Demons (Eirik Book 1) (29 page)

She was still talking when the door flew open and Eirik staggered in. He wore a stupid grin on his face.

“Hiya, Dimples. The fire spells will have to wait…” His voice trailed off when he realized I wasn’t alone.

CELESTIA

“Sorry, Trudy. I didn’t know you were here.” Eirik dropped his shoes and lumbered off toward the bathroom. What was wrong with him? He looked drunk again. Trudy stared after him with rounded eyes.

I grabbed her arm and pulled. “Go. I need to talk to him.” And yell and curse him out.

“Will you come to say goodbye before you leave? Please?”

“Yes.” I was cutting across the large bedroom before the door closed behind her. I entered the bathroom to find Eirik brushing his teeth. “Why do the spells have to wait?”

He spit out the foam and rinsed his mouth. “I’m sorry I blurted it out like that, but I can’t do a spell right now. I need to sleep this off. Don’t worry. I’ll get you home.”

“Sleep what off?”

“The energy drain. I pushed myself too far too soon and my body is still adjusting.”

“You were working out again? This is ridiculous. First, she starves you. Then, she wants you to be in shape and fight her psycho warriors. Can’t you just tell your mother you have nothing to prove?”

He paused in the process of rinsing his toothbrush and studied me. “You look cute when you’re angry.”

That threw me off. Then I realized what he was doing. He was trying to throw me off my game by complimenting me. “Seriously?”

He wiped his mouth and turned to face me. He looked ready to keel over. “Seriously. Completely adorable. Your eyes flash and those dimples…”

I wanted to deck him, and he must have realized it because he stopped.

“We’ll leave that for another day.” He staggered toward me as though his legs couldn’t carry him. I almost let him fall, but he looked completely drained. This was his mother’s fault. No parent should have so much sway over her kid like this. The anger drained out of me.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and helped keep him upright. He buried his face in my hair and inhaled, slowing us down. When he exhaled, his breath fanned my skin and it was my turn to go weak at the knees. At least, he didn’t smell like that awful drink, mead. I’d actually come to dislike the drink with a passion.

“I have no idea what’s going on, Eirik, but if you fought with the Grimnirs or her psycho warriors and overdid it again, then it’s your fault you feel this exhausted.” I helped him onto the bed.
Wait a second. He should take a beating and keep on ticking.
“Why don’t you engage your runes and fix yourself up?”

“Runes can’t fix everything, Dimples.” He gripped my hand when I could have stepped away. “Stay with me.”

“I need to think. Maybe talk to your parents about the giant in the cave.”

His eyes opened, and for a brief moment, I could have sworn they were slits like a cat’s. He lowered his eyelids. “You get me, Celestia. I’ll make sure you get home, but right now I need you. Stay with me. It’s going to take me longer to recover if I don’t sleep and I can’t sleep without knowing you are safe.”

I wanted to remind him that he had Cora, but even as the thought went through my head, I knew I was grabbing at straws. This wasn’t about him needing me forever. He needed to know I hadn’t astral projected without his knowledge and ended up in that cave again.

“If you like, we can talk to my parents together.”

“Okay.” I sat on the bed.

“Here, where I can touch you.” He patted the area closer to him.

Sighing, I lay down and faced him. His eyes were closed, his long lashes forming a canopy over his high cheekbones. He reached for my hand, interlaced our fingers, and shifted closer until our knees touched.

“What’s happening to you?” I whispered. “No one gets drained like this.”

“It’s nothing serious,” he said, speaking slowly. “I’ll be okay.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. The heat from his lips skidded across my skin and my breath caught. “Thanks for not running away.”

“I don’t run away, Eirik. That’s not who I am.”

“I know. Your tenacity is one of the things I love about you. You don’t cave.”

My heart flipped.
Love about you.
He couldn’t… Of course, he didn’t mean it. It was just a figure of speech. “Go to sleep.”

“I can’t. Move closer. I need your scent.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Your scent calms me.” He smiled dreamily and opened his eyes. They were unfocused, but normal. “And I love the way your hair feels. It’s silky and smells nice. Spoon with me.”

My stomach hollowed out. “Uh, I don’t think so.”

“I’ll be a perfect gentleman. Please, Dimples.”

Why was I fighting something I wanted anyway? He might not be mine, but I could have these memories. I turned so I faced away from him. He scooted closer, slid one arm under my pillow while the other rested loosely around my waist, and buried his face in my hair.

“You smell so good,” he murmured and pulled me closer. He sighed. “Perfect.”

I had stopped breathing the moment his hand circled my waist. Now, my body shook with the effect he had on me. This wasn’t normal. No one should have this devastating effect on another. There must be a spell somewhere to counteract it.

I murmured a few spells with no results. His arm grew heavy as he fell deeper into sleep. Then his runes appeared. I could only see his arms, but I recognized the ones he’d pointed out. Healing, speed, and strength runes. Some I didn’t recognize.

Bemused, I ran my hands along the arm around my waist and shivered at the sensations that followed. It was as though the heat and something I couldn’t describe leaped from his body to mine. Warmth invaded my limbs. My stomach. I closed my eyes and savored the feeling. I wished I could see his face. I’d capture him like this, covered with runes.

I tried to ease away from him, but his arms tightened, the movement bringing my head under his chin and his other hand between my ribcage and the bed. A few inches and he could touch the side of my breast. No man had ever held me this close or intimately. I closed my eyes tight and fought to control my senses.

It took a while for me to relax. Then I drifted off to sleep.

Something woke me up and I opened my eyes. The door was open. His mother stepped into the room. Luckily, she was looking over her shoulder while talking to someone and didn’t see us right away. I tried to ease out of Eirik’s arms, but they tightened. I closed my eyes, went still, and pretended to be asleep.

“He seems okay,” a familiar male voice said.

His father was here, too? I wasn’t sure how long I could fake being asleep with the two of them in the room. Why were they in his room anyway?

“Of course, he’s okay. He’s my son,” the goddess said.
Arrogant woman.

“You did promise he’d one day become yours.” There was laughter in his voice, so he was clearly not bothered by her assertion. “Look at how fast he’s adapting.” The pride in his voice was obvious.

“He has a long way to go.” The goddess sounded worried. “A long way before he’s ready, and her presence is not helping.”

I almost opened my eyes. Ready for what? Poor Eirik had his entire life mapped out for him and didn’t know it.

“She’s good for him,
Elskr
mín
,” Baldur said. “You worry too much.”

I liked him. He was approachable and easygoing. He sounded like he was moving away from the bed. I couldn’t tell if the goddess was gone too because for once, I couldn’t feel the pull of her runes. Maybe the effect of Eirik’s runes had neutralized hers.

“His protection runes are on even when he’s asleep because he cares about her and wants to protect her. That is good. It shows he takes his responsibilities seriously. The guards told me how he reacted on the west bridge.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s a good Witch. You saw how Maliina turned out.”

“That’s because you didn’t let me vet Maliina. I vetted Celestia and she passed. She’s a very forthright young woman. Honest. Besides, she didn’t come here for herself. She came to help him. How many Witches would brave your wrath to help someone in your dungeon?” Baldur asked.

“Just proves she is a brave
and
foolish girl.” She was still near the bed, and it was getting harder not to give myself away. “We don’t know anything about her. Is she good or evil? How did she get here? How many of her kind will follow once she goes back home and brags about her adventure in my realm? I’m not running a B and B for Midgard Witches. I want her gone.”

Baldur laughed. “B and B? You are starting to talk like Trudy. She picks up the craziest Mortal expressions.”

“She said it means lodging and food.”

“B and B. It’s rather catchy.” He sounded like he was by the door. “I’ll talk to the child.”

“Can you imagine what the Norns will do if they find out she knows how to get to our realm? They’ll blame me.” Was she ever going to move away? What was she doing anyway? And when had Baldur vetted me? “We’ve suffered enough at their hands,” the goddess continued. “She must never come back here once she leaves, Baldur. Never. None of her kind should.”

“I’ll make sure of that.”

“I want to be there when you talk to her.”

“Oh no,
dýrr.
You put me in charge of security. Let me do my job.”

“She could be his downfall,” the goddess said after a brief silence. Finally. She was moving away from the bed.

“She won’t. I’ve watched them together. The girl has a big heart. All you have to do is see them together to know she cares about him. Once she understands what’s at stake, she will know it’s in his best interest that she never comes back.” The door opened. “Guards, the hourly reports continue. Stay with her at all times.”

The door closed behind them and I exhaled. Wow, so Baldur was head of security. He acted so easygoing and nice no one would ever suspect it. From the sound of things, when he’d asked about my story, he’d been testing me.

They were right about one thing—I was never coming back here once I left. I slid from Eirik’s arms. Even though he protested, he was too far gone to do anything about it. I took the sketchbook and started on spells. Just sitting around waiting to be kicked out was not my way of doing things. I could still make it home without Baldur’s help. All I had to do was give the giantess in the cave what she wanted. Help Eirik. If only she’d explained how I was supposed to do that. Teaching him spells might not even be what she meant.

After an hour of writing all possible spells, I moved on to something else. The runes were still on Eirik’s skin and I got to capture a few pictures of him.

“Hey,” he said, and I looked up. He wore a half smile and studied me with lazy eyes. The look was sexy on him. “Do you know you talk when you sketch?”

My cheeks warmed. I closed the sketchbook. “You think you’re ready to try the spells now?”

“No.”

He stretched, the T-shirt riding up to show six abs. Nice. Now I knew what was different about him. He had added muscles. Was it the air? He’d said something about his body adjusting.

“I just want to hang out,” he said.

I would, too, if the conversation between his parents wasn’t playing in my head. Everything I did was being reported to his father, and I was expected to make a permanent exit out of his life. The sooner the better.

“Let’s hang out in our old room and work on the spells,” I suggested and scooted off the bed.

He groaned. “You are no fun. We should cuddle and exchange childhood stories.”

My heart skipped. Yes, I’d love to cuddle, but what would be the point? He had an Immortal girlfriend already. Cora dealt with souls and would fit perfectly in his life.

“The spells won’t learn themselves, Baldurson, or are you forgetting I’m needed at home?”

He studied me intently, then sighed and rolled over to his feet. He walked to the couch, sat on the arm, and pulled on his sneakers. “Okay, teacher, lead the way. Open a portal.”

“I can’t. I tried opening one from here and I can’t do it anymore.”

He frowned. “Your magic is disappearing?”

No, his father—the security guy—had done something to stop that. I didn’t want to explain how I knew.

“No. Let’s walk. We can exchange childhood stories.”

I ripped out the page with the spells. He pulled that move where he took my hand, then walked beside me, and looped his arm over my shoulder, neatly tucking me to his side. The guards fell in step behind us as we weaved our way past the rotunda to the hallway leading to the east dungeon.

Eirik talked about his school, Raine, and photography. I noticed he didn’t mention his Immortal guardians. He also avoided talking about Cora, thank goodness. He had serious problems with the Valkyries, especially Raine’s boyfriend, Torin St. James.

“Why don’t you like him? He’s a nobleman, and it sounds like he adores Raine.”

“He
was
a nobleman and he had no business marking her with runes when she got injured without explaining what the runes could do. You always give Mortals choices.”

“But you said she was already marked by the Norns.”

“That’s beside the point.”