Truth's Heart (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 3): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance (11 page)

“You be safe, dearie,” Alfrik smiled, pulling me down for a hug and planted a wet, whiskery kiss on my cheek. It would have been motherly, except for the scratch of her beard.

“I doubt that's possible,” I sighed.

She nodded her head in agreement.

“Is there an easier way out than the tunnel we came through?” I asked, pointedly not glancing at Magnus.

“Then the back way, of course?” laughed Dvalinn. “You should have walked around the spire. You would have seen the welcome mat. It's a much easier climb and more suited to humans.”

“Well, that's good,” I nodded. “Right, Magnus.”

“You are on your last shirt,” he pointed out. “If you ripped that one up, you'd be in trouble.”

Berling gave me a hug, along with Dvalinn. Grer just spat and put his feet up on the table. The dwarves led us to their front door where we found a staircase cut into the obsidian that marched up like the stairwell in a skyscraper, making 90 degree bends every ten or so feet up.

My legs burned before we were halfway up, and I sucked in deep breaths.

While the back way in had been tight, and I kept getting cut, at least it didn't wind me. Sweat covered my body as we kept walking up. My legs felt more and more like putty with every new step I had to mount.

Even Magnus showed fatigue. He didn't admit it, but his chest rose and fell, and his steps grew more sluggish as we climbed higher. Sweat glistened on his rippling muscles, and his blond hair clung about his flushed forehead.

“Do you need a break?” Magnus asked while trying not to suck in breaths and wince in pain.

Why did men have to always act so tough? “Yes.”

I did need the break. I leaned against the smooth wall, rubbing at my thighs. The fatigue eased thanks to my swifter healing and the stitch in my side slowly faded as my breathing grew more even. I pulled out the sealed, plastic water bottle Alfrik had given me.

“Where did she get this?” I muttered as I unscrewed the top.

“711,” answered Magnus. “It's their brand.”

I giggled. “Do you think there's a 711 in Muspellheim?”

“I wouldn't be surprised,” Magnus groaned. “Nothing really surprises me anymore.”

 I savored the cool water as I drank, then handed the bottle over to Magnus. He took a long sip, and I took it back. I sealed the top and put it back into my pack. I took a deep breath and looked up at the stairs and groaned.

“We should keep going,” Magnus said.

I nodded in disgust. “Why did they have to live underground? Why did that one dwarf stereotype turn out to be true?”

Magnus chuckled and led the way to the surface.

I wanted to collapse to my knees when we stepped out into the rusted plains. The bitter reek of sulfur blew over from a nearby boiling pool of lava. The heat washed over us. I staggered and leaned against the wall.

At the entrance was a black welcome mat, the kind you could by at any home improvement store. It was so out of place. I shook my head and stared out at the landscape stretching for miles of the same boring dull red interspersed with bright, glowing lava.

“Such a boring place,” I muttered.

The ground shook.

“Is that an earthquake?” I groaned.

The ground shook again. Magnus frowned. “It doesn't feel like one.”

The rumble returned. A rock broke off from above, crashing and shattering into smoky glass as it tumbled down the obsidian outcropping and landed on the ground. The rumbling grew louder. It was rhythmic.

Boom.

Boom.

“It sounds like footsteps,” Magnus groaned and his ax flashed into being in his hand. He let out a snarl, the wolf rising inside of him.

Boom.

The rumblings grew closer. Something very large approached. I groaned. “Freddy said this was the land of fire giants.”

Boom!

I stumbled to the right. More obsidian crashed down in a shower of shards as I fought to stay upright. Magnus grabbed me and held me as the rumbling slowly faded. A long shadow reached past the outcropping.

Whatever approached was around the corner. I swallowed, gripping my sword in my hand as the shadow moved.

Boom.

The ground rumbled beneath my feet. Magnus pushed me away as a huge chunk of obsidian crashed down at the entrance. Razor-sharp slivers shot out, tinging off my armor. Magnus groaned in pain, a black spike pierced through his side.

He ripped it out as he donned the wolf cloak. Furs sprouted. He grew larger and feral. He howled at the booming footsteps. Blood matted his fur. Saliva dripped from his teeth. He didn't feel the pain any longer.

The berserker fury had him.

The shadow's source stepped around the outcropping. His footstep crashed down. Red dust burst around his thick and caught in the wind, blowing right at us. My eyes watered under the fine grit's assault as I gained my feet and faced the fire giant.

He stood tall, rising four stories or more into the air. His skin had a metallic sheen, dark and orange, like bronze. A thick beard of smokeless flames crackled down to his chest, the flames somehow burning down instead of up. More fire crackled in place of hair on his wide head. Burning coals smoldered in place of eyes and when he opened his thick lips to grin, his teeth were blackened and charred.

“I smell Freyr's foul stench. Did that coward finally come to face me? Or did he send a Valkyrie in his stead?” The hulking figure smacked a hand into a bronzed chest. “What did Gerd ever see in such a weakling?”

“You're Surt?” I asked.

“So he's spoken of me,” laughed the giant with such force a wind blew across the plain, kicking up more red dust. The air grew hazy, making the giant's face indistinct. “What lies did he tell you? What did he give you to come here and kill me?”

“We're not here to kill you,” I gasped. “We're leaving, in fact. Heading back to Midgard.”

“He doesn't care,” snarled Magnus. “He wants us dead.”

“I do. Freyr's stench offends me. I will crush your little bodies into jelly and send Gerd a new jam. It'll show her how strong I am.”

Surt drew back his fist and slammed it down at us.

Chapter Thirteen

Magnus

Raven and I leaped in different directions as the giant's fist slammed into the ground. A plume of rust burst around the fist, filling the air in a haze of red. I landed, the ground rumbling beneath me. I snarled as I fought to keep my balance. The giant bellowed and dragged his fist across the ground to swing at me. I leaped back as the dragging fist threw out a sheet of dust.

The dust washed over me. My eyes stung. My mouth filled with metallic grit. I leaped instinctively, my ax slashing at the giant's fist punching down at me. The blade scored the giant's wrist. Flaming blood spurted, the crimson crackling in the dust cloud and sputtered on the ground.

“Maggot,” boomed the giant as he turned, his every step shaking the ground and kicking up more dust. The wind whipped about the brute, holding onto the dust.

The world turned into rust. “Raven,” I snarled, casting about for her. I could not see far. I inhaled and sneezed out the dust. All I could smell was rust. “Raven?”

The air rushed. I leaped as the giant's fist smashed down at me again. I rolled across the ground as another thick cloud of dust billowed over me. I rolled to my feet right next to the giant's thick boot made of scorched leather.

I swung into his toe.

“Little maggots scurrying in the mist think they can hurt Surt? I am made of the earth's blood. The earth's fire beats in my heart. You are puny. How can you hurt me? You could no more harm me then the earth by tearing up the dirt in your fists.”

“You talk too much,” I snarled and leaped onto his boot, slashing with my ax. It cut through the leather and buried over and over into his foot. His roars of pain were satisfying. Burning blood spurted through the rents, setting fire to his boots as he lifted his foot and shook hard.

I leaped off, landing in a crouch in the dirt. I howled Raven's name and dashed through the swirling fog. The ground rolled beneath me as the giant walked. The rippling earth threw me into the air. I spun and landed in a crouch.

The dust swirled. It billowed like smoke. It choked off sight after a few feet. Where was my Valkyrie? “Raven!”

My heart thudded. She was out there, lost in the red dust, fighting the giant and trying not to die. I had to protect her. She was my heart. I couldn't live if she was torn out of my chest. The ground rumbled again, booming from my right.

I charged in that direction.

“You think your little sword can—” The giant's taunt cut off in a billowing roar.

“That's right,” I howled. “My Valkyrie's sword has a sharp bite.”

The dust billowed parted for a moment. Raven stabbed her burning blade into his ankle, her silver armor dulled by the rust. The giant roared in agony, his foot stepping back with an earth-shaking boom. I leaped as he stepped and landed after the mini-quake ended.

Raven wasn't as nimble. She couldn't leap as high or as far. She shifted on her feet, struggling to keep her balance against the shaking ground. To keep from falling, she plunged her blade into the earth, holding onto it with a desperate grip.

Surt raised up his fist and swung it in a backhand at Raven. The attack fell like a pendulum, swinging for my Valkyrie. I howled and ran faster. Raven ripped her sword free and turned to see the attack. She let out a startled yelp.

“Raven!” I roared right as I slammed into her. I thrust her away.

She flew from me.

The fist crashed into my side. Pain burst. My half-healed ribs splintered. I disappeared into the billowing dust, howling in pain. The world spun around me. I couldn't tell what was up and down. There was only the red dust.

Then the ground appeared, cracked by Surt's steps. I hit hard.

~   ~   ~

Raven

“Magnus!”

My words were swallowed up by the grit suffocating the air. Magnus's tumbling body vanished into the gloom. His howls faded. I whirled on the giant. The dark flames on my sword crackled as they burned with a fierce intensity.

I charged at the giant as he shifted on his feet. The bastard roared in laughter. “Did you see him fly? Like a golf ball.”

My roar was wordless. I leaped at his foot and landed on his burned leather. I snagged the lacing, pulling myself higher. He lifted his foot and shook it. I held on with one hand, my knuckles whitening as I slammed my sword into his shin, biting into his bone.

“You little bitch,” he roared as I hammered over and over into his shin. His skin parted, revealing the white of the bone. My sword chipped into it, sending slivers flying past me. “I'll squash you into paste.”

His hand reached down at me. I growled and stabbed up with my sword, piercing right into his palm. Burning blood spurted and splashed on my armor, flames dancing on the metal. I didn't care. I was born of fire. It dwelt inside of me. I stabbed into his palm over and over, stinging him.

His roars of pain made my blood singing. “That was my man you hit.” I hacked into his shin bone. A great, swelling rage billowed inside of me. My sword burned hotter. I stabbed the blade into the gouges I left in his bone. The blade bit deep, cracking through the hard, outer layer into the marrow. “You'll pay for hurting him.”

My sword became dark fire. The screams of the slain drowned out Surt's roar of pain. His leg violently shook. I gripped hard onto his boot's lacing as my body lifted up from his boot, dangling out into the air, and slammed back down into him. I grunted and kept thrusting, driving my blade deeper and deeper.

I rose into the air. My fingers slipped on the lacing. I flew off his shoe. My sword vanished, extinguishing flames and screams, as I tumbled through the dust. I bent my knees and squeezed my eyes shut, preparing to impact the—

Pain flared up my legs as the sudden shock of slamming in the ground shot up from my feet. My momentum carried me backwards, and I tumbled across the dust-ladened ground, my armor clanking and clacking until I came to rest on my back.

Surt's roars of pain boomed through the air. The ground shook as he walked with a limp. A dark form moved away from me. “Damned maggots,” Surt growled. “He didn't pay me enough to fight such annoying maggots. If I ever see you again, Valkyrie, I'll ground you into jelly.”

I didn't answer. I only groaned. His shuffling, limping steps grew softer and softer as I lay on my back. I took a moment to remember something important as the dust settled around me, the world growing less hazy.

“Magnus,” I gasped. What happened to him? He had been punted by Surt. Was he dead?

With a groan, I sat up. My armor vanished off of me as I struggled to move my legs. I was healing, but the landing had hurt. My right knee felt wrong. I groaned through clenched teeth as I struggled to straighten it.

“Raven,” Magnus's voice called.

“Here,” I shouted, relief sweeping through me.

A shadow grew darker in the settling haze. It resolved into the silhouette I knew. Broad-shouldered, strong, hair wild. Features grew distinct, his leather jacket over a bare, tattooed, scarred chest, jeans dusty with rust cladding his powerful legs. His blue eyes found mine, drinking in the sight of me while a bold smile crossed his so-kissable lips.

“My beauty of the night,” Magnus grinned, reaching out and seizing my left hand, brushing the ring on my finger. Truth's Heart beat with warmth.

I took his hand, my heart thudding as his warmth infected me. With a heave, he hauled me to my feet and into his arms. They wrapped about me, holding me tight. My lips kissed his chin and cheeks and lips over and over as I trembled in his embrace. I whispered his name between the kisses I rained on him.

And then he just seized me with his mouth, kissing me with such passion. I moaned into the kiss, my eyes squeezing shut. The lips I knew so well worked against mine as his arms tightened possessively around me. The kiss was so familiar. So wonderful. The ring pulsed about my finger.

And yet...there was something missing.

The taste of his lips, the feel of his stubble, the strength of his arms were all the same. But where was my wolf's passion? The kiss lacked his fire. It was like a re-creation of his kiss, performed by an actor who had studied it, matched every minutia of detail, but just couldn't put that spark of life into it.