I stepped forward cautiously, toward the unmistakable ringing of a blacksmith’s hammer on iron in the mist. “Where am I?”I wondered aloud.
“The world’s forge,” someone answered. A hand slid into mine, and I knew who it was without turning my head.
“Serak.” He squeezed my hand as we stepped through the fog together. “What is the world’s forge?”
He didn’t answer my question when he finally spoke. Instead, he told a story. “Once there was a being who loved fire more than anything else. A creature made from it, who played in the wet, red heat of the earth itself as a minnow would swim in a pond. The secret chasms where molten rock gathered and pooled were his only home until the earth murmured a story of small beings above, who had tamed splinters of fire and used it to create.
“Curiosity burned bright in the being, whose name was Edan. He surfaced and witnessed humanity shaping iron into plows and thrones, hinges, horseshoes, and swords. He watched from the flames of their forges and took their knowledge below, where he tried to do the same. But the heat of his home was too intense for the forms he shaped to stay, and they melted away.
“Frustrated, he burst forth from the depths and built a new forge on the edge of the world, halfway between the pools of fire and the cold of the sky. His forge burned so bright that the stars were hidden at night, and the smoke from it filled the skies with thick ash and soot. The seas turned foul for many miles.
“The other gods of the elements had no desire to confront their angry brother, so they retreated to their own corners of the world, except for one: the brother who needed cold and ice to sleep and dream in his home.”
“Skadi,” I whispered.
The ringing of the hammer was the only answer I heard.Then the mist rose, and I saw him. Edan’s hair was as bright as the flame over which he worked, his massive arm swinging the hammer, the other holding the iron, no tongs. Beside him was a mountain of ruined swords and daggers, all of them bearing obsidian jewels on the handles, none of their blades whole.
He lifted up the blade in the forge, examining it. This one was whole, and glowing red. He laid it against his chest, quenching the metal in his own blood, filling the air around him with even more red mist.
His eyes shone as he laid the new dagger beside two others, cooing to it like a lover. The three blades were black as night, each with a shining edge of obsidian, and jewels on the hilts. I hissed, recognizing one of them.
“Mine,” the fire god murmured to the blades, madness glowing in his eyes as he caressed the weapons. “Mine.” Hishead rose, and I was pinned in place. “Mine,” he repeated and reached for me with one still-glowing hand.
A cold wind jerked me away from him just in time.
“Stay away, Rada,” Serak murmured as the scene dissolved into snow. “Don’t let him claim you. He won’t stop until the whole world burns.”
I woke in a warm room with translucent walls, a soft nest of fur under me, my cloak on top, and a deep feeling of unease.
But a beautiful naked man stared down into my face, and something in his expression calmed me. “Lachlan,” I murmured. His lips curled up, and relief rushed through me from our bond.
My hands had been wrapped in the edges of his pelt, and my fingers felt odd, like they’d gotten too cold and were still healing. My toes were worse, though they didn’t hurt as badly as they had when I’d been burned at the stake.
A few feet away, a small fire crackled merrily, the smoke rising to a small hole in the top of the domed roof. Even better, a large chunk of meat—not fish, but some sort of fowl—roasted on a stick close to the flames, its skin crackling and brown. I wanted to weep at the sight of it.
“Hungry?” Lachlan asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. He moved to the fire and tore off a leg, carrying it back to me in his hand, then picked small pieces of flesh off the bone.
It was seasoned with nothing but salt. It may have been the best thing I’d ever tasted.
Not that I’d tell Lachlan that, of course. I was certain he knew I liked it by how fast I ate it, silently begging for more like a bird as he fed me by hand.
Wait.I was letting him hand-feed me? What in the universe of fucked-up courting rituals had him doing that? I swallowed a piece and mumbled, “You don’t need to feed me.” I tapped at the bite mark on my upper arm.
“I want to,” he replied, handing me a larger chunk of meat. I accepted it, because I was not stupid. If any male wanted to shower me with gifts, I was taking them. Especially gifts of meat, when I’d been traveling with a vegetarian for the past five years. I loved everything about Alexios, but there were times when a girl just needed a sausage.
“S’good,” I said at last, the silence between us growing awkward, especially with the way our scents mingled here. He smelled of salt and herbs. Rosemary? I drew another breath into my lungs, enjoying the way it mingled with my own mint and rain, and keeping my expression as flat as I could. It wouldn’t be a good idea to let this one see how he affected me, though it would be hard to hide the emotions that seeped through the bond between us.
Come to think of it, I couldn’t feel him poking around inside me now. Maybe he’d learned some self-control. I wasn’t going to kill him, but it wasn’t like one cooked bird and keeping his nosy feelings to himself would put him in my good books.
Of course, when I finished the bird, he brought over a giant plank of roasted tuna, this time flavored with some sweet grasses and… “Thyme? Damnit, make it harder to like you, asshole.”
“I’ll try,” he teased, feeding me the tuna as well. I did feel a little wash of happiness from him then, but stomped on it in my mind. I wasn’t going to start feeling gooey for this Omega.
I took stock while I continued to feast. My hands and arms were clean, no dried blood anywhere. I felt better, though the top of my head still pounded with each pulse, like there was a weak place there. Someone had pulled my hair back and braided it while I slept, and I was almost certain it hadn’t been the ice god.
Wait.
The shadow of something large moved outside the ice dome, and I pointed to it. Lachlan’s smile transformed him from ahandsome male to an irresistible one. My fingers moved over his pelt, sinking into the fur in an attempt not to reach for him.
