“Nobodyallowsme to do anything,” she murmured.
Her tongue. Risking all those brutal edges. Dripping poison. Hooks intended to grab flesh and bury deeper, embedding so my quarry couldn’t escape, even while I cut them to ribbons.
I strained harder, bellowing to her other Blood.:Goddess damn you, Myrk! Stop her before it’s too late! Dörr! Wake up, you fool!:
Myrk, the bastard, laughed in my head.:Sorry, brother. I would never intervene against our queen’s will. I recommend you shut up, take whatever she gives you, and count yourself blessed below all creatures of Darkness ever spawned in Hel.:
Her power tightened its grip on me, flattening me against the mattress. I couldn’t lift my head as shadows swallowed my face, covering my eyes.
Immediately, I was back in the Darkness of Hel, sinking like a massive boulder straight to the Slough. I couldn’t fly my way out. I couldn’t see Yggdrasil’s massive roots like hills and valleys on the horizon. No rocky ledges lined with chattering alfar, eager for the next battle. Only black emptiness. Swallowing me.
:I’m here,:she whispered.:You’re not alone.:
Everything inside me squeezed into a tangled knot of blackness.:I don’t want you here.:
My words hurt her, as I intended. Better my words injure her than the monster I’d made of myself. Battle after battle, honing my body into weapons of destruction. No other alfar had the same brutal arsenal—because I’d killed hundreds and more to create it. Each victorious death twisted and shaped me. Sharper. More venomous. Fucking deadly.
:Dörr’s my Darkest.:Her words prodded through the tangled knots inside me. Worming and crawling deeper. Seeking something. My heart? My soul? I had none.:You’re my Deadliest.:
Falling faster, through the higher levels of rings. Easier battles. The testing ground for creatures like me. Where I’d learned my deadliest gifts. Deeper, now, to the rings of long waiting, which made for sweeter kills. Anticipation flavored the meat. The more I killed, the lower I went, to the lowest of the low. The Endless Slough. The pit that made me what I am.
The last, bottom, deepest pit. An eternally sinking ring of death.
It smelled as I remembered. The acrid scent of tar. Slow bubbling puddles of essence. Black rings of stone rising in steep cliffs above. Though instead of the clamor of the watching horde, the rings were silent. Their favorite killer had departed from the Slough.
I lay flat on my back in that ring as my queen touched me.
Her fingers traced the deep gouges and ridges that lined my cock. She kissed the barb and carefully licked the dripping fluid. I felt every brutally light stroke. While I could only lie there. And endure it.
Such exquisite torment I had never known. I never wanted it to end. Though I wished it could be different. I wished I could be safer. Easier to touch. Easier to love.
:I will always love you, Svar. Even if I could never touch you again.:
:Why?:
Her hands stroked my entire body. Her mouth. She sank her glorious fangs into my groin, and I couldn’t help but rage silently in our bond because I had no blood to give her. Only the foulness from which I’d crawled.
:You heard my Call.:
:Dörr—:
:You rose too,:she broke in.:You would have come if he hadn’t heard my Call. There were hundreds of others of your kind sleeping in the wellspring. Thousands. None of them heard me beg for help but you did. You risked everything to save me, even if that meant I left you in Darkness and returned to my world alone. Why did you hear me, Svar? Why did you come to my aid? If not for me to love you?:
Her precious face suddenly filled my vision. Even here in the infinite darkness of Hel, her beauty glowed with infallible light. Her hair tumbled about her face in short glossy curls. Even thewhites of her eyes flashed like polished obsidian, gleaming with her goddess’ power.
:Killing shaped you into a weapon. Now let love reshape you intomyweapon. My Deadliest weapon of all.:
I tried one last time to free myself. Roaring with effort, at least in my head. Straining against her control. Desperation hammered in my skull, mightier than Thunderer’s Mjölnir and AllFather’s lightning combined.
I even tried to spear myself. Tear myself apart. Better me than her.
I tried. Everything. In vain.
Trembling with effort, I finally did the only thing I could.
Svar of the Endless Slough sank even further than the bottomless pits of Hel could sink.
I surrendered.
