Carefully, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around my left hand, pulling my arm out away from my body. His palm was warm against my knuckles, his fingers gentle as he drew my hand to his lips. He pressed a kiss to my palm, his golden eyes locked on me. Watching my face. My reaction.
“I offer myself,” he repeated, whispering the words against my skin. Making his lips a caress. “I will stand at your side. I will obey your Call and accept your will above my own. I will heed your alpha’s commands as if they were from your own lips. I will gladly serve as Blood, if you care to have me.”
He turned my hand over, I thought to kiss my knuckles too, but he simply held my arm out. Waiting for my answer. Though his nostrils flared, his eyes swirling with streams of pearlescent rainbows against the gold.
I forgot the bite in my wrist. My blood. I’d likely stained the front of my sweater by now.
A drop of blood fell from my wrist, slipping down to splat onto the golden platform. Colors exploded through me, rays of light and streams of energy. Blasting through all the corners of my mind. Lighting up the secret pathways of the universes. All of them. The branches of Yggdrasil glistened with rainbows, from the very top to the deepest, darkest roots. The golden palaces of the gods, floating in the clouds. Bright, airy Ljosalfheimr, home of the light elves, filled with gossamer wings and flowers, a riotous explosion of color and perfumes.
Other realms I couldn’t even name or recognize flickered faster through my mind like pages of a book. Purple skiesand glittering mermaid-like creatures floated in jeweled oceans. Monstrous beasts hunted in gigantic primeval forests. Planets of ice and endless cold. Fiery volcanoes, bubbling with pits of bright lava and flame. A creature roared in the fiery pit with massive, sweeping horns like a bull. Hooves thundering the earth, cracking the foundations of the world.
The rainbow bridge wound further, carrying me beyond the outer reaches of the known universe. A brittle sound made my skin crawl again. Screeches. Whispers. Like glass rubbing together. Cracking glass. Shattering. Cutting shards.
A roar tore through the vision, and it fell apart like tattered tissues. Fur pressed against me. A massive paw wrapped around my midsection. Trying to tear me away.
Gunnarr, shifted to his polar bear. He gripped the god’s forearm in his jaws.:Tell him to release you, or I eat his arm for second breakfast.:
Completely unbothered, Heimdallr laughed. “Tell him to releaseme, Your Majesty, or I’ll have a nice fur cloak to wrap around your shoulders when we walk the black sand beaches of your home.”
“Enough.” Colors still exploded and fired in my mind, a dizzying swirl of energy. My knees quivered, and I leaned against Gunnarr’s bear, trying to stay upright. “I’m unharmed.”
:He meant to steal your blood, my queen.:
“Not at all, my furry friend. I have not tasted the tantalizing treasure trove she has yet to offer me.”
Somewhat mollified, Gunnarr released the god’s forearm and sat back on his haunches, giving me more of his chest to lean against.:I’m still ready to chow down on him if he so much as looks at you sideways.:
Heimdallr laughed again. “I shall only look upon her glory straight ahead and directly, so I swear on all that glitters this side of Yggdrasil.”
Feeling a little steadier, I searched his face, looking for any hint of duplicity or ulterior motive. “How are you able to hear Gunnarr’s mental voice without a Blood bond?”
“Your bear is a talented communicator, Your Majesty.”
Gunnarr huffed out a growl.:Which is a nice way to say I talk too much and think too loudly.:
Heimdallr’s lips twitched again. Definitely amusement, not disdain. His eyes remained locked to my face. More streamers of color glittered in his eyes, almost obliterating the gold entirely. He held my hand the same as before. Not tugging me to him. Not squeezing with any force. Just holding me. Even with blood dripping down to my elbow and splattering his bridge. Even though his own arm also bled now, his sleeve mangled by my bear’s teeth.
Even more telling, to me at least, was Bjørg’s complete lack of concern. Despite the scuffle, she was relaxed in the crook of my arm, her ears upright, her eyes curious. She didn’t growl or bark at him. She certainly didn’t fling herself at him…
The memory surfaced like a great dark beast rising from the depths of the ocean.
A tremendous boom in the dead of night had pulled me from my bed. I raced to the window but couldn’t see any flames or fire that might explain the explosion. As the minutes ticked by, people stepped outside, looking toward the fjord and the mountains beyond. The crashing of timber echoed in the night. The ground shook beneath our feet.
Queen Illa, still in her nightgown and wrap, her golden hair in a thick braid down her back. Her consiliarius, Sigrid, and her husband, Emil. Others from the kitchen staff.
“The villagers,” Queen Illa whispered, tears streaking her cheeks. “I’m afraid Tafjord and Fjørå are gone.”
Cries and calls for help began to reach us. Babies. Children. We rushed down from House Fólkvangr to help as manyas we could. Houses smashed like kindling. Mud and water everywhere. Broken trees shoved through walls. People buried and crushed beneath debris.
“Help,” a man whispered to my left. “Please help me.”
Immediately, I broke from the main group, trying to find him in the darkness. Carefully stepping over shattered trees and toppled houses. Wading through mud to my knees. “Where are you?”
“Here. Please. I’m trapped. I can’t move my legs.”
Hopping along a downed tree to cross a muddy puddle, Bjørg let out a sound I’d never heard before. Part hiss, part growl, as fierce a sound as her little body could make. She turned and looked at me, barking and yipping furiously. Then she dove into the thick branches of the tree. Her growls suddenly silenced with a sharp cry of pain.
I pushed through the branches, crawling through mud and debris. Crying. Calling for her.
