11. Magnar

1000 YEARS AGO

Ilay beneath the thick canvas of my tent with my arms behind my head, frowning as the wind battered the material. Usually, I loved the sound of a storm when I was tucked within the confines of my tent. Knowing the wind and rain were thwarted in trying to reach me always made me feel like I was somehow outsmarting the gods themselves.

I wished that were true today more than ever. Because if ever I’d needed a way around the will of the gods, it was now.

“Idun?” I murmured, careful not to wake Astrid where she slept soundly beside me.

The lost girl hadn’t wanted to leave my side in this camp of heathens, and I couldn’t say I blamed her entirely, so I’d obliged, allowing her to sleep in my tent with me. I knew a small, petty part of me had agreed as a sneer to my betrothal too, but I had needed that small act of rebellion to help quiet the thrashing of my heart. Still, it wasn’t enough.

I’d tried to forget my worries in the comfort of her company, had even stolen a kiss from her sweet lips between stories of the lives we’d led. But once she’d fallen into an exhausted slumber, the reality of my situation had drawn close again.

When the sun rose, I had to pledge myself to Valentina and make our betrothal official. Today, I had to give up any hope I had of finding love. Or happiness. I would tie myself to a stranger and forfeit the dreams I’d had of a life holding something more.

“Idun?” I muttered again a little louder, hoping the goddess might heed my call.

If only she’d listen, I’d offer her anything she asked of me. Anything but this. I only wished for one thing in this life and that was to find a woman who was my equal in every way and to love her for everything she was. I would sacrifice everything else in the pursuit of my destiny, I would fight any battle, take on any challenge, but this I wanted for my own. And I knew in my heart that Valentina wasn’t that woman.

“I will give you anything if you’d just free me from making this promise,” I vowed.

The tent began to buckle and sway under the pressure of the storm, and I pushed myself upright. I sensed something powerful drawing closer, my pulse quickening as the power of the gods folded itself around me. Had she answered my call?

I stood and placed a hand against the thick canvas of my tent, a chill creeping across my palm from the pounding rain outside.

I pulled on my trousers and fastened my boots, my skin prickling from the electricity in the air. Thunder crashed overhead, the eye of the storm rolling in, the chaos of nature bowing to the whims of the gods.

I took hold of Tempest and moved towards the exit, unfastening the toggles so I could lift the flap and peer out into the storm.

Rain fell in torrents, skimming over the tents and pooling in the mud. Lightning forked through the sky, momentarily illuminating the camp around me. No one else was foolish enough to be outside in such weather, but something about it called to me, the power of it stirring the blood in my veins.

I looked up at the sky, wondering if I might spy Thor himself riding on his chariot pulled by the goats Tanngnjóstr and Tanngrisnir. Lightning flashed in the distance as he threw his hammer, and I took it as a sign that the true powers of this world had heard my call and might just be willing to listen.

The wind shifted, driving water into my face, and Astrid mumbled something from the bed behind me as the cold air found her skin.

I stepped outside, dropping the tent flap. The freezing rain cascaded over me, plastering my long hair to my scalp and raising goosebumps along the exposed skin on my arms and chest.

Tempest purred with expectant energy, but I didn’t get the sense that a vampire drew close. This was something else.

I welcomed the thrashing power of the storm when it slammed into me, calling out a greeting to Thor as I looked between the tents of my people.

Darkness pressed in thickly, the deep storm clouds blotting out the moon and stars. It was hard to see anything of the camp around me, and I squinted at the space to my right where I knew my parents’ tent lay. I wondered if I should wake them, but something stopped me. Whatever was coming wasn’t meant for them. It was here for me.

Shimmering golden light caught my eye, and I turned to find a tiny hummingbird, blazing with a gold that just couldn’t be natural, flitting back and forth above the mud beside me. The water pooling beneath it sparkled with golden light like the rays of the sun.

I frowned as the creature circled me once, flashing out of existence before appearing again further away.

I adjusted my grip on Tempest and followed the tiny bird through the pounding rain.

I passed by my parents’ tent and my brother’s. The trail it led me along wound its way further through the camp, beyond the horses who huddled together beneath their canopy to try and escape the worst of the storm where the rain blew in. Baltian lifted his head and whinnied hopefully as he spotted me, but I couldn’t spare him any attention beyond a wave of my hand as I followed on after the path that had been set for me.

The hummingbird drew me further into the night, away from the camp, towards a sheer cliff lined with pale rock. Further and further I walked, until the camp was far behind me and the cliff towered overhead.

Lightning flared, blinding me for a moment, and a figure appeared at the base of the cliff. She sat on a throne which seemed to have grown from the ground itself, the tiny bird coming to perch on it, its job done.

Each time I tried to look at her directly, my gaze fell upon the throne instead. It called to me, offering me everything and promising nothing at once.

Its legs were roots which twisted into a thick trunk lined with glimmering golden bark. The back of the throne rose up behind the figure who sat on it, splaying into branches which rippled in a faint breeze, much more gently than the raging storm which buffeted me. Along the branches, pale blossoms budded then bloomed before my eyes, golden apples growing to their fullness as the petals spilled to the floor, the fruit sparkling so appetisingly that my mouth watered just looking at them. I was filled with a longing I couldn’t understand. Those apples summoned me, whispering promises of dreams fulfilled and life never ending.

I took a step towards them, my hand raising as if to pluck one from the closest branch, but then I fell still.

With a growl of irritation, I dropped my hand and forced my eyes away from the temptation of the fruit. Those thoughts had not been my own, and I wouldn’t let my fate fall on the bite of some magic-ridden apple.

Finally, I managed to look upon the face of the goddess who sat on the throne. I didn’t need to have seen her before to recognise her. I knew who she was in the pit of my stomach.

Idun smiled as my gaze met hers. Her face was beauty beyond words, my chest aching as I looked upon her, unable to take the sheer perfection of her, my heart stumbling in my chest as I took in her full lips and shimmering skin. Her hair was the same bright gold as the apples which adorned her throne and it trailed down the full length of her body, pooling around her bare feet in swathes as soft as silk.

The rain didn’t touch her. She sat in an impossible bubble of calm amidst the raging storm which fell on me. Had she asked Thor to assist her with the storm or stolen some of his power for her own?

“I’m impressed,” Idun purred, and her voice was deep and seductive, echoing through to the depths of my soul. “Not many men can resist the temptation of my immortal fruit. But you are no ordinary man, are you, Magnar Elioson?”

“I do not compare myself to other men,” I replied fiercely. An ache of longing filled me, and I was struck with the urge to throw myself at her feet, begging for a moment in her arms. “Your tricks won’t work on me.”

I pushed aside the desire to worship her without end and stepped closer, entering the pool of warmth which surrounded her. The pounding rain withdrew and only the water dripping down my body and through my hair remained.

Idun observed me through narrowed eyes, a small smile pulling at her lips. Her dress was a living carpet of vines and flowers which twisted its way around her figure, blossoming before my very eyes.

“No, there’s nothing ordinary about you at all,” she concluded, though her tone gave away nothing of her thoughts on that.

“I wish to be free of the promise I am to make today. Don’t ask me to take Valentina as a bride; the only thing I’ve ever wanted for myself is love. I will give you anything else. Everything else. But please don’t take that from me.”

I gazed at her imploringly, hoping to find some humanity in her glassy eyes, but there wasn’t so much as a flicker of reaction to my words.

“And what of that which has been taken from me?” she asked, a hint of rage lacing her tone. “Who will set that right for me?”

“I will,” I replied instantly. “Only tell me what it was, and I will return it to you.”

She laughed and the sound was a dark, poisonous thing which mixed with a rumble of thunder from the sky above us.

“The thing they stole was their immortality,” she spat. “Your people have tried to right that wrong for two hundred years already, and to no avail. I created your kind to do just that, but I have been sorely disappointed. I saved a pregnant girl from the Revenants’ village when they were in the first throes of their bloodlust. I gave her much more than I should have and created a village of warriors strong enough to protect her unborn twins and save her bloodline from the vampires. In return, all of them swore to destroy those creatures, but none of them succeeded. What makes you think you will be able to do what they have not?”

“I do not understand.” I knew that she had created our people to fight the vampires and end their curse, but I had never heard of them stealing anything from her before now. If all she wanted was their deaths, then I was already committed to delivering that.

Idun stood and approached me. The urge to drop to my knees flooded me once more as she exerted her will, but I did no such thing, and she smiled, reaching out to touch my chest. The vines which created her dress shifted, exposing much of her flesh and luring my eyes to roam over her. My body shuddered with desire as her hand skimmed across my skin and she circled behind me, but I didn’t move, didn’t act on what she was trying to tempt me with in any way.

“Of course you don’t understand. You mortals never do,” Idun sneered, her fingers trailing over my bare flesh as she circled me, gooseflesh rising in their wake, her touch like liquid glass, soft and sharp at once, burning with untold power. “What I desire is the return of my reputation. I am the keeper of immortality, and I never offered that gift to the Revenants. While they continue to live, I continue to suffer the shame of their creation. If you want my help, then finish what your ancestors started.”

She moved back in front of me, and I shivered as she removed her hand from my skin.

“My life is devoted to destroying the Revenants already; I took my vow two years early. If you need further proof of my dedication-”

“Your dedication doesn’t interest me,” she hissed. “You are all so dedicated to the task and yet you are no closer to achieving it than you were when I created your kind. All four Revenants still roam this earth, mocking me with their very existence.”

“Tell me what you do want then.” Desperation clawed at me. I needed to be free of this betrothal.

Idun sat back in her throne and plucked an apple from its branches. She took a bite, her eyes staying on me as juice poured over her bottom lip and her dress blossomed with white flowers, covering her exposed skin once more.

“Prove your dedication,” she said quietly. “If you wish for true love, then you shall find it...eventually. Once you’ve proven yourself to me.”

She snapped her fingers and my heart thumped solidly in my chest as her power washed over me. I buckled forward as something flowed through my body, rocking my soul so that it felt like it wanted to burst free of my skin. The power which rolled through me rattled my bones, my lungs spasming with the need to draw breath, muscles lurching from the onslaught of raw energy.

I gasped, plunging Tempest into the ground as I used it to hold myself upright, feeling like that was the only thing tethering me to this earth while her power caressed me until the wave of energy slowly faded away again.

“So that’s it?” I asked. “I don’t have to go through with my betrothal to Valentina?”

Idun laughed again and the storm roared beyond our cocoon of warmth. “Oh, you’ll have to go through with it alright. You shall seal your betrothal when the sun rises this very day. You want to prove yourself, don’t you?”

“But I thought-”

She waved a hand, silencing me. “Many challenges will come your way now Magnar Elioson,” she promised. “And if you manage to pass every test, then your reward will come to you. True love.” She sighed like the idea appealed to her on some level, though I doubted she was capable of any such desire. “But you cannot falter. You cannot fail. You will end the vampire curse and remove the gift of immortality from those who should never have been offered it. Or you will die trying.”

I opened my mouth to respond as lightning flared so brightly that I was forced to close my eyes. The pool of warmth that surrounded me disappeared and the freezing rain slammed down on me once again.

I opened my eyes, and the goddess was gone. I was alone in the rain with nothing but the hope that she would keep to her promise. I had to follow my vow and end the Revenants. And perhaps one day, I’d be able to find my own happiness in return.

By the time I made it back to camp, the storm had blown itself out, Thor finishing his ride through the skies, and all that remained of his passage was the deep puddles and thick mud between the tents. A sliver of sunlight had crested the horizon, and I could finally see clearly in the growing light.

I didn’t know if my interaction with the goddess had helped me or not. My position hadn’t improved, but she’d given me hope that it might. I only had to pass whatever tests she lay before me and destroy the Revenants. The fact that our people had been trying to do so without success for hundreds of years didn’t deter me. I had always been dedicated to finding and eradicating them.

She had said all four of them still remained, and that knowledge stirred a feeling of unease within my chest. There had been no sign nor report on the whereabouts of Erik Larsen in over a hundred years, and my people had begun to believe him dead, hoping one of ours might have finished him before perishing themselves from the fight. If he’d managed to remain hidden for so long, then finding him now could prove to be very difficult indeed. But I would rise to the challenge. Perhaps the deaths of his supposed siblings would draw him out of hiding.

People were waking and leaving the shelter of their tents as the sun began to climb into the sky. I doubted sleep had come easily to many while the storm raged.

As I closed in on my tent, someone stepped into my path, and I blinked heavily as my gaze landed on Valentina. She was dressed immaculately in a deep green gown which was cut low, exposing much of her chest and leaving her stomach bare. I let my eyes trail over her, trying to appreciate her beauty. It wasn’t as though I couldn’t see any way to desire her as I might any beautiful woman. I just didn’t feel any inclination to do so. Besides, I didn’t know her at all. And she did not seem the warrior type. The type that usually set my blood pumping.

“I came looking for you in your tent. I thought we might have breakfast together,” she said, her eyes searching my face for something I doubted she would find. “I thought maybe we could get to know each other a little, but your brother wouldn’t allow me to enter. He told me you weren’t there.”

I blinked at her, taking in her words while my mind remained full of the goddess. Julius had covered for me, though some part of me wished he hadn’t bothered. Had let her see Astrid in my bed, and… I sighed. That was a petty hope and a cruel thought. I doubted Valentina would have called off the betrothal over the slight anyway, and it probably would have just compounded my problems.

“Where have you been?” Valentina pressed when I didn’t reply, a frown barely concealed on her face.

I glanced down at myself. I was half-dressed and soaking wet. It was clear I’d been out in the storm and no doubt she was wondering if I was insane.

“I needed to clear my head. Breakfast sounds appealing though.” I offered her a faint smile and her eyes lit up. Perhaps I was being too harsh on her. I assumed she hadn’t asked for this fate any more than I had, she simply seemed more willing to accept it. Perhaps I’d had one too many fantasies of what I thought love would be for me. The push and pull of a wild, chaotic kind of romance that spoke to my soul. One I felt thrashing within my blood the very moment we met. It was how Father had described his feelings upon first meeting my mother, and I supposed I had hoped my own love would declare itself just as fast.

Julius appeared behind Valentina, and I turned my attention to my brother who was looking seven shades of amused.

“Been walking in the storm, Magnar?” he asked with a knowing smirk, and I suppressed a sigh. “No doubt you were tossing and turning in your bed all night with the excitement of today and could hardly sleep.”

“Something like that,” I replied flatly, refusing to let him bait me.

“I got quite the surprise when I came looking for you at dawn. To find your bed...abandoned like that.” He raised an eyebrow suggestively, and I knew he’d found Astrid precisely where I’d left her. Perhaps allowing the stolen girl to sleep in my tent the night before my betrothal became official hadn’t been the best idea I’d ever had. I guessed I owed Julius for covering for me.

“Thank you for your concern, brother. I was just about to have breakfast with my bride to be. Perhaps you could make sure my tent is tidied before I return?” I asked, and I knew he would understand the request to see to it that Astrid was removed from my bed and given something to eat.

“No doubt you’ll reward me well for such service. Save me some breakfast.” He smiled widely at Valentina and turned away, heading towards my tent. I knew he’d arrange for someone to return Astrid to her village, and she’d be long gone before Valentina even remembered her existence.

“Your brother is still unsworn?” she asked me as she watched him leave.

“For now. We plan to have his prophecy told after his sixteenth birthday so that he might also take his vow early.” I turned away from Julius and led her through the tents towards the campfire which was being built up again after the rain.

“You must be so proud to have taken your vow early,” she breathed, grabbing hold of that topic of conversation and laying a hand on my arm. “No one has ever done so before.”

I wondered why she was telling me something I already knew, but I murmured some response in agreement.

“Do you often go walking in the rain?” she asked, and I was reminded that she belonged to the Clan of Storms. Perhaps walking in such weather was normal for her people.

“I was searching for...answers I suppose. But the goddess wasn’t very forthcoming.”

“The gods often speak in riddles,” she agreed. “Did you find any clarity?”

I half considered telling her about my encounter with Idun, but I doubted she’d appreciate the fact that I’d gone to beg to be released from the promise I had to make her.

“I suppose I did find clarity,” I agreed eventually. I knew now that I had to prove my dedication to the goddess.

I had to do this and anything else she asked of me if I ever hoped to find love for myself. So, I would lock myself into this betrothal, but I intended to follow my mother’s advice too. I wouldn’t go through with the wedding unless my hand was forced by another prophecy or if by some miracle I fell in love with the girl walking beside me. I knew that would be the simplest answer to my problem, but as I looked at Valentina, I just couldn’t see it. She was all poise and perfection, ice and stone, where I desired a wildfire which would keep me ever chasing.

I took a seat on one of the huge logs that sat around the campfire, choosing a spot away from the unsworn as they worked on preparing breakfast so that we could have some privacy. Valentina dropped down beside me, angling herself towards me and arranging herself just so. It was all very staged, and I got the strange impression that she might have practiced the way she was sitting, her legs crossed towards me, encouraging the slit in her dress to part just a little, her spine straight but shoulders positioned to allow a glimpse of her cleavage, her braided hair carefully drawn over one shoulder. She tilted her head up at what looked like a slightly uncomfortable angle to allow that view of her breasts too.

Guilt stirred in my gut. Was she just a puppet who had been placed here by her own elders? Had someone trained her in the art of whatever it was she was attempting now?

“Is this betrothal truly what you want?” I asked her quietly.

“Of course it is,” she replied, her dark eyes finding mine, nothing but truth in her gaze which drew a sigh to my lips that I had to fight back. “Don’t you want it too?”

I couldn’t force my tongue to bend around a lie, so I offered her something else instead. The bullshit I had given out a time or two when I was hoping to gain company in my bed for the night. “What man wouldn’t desire a woman like you?” I reached out to brush her braid back over her shoulder, and she smiled. She was objectively appealing, if nothing else.

“I know I’ll make you so happy, Magnar,” Valentina breathed.

Before my mind could conjure up a response, she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to mine. Her lips were warm and firm against my own, but the heat of them didn’t ignite anything within my soul. She slid her hands across my chest as she deepened the kiss and I kissed her back, fighting against the urge to pull away. Perhaps I wasn’t being fair to her. Maybe I was so sure I wouldn’t feel anything for this stranger that I was blocking off the possibility of it. But nothing about the two of us felt right to me. The kiss was stale on my lips, my cock resolutely uninterested. I wasn’t even drawn to her in the way I had been to other women before her. The desire to fuck her wasn’t even there. She just wasn’t the right fit for me.

My father cleared his throat from somewhere close by and I glanced at him, realising that my eyes weren’t even fucking closed, which only made this kiss all the more awkward, and I took the opportunity to release myself from Valentina.

“I’m glad to see the two of you are getting along.” His gaze met mine and I was sure he could see the reluctance in my eyes, his brows tightening just a little, an apology in his expression which wouldn’t equal my release from this decision. He reached out and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “The sun has risen. It’s time to make this betrothal official.”

Valentina jumped to her feet and hurried past the fire to join my mother who was waiting for us, an eagerness to her movements which I was utterly incapable of matching. My father held me back as I moved to follow.

“I know it doesn’t feel like this is the right thing now,” he murmured. “But I hope that in time you will come to see that following the path laid out by the gods will always work out for the best. Your sacrifice will be rewarded.”

“I know,” I replied. Idun had told me so herself. I had to face this challenge and any more that came after it. In the end, I had to have faith that it would be worth it. That didn’t help remove the sourness from my tongue though. “But I wish you would have asked anything other than this of me,” I added, unable to conceal the truth of how I felt from him. “The only thing in this life that I wished to choose for myself was a wife. The single thing that I had hoped to claim for my own has been denied me now.”

Father sighed, looking across the fire to Valentina, his gaze straying to my mother, his great love. I knew he understood what he was denying me, that he wished it wasn’t so.

“I’m proud of the way you are dealing with this,” he said slowly. “It is a lot to take on at such a young age, and I understand the sacrifice is a difficult one. You need to seal the betrothal today, but your mother suggested we hold off on the wedding until after your training is completed.”

“She did?” I looked across the fire to my mother, who gave me a knowing smile. There was no set time for how long a warrior’s training would take, but I’d only bonded to my father a week ago. At the very least this would buy me a year. Likely more.

“Would you prefer that? As Earl, it is up to me to decide, if I say your training must take priority, then none can go against me.”

“I would.” I practically sagged with relief, and I reached out to grasp his arm. “My training is the only thing I want to focus on at the moment. I haven’t learned enough of myself to consider marrying and having children yet-”

“I wouldn’t mention grandchildren to your mother if you want to keep her on your side with this. If she thinks the situation will bring babies for her to fawn over, then she’ll be all for pushing you into it as soon as possible,” he chuckled. “I also want it noted that I fully realise she is steering my hand in postponing this union.”

I released a breath and smiled with a little embarrassment. Perhaps allowing my mother to fight this battle for me wasn’t becoming of a sworn slayer, but I didn’t care. I would take whatever help I was offered in this matter.

Father laughed, placing an arm around my shoulders and drawing me after Valentina to a clearing beyond the fire. I’d knelt in that dirt just nine moons ago and taken my vow. My father had agreed to train me and the skin on the back of my right hand had been marked with a crescent, binding us together. I brushed my fingers over the mark now. It had felt like freedom at the time, now it felt like a trap.

The rest of the clan gathered around us, and I caught sight of Julius watching me with pity in his eyes. For all his teasing, I knew he was probably the only one here who fully appreciated what this was costing me. We had dreams, he and I. Of the lives we wished for once we vanquished the Revenants. Too many of our people seemed happy to accept that their lives might come and go without them ever finding out if we won this war, but not us. My brother and I would see it done and revel in our victory for years after it, enjoying all the bounties life might offer.

I took my position in the centre of the circle created by my people and Valentina stood opposite me. The rising sun shone down on us, and I felt the air humming with a touch of the power I’d felt last night. The goddess was watching, making sure I kept to my word. I wouldn’t disappoint her.

My father moved to stand beside us, lifting my hand and placing it over Valentina’s heart. It beat solidly beneath my palm, a smile lifting her lips as her eyes shone with anticipation. He lifted her hand next, placing it on my chest too. My heart rate picked up, but it wasn’t through excitement. It wished to be free, a wild beast fighting to break the chains it could see coming for it.

“Those gathered here will bear witness to the binding of your souls. Speak the words and let your lives be tied together from now until death divides you. This promise will lead to your union and the birth of blessed children. Do you understand the oath you are making?” my father asked loudly enough for everyone gathered to hear him.

“Yes,” Valentina replied firmly, and I nodded.

I knew what I was about to do, and my heart was heavy with it.

“Valentina of the Clan of Storms, do you claim this man?” my father asked, the first of the chains clasping tight around my thrashing heart with her reply.

“I claim Magnar Elioson of the Clan of War to be my betrothed. My heart is his. My life is his. We will be one.” Her eyes danced with excitement, and for a moment, I thought I saw lightning flashing within them, the power of her people stirring beneath her skin.

“Magnar of the Clan of War, do you claim this woman?” my father asked.

A long beat of silence passed before I forced the promise from my mouth, my tongue fighting against me, rebelling until the last moment, unwilling to bend to the words. “I claim Valentina Torbrook of the Clan of Storms to be my betrothed. We will be one.”

If anyone noticed that I didn’t pledge my heart and life to her, then they didn’t speak of it. Valentina’s lips lifted into a full smile and the weight of the goddess’s power moved closer to us. I could feel Idun’s will wrapping its way around us like a rope biding our souls together.

Pain blossomed beneath Valentina’s palm on my skin, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Valentina gasped too as runes began to appear on the flesh above her heart, marking her, marking us.

The power finally faded, and I retrieved my hand, glancing down at my skin. Valentina drew back as well and looked at the new tattoo which curled beneath my heart. The runes spoke of love and my bond to the stranger standing opposite me, binding me to her in a physical, immovable way, making sure none could question where my destiny lay. It was a mark all betrothed slayers bore, one that would be completed upon our marriage, and one I had never wanted to claim without choosing for myself.

The desire to burn the thing from my skin gripped me, my eyes darting to the fire and a flaming brand that lay at the centre of it. I clenched my jaw as I forced myself to look away from it.

“It is done!” my father announced. “Let the feast begin!”

A cheer went up from the people surrounding us and they surged forward, slapping my back and calling out their congratulations. I forced a smile onto my face which made my jaw ache and let them sweep me away from my bride-to-be as subtly as I could manage, allowing them to guide me closer to the ale so that I might drown my emotions in drunkenness. It seemed like the obvious thing to do.

I hoped Idun understood the weight of the sacrifice I’d just made to her. And I hoped she intended to keep her word. Because her promise was the only thing that was keeping me going in that moment, and if she didn’t hold to her side of our bargain, then I might just end up breaking my vow to a god.