Chapter 28
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Sylvara didn’t know why she’d gotten so chatty with Rolf. But she liked that he agreed with her, and he had valuable insights when it came to battle. The guy was an expert on killing. And though she hated to admit it, she felt a little vulnerable after dealing with Agatha and her cronies.
It had been a long time since she’d felt devalued.
Then again, anytime she ran into Odin, she caught the same unwelcome vibe.
But with him, she’d transmuted the feeling into fatherly disapproval she knew she’d never get.
With Agatha, a fellow valkyrie, it hurt a little more. Sylvara belonged there, damn it.
They crossed a few more paths, the evening sweet with the scents of rose and jasmine and the sound of muted battle from Freyja’s field.
The home of the Norns looked simple enough.
A large stone structure with several floors full of tapestries depicting the major life events of the mortals and gods the Norns patterned.
Behind the modest keep sat the great World Tree, Yggdrasil. The Well of Ur pooled just beside it, the water from which the Norns kept the tree nourished and full of magic and connection.
Sylvara had called this place home for a good portion of her early years, and though the rest of the world had often thrown her challenges, her aunts always gave her plenty of love and affection.
They entered the main level, spotless and filled with light from the many windows along the stone walls.
“This is really the home of the Fates, eh?” Rolf looked around, staring with fascination at the scenes of great battles, lives and deaths, as they continued through the main floor, where women came and went, cleaning, organizing, and sweeping away the destinies of so many.
Mortals told tales of the three Norns responsible for the fates of everyone. But there were so many who made life exist. Urth, Verthandi, and Skuld were the big three Wyrd Sisters, but not the only beings who maintained the great Loom of Destiny.
“Yes. It’s where I grew up. Have you ever met my aunts?”
“The actual Daughters of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow?”
“That’s them.”
“No, but I’d love to. I wonder what they taste like.”
“If you even think of biting any of them, I’m pretty sure one of them will snip your thread faster than you can say ‘just kidding.’”
“Relax, Syl. I was just wondering out loud.”
She shot him a look, knowing him all too well despite the fact they hadn’t spent much time together. Though only a few days had passed since they’d started this quest to find the last Bloode Stone, it felt like much longer.
“How much time do you think we really have left? That movie we saw—that you slept through—indicated the Darkness has already come.”
He shrugged. “I’m not worried about it. One way or the other, a grand battle is coming.” His dark eyes shone with excitement. “I can’t wait.”
She studied him as they entered a large living area filled with comfortable sofas, tables, flowers, and a large screen television, because her aunts loved their daytime dramas, especially the extremely popular Greeks Will Be Greeks, about Aphrodite and her many backstabbing suitors.
The show was trending in several pantheons, as far as Sylvara knew.
“You’re not afraid of anything, are you?” She didn’t understand how that could make Rolf so fierce. “Isn’t that a detractor? Fear makes people stronger.”
“And weaker. Not everyone is a vampire or valkyrie, Syl.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it.
She liked him kissing her, but she didn’t know how she felt about Verthandi seeing the gesture. Her aunt’s grin widened as she stood from her chair near the window.
Sylvara groaned, and the instigator by her side wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her tightly to him. “Hey, why don’t we ask your aunts about what’s coming?”
“No. Never do that. It ruins the surprise.”
“Besides, no one can handle the knowing,” Verthandi said. She approached and drew Sylvara close for a hug. “About time you came back. We’ve been missing you.”
Her aunt pulled away, and Sylvara studied the ageless woman. Beautiful, ethereal, a sea of calm always just there. She grounded Sylvara and had always been a port of safety during Sylvara’s turbulent growing years.
A good head taller than Sylvara, lithe, with the pale skin of a light elf and long, silver hair streaked with black.
A band of dark blue painted across her eyes, from temple to temple, like war paint.
In Verthandi’s case, under each eye, three dots punctuated her face.
Urth had three thin lines that streaked down her cheeks. And Skuld had three stars.
From an appearance standpoint, her aunts looked similar except for their facial markers. Yet all three had vastly different temperaments.
Still, they could pass for Sylvara’s sisters despite having eons of lifetimes behind them.
Some said they were part jotun or fae, something beyond gods.
Sylvara only knew them as women who loved and loved well.
All of creation fell under their care, and they did the job no one else could do, a job that never ended.
Without them, life would cease to exist.
“Are you aware of the Darkness that Comes?” she asked.
Rolf huffed. “Didn’t you just tell me not to ask?”
Verthandi’s sly grin warned Sylvara she might not like the answer. “Of course I know about it. Who do you think told Urth to make sure Hecate knew centuries ago?”
“Why not stop it?” Rolf asked. “If it comes and annihilates one world, it’ll destroy them all. Then you’ll be out of a job.”
Verthandi shrugged. “I work with the present, boy. Only Skuld knows what tomorrow brings. Besides, this chaos is but one of many constantly threatening to destroy everything. That we live and breathe is a testament to the whims of Creation itself. You have no idea how much of life must come into direct alignment daily to keep the Great Balance in check.”
He frowned.
Sylvara sighed. “I told you. It’s better not to ask. My aunts’ brains are stuffed with a lot of crap. They never forget anything.”
“Never. Including the fact you were supposed to make dinner before you left the last time.”
“Three months ago,” she muttered. “If I wasn’t so busy working off Skuld’s debt to Loki, I’d have been back before now.”
“What debt?” Verthandi frowned in confusion.
“Loki and Skuld both told me she owes the trickster a debt. That’s why I’m working with Rolf, so I can save Skuld from Loki’s machinations.”
“I love that word.” Rolf grinned.
Verthandi continued to appear puzzled. Then she said to Rolf, “You’re friends with the black dragon and his mate, Valentine Darkmore.”
“Val? And Khent, the dragon, yes. But he’s better known as a reaper.”
“Yes, yes. Well?”
“Well what?”
“Why aren’t you trying to save her?”
“From what, exactly?” Sylvara asked. “We’re supposed to find the last Bloode Stone to fight the Darkness. But we keep getting distracted by a lot of dickhead gods.”
“True,” Rolf agreed. “Though that’s a little harsh about Odin. I mean, technically, he’s your boss, right?”
“Aunt Verthandi?”
Verthandi shook her head. “Not good what’s happening with Valentine Darkmore. The chaos inside her wants out.”
“Ilu?” Rolf’s asked, intent. “I though Val had her under wraps.”
“I’m not sure. It’s murky there, and it’s only unclear when we’ve got an anomaly. A stitch in the weave.”
Sylvara didn’t trust the way her aunt looked at her. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? Who’s Ilu?”
Rolf answered, “Ilu is inside Val. She’s a creature of chaos who could easily destroy everything in existence. But Val contained her.”
“Silly boy.” Verthandi sighed. “Nothing can contain one such as that. Especially not now.”
“What’s happening now?” Sylvara rubbed her chest, an odd sensation stirring. Not painful, but full of pressure. A flash of the blond lady from the movie came to her.
“Syl?” Rolf dragged her back to him and stared into her eyes. “Is there a reason your eyes are black right now?”
She shrugged, feeling normal once again. “Um, what?” The pressure had eased, and she had no idea what to make of that.
Verthandi studied them, and Sylvara wondered what her aunt really thought about Rolf. “Come. Let’s have fruit and tea and I’ll tell you stories about Sylvara when she was little.”
Since her aunt didn’t act like they were in a rush, Sylvara figured to enjoy the short time she had at home.
Rolf sat with them in the kitchen, where a smiling server brought them plates of fruits and tea and blood for Rolf.
“Nice.” He sipped, his eyes wide. “This is demigod.”
“Only the best for my niece’s boyfriend.”
Sylvara felt her cheeks heat. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“I’m her beloved,” Rolf corrected with a wink.
Verthandi laughed so hard she snorted. “Fabulous. Wait until I tell the others.” She studied them. “Will you be able to handle mating a female of such power, Rolf of the Night Bloode?”
He glanced at Sylvara and raised a brow. “I know she’s powerful, but I’m nearly a thousand years old. And I do magic.” He plucked a grape from her plate and made it disappear in his hand.
She heard it fall to the floor.
He moved incredibly fast to pick it up then opened his other hand and showed the grape there.
Verthandi chuckled. “Very funny, draugr. But Sylvara is thousands of years old.”
“Technically.” Sylvara shrugged. “My mother gave birth to me a long time ago then set me in stasis in a complicated spell. They didn’t thaw me out until a few hundred years ago.”
Rolf frowned. “I thought you said they found you as a toddler.”
“They thawed me out when I was a toddler. The stasis spell had me aging extremely slowly.”
Rolf glanced at Verthandi. “Is that possible?”
“Stasis spells are more common than you think. The real question is why would her parent put her in stasis? Where is Sylvara’s mother? For that matter, where is her father?”
“You do ask good questions.” Rolf handed the grape back to Sylvara.
She pushed it back to Rolf. “That was on the floor, you know.”
“Oh. Sorry. So who’s your dad?”
“No idea. No clue about my mother either. But I don’t need them. I have my aunts.” She studied him. “What about you? Do you know your parents?”
“Sure. But my mother didn’t stick around. Vampires breed with females who then leave. They aren’t allowed to stay to raise the male child.”
“Funny. If I had a kid, I’d be sticking around to raise her or him.”
“Well, the female children, though rare, leave with the mother. But the males are raised by the clan of the father.”
“Good thing we’re not really mates then.” She smiled at him through her teeth. “Because if you ever tried to take my child from me, I’d take your fucking head.”
“Then you’re in luck! The Night Bloode is making changes. All my kins’ mates live in the Night Bloode clan quarters. Kaia is due to give birth soon, and Orion has already decreed that no matter the sex of the child, it will remain with both parents.”
She studied him. “Your patriarch agreed with this?” Varu was strigoi, and they were known to be more traditional.
“Well, Varu didn’t really have a choice. Orion pretty much told him his mate and child were staying.”
“You Night Bloode are weird for vampires.”
“Tell me about it.” He turned to Verthandi. “About those embarrassing stories about my girlfriend…”
She laughed. “Well, the first time she said my name she called me Versey and demanded I teach her how to braid the Great Weave. Really messed up some destinies, I have to tell you. That’s when we figured she probably wasn’t meant to be one of the Norns.”
Rolf gaped. “You let her play with the Wyrd?”
Verthandi scowled. “What? It was harmless fun.”
Sylvara smirked. “Not what you said when that plague hit.”
Her aunt waved away her concern. “Oh, it was fine. No one dies from the Bubonic Plague anymore, do they?”
An hour later, her niece packed up to depart with the vampire. The pair left arguing over who should take the lead when they walked through the rift back into mortal realm, where Jormungandr waited in Seattle.
Verthandi found her sisters weaving by the base of the World Tree.
Skuld and Urth glanced up when she sat next to them and took hold of several threads needing her attention.
“How did it go?” Skuld asked.
“As you said it would. They are well matched.” Verthandi sighed. “The Dark Sun has found love with the Daughter of Possibility.”
“Just as Hafandi hoped.” Urth shook her head. “Nothing good will come from this.”
Skuld didn’t comment. But then, she didn’t need to. As the vampire said, if things continued the course set by what Creation demanded they weave, then they’d all soon be out of a job.