Chapter 55 Rhyland #2
Baldr's jaw ticks. He rises slowly, deliberately, like an asshole trying to save face. "Perhaps I could assist. After all, what kind of host would I be?"
This arrogant prick. I meet Erik's gaze and can’t suppress a smirk. He’s practically vibrating with the urge to tear this jackass apart for daring to disrespect his mate.
The flames leap to life under Dani's touch, casting dancing shadows across the ice walls. My fingers flex, impatient. Time to face whatever fucked up challenges this maze has waiting for us.
"Anything we should know before we enter?" Dani asks, eyeing the towering maze—frost cracking along its surface like living veins.
Baldr stretches lazily by the fire, that fucking smirk still plastered on his face. "Where would the fun be in that, little savior?" He tosses her a jar and Dani catches it, putting it in her bag. "Good luck."
I make a fist, itching to introduce his face to the nearest tree. Dani's hand finds mine, squeezing once. Her eye roll speaks volumes as she tugs me toward the entrance.
"Useless piece of—" The maze swallows the rest of her muttered curse as we step through the icy archway: the temperature plummets, our breath clouding the air in frozen swirls. Behind us, the entrance shrinks away, swallowed by walls that pulse with an eerie blue glow.
Well, fuck. Guess we're doing this blind.
"Hmm, this is cozy." Dani's voice wavers as her fingers lace through mine. The walls narrow, forcing us to walk single file, her other hand trailing the ice beside us.
The first intersection splits three ways. Identical passages stretch into shadow, each promising its own brand of fuck that. A bitter wind howls through the corridors, carrying whispers that sound too much like my name.
scraaaape
We freeze. Something drags across the ice behind us—claws or steel, I can't tell. But when I turn, the passage is empty. It is just our reflections staring back, multiplied in the icy walls.
Wait.
I count again. Three reflections of me. Four of Dani.
The extra one smiles.
"Don't look," Dani's grip tightens. "Just... don't look at them."
Ice groans overhead, shifting like a living thing. The walls around us ripple, reflecting twisted versions of ourselves—darker, hungrier versions that move a heartbeat too slow.
"Screw this." Dani's hands glow, warmth spreading through the chamber as she summons her light.
The golden sphere pushes back the shadows, revealing ice-slicked walls and jagged formations.
My chest tightens—her power like a beacon in this frozen hell.
Beautiful, but dangerous. Every predator in this maze will see it.
"Don't waste your energy unless we need it."
"Rhy—" Dani's whisper cuts off as shadows slither across the ice. Not our shadows. These move against the light, writhing like smoke given form.
"Kill the light. Now." I pull her behind me, positioning myself between her and those shadows. Every protective instinct screams as they twist toward her glow.
The darkness crashes back in as she extinguishes her light. I keep her pressed against my back, scanning the blackness for movement. Her fingers grip my shirt, trusting me to keep her safe. And I will—even if I have to tear every shadow in this maze apart.
A child's laugh echoes down the corridor ahead. Wrong. So fucking wrong.
"Stay close." I grab her hand, heading further in, scanning the crystalline walls. Our reflections multiply, fracture, until a thousand versions of ourselves surround us. Some smile with too many teeth.
drip
drip
Something warm hits my cheek. Red droplets splatter the frost at our feet. Above us, half-frozen into the ceiling, a body twists at an impossible angle. Its face—what's left of it—stares down with milky eyes.
"Shit—" Dani stumbles back. "What the hell is that?!" The corpse's head snaps toward her voice, jaw unhinging like a snake's.
"Fuck if I know." I shove her back, placing myself between her and that thing as it drops. Its body crackles with frost, landing where she stood seconds ago, limbs twisted and contorted, as it scuttles toward us.
"Holy shit—"
"Time to go—hold onto me!" I wrap my arm around her waist, practically lifting her off her feet as we tear down the left passage.
Her heart hammers against my side, each terrified beat driving me faster.
Ice splinters under our boots, but I don't give a shit about stealth anymore.
Not with that thing's wet shuffle getting closer, the walls pulsing like some twisted heartbeat around us.
"There!" Dani points right. A narrow crevice in the ice. I push her through first, my body shielding her as claws rake across my back. Pain explodes between my shoulder blades, but I don't give a fuck—as long as they didn't touch her.
The passage opens into a circular chamber. Six identical exits mock us, each framed by jagged icicles that drip with something too dark to be water. I keep Dani tucked against my side, scanning for threats.
"Please tell me you have some internal-compass thing going on right now," Dani pants, gold eyes scanning each exit. "Are you okay?" She looks at my back that is already healing.
Before I can answer, that child's laugh rings out again. Closer. Small footprints appear in the frost, forming one by one, leading to the second passage on the left.
A small voice cuts through the frozen air. "Papa..."
Ice floods my veins. Ten feet away stands a boy—black hair, ocean-blue eyes mirror of my own. Ten years old. Forever ten years old.
No. Not real. Can't be real.
"What's wrong?" Dani's hand finds my arm. "Rhyland?"
My son takes a step closer, skin pale as the ice around us. Dead eyes fixed on mine. "Why didn't you save me, Papa?"
"What do you see?" Dani's voice shakes. Her grip tightens, but her gaze is fixed on empty air to our right.
Words scrape in my throat. "You don't... you can't see him?"
"Mom?" Dani's whole body jerks, color draining from her face as she stares at nothing. "That's not—you're not—"
Fuck. This place is in our heads, twisting our worst memories into weapons. I pull Dani closer, but can't tear my eyes from my son's lifeless face.
Not real. Not real. Not fucking real.
A shadow darts between our reflections—too fast, too fluid. Not human. Not even close.
"Don't believe what you see." I pull her tighter against my side as we run, my body angled to take any attack that might come.
The passage narrows, forcing us to move sideways. That fucking laugh bounces off the walls—ahead, behind, everywhere. More footprints appear, overlapping now, like dozens of children running circles around us.
"Run."
A flash of white in the ice—a small hand presses against the surface. Then another. And another. The walls fill with them, pushing outward like they're trying to break through.
"Oh, my god. What the hell is this?" Dani pants, freaking the fuck out.
I yank Dani in front of me as the first fingers crack through the ice. "I gotcha ya, baby. Keep moving." My arm bars across her chest, keeping her shielded as we back away. "Don't let them touch you."
The passage splits—right fork pulses with an eerie blue light—left fork darker than sin.
"Play with us..."
The whispers slide like oil down my spine. Through the ice, small faces watch us, skin blue with frost, eyes black as pitch. They track Dani's movements with hungry intensity.
"Left," she gasps. "Has to be left."
A wet scraping sound above snaps my attention. That corpse-thing skitters across the ceiling like a broken spider, head twisting completely backward to focus on Dani. Its mouth stretches into a Glasgow smile, dripping something dark.
"Close your eyes. Now." Lightning crackles to life in my palm, the charge making my hair stand on end—answering my call easily—I curve my body around hers as the walls reflect the energy, turning everything into a storm of blue-white fury. The children in the walls shriek, recoiling from the light.
With Dani's face buried against my chest, I hurl the bolt behind us. Ice explodes. The corpse-thing's scream tears through the air—a sound no human could make.
I half-carry, half-drag her through the darkness, my body between her and whatever horrors might lurk in the shadows. The temperature plummets until each breath feels like swallowing glass, but I barely notice. Every instinct screams to protect her, to get her through this frozen nightmare alive.
The passage opens into a cramped chamber, darkness pressing in from all sides. My eyes strain to pierce the gloom, tracking Dani as she releases my hand to explore. Her boots scrape against the ice as she moves.
"Careful—" The warning dies in my throat as her feet slide out from under her. My heart stops, but she catches herself against the wall, laughing nervously.
"I'm fine. Just channeling my inner figure skater. Minus the grace. And the skill. And the—"
The ice beneath our feet cracks—a sound like breaking bones. Fissures spider-web outward, glowing with that blue light.
"Dani!" I lunge for her as the ground shatters. My fingers lock around her wrist just as she starts to fall, her scream echoing off the icy walls. She dangles over a pit of absolute darkness, chunks of ice tumbling into the void below.
"Don't let go," she gasps, gold eyes blazing, wide with terror. "Oh my god. Rhyland, please—"
"I've got you, baby." My other hand grips the edge of solid ice, muscles straining. Below us, something moves in the darkness. Something massive. "I won't let you fall. Just hold on."
Her eyes lock with mine, terror bleeding through our bond. A sound rises from the depths—like huge wings unfurling. Red eyes blink open in the void, dozens of them, all fixed on Dani.
The ice under my hand splinters. Fuck. We're both going down.
I yank Dani up hard, wrapping myself around her as we fall. Whatever's waiting below can tear through me first. My back slams into something solid—a ledge of black ice—and I twist to take the full impact, keeping her pressed against my chest.
CRACK
We slam through more layers of ice, each impact threatening to tear her from my grip. I hold tighter, taking the brunt of every hit. Pain explodes across my back, my shoulders, but I don't give a fuck—as long as she's protected.
We crash into hard ground, the impact driving every ounce of air from my lungs. For one terrifying heartbeat, I can't feel her breathing.
"Dani?" My hands shake as they roam over her body, checking for injuries. "Baby, talk to me."
She coughs, face buried against my chest. "Define talking." Her voice is muffled but steady. Thank fuck. "Because if you mean 'coherent sentences', I might need a minute."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I think so."
Light bleeds through the ice above, casting everything in that sick blue glow. We've landed in some perfectly circular chamber, with walls stretching into darkness. No visible exit. Just smooth ice and—
"Oh, god." Dani's grip tightens on my arm.
Bodies. Dozens of them, frozen into the walls like macabre decorations. Fallen warriors, from their armor and weapons. Their faces twisted in eternal screams.
"Seriously?" Dani's voice shakes as she eyes the frozen corpses. "Do all Einherjar shop at 'Bodies R Us' for their interior design?"
A harsh laugh escapes me despite the horror. Trust my mate to find sarcasm in the face of death. But she's right—this twisted collection mirrors Vidar's fucked up gallery. These fuckers have a real thing for decorating with the dead.
"Welcome, child of prophecy..."
The voice slithers through the chamber, ancient and cold as death itself. The temperature drops until my vampire blood feels like ice in my veins.
A figure in the center of the chamber is a woman in tattered Valkyrie armor. Frost covers half her face like a mask, her remaining eye glowing with that same blue light.
Skadi. The fallen one.
"Your trial begins. Let's see if you're worthy of the essence."
One of the frozen warriors twitches. Then another. Ice cracks as dead limbs begin to move.
"Any brilliant ideas?" I ask as the first warrior breaks free, ice falling from its preserved flesh like shattered armor.
Dani's hands begin to glow with that inner light. "Yeah. Don't die."