Underworld Bride Trials 1 Playboy King - Meg Xuemei X. Page 0,72

darted to the side, ready to lunge at Ragnarö while he was preoccupied. With Loki’s help and his flame, I might just finish the Ice God right here, right now.

“Come back, Tessa!” Loki ordered urgently, for fear I’d be captured again. But I wasn’t going to give up this chance. The motherfucker had come all the way here for me, and I’d stand my ground and deal him a death blow.

As soon as I was in position, I threw up my hands, intending to send a surge of ice spears into Ragnarö’s chest. But nothing formed in the air. It dawned on me then that I had no power in this realm. To my horror, I watched the hellfire also sputter on Loki’s fingertips before it vanished completely.

Loki looked at his hands, then at our foe, and thrust up his hands again. But nothing happened. The king summoned his fire again and again, but it was only an ember now.

We were trapped. We’d been tricked into coming here.

Ragnarö threw his head back and laughed menacingly, the sound inhuman. He’d kill Loki first and make me watch, and then he’d take me back and do things to me worse than anyone could imagine.

A surge of panic rushed into the pit of my stomach, and fear froze my bones.

With the icy storm raining down upon the King of the Underworld, now powerless and naked, I hurried toward him. “We have to get out, Loki! This is his enchanted realm. I’m not sure we’re even avatars anymore, which means he can take me captive!”

I’d read my ex-mate when he gripped my throat, thanks to a link between us I couldn’t sever ever since he’d forced a bond on me the day before our wedding.

“I won’t let the bastard take you!” Loki growled and met me half way.

Without his Hell power, only his strength and speed remained. He held me in his arms, and we clung to each other in a desperate grip.

Ragnarö stalked toward us, rage and ice billowing around him. Behind him, a horde of giant creatures and bloodhounds emerged from the portal. They closed in on us from every direction, leaving our backs against the endless ocean.

Water was my element, but it wouldn’t work in Loki’s favor, as he was fire.

“You’ll not detain us,” Loki hissed, “not even in your cheating realm.”

“Morrigan will always be mine and no others,” Ragnarö sneered cruelly. “I’m bringing her back to our realm, where I’ll ravage her for centuries, leaving nothing unused. But not before she watches as I kill her boy toy.”

I clung to Loki, my breath short and frosty. I’d die before I allowed the bastard to do that to us.

Loki raised a hand and began to mutter unfamiliar words. I felt the power behind them and aided him with whatever magic I could summon. With a roar that shook the storm, the King of the Underworld tore open a gap in the air just wide enough for both of us to fit through. He crushed me against his chest and hurled us toward the exit.

Tossing his ice blade in our direction, Ragnarö bellowed in fury, spread his silvery wings to their full length, and bolted after us.

I cried out a warning, and Loki twisted his body to cover me.

The blade pierced through his shoulder just as we rammed through the gap. We landed on the other side now, and my ice power immediately returned to me, brimming with rage and fear. I tossed my portal magic toward the gap, ignoring the agony from my broken wrist, and sealed the chasm before the Ice God and his hounds could pass through it.

The edge of the portal caught a lock of his silvery hair and severed it—a dark souvenir to remind me that what had happened inside the crystal was more than real.

Falling back into the terrace garden, Loki and I clutched each other as we stared at the floating crystal ball, within which the storm still twirled and raged before fading into black. My reflection stared back at me from the glowing sphere.

Tiny ice crystals still dusted my long eyelashes, and frost coated my silver-pink hair. My skin appeared paler than usual, and my ice-blue eyes flashed with bone-cold fear.

Icy tears flowed down my cheeks behind my masked face. Loki tore away his golden lion mask, then gently removed my dragon one.

“He found me,” I whispered, trembling until my joints hurt. “Even Hell’s fire won’t stop him from coming, now that he knows