Read Winter Fire (Book I of the Winter Fire Series) Page 29
Loki stepped off his skis and dropped to one knee to unbuckle my board, staring up into my face. Fenrir pressed against my side.
“You’ll be warm in a minute,” Loki said.
I let my hand fall to Fenrir's pelt. “So what now?”
He motioned to the giant evergreen. “We cross.”
Hail swirled around the circle and the tree shimmered. I narrowed my eyes, wondering if it was the ice or something more.
“You want to bring me over so that he’ll come after me.” I found I couldn’t say Bren’s name here. I was afraid it might somehow draw him in.
He nodded, his expression grave. “He will.”
“And then?”
He shrugged, put his hands in his pockets. “We’ll be gone by then.”
“So how would anyone keep him there? In Asgard.”
“They won’t have to.” He nodded toward me. “You will.”
I paused, thought back to his earlier words. “What do you mean, 'we’ll be gone by then?' ”
He stepped toward me, his gaze steady on mine. “You will await the destruction in Hel, with Fenrir and me. Bren is a noble god, and cannot enter there. It is my reward, and his punishment for the chaos he has caused.
I backed away from him, my eyes wide. “What? No. He’ll come after me. He’ll find a way.”
Loki’s smile was dry. “The rules of Asgard do not bend like the trees, even for a timeless god.”
I backed away further, pulled my arms tight around me. Fenrir whined.
“After all you’ve been through, the horrible things you’ve suffered, how could you want to hurt someone else like this?” I asked.
“In your world, people have been tortured to the point where they would condemn their own children to end the pain. What makes you think that I would not end mine?”
He gazed at the tree for a moment, his eyes paling, calming. Fenrir crept over and leaned into me again as it began to waver.
“If it meant a choice between this and having you on Earth, I know Bren would let you stay." I said. "They’d let you in. You wouldn’t have to go back.”
The tree began to lose its color. Loki sighed and closed his eyes. “Dear child, I also by pleasant streams, Have wandered all night in the Land of Dreams; But though calm and warm the waters wide, I could not get to the other side. William Blake.”
Light streamed from the tree now, its hue changing again and again. The reflection flickered in Fenrir’s eyes. I hadn’t been this close to the portal the last time I was here, and the electric warmth issuing from it felt like the onset of a summer storm. It reminded me of Bren, of the way it felt to be close to him when he was restless.
Loki opened his eyes. The bridge was open.
A familiar thunder rumbled from somewhere beyond, and my hands instinctively flew to my ears. I lowered them cautiously as it subsided.
“We have to hurry.” Loki turned to me with quiet regard. “Thor will not stay long.”
I stepped away, allowing Fenrir to push between us, but Loki’s hand snapped out and closed around my arm. Fenrir growled as I yanked and struggled and Loki hissed to silence him.
“Evidence of a struggle will only anger Ullur. Make things worse for everyone.” He said. “We will cross, in the end. You have only to choose how you will go.”
In the next moment, a jolt almost too painful to bear shot through my arm where he held me. He pulled his hand from me and stared at it, then glanced toward the trees behind us. Skye stood just inside the boughs, her gaze locked on Loki. She took a few steps forward, but stopped when he reached out again and dragged me toward him.
“Let her go,” she said.
“Sorry,” Loki said. “I saw her first.”
“You don’t need her.” Skye took another step. “We will go back without her, if that's what it takes.”
“If that's what it takes?” Loki’s smile went from sarcastic to gruesome as he spoke. “To spare her? To save her from the fate of an eternity by my side?”
“No.” I shook my head at Skye. “I don’t want any of you to do that. Not for me. Tell Bren not to come after me. That would be worse for me than this.”
“Enough.” Loki spun me toward the portal. “He will come for you.” He pushed me forward, Fenrir falling in behind his step. Before I could decide whether to fight or comply, Loki jerked and turned toward Skye again, his expression murderous. She was standing with one arm extended, her hand splayed.
“You bitch. Do you think you can stop me alone?” But his face fell instantly. He glanced down at her ring. “No. You don’t do you? They’re coming.” He nodded and thrust a palm toward the portal - thunder shaking the ground and his body jerking again as a charge shot through him - and then pivoted and directed his palm toward Skye. The air between them rippled. She was thrown backward and landed in the snow against the trees. Her eyes slid closed, her face pale and motionless.
“No,” I screamed, struggling against Loki while Fenrir snarled behind him. “What did you do to her?”
His grip tightened as he dragged me forward into the pulsating light. I gazed back at Skye until she was no more than a still figure in a fading world.