Fate Undone (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 5) (13 page)

But making the gods like him, or anyone else, wasn’t his strong suit. If he could make
her
feel better, though, that would be enough.

“You say it only matters what he thinks you feel?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then serve the elk and lingonberries, but let’s make you feel better about all the rest. Come.” He took her hand and led her to a fallen log. After removing his cloak and spreading it upon the log, he helped her take a seat.

“What do you plan?” she asked.

“Why don’t we make Baldr a little bit more humble?” He waved his hands and Immortal Fire burst into flame two feet above the ground. Three feet tall and at least as wide, there was an image within.

“It’s Baldr! And some girls from the village.” Sigyn’s tone darkened. “He does like the girls from the village, though I’m not sure how much they like him.”

The thought made Loki frown. He didn’t like the idea of the girls being coerced. “Baldr is so proud of his hair.”

“Yes. Always talking about how golden it is,” Sigyn said. She didn’t sound impressed. No surprise, as hers was far brighter.

“Falcons don’t use much to build their nests, but they could be convinced to take a bit of golden thread.”
 

Sigyn gasped. Loki reached within himself and called out to the falcons who flew above the forest. He couldn’t speak to all animals, but he had a connection with falcons. He felt them acknowledge his request and careen toward the village.

Within the flames, four falcons appeared above Baldr. The largest dove and plucked a hair from Baldr’s head. He slapped at his skull, then jerked when another falcon swooped down and plucked another hair.
 

Sigyn laughed, the sound high and clear in the still forest. A grin stretched across Loki’s face.

Soon, dozens of falcons were swooping toward Baldr, each plucking a hair for their nest. Baldr drew his sword and slashed at the air, but the falcons were too fast. He covered his head with his hands and ran through the town, the falcons chasing him and plucking hairs. They came so fast and so thick that they were no doubt dropping them as they plucked. Though Loki and Sigyn couldn’t hear sound through the flames, the girls in the village clearly laughed.

“Oh, Loki! He’ll be so angry!” Sigyn laughed. “But I don’t care. It’s too funny. And cruel. But I don’t care about that either right now. He deserves it.”

“He’ll never know it was for you.”

Baldr was still running through the town, past laughing butchers and fishmongers and grocers. He was down to half a head of patchy hair. Within minutes, he was plucked completely bald.

“Seen enough?” Loki asked.

“Yes.” Sigyn said. “Thank you. He deserved that. And tonight I’ll serve him the elk and lingonberry sauce and hopefully curry his favor. By the time his hair grows back, perhaps he’ll even support my ascension.”

“And you’ll be able to look at him and remember me.” He reached for her hand. “Let’s go find a sunny spot.”

She nodded and rose. They walked out of the forest to the meadow at the southern edge. After he spread his cloak upon the ground, they lay down and looked up at the clouds. He felt her hand on his and squeezed.

“Thank you for that,” she said. “I’ve hated having to scrape before Baldr all the time. It did me good to see his pride take a beating.”

“I enjoyed it. And have done far worse than that.”

“I know. And you don’t care that the gods know it, do you?”

“No. They must know that I do it—that’s the point. No matter how miserable they try to make me, it’s worth it. I am balance. I am the counter to the gods’ arrogance. Without me, their uninterrupted hubris will cause catastrophe. A mountain must not grow unchecked lest it blot out the sun.” Dark pride rushed through him. It was his purpose.

“You’ve done some terrible things according to the stories. One day, if you anger enough of them, they could destroy you. They’re vengeful. Don’t you want to avoid that? To at least temper your tricks with caution?”

“No. I don’t even think I could. It’s how I was made. Driven by my purpose to level the other gods by any means necessary. Trickery, of course, and deception are my faithful tools. Through cunning, I’ll avoid the consequences of my actions.”

“You can’t avoid all consequences! And mortal belief may have created you to be that way, but once born, you can determine your own fate. I was born a demigod, but I will change my fate. I will become a god.”

He tilted his head to look at her. She gazed at him with such intensity, such determination. Her beauty and strength struck something within him. Something that the eddas might call love. “And I believe that you will. But I like my role in this world. I see no need to change it.”

She scowled at him.

“Come,” he said. “Don’t be angry with me. Enjoy this fine day.”

She continued to stare at the sky, her arms crossed over her chest. “How can I, with worry plaguing me?”

He rolled so that he could lean over her. “I can think of a way.”

She smiled up at him. “Can you, now?”

He nodded, his body tightening with a soul-shattering need for her. The way she gazed at him, the feel of her pressed to him, made him tremble, made his arms shake just slightly until he forced them to still.

Control.
He must maintain control, else he’d fall on her like a ravening wolf, hurting her or frightening her away.

He leaned down, every muscle tensed, and brushed his lips against the sweetness of hers.

Sigyn gasped when Loki’s firm lips glanced across hers. The heat, the sheer need, in his eyes before he’d lowered his head made her think that he’d crush his lips to hers.

What he actually did was far more devastating. He feathered his lips down her jaw and across her neck, so gentle that she barely felt him. It made her desperately want more. The whisper of his breath sent a shiver from her neck to the unbearably sensitive spot between her thighs. She hung on a precipice of desire, waiting for his touch.

The waiting, the wanting, made it all the sweeter. She’d wanted him so badly all these months, but had been afraid to pursue more after the way his first kiss had made her magic feel out of control.

He withheld—perhaps he sensed her hesitation—but it only made her want more. It made her so desperate that she feared she’d claw at his clothes to bare him to her, to force him to break so that she’d finally know him the way she longed to.

As one with her, an answer to the need that streaked through her. A balm to the pain of not having him.
 

His lips found the shell of her ear and his voice rasped against her nerve endings. “Fates, the things I want…”

The desire in his voice shook her to her core. His breath came hard and unsteady, a mirrored cadence of her own. Only then did she realize that his arms trembled on either side of her where they supported his weight above her.

He wanted her so badly that he was
shaking.
He’d held back all this time for her. Because he’d sensed her hesitation.

A rush of emotions tumbled through her—gratitude, annoyance, frustration, desire. Desire was the victor. She’d wanted this for so long; she wouldn’t let his kindness get in the way.

She pushed at his shoulders, delighting in the surprise that flashed across his face, and forced him onto his back. He put up no fight, else she’d never have accomplished it. He was letting her be in control and she liked it.

With a wicked laugh, she climbed atop him. He shuddered at the feel of her, his eyes closing slightly. When his hands came up to grip her hips, she shuddered as well.

She leaned down and kissed his neck, dragging her lips along the smooth skin, and shifted her hips until she felt the hard press of him between her thighs. A streak of pleasure shot through her.

“Sigyn.” His voice broke on her name.

“Have you done this before?” she asked. She hadn’t. She barely had a clue what she was doing, knew only that she was following some driving instinct within her.

His fingers bit into her hips and he thrust upward, making her cry out at the feel of him, hard and hot against her. “No. It’s a distraction from my duties. But you… I can’t resist.”

Surprise flashed through her, then a streak of happiness at the thought. She leaned down and kissed him, gasping when he took control with his lips. He might be on the bottom, but only because he’d let her put him there.

She wanted him so desperately, wanted to feel his pleasure and his loss of control more than she wanted her own breath. More than she wanted her own pleasure. The thrill of his responses, of his need for her, clouded her mind.

Clumsily at first, she began to ride him, rubbing her sex against his through the fabric that separated them and picking up a rhythm that forced harsh noises from his throat. His response spurred her desire to wild flames.
 

He was so hot and hard and big that it overwhelmed her. She couldn’t get enough of the scent of his arousal or the scrape of his stubble against her cheek. The heat of his breath on her neck. All of it pushed her higher and harder.

Something unbearably intense coiled within her when she felt his hands grip her hips and move her. He groaned as if he’d lost himself and dragged her up and down his hard shaft. On every upward motion, his hardness pressed into a spot that made stark pleasure jolt through her.

Suddenly, she felt
his
pleasure within her, harsh and desperate. She felt her own still, but his was distinctly different. His pleasure made magic spark inside her, driving her movements until she’d wrested control back from him.

He let her take him, throwing his head back with eyes closed and gritted teeth. Fates, he was so beautiful. She wanted him to have this, to make him feel everything that put this look of incredible, unbelievable pleasure on his face. It made her wild to think she could do this to him.

She rode him harder and faster, pushing him to the peak that he was desperate to reach and she was desperate to witness. A harsh shout left his throat and his hips jerked beneath hers.
 

He shuddered, his mouth open on a silent cry. Euphoria flowed through her, sent power through her veins that was so strong, so fierce, she felt she might she’d explode from it.

As his tremors quieted, she tumbled off him, shaking from need and roiling magic that made her skin tingle. She was a trembling mess of feelings and confused impulses.
 

Loki sat upright, and through blurred vision, she could see the concern on his face as he said, “Are you all right? Tell me what’s wrong!”

“I…” She gasped in air, desperate to calm the need that streaked through her veins and to corral the magic that ran rampant beneath her skin and in her mind. “I feel… strong.”

With every fiber of her being, she knew that she had to put this magic toward a useful purpose or she would explode. She used the last of her strength to force it toward prophesy, even though she was only ever able to see the future while under the stars.

As the sun blazed golden on her closed eyelids, a dozen images flashed through her mind. Then two dozen, then three. More prophesies than she’d ever seen in all her years. The futures of so many individuals she’d never met. And one that she had.

Loki.

When the visions finally faded, she came to in Loki’s arms, still gasping for air. The same piercing, ravenous need flowed through her as before, this time only her own. The remnants of his had been distinguished in her magic.
 

“Sigyn.” Loki’s eyes were locked on hers, desperate. He stroked the hair back from her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t know. Magic.” She rubbed her thighs together, desperately seeking relief to the ache there. “I—I need you.” The words tumbled from her lips and she was too far gone to be embarrassed.

Loki’s eyes cleared, then heated. His lips swept down to hers as he adjusted her in his arms so that he cradled her against his chest with one arm and could reach beneath her skirts with the other.
 

She cried out when she felt the heat of his fingers directly against her most sensitive flesh. When he parted her folds, she clutched reflexively at his shirt, desperate to hold on as the pleasure swamped her. Awe and embarrassment and joy swept through her, each fueling the other.

He stroked a spot so sensitive that it made her mind spin. It took almost nothing for her to come undone. She stiffened as the pleasure roared through her.

“That’s it,” Loki whispered against her lips. “Come for me, love.”

She shuddered in his arms for endless minutes, held captive by the bright light of pleasure tearing through her body, making her muscles stiffen and shake. When it finally faded, she lay weak and limp in Loki’s arms. Sweat dampened her brow and her muscles felt utterly useless.

Loki kissed her forehead tenderly and lay her back down upon his cloak, joining her there and pulling her against him to gently stroke her back.

What had just happened?

“Are you all right?” Loki asked.

She nodded against his chest. “I think so.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I think that your pleasure fueled my magic. I didn’t realize I was doing it, I swear!”