Chapter 16
Fólkvangr, Falls of the Dead – Thule
P gazed into the eyes of his beautiful female, but magical protective runes or not, he wasn’t looking forward to being unconscious and unable to defend her while in her memories. He didn’t know the priestesses or what their agenda was in Thule. Or Hroarr’s. His shoulders bunched in anticipation to get this part over with as quickly as possible.
He put his thumb on the tiny dent in her chin, angling her lips for his kiss. She was nervous about what would happen next, and it was best they get to it, but he wanted to ease her a little first. He used his other hand to lift her into his arms. Her legs wrapped around him sweetly as he moved through the water, his tongue slowly tangling with hers. She sighed into his mouth as her body relaxed into him. Her questing hands were all over his skin, and he knew he’d never get enough of it.
He groaned at how perfect she felt, at how eagerly she kissed him, no matter how much he controlled it.
He moved from the water, drying them with warm air currents before breaking their kiss and settling her on the white lounge. She looked so damned gorgeous that he wished he had time to drink in the sight of her laid out for him, but he didn’t want her more anxious than she already was. She was trusting him in this. The cats had shared their approval, but this was a huge step she was taking entirely on faith. It didn’t matter that she was intelligent enough to know they were running out of options, unless they wanted to stay in this place for eternity, feeding the never-ending frenzy.
He lay on his side next to her, and she turned to face him. “We can do the marking later, thea mou,” he soothed, knowing she was too on edge for more ceremony that wasn’t necessary to the bonding.
“We can skip to the blood part?” she asked without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Air huffed from her lips as she asked, “How exactly will we share blood?”
With a smile, he answered, “A kiss will do it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “A kiss… You are lying.”
He laughed before adjusting his aching cock so that it wasn’t jabbing into her stomach. “I’m not lying.” He sighed when she looked unamused. “I’m guessing that will be easier for you than having to drink from a cut on my chest.”
“You plan to cut our mouths? How?”
He brushed a golden wave over her shoulder. “The healing ability I have goes both ways. I can cause a cut as easily as I can mend one.” He couldn’t do much more than that and a permanent tattoo, but it was sufficient for what they needed.
Taking a deep breath, she demanded, “Then let us begin.” Capturing her gaze, he took a moment to take in the sight of her before allowing the words to slip from his lips in the old language. “Thea mou, I vow to honor and care for you, with my body, soul and blood through all eternity.” He felt the magic in the words and knew she felt the warmth of it settle into her as well.
Her eyes glazed with heat, and before he knew what she was thinking, she recited the same vow back to him. His heart thumped in his chest with every word she spoke. She didn’t need to do it, but there was no mistaking the power binding them even closer than before.
*****
Gefn went into this partially with faith in her beasts, and even in Pothos, but also because her own instincts told her this was right. Not to mention logic dictated that they couldn’t go on as they had been, but logic had nothing to do with the beauty of his vows. Once he’d said them, she’d felt compelled to return the words. To make her own promises to him.
She lifted a hand to his neck and drew his mouth to hers. With a sharp nip to his lip, she’d drawn blood along with his growl. The vibrations of it slid through her body as she trailed her tongue over the cut. His big palm gripped her hip, dragging her tight to him.
She moaned, barely feeling the sting of a cut on her tongue through the warmth of his power.
She had only a moment, and then she was taken into a dream world. Into his memories.
In some strange mystical way she felt taken back in time, as if the sun and moons had reversed themselves and now she was in a place where blue skies were filled with white puffy clouds and sparkling blue rivers cut through green forests. With the sight came knowledge. Pothos was a bright-eyed child of maybe five summers, laughing and flying, even half falling in the air when he wasn’t sure of his wings. His small body was captured in the arms of his smiling father. Hades. Only in this time the God had long black hair and a brilliant smile filled with an overabundance of love and amusement. His features were so similar to Pothos’ that it wasn’t hard to imagine her male with a winged boy of his own. Her heart clenched at the thought. This was love. She felt it rolling from them both as father taught his son to use his wings.
In a dizzying shift, time moved a few years ahead. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did.
Now she looked at a Pothos of ten summers, standing in a sleeping room, looking out a balcony to a starry night. She tensed as she felt the boy’s power unleash, his small wings lifting from the back of the child when a male and female appeared before him. Ares and Artemis… That information filtered in her head as she looked on. She could feel the twisted, tainted blood in their too pale bodies. The strength of their evil soulless power mixed with their sinister laughter. She tried to get to him, to yell for him to run even though she knew it was a dream. A memory. Just as they reached for him, a furious roar rocked the stone floor beneath his small feet. Out of nowhere Hades appeared, his massive bulk and unfurled wings an impenetrable wall between Pothos and the evil two. His twin blades sliced through the air as he unleashed some unseen power that made the two shriek in pain and fury. Pothos was lifted out of the way by a reassuring warrior, but watched as his father battled the evil duo. Witnessed as blood spattered onto the balcony. She felt the worry that choked the boy. Just as she felt the way his father sent him soothing energies even amidst a vicious battle. Her very soul ached at the beauty of their bond.
Time flickered ahead once again as she fought emotion and the desire to learn more.
This time he was older, maybe sixteen summers, with two youths of about the same age, both blond. A pixie-like female with violet eyes and a broody male that she recognized from the lake. The other boy had deep green eyes, and somehow, in her mind, she knew this was Drake. They were sitting beside a sunlit lake when green shimmery wings tore from Drake’s back, and she felt Pothos’ excitement at the idea of soaring with his cousin. With that surge of emotion came a rush of power that immobilized both his friends. He tried to call it back, shamed and embarrassed when they only stared sightlessly back at him. Her heart broke for the boy when they were finally freed. The girl, she felt in his mind that her name was Sirena, tried to reassure him, but he closed in on himself, disappointed and sick at his lack of control.
Another jump as her heart rushed to her stomach.
Pothos at around twenty summers, sitting with his father in a long room of warriors. A fight broke out at the end of a firelit hall. A female was involved and he worried for her. Brianne… The redhead from the lake. His power lashed out powerfully and for a moment no one could move. The warriors were completely at his mercy until they came to in a daze. A power-hungry male would have relished that kind of ability. Her male hid it, hated turning friends and powerful warriors into sightless shells, unable to control the blasts. His father slipped the hold and sent calming energies to his son, and finally the warriors came back to themselves, seemingly unaware of what had happened.
More years passed.
Females and males surrounded him. Mortals drawn to him with glazed eyes. They were captivated by the power that slipped from him without his intent. He tightened his hold on the ability before leaving the area to teleport to sit atop a mountain. Away from everyone so he could relax his hold.
A sequence of years tracked by.
Battles where he fought with beautiful yet deadly skill. His blade cut true as he fought at the backs of many a warrior. His hold on his power had grown more secure, but he still sought the solitude of the mountains to be free when the battles were over.
Time shifted again. She saw Pothos arguing with his father over the fate of the world, over the fact that the other Gods were destroying it with their madness. They needed to find the artifact to call the Creators back. She gasped at the knowledge that the Creators of his world had given them such a huge gift. She’d never come across such a thing. Her own sires had left and never returned to Thule. They’d said it was impossible. His father demanded that Pothos trust him to take care of it. Pothos was infuriated by his father’s arrogance, knowing that three good Gods against nine who were unspeakably evil was asking the impossible no matter how strong Hades was.
Another flash of time.
He stoically stared out to an island in the distance. Impenetrable. There were imprisoned Immortals being experimented on behind the protections. Being bred like animals by his uncles Apollo and Hermes. They were amassing an army. A moment later a blond male broke through the waves with two young females. Dorian… The young Immortal females gasped for air as Dorian gently handed them off to Pothos, and Gefn noticed the females’ intense reaction to her male’s closeness. He teleported them to the sanctuary in his father’s palace, and she felt the knowledge that his relationship with his father was strained, yet he was still confident that Hades would do what he could to protect those who came to him. And these females needed safety.
More years slid by.
She watched as he secretly searched for an artifact hidden by the evil Gods Ares and Artemis. Reporting to his cousins, Drake and Sirena. She wanted to shrink away from the dark palaces filled with the stench of death and despair. There were naked mortals bleeding in locked cages like animals, their blood flowing to the ground. The Gods had been feeding off the dark energies caused by their torment. Pothos’ inability to free them ate at his gut. A dark-skinned male stood at his side with furious fire in his eyes. Sander… Another warrior with dark hair beside them. Jax. They had to keep their presence secret or risk never finding the golden box that would allow them to call the Creators back to their world.
Another year.
He arrived, crouched for battle against three malevolent males. The trio wouldn’t die; each slice of his blade healed in an instant… Than, Deimos and Phobos. The Tria… Each massive male was pale as ice and had soulless eyes of pure evil. Their hands and bodies were coated in blood she knew wasn’t their own. It was hard to even look at them. She could feel sinister tendrils of tainted power coming from them as their poisonous laughter filled the air.
And then she gasped at the sight of the twisted bodies on the floor of the palace. One female that looked nearly dead, her entire body was mangled, not far from the two half-dead young males. Alexandra, Alex… And her twin brothers Vane and Erik. She’d seen the older, Vane, at the lake. Pothos was sick and furious as he fought beside his aunts, his father.
They were all combining power to keep the males from teleporting away, and the evil trio were viciously fighting against their hold. Three Gods were there, Hades, Athena and Aphrodite, along with the two females’ warrior consorts beside Pothos and Drake, and still the Tria were nearly breaking free. He felt, as well as heard, his father’s commands. They were each to recite a spell, and the three Gods were preparing to sacrifice a portion of their life force to transport and hold the malevolent three beneath the surface of the Realm of Tainted Souls. She felt the power of the chanting words, and she knew the moment Pothos added his own portion to the spell, as did the consorts and Drake. She saw and felt Hades’ displeasure at Pothos’ sacrifice, but in a whirlwind of furious power and rage-filled shrieks, the three were gone. Locked away for eternity.
A short time passed.
He stood on a mountaintop beside his cousin Drake, the artifact to call the Creators in his hands as other Immortals stood behind them. A rush of power so immense and pure filled the world until they nearly dropped to their knees from the force. She saw the bright luminous lights in the sky. Their Creators had come back. They were in his mind, taking his knowledge as to why they were summoned back to Earth. She felt the wind turn icy with fury that their sons and daughters, the Gods, had caused so much pain and suffering.
Pothos spoke for his father and his aunts. Hades, Athena and Aphrodite had been trying to stop the evil wrought by their siblings, so they didn’t need to be punished. She felt the sorrow of the Great Beings as a living breathing thing. It was soul deep. And then she heard their voices and it was like soft music. They denied him before giving him a choice to be a Guardian of his world. She heard their punishments. The Gods were all to be put to sleep. They could not be trusted with humanity any longer. Neither could any more powerful being.
With a force she was sure their entire world felt, the Immortals were freed from Apollo’s island prison and exiled to Tetartos Realm. A confinement spell surrounded it, not allowing the Immortals to leave.
Pothos was nearly crushed with guilt at the knowledge that his father was to be included with the other Gods. He tried to champion the God again to no avail. The Great Beings had spoken to the world at large. When Hades was brought forth, Pothos tried to fight to get to him. Their relationship had been strained for years, but his father did not deserve a prison.
His father roared and fought the Creators’ hold to get to his son before he was wrenched away into the spelled containment. The harsh wave of guilt and sorrow that he hadn’t been allowed to explain or even say goodbye to his father gutted him. Twelve Immortals, including him, Drake and Sirena, were deemed Guardians that day. Power flooded in their veins as they were told to make vows. With their new power came a curse of ten times the pain they inflicted against any mortal returned upon them. Humanity was to be allowed to evolve, and they were charged with great purpose. To watch over the Realms, as one day the Gods of their world would be needed once again. And then the Great Beings were gone. A flash of light and no way to call them back.
Centuries passed.
She saw years of battles and the building of cities in the Immortal Realm. Then she watched as the Guardians formed their own family. There was laughing, arguments and fighting at one another’s backs. It was a closer bond than if they were of the same blood. A bond that would never be severed, because she wouldn’t allow anything to happen to those he loved. She would fight for their world as she would fight for her own. She saw their meetings to deal with the lack of mates and Immortal young, which was so much like Thule’s struggles.
In all the meetings and patrols she saw that he always stayed somewhat at the edge. Not by choice so much as by necessity. His lack of belief in his ability to control his power always kept him in the shadows, part of the family, but never too physically close to those he loved. And then she watched as the Tria found the ability to send demon souls to possess humans; they also sent beasts to battle in the other Realms. The evil beings saw to it that the Guardians were constantly fighting some threat, never allowing them to have much time to themselves.
Less than a year ago.
Then suddenly his Guardian brother Uri found a mate. It was Pothos’ cousin Alexandra. She’d been hiding in the mortal Realm with her brothers. After that initial mating, Guardians started pairing nearly one after another. And then the news of a Guardian baby to Gregoire and Alyssa. He could see the beauty of the bond, but since mated pairs became more powerful, it made them all edgy that the couplings were leading to some bigger purpose for their world. Gefn knew his assumption to be correct.
A few months later.
She watched Pothos using his power to calm an enraged Drake, who was denied his female, Era. Worry flooded him that his cousin would never be able to claim his female because of her torture by the same enemy who’d freed Apollo into the world.
She felt their knowledge of something wrong before a portal opened to their world. P had sensed something coming, and then all the Guardians had felt the way the air charged when a powerful doorway was opened from Thule. And then she witnessed the battle with Hroarr’s warriors when Dagur had sent them to Earth to take Apollo. She wished she could close her eyes against the deaths that cut into her soul.
And then she saw the sleeping unit containing his father. Hades was lying peacefully inside. She felt Pothos’ dread and anticipation at waking the God to help find Apollo through their sibling bond. His relief when his father hadn’t blamed him for his captivity.
A few days later Pothos was rocked with the knowledge of his mother’s identity. He’d been unsure of his place in the world, angry at his father’s lies. Angered more that he’d been kept from the meeting where Kara started a battle with Hades.
And then she was in the garden with him, feeling all the emotion and need from him.
Feeling the connection and relief while they were in Fólkvangr at being able to be with her without fear of his power turning her into a being without thought. The rush he felt at her touch. The way she soothed him. He craved her.
She moaned.
She felt his certainty that his connection to her was the most precious thing he’d ever known. She gave him a sense of peace and freedom he’d never thought possible. Beyond lust and destiny, he wanted her. She felt powerful and needed, but also like they were halves of a whole.