would see her die a terrible death for wishing Revna harm.
“All hearts will be returned to one another in the end, will they not?” Svend asked, kindly enough. Hopeful if Loki didn’t know better for the simple fact it might keep Revna safer.
“So long as there isn’t true love between them,” Truthsayer replied, though the question wasn’t asked of him. “Yes, all hearts should be returned.”
“True love?” Cian shot Loki an incredulous look before biting into meat that had been handed to them on wooden plates. “I don’t think such a thing is possible from the God of Chaos.” Though he shrugged nonchalantly in Revna’s direction, she caught the concern in his eyes. “So perhaps it’s not such a bad idea, friend? Another means to keep you safe?”
“I’m not giving my heart to anyone,” she reiterated, taking several sips of mead.
“Why?” Loki cocked his head. “When you thought nothing of taking mine?” He narrowed his eyes, wondering if her reasoning was truly so cut and dry. “Why not share yours in return so thatImight keepyousafe?”
Because I’m not nearly ready to let you in that much, he knew she nearly said, but instead voiced what made sense. “Because I used Cian’s Celtic magic. I imagine that would be a hard fit for you, yes?”
“Perhaps, but isn't half my heart already withstanding it?” Loki gestured from Cian to her. “And your wizarddoesseem to think it’s a good idea. That’s telling, don’t you think?”
“That’s Cian being overprotective.”
“And logical.” Truthsayer sounded a lot like Cian, much to the Irishman’s obvious discomfort. But he was saying what the wizard would not. “If Loki held a piece of your heart as well, Revna, it would make you a more formidable team. A more united one.”
“No.” She shook her head, standing firm on this. “I won’t do it.” She looked at Svend. “But Iwillfight Yrsa with everything I have. And I promise you I’ll defeat her.”
Svend nodded and smiled. “I know you will.”
Rather than curse her stubbornness, Loki took it as a challenge he would overcome as he did all challenges. Yrsa could not be allowed to take her evil queen ways to Midgard and become a powerful seer there. He refused to let it happen.
More than that, he refused to see any harm come to Revna.
“Your thoughts seem noble enough,” Cian remarked when Svend urged Revna to join him so he could show her around. “But I wonder if you realize the threat to yourself as well? Or are you truly so arrogant?”
He didn’t much like the Irishman following his thoughts but knew as long as Revna held his heart, there was no hope for it.
“Yrsa is nothing more than a delusional succubus with lofty goals.” He waved her off. “Her Vanaheim goddess powers cannot compare to a higher god’s.”
“Yet ‘tis safe to say you fear for Revna’s safety, do you not?” Cian chewed some meat and considered him. “That you worry Yrsa is powerful enough to harm her?”
I would worry over her safety no matter what,he nearly replied but held back, hopefully burying his true feelings down where the wizard couldn’t access them. Cian didn’t need to know how strongly he may or may not feel. He barely understood it himself other than to say it likely had to do with Revna holding half his heart.
Or so he tried to convince himself.
“I worry as any god would over one of his favored mortals,” he said. “Revna will always be that for her part in the Great War.”
While he could tell Cian wasn’t overly pleased with that response, the wizard seemed determined Revna consider Truthsayer’s suggestion.
“Then you must convince her to share a piece of her heart with you.” Cian eyed him warily, clearly unconvinced Loki wascapable of such a task. “You must prove to her you care more than you actually do.”
“And how do you suggest I do that?”