There are the warlocks all with the Wolf,
With them is the brother of Býleistr faring.
Surtr fares from southward with switch-eating flame;
On his sword shimmers the sun of the war-gods;
The rocks are falling, and fiends are reeling,
Heroes tread Hel-way, heaven is cloven.
Then to the Goddess a second grief cometh,
When Odin fares to fight with the Wolf,
And Beli’s slayer, the bright god, with Surtr;
There must fall Frigg’s beloved.
Odin’s son goeth to strife with the Wolf,
Vídarr, speeding to meet the slaughter-beast;
The sword in his hand to the heart he thrusteth
Of the fiend’s offspring; avenged is his Father.
Now goeth Hlödyn’s glorious son
Not in flight from the Serpent, of fear unheeding;
All the earth’s offspring must empty the homesteads,
When furiously smiteth Midgard’s defender.
The sun shall be darkened, earth sinks in the sea,—
Glide from the heaven the glittering stars;
Smoke-reek rages and reddening fire:
The high heat licks against heaven itself.”
Skye lifted her tearstained face from Morgan’s shoulder. Kir, whom she remembered as Baldur, looked sympathetic, the bright god’s inner self far more beautiful than his outer. Logan—or Loki—held Baldur’s hand, their fingers twined tight as Jordan snuggled between them. Vali the Avenger nodded once as Tyr, known as Travis, smiled.
And the twins. Magni’s expression was grim, but it was Modi who held her attention, promised to make everything all right again. “I remember. May the gods help me.” Because everything she’d ever believed about herself had been a lie.
Chapter Five
“Tell us what happened.” Morgan led a rattled Skye to the white sofa and settled her down. It killed him to see the tears still on her cheeks, so he wiped them away. It was a travesty to see anything other than a smile gracing her face. “Can someone get her some tea or something?”
“I’ll take care of it.” Logan headed for his kitchen, his sanctuary. He’d surprised them all with his domesticity. He was an incredible cook and had fed them all on numerous occasions.
“Thanks.” He turned back to Skye and wiped away her tears. “It’s okay, Skye. Just tell us what happened.” What had caused that look of grief and despair just before she began to speak the prophecy?
“I changed something. Something I wasn’t supposed to.” She sniffled, the sound oddly endearing. The tip of her nose was red, her cheeks blotched, and her eyes were bloodshot.
She was so strong, so beautiful, and despite her fears she’d tasted divine. There was no way he was going to be able to resist taking her to bed. She brought out every protective instinct he had. Through everything that had happened to her she hadn’t collapsed, but her fragility was evident in her shaking hands and continuing tears.
He had to get her to see that she was safe. He wouldn’t allow anything to harm her, and once he and Magnus had Mjolnir he would be more than capable of enforcing that vow. “Shh. It’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not.” She accepted the tissue Magnus held out with a watery smile. “But thank you.”
“What exactly happened? Can you tell us what exactly you changed?” Travis spoke quietly, like you would to someone who’d been involved in a horrible crime. As a one-time PI and the god of justice, Travis was used to speaking to victims.
She made a cute face that made him want to pull her into his lap and cuddle her. She looked like a confused little puppy, endearing and lost, and he wanted to kiss her again so badly he ached. “Our job is to set the fate of gods and men, not to interfere in it.”
“And the Norns under you carry out your edicts.” Morgan took over. No one else, not even Travis, would question his Norn.
She looked up at him and he saw the sad knowledge that was the burden of a Norn. “Yes. For good or ill, to alter fate is to alter the fabric of time itself. What must be will be, and it is not my place to change it.”
“But you did.”
She nodded, her face crumpling once more.
Morgan couldn’t stand it. To hell with propriety. He pulled her onto his lap, ignoring her squirming to get free. She was his, and they both knew it, even if they hadn’t spent a single day alone together. It was about time he made his claim to her clear, to her and to everyone. “You aren’t going anywhere, sweetheart. Just tell us what we need to know.”
She sighed at the endearment, relaxing marginally against him. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
“When Odin summoned me I spoke the prophecy as I saw it at that time. I told him about the death of Baldur, the great war that was coming. I told him all about Ragnarrok, and his own doom.” Skye continued her tale, her words oddly formal. She was Skuld for the moment, the Norn of the Future, and she’d been tasked with delivering information to them.
He silenced everyone with a look. He would be the one to ask her questions, at least for now. She was still far too stiff for his liking. “I bet it wasn’t what the Old Man wanted to hear.”
She chuckled darkly. “No, it was not. He was enraged, and then he was cold.”
Morgan held tighter as she shuddered. He remembered all too well his grandfather’s cold wrath, and the usual end result. Jeff bore the physical scars. “He left, and you went back to Yggdrasil.”
“Yes. I watched, and I snipped the threads of men. And then…”
“Yes?”
No one else spoke to Skye. They watched, silent, enraptured, as Morgan coaxed the story out of her. “And then Loki took Baldur’s place, and almost died for him. It was both the most horrifying and beautiful thing I had ever seen.” She glanced over at Logan. “You loved him even before he loved you.”
Logan nodded once, sharply, but for just one brief moment Morgan saw the longing, the pain of loneliness in his gaze. Logan had suffered just as Morgan had, loving someone he couldn’t have. Except Logan had gone after what he wanted and to hell with the consequences, earning both Kir’s devotion and Jordan’s love.
Kir kissed Logan’s forehead, but he was paler than usual. Apparently he didn’t like remembering that time any more than Logan did. “When I realized what was going on, what Logan was doing, I struggled to get free, but he’d bound me too tightly. I couldn’t save him.”
“You saved each other, Kir.” Jordan stroked Logan’s cheek, but her eyes remained on Skye, waiting for her to continue her story.
“She’s right. We did, Blondie.” Logan pressed a soft kiss to Kir’s lips before turning back to Skye, Jordan snuggled close to his side.
Morgan turned his attention back to Skye. “That wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t always understand the prophecies. I believe it happened the way it was meant to.”
Shit. If even Skuld couldn’t tell them what the prophecies meant, they were screwed.
“Odin sought to prevent Ragnarrok by altering what was supposed to be. He chained up Fenrisùlfr, but he could not do so without chaining Járnsaxa’s other children as well.” She shrugged, suddenly Skye again. “Balance, everything having a price, something like that. So he bound Jörmungandr to the sea, and Hel to Helheim, without realizing what he’d unleash by doing so.”