The Strange Maid (47 page)

Fear trickled down my spine. “What paths do you see?”

“One: you destroy that heart at your throat. Two: you wear it until it is taken from you violently. Three: you give it to me now.”

“You want it. That’s what you’ve always wanted.”

She smiled a cruel smile. “Never.”

“Tell me what you want now, lady moon, and maybe I will do it.”

“You, little raven, do exactly what you’re told?”

I shoved my back against the rough bark, the warm damp Tree alive where she was still and cold. “Try me.”

“Destroy it, for it was never meant to be in the world like this. Destroy it and it will never ruin your daughters.”

“Why did you make it if only to wish it broken?”

“That is what hearts are for.” Her gaze skimmed away from me, back toward the Death Hall. “You know my words are
truth.
”

“Are you threatening Ned?”

“He’s mine, little raven. I rule all the unsung dead, and he made promises to me.”

Words burned like bile at the back of my throat. I swallowed them. I whispered, “He will not remain unsung, no matter if he dies tonight or in fifty years. I am a Valkyrie and I choose. You cannot use him against me.”

“But you would miss him, if he were gone again.”

“Yes.”

We were silent, the goddess and I, while a breeze played through the branches above, hinting at stars and the changing paths dancing around us like elf-lights.

I said, “The Alfather forged this necklace for me. I am his, and he wants me to wear the heart. To discover what I can do with it. I have it from his own mouth, Freya.”

“Yes, my love craves power in you, but he does not see the future.” Her sigh tilted toward petulant, and I glanced at her, startled. The goddess pursed her lips. “Some day, Signy, you will come to me to ask a thing, and I will say no. Because of this. Because of tonight.”

She leaned nearer to me then and kissed me. I felt her breath in my mouth, sharp and sweet like a flower. I gasped and the heart blazed against my skin. Its tendrils curled through my ribs, searching for my own heart, making pleasure and madness burn through my body.

“Can you resist its song forever?” the goddess of dreams murmured into my ear. “Will your daughters? Will your priests and lovers?”

I didn’t want to resist. But I grasped the stone and said, “Tonight.”

“That is all you will have, a thousands tonights and a thousand tomorrows, always tempted, always choosing for the rest of your life, Signy.”

“That is everyone’s destiny,” I said. “Always choosing.”

I pushed to my feet. I held my hand to her, and she took it as she gracefully stood. She remained near, her cool presence and my wild, hair-raising passion pushing off each other like magnets.

“Everyone’s destiny,” the goddess intoned, transforming my words into reality. “Always choosing.”

“Maybe someday you’ll convince me to do it.” I drew
chaos
onto her chest with my finger. It glowed as green as death against her white, white skin. She drew
destiny
onto my cheek.

Together we passed through the garden, back into my sanctuary, where my family drank and cheered and danced.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TESSA GRATTON
has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. Alas, she turned out to be too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for someone to teach her magic. After traveling the world with her military family, Tessa acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in gender studies. While in school she studied Old English and translated
Beowulf
—leading her on a wonderful journey through the sagas, which in turn inspired her to create the United States of Asgard. Tessa lives in Kansas with her partner, her cats, and her mutant dog. You can visit her online at
tessagratton.com
.