No. Are we sure he’s here? Watch out!
Ben ducked as a wolf leaped over the back of what looked like David, almost knocking Ben down at the same time. Your lich friend said he was.
Ulfur! I turned from where I was guarding the door and confronted him. “Ulfur, where’s your boss?”
He said nothing, his eyes sad.
“Please, Ulfur. I know that he’s put some sort of compulsion on you not to tell us anything, but this is important. He’s done something to my mom and I have to know what, so I can reverse it. Please tell me.”
Ulfur shook his head.
“Please, Ulfur. Please help me. I swear to you that we will do our best to get you released from him, but in order to do that, you have to help us now.”
He shuddered, closing his eyes for a second, his face twisted in agony as he pointed to the left. “Chapel.”
“Thank you.” Impulsively, I leaned forward to hug him. “Thank you. Isleif! Come and guard my mother!”
“Goddess?”
Isleif paused in the act of hacking off the head of a dead therion in wolf form. I yelled for Eirik and Finnvid, likewise in the heat of the battle, and then sent out a call to Ben. Ulfur says he’s in the chapel. That must be the creepy building that the gargoyles sprout from.
Francesca! You must stay with your mother!
Isleif is with her. Hurry up! I need you!
Ben muttered to himself as he fought his way over to me, his sword flashing silver and red in the light from the windows.
I can hear that, you know! And you aren’t going to have a next Beloved, so just buck up and come help me get a little payback before David finds out where de Marco is.
The four of us raced around the side of the stone building that had evidently been added on to the main house at a later date, since the stone was a darker color. Several wolfy therions followed us, but Ben and the Vikings took care of them quickly. I couldn’t bring myself to harm them, knowing that even though they were happily trying to kill us, somewhere in their furry form, a human being resided.
They aren’t human anymore, Beloved. Their minds are now in de Marco’s control.
All that much more payback he has coming to him, then.
Agreed.
Ben and Eirik broke down the door to the chapel. The darkness inside was lit only by candles, the flames of which jumped and danced with the swirl of air as we rushed in. At the far end, a man stood with a familiar-looking woman.
“Naomi,” I said, clutching the Vikingahärta in one hand and my axe in the other. “Why am I not surprised.”
She spat out something I took to be not at all complimentary. De Marco spun around, his face black with anger.
“You have interfered with me for the last time!” he bellowed, his voice making dust fall from the chapel rafters. He lifted his hand just as Ben jumped forward to protect me, but it wasn’t de Marco that worried me. Naomi, her eyes spitting fury, stood silent and still for a moment, obviously gathering power. A silvery white glow formed between her hands, and I knew without a single doubt in my mind that she was going to blast Ben with it, completely destroying him.
I couldn’t live without him. Not now. Not ever, really. I might have fooled myself into thinking I could, but I knew now that our lives were too tightly bound to ever be separated.
I don’t remember moving at all. One minute I was at the door with Eirik and Finnvid; the next I threw myself forward, knocking Ben aside, but leaving myself standing where he had been. Naomi shrieked and the silver light pulsed forward, slamming into me with a force that sent me flying backward six feet into the chapel wall.
Ben called out my name, but as the light enveloped me, I was content I’d saved him.
Chapter 23
“How is she?”
Quietly, I closed the door to my mother’s bedroom and turned to face the people crowded into her trailer. Ben was nearest the door, his mere presence bringing me joy and comfort and love in a way that I had never imagined.
Beyond him, Imogen and Finnvid sat, Imogen’s face puckered with worry. Finnvid was eating sardines, occasionally offering a bit to Davide, whom Tallulah had brought back to comfort my mother. To my surprise, Davide seemed to have no issue with the Viking. Perhaps it was the sardines.
“She’s sleeping.”
“Is she still confused?” Tallulah asked, sitting at the table with Peter. Beyond them, Kurt, Karl, and Absinthe hovered around the tiny kitchen area, obviously handing out cups of coffee and tea. Eirik sat on the sink, while Isleif lounged in the chair opposite Tallulah.
“Yes. She doesn’t understand why I’ve made her come home early from Heidelberg, nor does she seem to be aware of de Marco. When I ask her about him, she keeps telling me that’s in the past, and best not mentioned. So who, exactly, is she in love with?”
“We won’t know until she can tell us,” Ben pointed out.
“She will be better in time,” Imogen said, squeezing my hand. “The glamour will fade now that the Ilargi does not have her in his thrall.”
“I hope so.” I slumped tiredly against the door, my hand automatically seeking out Ben’s, smiling at him when he pulled me down onto his lap, kissing the side of my neck. “I don’t know what else I can do.”
“Maybe there’s a way I can help.”
I looked up to see who spoke, not recognizing the voice, and for the umpteenth time in the last week, stared in complete surprise. Kurt, Karl, and Absinthe moved aside to let a woman pass. She was tall, like me, but not so sturdily built. Her hair was also dark and short like mine, but where I had gone for a carefree style, hers was pure urchin. She had big brown eyes, a heart-shaped face, and a hesitant smile, as if she wasn’t sure of a welcome.
“Fran, right? Or do you prefer Francesca? Your Dark One said the latter, but it’s kind of a mouthful, isn’t it?”
“Petra,” I said, goose bumps running up and down my arms.
We stared at each other for a minute; then Ben gave me a little push. And in the next second, we were hugging and laughing and even crying a little.
It took us a little time to calm down, but once Petra had gone in to sit with Mom for a few minutes, the others had left.
“All will be well now,” Imogen said as she hugged me at the door. Ben stood to the side since the sun was starting to come up, sending rosy tendrils of light snaking across the floor. “I’m so happy, Fran, I can’t begin to tell you. You and Benedikt are finally truly together, and he has his soul back, and now I can stop worrying about you both because I know you will be so happy together.”
I glanced at Ben, too tired to feel surprise anymore. “You have your soul back? When did that happen?”
“You sacrificed yourself for him,” Imogen answered before he could. “It is that act which redeems the soul. Didn’t Benedikt tell you?”
“No,” I said, just enjoying the sight of him. He was so handsome he took my breath away, but it was more than just the pretty package that made my soul sing—it was the Ben inside who completed me and made me more than I was when I’d started out. “No, he didn’t.”
You’re going to yell at me about that later, aren’t you?
Oh, yes.
“How are you doing?” I asked Imogen, concerned by Ben’s comment that she was vulnerable. “Have you heard from Günter?”
Her expression darkened. “No, and I must admit I’m concerned about his welfare, despite Benedikt’s assertion that he was only using me to get at the Vikingahärta.”
Ben snorted. “Why else would he disappear the moment Francesca appeared?”
“Regardless of that, I’m sorry you lost him,” I told her.
She smiled, blushing a little. “Don’t be too sorry on my behalf. Finnvid has been most attentive in consoling me.”