Desolate (Desolation) (31 page)

My mind divides. My heart turns on itself.

Now part of me names the girl—
Lucy
.

Calls out to her.

Remembers her.

And oh.

Oh
.

Michael is with me, whispering my name, calling me love.

“Take it off,”
he says.

“Just take it off, baby,”
Lucy says.

The ring. Take it off.

I want to. I will.

Oh, how I want to be rid of it.

chapter fifty-one

Michael

Desi blinked and let her hands dropped to her side. She stared at her father. I stepped nearer. While I watched, the life in her eyes drained away.

I lunged for her wrist, clasped it within my tight grasp and grabbed at her finger, yanking, pulling, desperate to rid her of the poison her father had cursed her with. She screamed, pushed and clawed at me with her free hand.

I wrestled her to the ground. She lay on her stomach while I straddled her back. I practically lay atop her, trying to remove the ring, but she clenched her fists, making it impossible.

“Get off her,” Loki shouted, throwing a blast of frigid wind against me. I lay down on Desi, desperate to stay with her, to finish my task.

A flash of golden light and Fahria had arrived, smashing her shield into Loki’s face. I inched higher over Desi’s back and forced open her fist. I pressed her hand down on the grass, and, using my body to keep her still, I tried to get the ring off. But it would not budge.

Tears ran down my face, to be lost in my love’s black hair. Fear ate away my hope as my strength faded. I would fail.

Fail Odin.

Fail mankind.

Fail the one person I never wanted to lose in all my frightfully long life.

Yet my fingers slipped, and Desi wrenched away from me.
I have failed.

chapter fifty-two

Desi

Father appears and with the turn of his cloak destroys the illusion. The image of Lucy where there is only Miri.

But . . .

I love one no more than the other.

And I know: they both love me.

“Remove it and you will die,”
Father says.

I believe him.

I know what he says is true.

Michael forces me to the ground, forces me to open my hand, to give him access to the ring.

He must not have it!
Michael cries.

Do not let him take it.
Father demands.

I hear their words in my mind—their words, my words, I do not know.

Take it off.

chapter fifty-three

Michael

“Take it!” Fahria shouted and I looked up in time to see a golden object flying through the air between us. It landed in the grass, blade buried deep.

Does she mean for me to cut it off?
I hesitated, unwilling.

In that moment of hesitation Desi screamed a wild, visceral animal-like cry and with Herculean effort reached forward and grabbed the hilt of the dagger.

She will kill me now.

And I thought,
It will be a good death.
Because I would die with her skin beneath my hand. With her face before me.

But she didn’t roll over like I thought she would. She didn’t plunge the blade deep into my heart like I expected her to.

She opened her mouth wide and screamed.

chapter fifty-four

Desi

“Ahhhhhh!”

I grip the hilt tightly in my fist and bring it down with all my strength, with all that remains of my free will.

My aim is true.

chapter fifty-five

Michael

She plunged the blade deep into her finger, severing it. A soundless burst of black light billowed outward from her hand, knocking me and everyone around us to the ground. I fought to my feet, dove toward her

“Desi!” I wrapped her bleeding hand in the folds of my shirt, looked around desperately for something to staunch the flow of blood.

I heard Loki scream with evil hatred and I was aware of the Shadows and genii flashing out of existence all around me. The humans who had been used by Loki’s damned fall to the ground. Left standing are those Valkyries who had prevailed. And Longinus.

Though he saw me from across the cemetery, he broke into a run immediately. Before he even reached us, he had his belt and T-shirt off. He fell to the ground beside me and took Desi’s hand into his lap, getting to work quickly on her wound. Desi lay limp, lifeless in my lap.

“Desi, Desi,” I repeated over and over. “Please.”

Please
.

Fahria joined us. “It is over,” she said. But I didn’t know if she meant the battle, or Loki.

Or Desi.

But I believe her.

It is over.

chapter fifty-six

Desi

A tornado of blackest night, with winds that carry ice on its breath, appears before me, pulling me into its maelstrom, separating me from Michael.

Helena screaches, visceral, earth-shattering. Triumph. Betrayal. I feel what she feels, know what she knows. This is mutiny. This is Hel’s revenge.

Then the wind is gone. And the cold is gone.

And I am gone.

chapter fifty-seven

Michael

Desi was gone.

Hell’s black wind left the field of battle empty. Only our sorry band remained. Fahria helped Miri to her feet. She was weak, but well enough.

Cornelius made his way through the field of fallen, blessing each of the humans, banishing the residue of evil that had inhabited them. For every Valkyrie, he knelt and said a prayer—there were not many lost, but he wept for each of them. As did Fahria, though she didn’t say as much. She didn’t have to. I had loved a Valkyrie warrior my whole life and they were proud and stubborn women. They are the best of Asgard.

I rocked back on my heels and turned to look at the crypt. The Door was still there.

I stood, checked my weapons, and turned to go.

“Where are you going?” Fahria stood between me and the crypt.

“Step aside.”

Her sisters joined her until there stood an impenetrable wall between me and my intention.

I hung my head in defeat. I was exhausted. I knew it was foolish of me to go after Desi—to go to Loki’s kingdom in my weakened state. If it even was Loki’s anymore. The genii belonged to Helena—I would need to be certain of my strength before I tried to defy her.

“Come home, brother,” Fahria said. She reached out to me, put her shoulder under my arm. As if on cue, my strength left me and I slumped against her. I was so, so tired.

“We will find a way. We will free her.”

A portal opened beside us, and Heimdall stood there, beckoning. The Valkyries filed in, some supporting others, some with their heads held high.

Fahria and I turned. There was Cornelius, who had found James, bleeding from a wound above his left eye. He helped James sit beside Miri. Miri put her arm around his waist and held him to her. Cornelius stood behind them, his hand on James’ shoulder.

Longinus rose from where he had been kneeling by Desi’s side. He made no move to join us, to bid us farewell.

“Go,” Cornelius said. “You have earned your rest.”

I pushed away from Fahria and knelt in front of Miri and James.

“Will you be all right?”

Miri nodded. “Was that Lucy?” Her voice quivered. I’m sure she reeled from what had happened—she was just a normal girl. Or, she had once been a normal girl. I suspected there was nothing normal about this whole group. The Hallowed had always managed to attract those humans with the greatest gifts.

“If you desire it, I’m sure you can seek her out—in your dreams. Your dreams are a bridge, Miri. A Bifrost of your own making.” I smiled and hoped she understood. She nodded again and James squeezed her tight.

“I will return,” I told him.

“Get her back for us.”

I looked at Fahria, then back to James. “I will.
We
will.”

James shifted his attention to Miri, and I stood.

I shook Cornelius’ hand, then he pulled me into a hug. “I don’t believe he will harm her,” he said. “He has had many opportunities and he has not taken one.”

When I stepped back, I nodded my head. I hoped what he said was true, but I couldn’t rely on it. I would go back to Asgard, but only to regain my strength—and to find some friends to help me. Namely Heimdall who I hoped could get me to Helheimer without Loki knowing. I couldn’t simply use this Door which would take me directly to his throne room. No, I’d need to be stealthier than that.

Without looking back, I strode to the portal. I passed Fahria and Longinus, though I didn’t stop. Only when I had stepped onto the bridge did I look back at Midgard. At The Hallowed—my friends, and Desi’s. I saw Fahria clasp Longinus’ forearm, and the glisten in her eyes when she turned away from him. She joined me on the bridge, and then they were gone.

chapter fifty-eight

Desi

I am here.

I am nowhere.

No one knows of this place, except my Father and Hel—and her Hounds. And none of them will give my location away.