Rapture (27 page)

She smiled and swung the glaive.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Grudge begged, his voice and terrified expression
halting the sword.

“What?” she hissed. “Don’t tell me you’ll surrender now?”

“I...” he paused, thoughtful Just when she realized he was up to
something, he bent over, hurtling Ferox over his back. Her vampire landed on
the ground with a
humph
and blinked
up at her. She dodged around him pursuing the fleeing demon, and when Grudge
reached his scythe, he hastily took it in hand and faced her, a sinister grin
on his face.

Just
try it
, she thought, practically
begging him to make a play for her. She was stronger at the moment, if his
heavy breathing was any indication, and from what she’d seen as he fled, his
legs weren’t tip-top. She felt Ferox’s presence even before he reached her
side, his nearness warming her heart. And so the three of them stood. Two
against one. She suddenly felt the tiniest bit of sympathy for the demon, and
for his race. She’d taken his teammate out during her very first battle, his
buddy not having a chance within the first few minutes of his own fight. And
now, Grudge, having made it to the finale, only to be taken out by the same
female. She smiled, and he focused on her, his brows furrowing.

“What are you smiling about?” he sneered.

“Oh, nothing.” Raine flicked her gaze toward Ferox, meeting his eyes.
His glimmered with excitement and he nodded almost imperceptibly.

They charged, and Ferox reached him within an instant, pushing him
backward and taking the demon off guard. Raine collided into them seconds
later, and the crowd’s cheers picked up once more. As if they’d orchestrated
it, Ferox reached down and gripped the hilt of the vampire’s glaive, and the
two shoved it into Grudge’s stomach.

He hunched over it, his throat making sticky sounds as air was forced
in and out of his lungs. Raine pulled the vampire’s glaive free, and Grudge
fell to the ground, grasping his stomach.

“Do you concede?” Ferox asked him.

The crowd clapped and whistled at the demon’s nod, though he’d made no
move to get up and walk off the field. Raine and Ferox faced one another, and
she leapt into his arms, laughing at their victory. He held her to him, bracing
her with his good arm, though she could feel his other hand against her. He
twirled her around as he pressed his lips to hers.

“Mmm-hmm.” Someone cleared his throat.

She pulled away from the kiss, peering over her shoulder and finding
Aldric standing there.

“So sorry to
interrupt
,” he said,
“but it seems the two of you are celebrating when, in fact, the tournament
hasn’t been won.”

Raine slid out of Ferox’s arms, and the two of them glanced at each
other. She twirled the glaive and held it out to her vampire by the hilt. She’d
surrender and hand Ferox the tournament. His eyes widened in understanding, and
then suddenly, he had kneeled at her feet, his head bowed as the glaive rested
on his shoulder. “Ferox, no. I—”

“I surrender,” he interrupted, peering up at her from under his lashes.

She gasped, shaking her head. “Ferox, no. The tournament is yours.”

“It isn’t. Aldric?”

The compere, appearing all the more flabbergasted at what had just
transpired, shook his head. “You won’t battle?”

“No,” they said together, shaking their heads. And then they glanced at
each other, laughing.

“I will not fight him,” Raine said.

“And you surrender to her?” he asked, peering down at Ferox.

Ferox’s smile was still in place, his gaze never straying from hers.
“Always.”

“Well,” Aldric said. He peered up at the council with a shake of his
head. “Then we have a winner.” He stepped forward and placed his hand on
Raine’s shoulder, turning her toward the council. “May I present, the
Tournament of Legends Champion.”

The crowd went from pure silence to an all-out roar as everyone stood
from their seats, shouting and clapping. Ferox stood and approached, taking her
hand as he slid by her side. With a quick kiss to her knuckles, he grinned
broadly at her as the crowd cheered her name. She smiled back and glanced
upward, her eyes narrowing as dark clouds roiled in above the arena. She hadn’t
caused it, and quickly shifted her gaze to where Caleen, Lisette, and Lenora
sat. They all looked horrified, glancing to their right, and she followed it
over the crowd until her eyes landed on him.

He stood, somehow dwarfing all the other demons around him, as he
glared at her with a look so menacing that she felt it like a bucket of ice
water being dropped over her head. She might have missed him, never imagining
that he would have come to the tournament, but her eyes caught sight of the
angry, bright blue gaze of his right eye. The other eye was missing, covered
with a black patch that made him look even more infuriated as his brows
lowered.

Ferox noticed and bent in closer, as the thunder rolled in the
blackened clouds. “Who is that?”

She couldn’t look away, even as she appreciated Ferox’s warmth and
concern. “My father.”

****

Raine stood in her father’s hall, her eyes downcast as Odin paced.

“How could you do such a thing?” he roared, barely meeting her
gaze as she whipped hers up to face him. “I went to the tournament to watch my
daughter become a legend, to watch the other factions realize that I have the
best warriors—the best army—and you … You
shamed
me!”

Tears that she’d tried so hard to hold back fell down her cheeks
in waves. “Father, no, I didn’t. I fell in—”

“Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you dare fucking say it.” He
doubled-back on his pacing, which had increased in speed. “It’s forbidden. How
could you have gone against my wishes in this, Raine?”

She opened her mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. He wouldn’t
like her answer anyway. She couldn’t help going against his rule when it came
to Ferox. Her heart had taken over as soon as she’d seen that tall, seductive
vampire, looking somehow regal and elegant as he sliced through opponents on
the battlefield. She could still remember the way his long coat waved in the
air as he spun, making him look like some sort of warmongering angel.

Raine was saved from answering as the doors opened and someone
entered. Thor strode through the hall toward them, his eyes lighting on her
briefly before focusing on their father.

“Sister,” he said with a nod. “Father.”

Odin visibly relaxed as his gaze landed on his son. “What news have
you from the other realms?”

“There is talk. It seems that Raine and her … well,” he coughed, “
lover
have started something
of a movement. Factions are split on the acceptance of multi-racial mating.”

Her father turned a cold eye on her. “Do you see what you have
done? May all the gods damn you, and damn your mother as well!”

Raine’s mouth dropped open, completely unsure of what to say. She
hadn’t seen that coming. “What does my mother have to do with any of this?”
Odin had never spoken of her, at least not to Raine. It had been rumored
amongst the older Valkyries that her mother had been his favorite, and the fact
that he’d spent so much time with Raine had led her to believe it was true.

Cold eye still on her, he said, “Her mind was always filled with fantasies
of love. I should have known you’d inherit that from her.”

She wasn’t sure how she should take the disgust in his voice, but
at the moment, she didn’t care. She’d just learned
something
about the female that had birthed her, though small
that snippet might be. No Valkyrie knew their mother. No Valkyrie even knew
anything personal about their mother, and it was forbidden for any of them to
even ask.

“She’s not even listening,” Odin said, snapping her back to
attention. She flicked her gaze between the two of them, before settling on
Thor.

Her brother stared at her, almost knowing as a tiny smile appeared
and faded. “Can you blame her, Father? You just mentioned her mother.”

Their father’s eyebrows rose, disappearing under his hair as the
realization of what he’d just said must have occurred to him. Just as quickly,
he said, “And what of the male?”

“He has returned to his own realm with his family. Brelaan is left
to its own inhabitants now.”

“Have you followed him to his own realm?”

“No,” Thor replied. “Is that what you would wish of me?”

Odin cocked his chin to the side in thought. “I should go myself
and teach the little bastard a lesson, but yes, I wish you to go dispose of the
vampire.”

Raine’s throat suddenly felt as though it had dropped into her
stomach, and she’d barely been able to hold back a whimper.

“If I may, Father,” her brother said. “What if we spread our own
story on the subject matter instead? What if Raine
used
the vampire, seducing him into ensuring she won the
tournament? It is a clever strategy to use an enemy’s feelings to one’s
advantage, is it not? And what better way for a Valkyrie to show her skill than
to use all her attributes to gain victory?”

Odin’s expression morphed from rage to speculation. “Is that so,
Raine?”

She’d been about to say “Hel no, that is not so,” when she caught
a warning glance from the brother she’d only ever seen a handful of times. She
looked at the floor and nodded. “It is, Father. That is what I wished to tell
you earlier. I used the vampire to secure victory, and to reward him, I didn’t
cut him down in front of his own race.”

Odin had grown downright excited at this point. “It would have
been better if you had.”

“But she showed compassion, which speaks highly of you,” Thor
added pointedly at their father. “It could be said that her leniency is a
direct reflection of you. And maybe the vampire misunderstood the act for
something it was not.”

“Yes,” their Father said, his head nodding slowly. He turned away
from them and sat in his throne, all traces of fury having vanished now. “Yes.
That is what happened.”

“Do you still wish me to visit Vampur?”

“No,” Odin replied, his hand waving dismissively. “Any damage done
will be rectified. We can spread the truth of what happened and ensure it
reaches other realms. It’s not as though they’ll ever see each other again
anyway.”

Thor turned toward Raine and gave her the ghost of a smile.

“Thanks,” she mouthed, returning his smile.

Chapter Twenty

Liberty
Island, New York

Present
Day

“
This
is a portal?” Ferox peered up at the three-hundred foot statue. It was
pitch-black outside, and only the large flood lights that rested around the
base illuminated the statue.

“It’s
how we got here,” Draven said, glancing upward by his side. “And it’s the best
guess I have for how to reach a Keymaster.”

Once
all the Guardians and their mates had joined them for an impromptu meeting and
breakfast, it had been decided that Draven, Ethan, and Garrick would join him
in the hunt to find Raine, while the others stayed behind for Riley and to keep
Collectives at bay. Demetrius had also taken the opportunity to inform them of
Lore attacks happening around the country. He hadn’t known if the threat would
reach New Jersey, but that hadn’t actually been the point of his mentioning it.
He’d asked the Guardians to contact any and all they trusted within the Lore to
put everyone on high alert. From what Ferox had gleaned, the Guardians hadn’t
needed to put out distress calls very often, and Demetrius’s asking it of them
proved just how bad the threat had become.

And
so the four of them had returned to the Guardians’ mansion in search of a
particular stone, apparently one the Keymaster had given Ferox all those years
ago in Brelaan.

“Agreed,”
Garrick added. “It’s better than shooting from the hip. I can open portals, but
not if I don’t know where I’m going.”

“Alright,”
Ferox said, still staring up at Lady Liberty. “Let’s get going.”

They
moved as a unit, sneaking over the dark landscape, taking care to remain hidden
from the security guards that patrolled the island. They wouldn’t have to do
any climbing though, since the portal was down below, inside the base of the
statue. Draven reached the door first and broke the lock. All four of them
shuffled inside and shut the heavy door behind them, and then rushed down the
flight of stairs that led to the basement. The portal was behind a hidden
doorway that looked to be no more than a section of concrete wall, and faster
than he’d thought possible, they were transported to a new place, the portal
spitting them out on the other side.