“But you didn’t fail. Fenrir is imprisoned.”
“It’s of no matter. Jamesy was right. I’m no warrior if I canna defeat even one enemy. Both he and my uncle Harald are determined that all I need to complete my days is a husband of their choosing to settle me down. So, in answer to yer question, I suppose that’s what’s to become of my life.” She wiped the back of her hand over her eyes and turned her face away from him.
A husband oftheirchoosing? For his Bridget?
Not likely.
Not while he breathed air.
If anyone was going to choose a husband for Bridget, it should be he who did the choosing.
He couldn’t stand to see her spirit broken like this. The fire, the passion for life, was gone from her eyes. They would not do this to her.
Hewould not do this to her.
As they brought their horses to a stop in front of the stables, he quickly dismounted and reached up to help her down, fastening his hand tightly around hers.
He would see that sparkle of life back in her eyes, no matter what it took.
A quick glance around and he headed out, dragging her along behind him toward the workshops.
“What do you think yer about?” she demanded, running to keep up with his determined steps.
“Doing what needs to be done,” he answered, more sure than ever about the course he’d chosen. “What should have been done long ago.”
Heat billowed from the forge where the smithy worked his iron, shimmering in the air around them.
He had intended to consult with the Faerie, Syrie, to determine Fenrir’s fate. As Orabilis had warned, the Beast could not be left in the Mortal world. The temptation for someone, at some time in the future, to call upon his evil power would be too great.
Wyddecol, the home world of the Fae, was a possibility, but who could say how the Faeries would respond to such a request?
No, now that he’d thought it through, this truly was the best option.
Hall pulled the bag with the scrolls from his sporran and held it up for Bridget to see. “Do you still believe annihilation is the necessary consequence for the Beast?”
“I believe it is the only acceptable consequence to guarantee the future of our world. If the Beast is imprisoned, we both know he will be found and released upon the world again. It’s only a matter of time. Some other innocent like my father will die.”
She was right. It was what the Elves should have done a millennium ago. What he did now would simply right the wrong they’d perpetrated. To hell with what the gods of Asgard decreed. There would be no escape for Fenrir this time.
With an arm crooked above his eyes to protect against the billowing heat, Hall leaned toward the forge and tossed the bag inside, into the flames.
Never again would Fenrir plague the world.
Overhead, the skies rumbled with a thunder well beyond Hall’s control. The ground under their feet shuddered and rolled as if the planet itself responded to his action.
Hall wrapped his arms around Brie, covering her body with his own when they were thrown to the ground.
Lightning exploded through the heavens like some giant crazed spiderweb crackling across the sky as people in the courtyard ran for cover, their screams drowned out by a ripping, tearing noise that filled the air and buffeted their ears.
When the noise finally ceased, the silence was almost as deafening as the noise had been. Gradually, a hubbub of excited, frightened voices filled the silence as people picked themselves up off the ground to begin to seek some understanding of what had just happened to them.
Hall helped Bridget to her feet, taking care to avoid her injured arm. “That’s that, then. Do you still feel as though you failed?”
Her mouth opened and closed twice before she managed to form words. “I canna believe you did that for me,” she said at last, her voice trembling. “I canna believe you destroyed the Beast.”
“Though I didn’t do it solely for you, I want you to know that I would gladly move heaven and earth to return the light of possibility to your eyes.” He lifted her hand to place a gentle kiss on her palm. “Seeing it shining there now assures me I did the right thing.”
“What have you done?” Syrie ran toward them from the keep, her skirts gathered in her arms so as not to slow her down. “What have you done?”
