Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,50

will still come to fruition—we just had a little, ah, hiccup along the way,” I said, hoping to soothe his flaring temper.

I failed.

“Don’t presume to know my plans, boy,” Loki said, his eyes narrow as he stared me down. “You allowed a stranger to search for me! You risked my life! And then, by all the stars in the sky, you brought Modi Thorsson to hunt for me! You were never my brightest child, but I would have hoped you’d be smart enough not to bring the enemy to my doorstep!”

“I wouldn’t have, had the situation not been dire,” I replied. “You know I’d never do anything to put you at risk, but Saga and Grim—they’re in trouble. We need you.”

“You need me?” He spat the words out, so much venom in his voice I took a step back. “After you failed me and brought an enemy to my door? Son, I did not bring you here to help you. I brought you so that you may know my disappointment and see your punishment with your own eyes.”

I blinked. “Father… we don’t have time for petty squabbles. Grim and Saga might die at Odin's hand. He will execute them for treason in your stead. Whatever punishment you wish to award me I will accept, but please—help me save my brothers first.”

Loki’s nostrils flared, and where I’d hoped to see reason bloom in his dark eyes, only renewed anger festered.

“You wish for me to step in the way of Odin’s vengeance? You want me to die, son? If I come within a hundred leagues of Valhalla, he will execute me. Your brothers have gotten themselves into this mess—at least Grim should be smart enough to get them out again.

"In the meantime, you will mate the omega and you will make certain she is kept from Thor’s bastard. Use her powers to ensure our bloodline lives—and keep her in line. We can’t risk her expending her magic trying to save the whole world, let alone Thor. Prophecy or no.”

I stared at my father for the longest moment, words refusing to form in my dazed mind. He still looked exactly like the man who’d come to visit us when we were children—who’d whispered the secrets of Valhalla in our ears and told of us our glorious destinies—tall, dark, mysterious, and beautiful in his divinity.

I’d always thought he loved us, that his cold mannerisms were just who he was, but he still felt… something beneath the surface. Because I’d loved him. He was my father.

It was only now, as I stood before him desperate for his help, that I understood. We were pawns to him, chess pieces he controlled to ensure his own goals.

He would never risk his own life to save my brothers. They were expendable.

I was expendable.

“Father…” I whispered hoarsely.

“Quiet!” he hissed. Dark magic rose around his body. On his shoulders, Arni and Magga’s squawks rose to shrill screams. “This is your punishment, son. Fail me again and it will be your brothers'—or your children's, should you sire any with the omega before our paths cross again.”

The magic flickered, turning into flames as they fully engulfed his body. His eyes shone bright white, making me squint to see.

I wished I hadn’t.

Flames licked up his shoulders and set fire to the birds trapped there. Their agonized cries tore through my chest and I roared, lurching to save them.

Invisible bonds kept me in place, howling with rage and sorrow as the two ravens who’d watched over me all my life died screaming in the dark fire.

When there was nothing left of them but ashes, the fire died as swiftly as it had started, my father’s eyes darkening once more.

“Do not seek me out again until Ragnarök is over,” he said, his voice calmer now, though still laced with anger. “And do not fail me again, Bjarni.”

Power grabbed my body and pushed, and I flew through the air, through the walls of the cabin and deep into the woods, landing on my back in the snow in a small clearing of trees.

I stared up at the darkening sky through the canopy high above, the silence of the forest overwhelming my senses. Grief and fury warred behind the wall of nothingness wrapping around my insides like a comforting blanket, but I was too numb to feel it.

Blessedly numb.

In the span of the past few minutes, so much had died.

My lifelong companions.

My belief that I was ever loved by the man who sired me.

My hope.

I lay in