Chapter 45
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
Sylvara hadn’t expected open arms, but maybe not trying to kill her would have been nice.
Rolf knocked into her, and not wanting to hurt him too much, she let him.
They landed hard, on grass. In a place that wasn’t the bazaar.
As she rolled to her feet and stood, her ax at the ready, she saw him crouch, looking like a demon more than a vampire, his blond hair flowing, his eyes blood-red.
“Easy, guy.” You asshole. My heart has been breaking for months, watching over you, waiting for you to remember, and this is what I get?
He clapped his hands, and a flash of magic settled over her, blinding her.
Then he tackled her, ripping her ax away, and bit her neck.
The pain shocked her, because it quickly turned to pleasure. He wasn’t savaging her flesh but sucking her blood with smooth draws, licking her wound closed. His mouth was on her, kissing her until she couldn’t think.
Rolf ripped through her clothes, following the trail of his clawed fingers with kisses, lingering on her breasts.
Sylvara had no idea how she’d lost control of the situation, but she didn’t care. Rolf continued to caress and kiss her, sliding back up her body to stare into her eyes.
“You left me,” he growled.
“I didn’t…”
“You let me forget.” He nudged her legs wider, settling his thick erection against her belly.
“Oh, wow. Rolf, no I didn’t. I—”
He shifted, staring at her face, then plunged inside her with a suddenness that stole her breath.
So slick and ready for him, she felt nothing but ecstasy as he pounded into her. It took her a moment to realize he’d pinned her arms on either side of her head while he fucked her hard and fast. She seized around him, arching to feel all of him.
He jerked and swore, filling her with seed, but he didn’t slow down. Instead, he took her again. Even fiercer.
“Mine. My mate,” he repeated before withdrawing and flipping her to her hands and knees. Then he was back, fuller as he pushed inside her. Possessing her until she couldn’t feel where she stopped and he started.
He tugged her hair, the bite of pain and the scratching on her shoulders a sign he wasn’t as in control of himself as he’d like. Then he shoved hard one last time, coming and setting her off as well.
She tightened around him, gasping with pleasure, and felt a surge of magic bind them as one. Her lightning covered them both, her ability to hold back nonexistent with her mate.
The idiot vampire she’d fallen in love with.
She still couldn’t believe how much she’d missed the fanger when she’d reset the world. How much she’d missed his silly sense of humor, his biting comments that made her laugh, and the sheer power that so impressed her. She’d never known love like she had for Rolf of the Night Bloode.
But she understood how her mother had lost her way. To be without her own beloved for an eternity, pushed aside by everyone who could have supported her but didn’t, was a hell all its own.
Hafandi hadn’t had family, found or otherwise, like Sylvara did. And she’d still done her best to restore Balance…by giving her power to her daughter.
Rolf leaned over her, covering her back, still joined. He kissed her scratches and licked each one, healing her. To her embarrassment, hot tears fell down her cheeks.
He withdrew and flipped her over. “Crying?” He kissed her cheeks, her eyelids, her mouth. “Ah, Syl. I missed you.” Then he pulled back, his eyes clouding with anger. “You bitch!”
She gaped. “What?”
“How could you let me forget you like that? You’re mine, you stupid valkyrie! Or are you a Wyrd Sister now? The blue is back across your eyes and nose.” He traced the marking with his finger, no claw in sight. “I like it. You look badass.”
She glared.
“Er, sorry for calling you a bitch.”
“You should be.” Her eyes filled again. Damn it. “I missed you too, you idiot.”
He smiled, and his glamour fell off. Apollo’s son staring down at her. “Of course you’ll explain everything that happened.”
He helped her sit up, and she realized they’d just had sex in public. Or maybe not.
“Rolf, where are we?”
“A pocket dimension where we could have a little privacy. Not the one where I store body parts,” he said to reassure her, and she remembered his slay lord eyes.
“Good.”
He grinned. “It’s a construct I made myself. With grass and a fake sky and fake sun. A few clouds that look like bats and wolves.” He pointed up. “See? Look.”
The grass they lay on felt like plush carpet, the sky overhead like something out of the divine realm. For all that Rolf wanted nothing to do with gods, he had their taste.
They sat staring at each other. Rolf waved a hand, and both wore casual earth clothes, like a regular couple on a picnic, she noticed as a checkered blanket appeared beneath them and a picnic basket filled with food and wine suddenly took shape.
“It’s real food. I’m a god here.” He grinned then blushed. “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”
“I’m good at secrets.”
After a moment spent staring at him, seeing him look at her like he knew her, she sighed and stroked his cheek. “I can’t believe how much I missed this face. Change back.”
He turned back into his blond, mischievous self.
“That’s better, isn’t it?” With a smug smile still on his face, he showed her the blue marking now visible on the back of his hand.
One that matched hers. “Okay, fill me in. The last thing I remember is…” He frowned.
“Everyone was consumed by chaos. Dying. Then I knew I had to pull out my nuke card, and I set the world ablaze.”
“Not just the city?”
He shook his head. “No. I killed every vampire across the planet. Much to my shame. But we’re all still here.
Orion isn’t dead. Khent and Val are back.
I’ve already argued with Duncan and Macy several times, just for fun.
And I was kicking Kraft’s ass not long ago.
Yet we all forgot about you.” He scowled.
“Except for that fuckhead mage, Ford. Why is that?”
She slowly smiled. “Jealous?”
“Of course I am!” he bellowed. “Tell me.”
She explained what had occurred with Hafandi, giving him a few moments to process that.
He stared at her with appreciation. “Wow. So you’re a Daughter of Fate.”
“Yes. Of What Might Be.”
“Possibility. Chance.” He nodded. “I like it.”
“So glad you approve.”
He winked. “Now fill in the rest. You talked to your mom, learned she wanted to burn down the worlds—plural—as a big old fuck you because they took her man. I mean, that’s pretty damn impressive. I like her.”
“You would.”
“You seem to like her too.”
She nodded. “I should have hated her. I mean, she nearly crushed us all out of existence. Well, she did in one version of reality. In a world that could have been. But she only did it to get me to fix things.”
“She couldn’t fix it on her own? Isn’t she the one who got Erland here in the first place?”
It had taken Sylvara a while to understand her mother’s true motivation besides revenge. “Yes and no. Skuld had always known an end was in sight. I mean, if you ask her, on any given day, someone has a plan to destroy the universe.”
“Sounds right.”
“But Skuld couldn’t see past the one where Erland devoured everything.
Hafandi could. She lost her mate, the love of her life, and her daughter.
” Sylvara felt so much compassion for her mother.
Losing Rolf had hurt terribly. She couldn’t imagine losing a child as well.
“But the Wyrd Sisters can’t affect their own destinies.
Hafandi could go to other possible worlds, but this one was always doomed. ”
“It’s not now?”
“Not from Erland. He and Ilu were never meant to be here.” She paused, wondering if she should tell him all of it.
He nodded. “Yes, you should tell me all of it.”
She gaped. Was he reading her mind?
“No, you’re just really obvious when you’re trying to hide shit.” He snorted. “Plus, I’m a draugr. We’re experts on lying.”
“Fine. I thought about going back and erasing Valentine Darkmore. But if I did that, Ilu would cease to be here. Or maybe she’d be in a vessel that would hurt, not help in the end.
Ilu was necessary to cancel out Erland’s existence.
When they met, and after I’d had a chance to talk to Ilu one on one, she understood what she had to do.
She really did care about Val and Khent. ”
“Interesting.”
“Also, without Ilu here at all in the mundane realm, necromancers wouldn’t exist. And they’ve been instrumental in many battles over the years. Even if many magir wish they weren’t.”
“True.” He nodded. “You settled the problem of the chaos invading but not the vampires gathering all the Bloode Stones. We were always going to find them.”
“Yes. Better we see what Varu would do than wait. He led the Bloode Empire to victory over an overwhelming enemy. Your fights were epic.”
“Yes, but because I missed you, they were less than satisfactory.” Rolf’s gaze narrowed. “In a way, you stole my victories from me. You owe me, female.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. A few lifetimes of servitude to my Better self should suffice.”
She snorted. “Bitch, I own you.”
“I…what?”
She launched herself at him and pinned him to the ground. “While everyone seemed to forget me, and I had to pull myself away from helping you find the Bloode Stone so I could maneuver things to go the right way, I ended up running into Odin.”
“Odin?”
“Yeah, that bastard kept the sight thanks to the World Tree and Huginn and Muninn, his ravens—Thought and Memory. Apparently, a loony vampire bet the All-Father that I could outwrestle his wolves. If I lost, Odin got to keep me. If I won, you got to keep me.”
“I, er, I don’t remember that bet.”
“I don’t care. You made it. Were you seriously going to give me to Odin?” She still had a tough time processing that one.
“What? No. If I made that bet, and it’s asinine enough that I probably did, I would have cheated. Come on, Syl. I love you. You’re mine.”
She got all warm and fuzzy hearing his declaration.
“Are you telling me you lost to Odin?”
“What? Oh, no. I beat his wolves, mostly thanks to Razer. He’s been hanging with me since you forgot me.” She smiled. “I left him with Fenrir, but Razer let me know that once the idiot I love remembered me, he’d come back.”
The smug look on Rolf’s face made her laugh. “I knew you loved me.” He blinked. “Wait. Razer knew? That little bastard! I thought he’d ditched me for Fenrir, who isn’t talking to me, by the way.”
“I know. Don’t worry. I smoothed it over.” She paused. “You owe him a favor or two.”
He groaned and yanked her down for a kiss. “Fine. I’ll pay. I guess. As long as we’re together. No more forgetting.” He frowned at her. “What are you doing, anyway? Are you now a part of the Great Weave? A valkyrie? Unemployed?”
She chuckled and stroked his cheek. She ran her fingers through his hair, kissing him. “I’m still a valkyrie, and Odin’s eased off. Now that he and Freyja know that I know what I really am, they’re allowing me to function as a warrior of the slain. I like it, and I’m good at it.”
“Aren’t they worried about your power?”
“Are you?”
He scoffed. “No. I mean, it does elevate you to being closer to a Better. You’re no vampire, but you are a piece of the Wyrd. That’s close.”
She shook her head.
He kissed her and smiled into her eyes. “You’re mine. We’re mated. And we are so much better than all my kin.” He sounded excited. “Wait until I tell them how much better we are. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Khent.”
“So I’m nothing but a stick to measure by?”
“Well, yes. You’re also the mate of Rolf the Incredible. That should be enough for you.”
“I guess it is.” She smiled. “What will you do now that the Darkness that Comes is no more?”
“I’m a Night Bloode now. We all talked about it. Though Hecate thinks the coast is clear, we all know how much evil likes to fuck with us. Besides, fighting is fun. And we’re the biggest badasses on the planet. All the vampires know it,” he said with glee.
She hugged him, so happy she could barely contain it. “Does this mean you’re keeping a room in that house in Midgard? Not moving with me to Asgard?”
“Is that what you want? To live in Asgard?”
“Not really. No. Much of my time there wasn’t welcoming. I mean, I still love my battle sisters.”
“Except Hagatha.”
“Except her. But I collect the slain from other realms to take back with me. It feels right. It’s my purpose. And like I said, I can’t affect my own destiny. That’s not my place.” But she had affected her mother’s, which in turn, oddly, affected her own. And now the world felt balanced once more.
Rolf nodded. “We’ll consider Asgard our summer home then and live in our home in Mercer Island. Seattle. Er, Midgard.”
“I know what Seattle is, Rolf.” She rolled up and sat over him.
“Is that it, then? Are we in our happily ever after yet?”
“I think so.” She frowned.
He frowned back at her.
“We need to go hunt something to celebrate.”
His dissatisfaction cleared. “Hey now. Great minds think alike!” After a moment, he added, “Can you die?”
“Of course. The Norns are always prone to a great death. That’s why most of them stay safe in Asgard or Mt. Olympus. But I fight fate.” She grinned. “I’m a badass myself.”
“Which is another reason I love you. That and those sexy arms. How much do you bench, anyway?”
“Want to find out?”