Knight of Pentacles (Knights of the Tarot Book 3) (30 page)

The wind kicked up and the wailing grew louder as the smoke banshees turned into demons with the faces of William and her father. “You are worthless,” they cried as they flew at her. “Worthless and weak.”

The one that looked like her ex jumped on her back and tried to pull her off Axel. “He doesn’t love you. Nobody loves you, because you’re unlovable.”

A harrowing ache welled up inside her. She didn’t want to believe the demons, but part of her did. Tears pricked her eyes, and her lower lip began to tremble. Taking a breath, she told herself not to listen. Morgan was preying on her fears. She must not let self-doubt dilute her powers. Closing her eyes, she whispered her mother’s prayer to Freya.

Blowing still harder, the wind howled through the trees, shaking their branches. Lightning flashed across the sky. The air grew alive with electricity. Static and eeriness made Jenna’s hair stand on end. She clung to her beloved boar. He’d said very little throughout this ordeal. Was he angry with her for trying to free him?

Before she could give the matter more consideration, Morgan pointed her wand at them. “Fee-faw.”

Jenna’s heart clutched as sparks fountained once more from the queen’s wand. Good God. What now?

Thunder boomed overhead as Axel began to transform once more. He got smaller, harder, and hotter. A lightning bolt shot out of the sky, splitting the tree she’d been hiding behind in a shower of sparks. The clouds opened, pelting Jenna’s back with hard, cold rain. Under her, Axel had become a red-hot sword.

Using her cloak to shield her hands from the heat, she grabbed the hilt and got to her feet. The faeries were all around her, moving in. All were as soaked as she was and so scantily dressed they might as well have been naked. Many held wands, which were aimed at her.

Heart pounding, she pivoted where she stood, holding the red-hot sword out in front of her. Through her cloak, the heat burned her hands, which still buzzed with energy.

“Get back!” She thrust the glaive to hold off the encroaching horde. “I love him and will do everything in my power to keep him from being sacrificed.”

She needed to get the sword to the well. Unfortunately, the way was blocked by faeries. She jabbed the sword at them. They backed up a few feet, but did not disperse.

“Raise me to the sky,” the sword said in Axel’s voice.

Though afraid the throng would advance on her if she did as he asked, she summoned the strength and courage to point the sword toward the heavens. As another jagged bolt of lightning lit up the sky, Axel called out,

“Great Thor, God of Thunder,

Lend me the might of Mjölnir,

Make me as strong and brave as a bear,

Let my sword strike like lightning,

Destroying any who would keep me in chains.”

As soon as Axel finished the invocation, the sky boomed with thunder. A jagged bolt of lightning struck the tip of the sword, causing an explosion of blinding white light. Sparks joined the rain showering down on Jenna, who felt empowered by the thunderbolt’s energy. The sword flew out of her hands, over the heads of the faeries, and into the well.

Frozen and trembling, Jenna tried to figure out what to do next. The faeries still blocked her path to the well. When another thunderbolt cracked down from the clouds and struck the spot where they stood, the faeries scattered amidst screams of terror.

Jenna raced to the edge of the well. Peering over, she saw Axel’s Nordic blue eyes looking up at her. He was wet, naked, disheveled, and the most beautiful sight she’d ever beheld. She stretched out her hand to help him out, unsure she had the strength. He reached for her, too, but he was too far away.

As electrical arcs connected their fingertips, he began to rise. When he landed on his feet beside her on the grass, she saw with elation that his torque was gone.

Removing her cloak, she wrapped it around his broad shoulders and pressed a kiss to his whiskered cheek.

“You have caught yourself a good husband,” a deep male voice with a Scandinavian accent said behind her.

Turning to see who had spoken, she got a shock. There stood a bearded giant in a chariot pulled by two goats. He had long blond hair, eyes as blue as Axel’s, and held a two-headed hammer as big as she was. A tunic cinched at the waist with a wide leather belt inscribed with a symbol she knew to be
Thurisaz
, the rune of Thor, covered his powerful, broad-shouldered build.

“You exist.” She was gobsmacked.

“I do.” A grin warmed the thunder god’s expression and crinkled his eyes. “As you see. But, like the other creatures of the hidden realm, gods can only cross over when the vale grows thin.”

“Thank you, Thor.” Axel stepped forward.

“There is no need for thanks,” Thor said. “Just love and look after each other the way Sif and I do.”

“Sif is Thor’s wife,” Axel told Jenna, right in assuming she didn’t know.

As the chariot took off toward the sky, the rain stopped abruptly. Jenna looked around. The faeries were gone, the fire was out, and except for the smoking trunk of the tree hit by the thunderbolt, she saw no evidence of damage. Above them, the clouds had parted to reveal the pale gray of dawn. She’d succeeded. Axel was hers now—and free.

Reaching up, she traced the lines of his face. With his sandy hair, scruffy beard, and clear blue eyes, he looked like a Viking warrior. There was a scar under his chin she’d never noticed before. As she ran her finger over it, she asked, “What did this?”

“An English sword.”

Rising on her toes, she pressed a kiss to the scar. As he drew back to look at her, the tenderness in his gaze melted her heart.

“You are the bravest woman I have ever known.” He pushed back her hair. “And the most beautiful.”

While the compliment pleased her, it didn’t ring true. “I think we both know Queen Morgan is far more beautiful than I am.”

“Hush.” He pressed his index finger against her lips. “Her beauty is only on the surface. Yours radiates from your center. She is naught but a tyrant, while you are a
skjaldmær
.”

She furrowed her brow. “What’s that?”

“A shieldmaiden.” He must have sensed that she still didn’t understand what he was talking about because he quickly added, “A warrior woman of my age. Like Lagertha, who fought with the courage of a man with her hair loose over her shoulders, to the marvel of all who witnessed her matchless deeds.”

Before she could say anything in response, he moved his hand around to her nape and cradled the back of her head. As he pulled her mouth against his, a quiver rippled through her. Being with him was magical. A faerytale brought to life.

The eerie hoot of an owl broke the enchantment. Alarm surging through her bloodstream, Jenna grabbed Axel by the wrist and pulled him toward the carpark. “We need to get away from here before they see us.”

Remembering her bow and arrows, she swerved toward the ash tree where she’d left them. Her heart wrenched when she saw her precious bow crushed beneath the broken trunk.

“Never mind that.” Axel took her arm. “I have another in the cave.”

As he pulled her toward the waterfall, she dug in her heels. “No. It’s too risky. The last time I went in there, I was attacked by one of those owls.”

Axel stepped back, scowled at her, and pulled on his beard. Was he confused by what she’d said or did he disapprove of her visiting his cave without permission?

“Stay here then, and I will go.” He drew his brows together. “I also want to retrieve my horse and my runes.”

When he started toward the cave, she grabbed his arm to stop him. “They’re not in there. I relocated Odin to a farm, where he’s being well looked after, and your runes are in my car.”

He stood there for several moments, regarding her with a blank expression, before a smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “You are as resourceful as you are beautiful and brave, but I still need my bow. Do you not think it worth the risk to arm ourselves?”

The owl hooted again, sending a chill through her. “Yes, but please be quick about it.”

Axel was gone and back within a few minutes, during which he’d gotten dressed in his usual saffron tunic, trews, and boots. There was a bow slung over his shoulder, a quiver of arrows on his back, and a pistol tucked into his belt.

Now, he definitely looked like a warrior on his way to do battle.

“Where’d you get the gun?” she asked as he approached the spot where she waited on the footpath.

“This one was a gift from Sir Leith.”

There wasn’t time to hear the story, so she didn’t ask for the details. As they made their way to the carpark, an owl flew over them. Quick as a wink, Axel had his bow in hand. Jenna watched, impressed, as he set the arrow. She’d never seen anyone move so fast and, at the same time, with such grace and decisiveness. When the zinging barb found its mark, the owl screeched and plummeted to the ground.

Jenna, atremble on rubber legs, seized Axel’s arm and broke into a run, pulling him along. The chances were good the owl he’d killed wasn’t patrolling the glen alone.

By the time they reached the car, she was out of breath. Jumping in, she started the engine with a shaking hand. The car was moving before she realized Axel was still standing beside the passenger door. She stomped on the brake and lowered the window. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”

His face appeared in the frame of the open window, lips and eyebrows squeezed tightly together. Gaze darting around the car’s interior, he stammered, “I have n-never ridden in one of t-these before.”

Tilting her head, she offered him an understanding smile. She’d forgotten for a moment he was from the fourteenth century. “It’s similar to a carriage—only the horses are under the bonnet. Now, get in before the owls see us. If they follow us to the cottage, we’ll have no place to hide.”

His eyes narrowed. “What cottage do you mean?”

“I’ve been staying in an abandoned crofter’s cottage on the road to Cromarty. It’s located a ways from the main road and nestled between two rises, so it’s fairly well hidden. In fact, someone would have to really search to find it—and the owls haven’t so far, even though they’ve flown over several times.”

“It sounds like a good place to work out our next move.”

“That’s exactly what I thought.” It also would be a good place for the passionate reunion she hoped he was as eager for as was she.

He fumbled with the door handle for a moment before he finally got it open. She took the bow and quiver from him and stowed them in the back before helping him with the seatbelt. Then, grinning at her prize, she said, “Welcome to the modern world, baby.”

Chapter 21

As the car sped along the highway, Axel felt like a low-flying gyrfalcon. All the while, he kept the window down, his eyes peeled for owls, and one hand on the gun in his belt. Regular bullets might not fell a vampire, but the ones he had loaded in the pistol’s chamber would. He had carved them from ash before engraving each with a deadly chain of runes.

“When we get to the cottage, I will teach you the
fith-fath
,” he said, gaze lifted to the brightening sky.

“The spell Morgan used to change your form?”

“Aye. It’s an ancient shape-shifting spell. I thought we could turn ourselves into birds and fly to Callanish.”

“The stone circle on Lewis? What’s there?”

“The portal into Brocaliande.”

She looked his way. “What’s Brocaliande?”

He flicked a glance in her direction. She was scowling at him. “There is much I need to tell you.”

“There’s something I need to tell you, too.”

Biting her lip, she turned back to the road.

His gut tightened. What could she have to disclose? “Tell me now.”

“I’m pregnant.”

Her disclosure was a hammer blow to the top of his head. His whole body stiffened and began to tingle. He could not say what he had expected to hear, only that her announcement stunned him senseless.

His inner shock must have shown on his face because she said, “You don’t look happy about it.”

“It’s not that,” he stammered, which was true. Under normal circumstances, he would have been thrilled by her news, but these were not normal circumstances.

“Then what? You look like I just kicked you in the balls, which is not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”

Tearing his gaze from the sky, he turned to her with a consoling smile and put a hand on her thigh. “I am happy about the baby, Jenna. Truly. I love you and want us to make our vows permanent and have many children together. It is merely that…well, your condition complicates matters. Since you cannot shift with a child in your womb, we must travel to the islands in our present forms, which will increase both the time it takes to get there and our risk of discovery.”

Her questioning gaze turned his way. “But you’re happy about the baby? Honestly?”

“Aye.” He gave her another smile and squeezed her leg. “Very happy.”