Gears of Mischief (The Valhalla Mechanism Book 1) Page 12

  I stared into his soft grey eyes, like the color of a dove. He was easy enough on the eyes, that was for certain, a familiarity about him I couldn’t place. Before I had met Thor and Loki, I might have even liked him. “What’s your name?”

  “Thodeous.”

  I paused and nearly tripped when he continued dancing.

  “What in the bloody hell—” I hissed, falling back into step, staring at the man that looked no older than twenty-four.

  He grinned down at me, and I realized just why I liked his eyes. They were the same color as my master teacher, though I had never taken time to notice him in such ways before.

  “How are you doing this?” I asked in wonder, staring at him in wonder. “Stage props?”

  “Alchemy. You see what I wish you to see.”

  “That’s something my friend Loki would do.”

  This time, it was Thod who paused our dancing. “I received your letter and thought you—”

  “Insane?” I rolled my eyes and continued dancing. “Yes, the Guild has informed me.”

  “But I know you would never lie about such a thing, so I had to come in person, but I can’t be seen with you if you are being followed.”

  “I most certainly am.” I nodded my head to Calvin as he slunk along the wall, attempting to blend in but failing miserably.

  Thod scowled at the man, shaking his head. “How he got the promotion over you, I’ll never know.”

  I hadn’t ever told Thod the real reason, had been ashamed of myself for falling into the trap, but I didn’t care so much anymore. I realized how shit the position was, and how much of an arse Calvin was. “We laid together,” I murmured low so only Thod could hear.

  His eyes narrowed. “And he used it against you.”

  I nodded and kept my posture rigid for the dance, allowing Thod to lead me around the floor wearing the face of a young man. I wondered, for a moment, if it was a similar illusion to what Loki enacted.

  “A lesson, nothing more,” Thod murmured.

  “A lesson and a blessing,” I corrected. “I could never have worked as the Director’s personal guard.”

  “It would not have suited you.” The beat switched to something darker, something that bespoke of betrayal and heathens. We easily switched to the cadence of the new song, continuing our dance as if we were wholly engrossed in each other. “The End of Days?”

  Nodding, I let Thod twirl me and then bring me back in, taking his hand again. “Gods and Monsters and Creatures from other realms. That sort of thing.”

  “And how did you find yourself in this situation?”

  “I was sent on a mission, witnessed the battle, captured by the Gods. I reported it to the Guild, only to have them tell me I was hallucinating.”

  “And you have proof?”

  I grinned. “I’ve become something akin to friends with the Gods.”

  Thod hummed and spun us around, keeping his hands tight. “Why should I believe you?”

  I scoffed. “Have you ever known me to lie?”

  “I believe your story of what happened,” he corrected. “What I want to know is why are you teaming up with Gods? Are you certain they are here to help?”

  “I am.” I had watched their worry over the stages of Ragnarök, had witnessed them fight against the very end tide, attempting to find a way to stop Ragnarök or slow it. They had fought at my side, had never once attempted to hurt me or take advantage. “I trust them.”

  Thod stared into my eyes even as we continued to move. He seemed to think over my words, considering them, before he came to his own decisions. “I will warn my own people. The Raven Wing may not want to act, but I can put in a few calls to people who will.”

  “Can you get me an audience with the Queen?”

  Thod grimaced. “I could try but I cannot make any promises. Your best bet would be to get to her yourself. My way may take time to circumvent all the red tape.” Thod’s eye flicked over my shoulder and a grin pulled at his lips. “Now, I believe someone else is waiting for the opportunity to dance with you.”

  “What?” I asked, but Thod was already spinning me, his hand releasing my own, quickly replaced by another cool hand. I looked up and smiled.

  “How did you get in here? You have to be invited to make it into Lady Smith’s parties.” It was one of the details she used to make it feel like a royal ball. You didn’t get in if your name was not on the list.

  “I’m the God of Mischief, remember?” Loki murmured, coaxing me into the dance.

  He was dressed in a suit fit for a king, the outfit mostly black, but the edges were trimmed with thread the same color as his eyes. He looked far more regal than I ever could, his tall frame easily attracting attention in the room. And his face, the flaming red hair hanging loose around his shoulders that hid pointed ears, the vibrant eyes, he easily called every female in the vicinity.

  “You’re going to start a riot with the way you look,” I murmured as he spun me out and back in, my back hitting his chest. He should have spun me again to return to the previous position, but he instead held me there, his lips leaning down to whisper in my ear.

  “As long as you’re the one that catches me, little spy.”

  “Didn’t I warn you about those words?”

  “Ah, which knife will you stab me with?” He finally spun me into the starting position again and we began to step to the beat. “With the one between your breasts?” His eyes dipped to the place in question and I felt myself flush. “Perhaps, the one up your sleeve.” His fingers trailed up my forearm and felt the edge of the knife, a smug smile on his face.

  “Keep it up and it’ll be with the short sword strapped to my thigh,” I teased, and then realized where we were, what mask I should have been wearing, and slammed it down again, the soft, docile smile taking hold.

  Loki paused, his eyes twinkling, and he instead offered his arm. “Perhaps, a walk in Lady Smith’s famous garden?”

  “That would be lovely.”

  He leaned down, enough to whisper, “I don’t like this mask.”

  “Me, neither,” I said from the corner of my mouth.

  Lady Smith’s garden was indeed famous. She had wasted thousands on making it a maze of sorts, the hedges high and lit with lanterns. It was often where people came to get away from the prying eyes inside, to have intimacies away from the party. I had never strolled through the garden with anyone at my side. It had always been alone when I had ventured through the maze. This evening, it was abandoned, the weather too unfavorable to enjoy it.

  Loki led me inside the maze, our pace unhurried, as if the world was not ending around us. It was cold, so terribly cold, but Loki twirled his fingers and it was suddenly as if I stood in front of a fireplace, the heat warming me up.

  “Handy trick,” I murmured, smiling up at him.

  “There are other ways I can warm you.”

  I raised my brow as we moved deeper into the maze. “Oh?”

  He hummed in response, his gaze flicking to mine, before we rounded a corner and came out into a small nook with an archway crawling with frozen vines, and a stone bench beneath it. It was not something that could be immediately seen without going around the vines, perfectly hidden from view.

  Loki tugged me towards the bench and we both sat on the stone, Loki’s heat making it feel as if it wasn’t an everlasting winter at all.

  “So why did you come again?” I asked, folding my hands in my lap.

  “Don’t do that,” he chided, reaching out to uncurl my fingers and threaded them between his own.

  I frowned. “Do what?”

  “Your masks.” Loki pressed his lips to the back of my hand before dropping them, causing my breath to stutter. “Don’t put them on when we’re alone.”

  “I don’t mean to.” I looked away, down at the frost covered ground. “It’s been so drilled into me, it’s second nature.”

  Loki’s fingers touched beneath my chin and brought me gently to look at his eyes. His gaze was
serious, far more series than I had seen him. “Trust me,” he murmured. “I know the struggle of wearing a mask and forgetting who you are underneath.” His thumb touched my bottom lip gently.

  “How do you do it?” I murmured, moving a little closer to soak in his warmth. “How do you live with so many illusions?”

  He smiled, and it was such a soft, lazy smile, I found myself taking his hand from my chin and threading our fingers together again. “It’s as easy as finding someone to be yourself with, so when the illusions fall, there’s someone there who still sees you for who you are.”

  Loki reached down and lifted my legs, pulling me close so he could drape them across his lap. Even with my large dress, he managed to do so.

  “What are you doing?” I gasped as his fingers started to trail up my boots, slowly pressing the hem of my dress up.

  “You know,” he murmured, tracing the flesh just above my boot and below my knee. “I’m not only the God of Mischief. I’m also the God of Magic and Fire.”

  “I knew that,” I breathed as his fingers traced my skin.

  “Do you know what sorts of powers I have?” he hummed, “Do you know why so many fear me?”

  “Is it the horns?” I stared at him with hooded eyes as he found the handle of the battle axe and began to trace the edge up my thigh.

  “It’s because I can shapeshift,” he murmured, “and because of my illusions.”

  “What does that mean?” Suddenly, there were hands on my shoulders, and I jerked in surprise, glancing behind me. Standing there with a smug smile was Loki but I was also still draped across his lap. My mouth dropped open in surprise as I looked between them before the second Loki faded away. A fast illusion, I assumed, but one that had felt solid.

  “I can take the forms of animals, if I wanted to.” He frowned. “I haven’t done that in a long time however.”

  “And people fear you because of that?”

  “They fear what they don’t understand.”

  I smiled. “I’m not afraid of you,” I reminded him as his hand resumed tracing my skin along the small axe.

  “You mentioned once that Midgardian men are spineless.” His fingers paused. “Do you think the same of me?”

  I covered his hand with my own, the one on my thigh. Loki never let an ounce of cold touch me, his magic and fire keeping me warm. “I’ve seen you fight,” I murmured. “You’re beautiful, not spineless.”

  A grin pulled at his lips. “I’ve never been called beautiful before.”

  He pulled me closer on the bench before his strong hands lifted me and moved so I straddled his waist. There was no back and forth like there was with ordinary men, and I appreciated it. I detested when they danced around what they wanted rather than just saying it. And Loki, he let me know what he wanted, his hands there on my thighs, my dress bunched up between us. His hands slid along the straps there, uncaring that a short sword and a small axe were in his way.

  “Someone should tell you how pretty you are every day,” I murmured, wrapping my arms around his shoulders to tangle my hands in his hair, to stroke his scalp. He purred low in his throat, his eyes hooded. I could feel his length between us, pressing against his trousers, begging to be touched, but that wasn’t what this was about, not yet.

  “You are temptation and magic.”

  We locked eyes and even though I was lost in the emeralds there, I traced my fingers along his pointed ear.

  “You’re a God,” I whispered. “And I’m just a human. There are at least a thousand cautionary tales against this sort of thing, and I remember none of them.”

  “Ah, but those are not Norse Gods.” His eyes twinkled as he pressed harder against me. I nearly moaned.

  “And you think that’s any different?” I trailed a finger along the Viking braid in his hair, then along his sharp jaw.

  His grin was full of the mischief he resided over. “Why don’t you find out?”

  His eyes met mine, the color something far more vibrant than I ever truly had a name for. They were like jewels, precious jewels crushed into dust and scattered like stars. Fire danced in those eyes, no doubt danced in his veins, too, but I didn’t flinch away from the God who held my thighs, who I happily straddled against all that was proper.

  I decided then that I would throw all caution to the wind when it came to Loki and Thor, that I would not waste time attempting to follow etiquette. It was the End of Days. Perhaps it was time to drop my masks completely.

  I took Loki’s face in my hands, my thumbs caressing his cheekbones, before I leaned down and pressed my lips to his. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer as he took control, setting fire to my insides. It was an all-consuming kiss, one that I could barely keep my senses about, and I suddenly understood how women could fall for Gods. He lifted and started to lay me down on the bench, his body coming over me, his hand slipping up my thigh to stroke higher than the top of the axe, dangerously close to—

  A howl rent the air.

  Loki broke the kiss and turned his head, listening.

  The howl echoed again, louder, longer, so filled with sadness, it made my chest tighten.

  Moving suddenly, Loki pulled me up with him, quickly adjusting my skirts to cover me once again. We both stood and looked up at the night sky, where for once, clouds were not obscuring the moon.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, staring up at the shadow that began to form.

  It shifted until it became a wolf, until the shadow howled again and began to chase the glowing rock. It danced, such a beautiful dance, and as it neared the moon, it snapped its large jaws open.

  “Hoti,” Loki whispered, pulling me close as we both stared up. “It’s Hoti.”

  I shivered, but not from the cold. I stared in horror as the giant wolf snapped its jaws over the moon and swallowed it whole, taking away the brightest spot in the sky.

  “The second stage,” Loki mourned, “and the third.”

  “The third?”

  We stood there, together, and watched.

  Every star in the night sky began to fall, one after the other, until it was a beautiful display of dying stars, until the sky was nothing but inky blackness.

  I tried to wish on a few of them, but I didn’t think dying stars granted wishes. . .

  . . .not when the world was coming to an end.

  Chapter Nineteen

  My mother! I realized the true extent of the stars falling from the sky and the moon swallowed by a wolf seconds after watching the blank canvas above us. I turned and started to run, Loki following without question. I growled at the hedges, annoyed that we were in a maze and I had to think back to remember exactly what turns we had taken.

  “To the left,” Loki urged when I hesitated on one turn and he began leading us through the maze instead. We burst from the garden, the dress heavy on my shoulders, to see the party still going in full swing.

  “They haven’t even noticed,” I murmured, shaking my head.

  “The rich usually only see what’s right in front of them. They don’t look at the sky if there’s no money in it.” He looked over at me, his hair pristine as usual, always beautiful. His lips were swollen from our kiss and I had no doubt mine were the same. “What now?”

  “First, I have to warn my mother and then I have to go to the Guild and warn them.”

  Loki paused with his hand outstretched for the door that led back inside. “You really think they will believe you this time?”

  I didn’t know, but I should at least try, right? Even if I knew I would never work for the Raven Wing again, I had a duty to my Queen to at least warn them. “No,” I admitted, “but I should try, so my conscience is clear.”

  He nodded and opened the door for me, offering his hand so I didn’t slip on the ice caked on the steps. It seemed, in the time we had been outside, the temperature had dropped further. Even with Loki warming me with his magic, my breath came out in icy puffs in front of me.

  The ballroom was still just as livel
y as when we left, everyone enjoying the ball even after what happened. I stood on my tiptoes to see over heads, searching for the purple feather I knew my mother had worn in her hair. Loki pointed a few seconds later, his height giving him an advantage, and we began splitting the crowd.

  I slipped my mask back on when the lords and ladies began turning to look at me, hoping I didn’t look like I had just been kissing the handsome man with me out in the gardens. And nearly more than that, I thought, glancing over my shoulder at where Loki followed. Had the stars not fallen, I don’t know if I would have stopped Loki.

  You wouldn’t have, my traitorous mind whispered, and I sighed as I broke through the crowd to see my mother speaking to Lady Smith.

  “I was thinking of the next party being themed, perhaps, a masquerade—”

  “Mother,” I said, interrupting Lady Smith’s senseless mumblings. She turned towards me and glared but I ignored her. I had bigger problems than an angry pretend Queen.

  “What is it, Tillie?” My mother knew right away that something was wrong. She always saw through my masks, always knew when I was anxious. I had asked her once how she knew, because I wanted to know what my tell was, but she had said it wasn’t anything she could see. It was a feeling, a side effect of raising me.

  I offered my hand and she took it, allowing me to pull her from the ball. Out of the corner of my eyes, I searched for Calvin, where he had been earlier, but he was nowhere I could see. I hoped he had tried to follow us outside and froze.

  My mother glanced behind us at the red-haired God trailing along, and grinned at him. “You must be Loki,” she murmured.

  Loki grinned but I shook my head. “Not now, Mother. We must get out of here.”

  “Why?” Her sharp eyes noticed right away when we stepped from Lady Smith’s house that something was wrong. “Why is it so dark?”

  “That’s why you have to leave. I need you to go back to the house. It’s protected.”

  “And where are you going? And you didn’t answer my question about the sky!”

  “I have to go to the Guild and see if they’ll listen to my warning. As for the sky, remember that very bad thing I found myself in?” She nodded her head as I ushered her towards our carriage. She shivered at the cold as I pushed her inside and held her hand. “It’s the end of the world.”