I started to stand so I could remove my new pants, but the fresh leaves on the throne immediately began to wilt, so I quickly sat back down. “I don’t want to get blood on my new clothes, but I think I need to give more so the new growth doesn’t die.”
“Easily solved, my queen.” Dörr bent down, slipped his hands beneath my arms, and quickly lifted me so I stood on the seat of the chair. The tender shoots remained.
“Do you think a little more blood will help, or am I going to have to stay on the throne to keep the new growth?”
He shook his head. “You can’t possibly remain seated in the throne day and night. You wouldn’t get any rest.”
True. “I guess we’ll find out.” I unbuttoned my slacks, and he helped me slide the material down my legs. I held onto his shoulders, lifting one foot and then the other. “I guess the real question is how much blood will be required.”
My Blood drew closer, but I handed my sweater to Lokken to fold. Gunnarr had chocolate on his hands, and my Blood weren’t used to handling human clothing.
“I think the better question may be how much are you willing to give?” Lokken asked gravely, carefully folding my clothes like priceless artifacts. “Since your mother never took the throne, it may need more than a typical transfer of power.”
Dörr passed my slacks to Lokken to fold as well. I debated for a moment on keeping my lovely new underthings on, but if we were going to have a bloody orgy…
The tips of Gunnarr’s ears and the apples of his cheeks burned bright red. “I’m so sorry, my queen. My damnable tongue flaps quicker than my brain can slow it down sometimes.”
I hadn’t realized I was broadcasting my thoughts to my Blood at all. “I’m not offended, Gunnarr. I think we should start a new tradition. Instead of a garden party, we’ll have a party on the beach.”
I turned around so Dörr could unfasten the clasp of my bra. He passed it to Lokken reverently, and then my panties. I’d been completely naked countless times before my Blood without a thought, but it was different this time. Five glorious, tempting men stood in a loose circle about me. Close enough to touch. Though none of them would so much as lay a finger on me without permission. They’d watched me disrobe. They knew I was going to bleed.
Hunger pulsed through me. All around me. A loop of increasing need.
“You should all remove your clothes too.” My voice rasped. My skin heated, as if my blood caught fire in my veins. Even though I’d fed so deeply everyone except Myrk had been unconscious just last night, a vicious stab of hunger dropped my fangs so hard and fast it made me shudder.
Without the same care they’d given to my new clothes, they tossed shirts and pants aside. Unable to tear their gaze away from me.
It felt like I was moving in slow motion as I lifted my wrists to my mouth and pierced my skin on both arms. I started to move my arms outward, but the smooth wooden arms of the chair braced beneath my forearms. Even though I was still standing. I started to tip my head down to look but the pit of my stomach dropped. My head fell back against the carved wooden throne. It was impossibly big, a giant’s chair. Tall. Soaring upward.
Yggdrasil. I felt its bark against my skin. Branches bridging other worlds and dimensions stretched out in all directions. I was just one tiny splinter of the mighty world tree.
:Not true, Daughter of Hel.:A strange male voice whispered in my head. Not as deep as Dörr’s rumble but more intense, echoing with power. Yggdrasil’s voice? I didn’t think so.:You are the wellspring from which all rivers flow.:
Rippling waters splashed and sparkled in my mind, cool and sweet and pure. Not filled with refuse and mud like before. My blood already flowed in the wellspring, which fed the endless roots arching throughout Hvergelmir. Carrying me like sap through the infinite trunk and branches.
I flowed in Yggdrasil’s trunk. In seconds, I could touch the darkness of Hel or soar to the very top levels of branches. Some were still dead and dark as before, but new growth unfurled onseveral branches. It wasn’t too late. The mighty tree wasn’t at risk of dying. Not at all.
Glittering light flickered through the many leaves, sparkling and dancing with joy all around me. Diamonds in the leaves. Prisms and crystals, spinning, casting blinding color in all directions.
:I’m forbidden from entering your world myself. But you may enter mine and bring me through.:
:Who are you? Where are you?:
:I cannot say. Let the rainbows guide you.:
Then he was gone. I pressed my cheek to the tree, sinking into its ageless, deep peace.:Take what you need from me.:
Rustling leaves rocked me slowly downward level by level, branch by branch. The scents of pine and cedar filled my nose. Acorns. Apple blossoms. Sweet Linden. My toes sank into rich, dark, soil, so fertile any seed planted here would grow with abandon. Lush vegetation, tropical flowers, trees so large and tall I couldn’t see their highest branches.
I could still feel Yggdrasil’s rough bark against my skin, my arms outstretched around its trunk. Yet I walked through this jungle too.
It was trying to tell me something. Show me something. But what?
:Do you want me to find this garden?:
The rustling shifted, almost whispers on a gentle breeze. Green ferns and thick branches parted, letting me see far into the distance. Rolling hills of forests. Mountains. Glistening fields of snow. Stormy gray seas. Ocean waves crashed against rocky cliffs and black sands. Tumbling through the window into a night sky on my own wings. The surge of emotion in my heart. A sense of belonging. Recognition. Home.
Yet something was missing.
