Blood Cursed, page 10
“And here I thought you knew me well.”
“I do. Which is why I didn’t want you involved.” He shoved the box in his jacket pocket and started to make a portal.
“Not so fast,” Loki said, waving his hand; the portal dissipated before it could truly form. “I want to see the ring.”
“No.”
“No?” The Norse God’s eyes narrowed. “Remember the wordage of our bargain?”
Crap.
“I told you to be more careful about the wording.”
“I was.” He ran over the words he’d bound himself with. In exchange for the power to cross between Realms in corporeal form, I Tamuel, will give Loki anything that he asks for, or do anything he asks for, at any time in the future, with the exception of giving him, or hurting, a loved one, child or friend, or doing anything I find morally execrable, including breaking the law of man or Gods, murdering or hurting anyone or giving up a child.
“See, I covered all the bases.”
“Except keeping Loki from seeing the ring before Rinna has it under control.”
“How could I know that was going to be an issue?”
He was about to try to argue his case further when the air shimmered in front of him and Rinna appeared – he had no idea she could apparate like that. It was similar to something he could do when he had his cupid power.
The HBG pulsed warmly in his chest at her presence at the same time his heart skipped a beat. “Her magical abilities are as extraordinary as I thought, even with her power bound by that spell.”
“She is extraordinary.” By all the Gods and all the Realms, he loved her. Just seeing her made him feel like a thousand suns had lit inside him. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and kiss her until they were both breathless. Especially given how things had been between them. This might be the last time she looked at him like that, once she found out what he’d kept from her … and what he’d just done.
“Thank Zeus you’re okay.” She grabbed his face, pulled it down to her, then electrified him with a kiss full of worry and relief and love and wonder.
And passion. A passion he’d missed so much in the last few weeks.
Heat rocked through him, then lightning zipped through his veins as she moved closer, her body touching him in all the right places. He let go of his suit coat, both arms going around her, hands running up and down her strong back, pressing her to him.
She’d come to him. Maybe things were going to be all right.
For a blissful, crazy moment, as their mouths tangled and his hands held her close, closer, and he lost himself to the feel, the taste, the scent that was Rinna, he let himself believe that was true.
A wolf-whistle echoed around them.
Rinna broke away from him and spun. Loki stood there, waggling his eyebrows at them, a shit-eating grin lighting his face.
“So, I presume this is the infamous Rinna who stole my friend’s heart and sanity.”
“Loki?” Her expression a storm cloud, she glared up at Tamuel. “What’s he doing here?”
Uh-o! “What are you doing here?” he countered.
“You just up and left without telling me where you were going or what you were doing, and almost from the very moment you left, I felt something here.” She dug her fist into her chest between her breasts. “It wasn’t good. And then you … faded. It was horrible. I knew you were doing something stupid and dangerous and I had to come and save you from your idiot self. Jules agreed with me.” She whacked him on the arm. “That’s why I’m here.”
His lips twitched. “I missed you too.”
For a moment the storm cloud lightened, but then Loki said, “How sweet,” and made a yakking noise.
She spun to face the annoying arsehole, her brows almost meeting in the middle as she glared at him. “What are you doing here? Why would you – either of you – do anything to incur Zeus’ or Odin’s wrath by being in the same place like this?”
Tamuel tried to signal Loki over her shoulder by shaking his head, but the God of Mischief’s smile just widened as he said, “Not that I care what Zeus or Odin want, but I was doing something nice.”
Rinna snorted. “Like I believe that.”
Loki’s eyebrows rose. “I like you.”
Rinna crossed her arms. “The feeling is not reciprocated.”
“Maybe it would be if you knew what I was doing.”
“I doubt that.”
Tamuel stood behind Rinna, waving at Loki to stop, but his friend ignored him, saying, “For your information, I was helping your love get to another Realm.”
“You did what?”
“Thanks a lot, friend.”
Loki flashed a wide smile.
Rinna spun back to face him, her expression thunderous. “You asked him for help?”
Tamuel shrugged, ignoring the hurt in her eyes. “He’s my friend. Who else was I supposed to ask?”
“Me. Bastien. Grandmama. Even Eros would be better.”
“Eros,” Loki snorted. “He’s too busy cleaning up his own pile of shit to bother helping anyone but Psyche. Also, there’s no way he’d help Tamuel get back down to the Underworld again in corporeal form.”
“You went back to the Underworld? Without me? Why?”
“Show her the box,” Loki whispered loudly.
“Box? What box?”
Loki darted forward, grabbed Tamuel’s suit coat and pulled the box from the pocket. “This box.”
Rinna gasped as Tamuel shouted, “No. Don’t open—”
Loki flipped open the lid and a green light flashed out, bathing the cave in its blinding glow. Every place of rock or soil the light touched began to writhe and move as flora and fauna pushed up and out of the ground, growing in front of their eyes. Tamuel clapped his hand to his chest, trying to conjure a shield spell as the fingers of power began to tear the HBG from his chest, but it was hard to concentrate through the pain and the HBG’s screams.
“Tam!” Rinna threw up a powerful shield. The flare died, leaving only a slight glow behind. “Are you okay?” she asked, her hands running over his chest, the sensation helping to stop the HBG’s whimpering.
“I’m fine. It’s fine. Don’t worry—”
His mouth dropped open as behind her, the cave filled with plants and flowers of all different hues, turning it from a barren place into a mini Garden of Eden. She turned slowly, following his gaze, and gasped.
“By Odin’s balls. That’s one Hells of a ring,” Loki said.
Chapter
Twelve
“That’s the lost ring of Triptolemus,” Rinna said breathlessly as she stared at the ring in Loki’s hands.
Black hair a halo of spikey curls around his head, the God looked down at the large green ring that was nestled inside the square rune-covered box. “Seems that was a bit of a furfie.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It wasn’t lost. It was in Persephone’s hot little hands all this time,” Loki said. “Fancy that.”
Tamuel shot the God a ‘shut-the-fuck-up’ look as he said, “Triptolemus gave it to her before he disappeared.”
“That makes sense,” she said, still on the ring. “He made it to help them, after all.”
“Did he now? That’s not what I heard,” Loki chimed
She crossed her arms as she tore her gaze from the ring to glare at him. “Really? And just what did you hear?”
He winked at her. “That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he sing-songed. “Wish I could be a little birdie on the wall when you finally do find out, but that’s not to be my role in all this.” He pouted.
“Your role? What in all the Hells are you talking about?” Tamuel asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He grinned in a way that made Tamuel want to punch him.
“I’m sick of this. Just give us the ring and go,” Rinna said, making a grab for the box.
Loki darted to the left, holding it above his head out of her reach. More light spilled out of the ring, this time covering the ceiling of the cave. Plants grew down like stalactites forcing them all to hunch over. “Oops.” He snapped the lid closed. “Let me take care of that.”
He waved his hand; red-tinged power arced out like a scythe, cutting off the heads of all the flowers and plants. Leaf-litter and blossoms rained down on them.
“Oh, for the Goddess’ sake,” Rinna snapped, lifting her hands in an arc. The shield she’d raised around them turned flaming green-gold; the mess created by Loki’s spell became ash as it hit the sphere. Then holding out her hand, she said, “Come to me.” Power crackled around her, and the ring and its box disappeared from Loki’s hand to appear in hers.
“Hey! That’s rude,” Loki complained.
“It’s not yours to begin with,” Rinna said. “You have no idea what to do with its power or how to manage it.”
“And you do?”
“Given I am the pre-eminent scholar on powerful gems, and I’m a servant of Demeter and Persephone, I do. And given Tam obviously made his foolish bargain with you to travel down to the Underworld to get this from Persephone so we can use it in the battle ahead, then once again, yes, I do. And finally, given Persephone gave it to Tam, she must think I have a good chance of working it properly.”
“That’s a given, you silly girl. You really have no idea what you hold in your hand.”
“I’m pretty sure I do,” she said, looking down at the box. “Thank you for your ‘help’ in getting it, but now it’s time we go.”
“Ah-ah-ah! There’s the little matter of Tamuel’s debt to me.”
“And that is?”
“That he will give me whatever I ask for – with certain boring provisos to safeguard his morals and family and friends, yadda yadda.” He yawned and patted his mouth.
“You agreed to what?” Rinna turned to Tamuel, her expression shocked and not a little angry.
“It was the only way to get the ring from Persephone in time.”
“But … how did you know about the ring anyway? It wasn’t in any of our research.”
Here it was. He had to tell her the truth. Looking her right in the eye, he said, “He told me about it a few weeks ago when I went to the hermit’s cave.”
“He … what? You’ve been sitting on this information this entire time?”
“Well,” he said, waving at Loki, wishing he could as easily have waved away her hurt. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to try to get it, given making a deal with Loki was really my only way to get down there. And I didn’t tell you about it because I knew you wouldn’t agree to how I would need to get it. You know that only the power of a God or a heavenly confluence would give me enough power to get to the Underworld right now.”
“But Eros …”
“As Loki said, he isn’t in a position to help. And we had hope that other artefacts might work for us. But then they didn’t, and you were so upset—”
“You made a bargain with this idiot—”
“Hey!”
“—for me?”
“I’d do anything for you, Rinna.”
“I …” She blinked rapidly and touched his cheek. Her lip wobbled. “Tam. I-I don’t deserve such a sacrifice.”
“What are you talking about? Of course you do.” The look in her eye – Gods! He thought by getting the ring it would make things better but it seemed like he’d just made them so much worse. “Rinna, what is it?”
“I … I—”
Loki sighed loudly. “While this is fascinating, can we get back to the matter of me calling in my chit?”
“You’ve seen the ring. What else do you want?” Tamuel snapped, his arm going around Rinna, hating how stiffly she held herself.
“You didn’t let me see it, so that doesn’t count.” He tipped his head, eyes glinting. “I’d like to be in on the action.”
“What? Are you insane?” Rinna spat out. “Your God-energies are all wrong. You could completely screw up everything. He can’t come.” She looked up at Tamuel. “You have to tell him he can’t come.”
He leaned down and whispered, “Let me take care of this.” Then he turned and shook his head at the God. “It’s okay, Rinna. If that’s what Loki truly wants, I can’t say no because of the terms of our bargain, although …” He smiled at Loki. “I have to say, I am a bit surprised you of all Gods would want to go back into the Void.”
“The Void?” Loki said, his cocky grin slipping.
“Oh, didn’t I mention that? Yep, that’s right. One of the things Persephone told me was that we can’t let Clodia out of the Void. Apparently a Seer she knows saw that if she did get out, even if we defeated her, she’d cause even more havoc. So, that means we have to go into the Void to fight her. But that’s not a problem for you anymore, right?”
“Um,” Loki said. “I …”
“You’re not afraid of the Void, are you?” Rinna asked, somehow knowing, despite her obvious upset, to play her part beautifully.
Tamuel leaned down to whisper loudly in her ear, “Thor and his friends played a trick on him when he was younger. The upshot was he got trapped inside the Void and couldn’t get out. Odin had to go and rescue him. Apparently he was screaming about the dark nothing for days, and from what I heard, still sleeps with a nightlight to keep the nasty darkness away.”
“That is supposed to be a secret,” Loki said, eyes blazing, face completely white.
“Perhaps you should have a word to Heimdall about that. He’s surprisingly loose-lipped when you get him drunk on tequila.”
“Bastard. I’m going to kill him.”
“Well, good luck with that. Of course, the killing of Heimdall would have to wait until after you came with us into the Void. You’re still coming, right?”
“Ah,” Loki said, backing up. “On second thoughts, I’m a bit busy at the moment, so I’ll have to call my chit another time. See you both later.”
He disappeared so quickly, there was a little pop and a suck of air that ruffled their hair.
“Thank the Gods for that,” Rinna said, pushing her locks back off her face.
“Rinna, about me not telling you about the ring—”
She waved her hand. “Forget it. We’ve both done things …” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter – is what you said true?”
“About him getting stuck in the Void? Or about Heimdall—”
“No! About going into the Void.”
“Yes. Unfortunately it is.”
She blanched. “But … nothing corporeal can live in there – except Gods and Goddesses. The moment we try to enter, it will suck our souls out of our bodies and kill us.”
“Not if we use the spell in the Eleusinian Mysteries Grimoire,” he said, pointing at his wrist where blood still seeped from the sigil he’d carved. “It will allow us to travel through the tear in space and time and into the Void in our corporeal form and help us to get back out again.”
“Are you kidding? It wasn’t made for that. It was designed to help someone travel to the Hell Realms and back, not cross into a place where time and space have no meaning.”
“I know. But Persephone says that with a slight modification, it could allow us to travel into the Void for a short period.”
“How short?”
He couldn’t meet her eyes as he said, “Ten minutes. Maybe more.”
“But time means nothing in there, so ten minutes out here could be forever in there. Or no time at all.”
“Maybe if you made us a chronometer each to wear, one tied into the sigil-spell so it can cross those space-time boundaries, we’d be able to judge how long we have.”
She stared at him for long moments before nodding. “That could work. Although, I’d have to make modifications to the sigil spell as well.”
“You know how to do that?”
“I think so. Something like this should do it.” She took his wrist and drew with her fingernail an addition on either end of the sigil design then added another rune to the circle of origin.
Prickles chased over his skin as he stared at the additions she’d made. A sinking feeling – denial mixed with realisation – descended from his chest to sit heavily in his stomach. “Where did you learn that from?”
She still wouldn’t look at him, and he knew – Gods-damn-it! – what had she done?
Fuck. He knew he should have rescinded the permission for her to open and enter the portal into his secret place after Persephone made him make that stupid vow, but he just couldn’t do it. How could he ask for her trust if he didn’t give it in return? With a sinking sensation he said, “You used my portal spell to get into my haven.”
Her head whipped up, eyes awash with tears and determination. “I … I didn’t want to go behind your back. But you’d made that vow and … You don’t understand. I needed it.”
“You should have told me. I would have looked in the grimoire for you.”
“You would have looked for a spell I could use to control my magic?” She shook her head sadly.
“You don’t need a spell of control!”
“But I do.”
“Why?”
“To save you!” she shouted, eyes ablaze with fervour and not a little fear. “To keep you safe! And Jules and Bas and the baby and Violetta and everyone else too.”
“But … what? For the Gods’ sake, why?”
“You see …” She jabbed her finger in the air between them. “This is why I didn’t come to you with this. Because you don’t see the faults in me. You don’t see the danger of me. In me.”
“Danger? That’s absurd.”
“Is it?”
“I know you’ve had some problems with your magic, but you’ve never hurt me or any of my family with it.”
“That’s just luck.”
He gripped her shoulders to stop her pacing. “No, it’s not. It’s you. All you. You would never hurt us, which means your power would never hurt us either.”
She jerked out of his grip. “I would never have hurt all the people of Pompeii and yet I did. It was not only my job to see to their protection – I cared for them! And yet I hurt them in the most horrifying of ways.”
“That wasn’t your fault. You know some greater power manipulated you and your magic that day. We have proof of that. We just don’t know who or why – but after this, I promise, we’ll look into it. You can’t blame yourself.”
