Redeemer (Night War Saga Book 3) Read online

  Screw working it out. Nobody hit my boyfriend and lived to talk about it. Not even a god.

  The Liv pulsed to life in my chest. I ran it down my arm and through my palm until it formed my light whip. In one swift move I leapt forward, lashing out so my whip wrapped around Vidar’s wrist. He swore as the rope wrenched him down in an awkward hunch, but he didn’t let go of Tore’s hands. I took quick strides across the room, using the hand that wasn’t holding my whip to reach into my boot and withdraw my favorite dagger. I pressed the blade to Vidar’s neck and leaned close enough to hiss into his ear. “If you strike him, then after I kill Nott with Gud Morder, I’m coming for you. Understand?”

  Mack crossed to stand beside me. He bent down to stare into the crouching god’s eyes. “Release Tore,” he said calmly. “Now.”

  Vidar’s narrowed eyes and bared teeth positively seethed anger. Everything about him radiated fury, and vengeance, and cruelty. Being this close to his thick, cloying energy made my stomach churn. But the angry god nodded to Mack, releasing Tore’s hands with a begrudging grunt. Tore spun away from the wall to glare at his father, his nostrils flaring with each measured breath. I reluctantly released Vidar’s wrist and sheathed my dagger. The older god stood still, his stringy hair plastered to his bloodied face. His cuts were slowly knitting themselves back together, but it would be some time before the evidence of this altercation was gone.

  No part of me pitied him.

  “Restore Ophelia’s memories,” I demanded.

  “I can’t,” Vidar gritted.

  Tore moved closer to my side, rage still coloring his eyes. I removed the glass from his cheek, then reached over to take his hand as Mack addressed Vidar. “We are going to leave, and when we do, you will never see us again. Ever. So should you feel so inclined, this is your last chance to tell your son what happened to his mother.”

  Vidar’s eyes shifted between Mack and Tore. His jaw twitched, and his chest expanded with a heavy breath. After an endless moment, he sighed. “Your mother saw me with another companion and she snapped. She had heard rumors of my . . . other relationships. But she’d never witnessed them. She went off the deep end—said that when you got back from your camping trip, she was leaving me and taking you with her. She swore I’d never see you again, because she didn’t want me to infect you with my lifestyle.”

  Tore raised one eyebrow. “Smart lady.”

  “You are my only child. My heir.” Vidar sighed. “Do you think I would let her take you from me?”

  “So, you faked her death? Erased her memories?” Tore’s eyes narrowed.

  “If she had taken you from me, then by law I could have killed her,” Vidar countered. “I saved her life, boy. And don’t you ever forget it.”

  Out of nowhere, Mack stepped forward and landed a hard blow to Vidar’s left temple. Revenge went down like a bag of bricks.

  “Namaste.” Mack bowed to Vidar’s unconscious body, then looked at Tore and I. “Shall we?”

  Tore stood over his fallen father. “I’ll never forgive him for this.”

  I slipped my hand into Tore’s blood-crusted one. “You don’t have to. You just have to move forward.”

  Tore led me toward the doorway, pausing at the shattered threshold. “We should pull him out and burn down his house.”

  “No.” I tugged him outside. “You’re not like him. You don’t seek revenge.”

  And with that, the three of us walked away from the source of Tore’s pain. We left Vidar behind to wallow in the consequences of his decisions, and I focused my own attention on what lay in front of us: finding my weapon pieces. Ending the Night War. Restoring Ophelia’s memories. Building a future for all of us.

  A happy one.

  As we stepped toward the Bifrost, I looked over at Tore. “I’m going to heal your mom. I don’t care how much Liv it takes. She will remember you again. I promise.”

  Tears pricked his eyes, and he nodded. Could I heal her? I had to. I didn’t want to live in a world where I couldn’t.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “NEED ANY HELP UNPACKING?” I leaned against the frame of Tore’s bedroom door. We were back at the Trondheim safe house, where Mack was already whipping the groceries Greta and Bodie had brought home into what smelled like a highly promising dinner. Savory aromas permeated the hallway of the farm house, and while I couldn’t wait to tuck into whatever delicacy awaited us, I knew Tore needed some time away from our crew to decompress. Whether he needed time away from me, too, I didn’t yet know.

  “Ja. Sure,” Tore said. While I didn’t love the way his normally bright eyes stared dully at the duffel bags that sat beside him on his bed, I was very thankful he’d accepted my help. He wasn’t shutting me out. Thank God.

  I stepped into the small room, my bare feet padding across the hardwood planks. Greta had directed us to our respective rooms when we’d returned, and I’d been pleased to discover mine had its very own bathroom—in which I’d just taken a long, glorious shower that removed all traces of international—and inter-realm—travel. Even better, my room was right across the hall from Tore’s. It would make finding alone time together infinitely easier, should Mack decide to uphold the stupid Thou Shalt Not Distract Allie From Her Training rule he’d enforced back in Vancouver.

  “Okay, then.” I unzipped one of the bags and pulled out a handful of wadded-up T-shirts. My fingertips smoothed out their wrinkles, but before I could fold them, a warm palm wrapped around my wrist.

  “Allie,” Tore whispered. My eyes sought out his, and the pain in their depths made my breath catch.

  “I know. I’m so sorry,” I murmured. My other hand reached out to stroke Tore’s angular jaw, and he leaned into the touch with a heavy sigh.

  “You heard what he said. I’m his heir.” Tore shook his head. “He’s what I’m supposed to become.”

  “Stop it right there.” I sat down hard beside Tore on the mattress, and framed his face with my hands. “Look at me, Tore Vidarsson, and listen very carefully. You are not now, nor will you ever be, your father. There is nothing about you that even remotely resembles that jerk.”

  “Genetically, you’re wrong. Half of my make-up is his.” Tore’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Under Asgardian law, his title’s supposed to fall to me, though I have the power to refuse it and appoint another successor. But even if I do, who’s to say I can fight becoming who I was created to be?”

  I took a steadying breath and smoothed Tore’s hair away from his face. “You weren’t created to be like your dad, Tore. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that.”

  “You can’t know that,” Tore argued. “The Norns sent me to him for a reason.”

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “But I don’t think that reason was to become a cheating war monger like him. I think it was to be better than him. You don’t have your father’s energy. You have your mom’s.”

  “I know,” Tore whispered. “I used to love to watch the light dance in her. No matter how terribly he treated her, she never let him take that away.”

  “Exactly.” I ran the pad of my thumb over the days’ old stubble lining Tore’s jaw. “And you’ve been through hell, but you still have the same light within you I saw in your mom. Your energies . . . they’re not that different from mine. There’s a lot of Liv-blue in there, you know.”

  “Ja.” A corner of Tore’s mouth tugged up in a hint of a smile. “Must be a healer thing.”

  “Must be,” I agreed. “But you’re missing the point. You’re as much your mother’s child as your father’s. And maybe the two of you were brought into Vidar’s life to eradicate his darkness—or at the very least, to break the negative cycle. You don’t have to become whatever you think you were born to be, Tore. You can choose to forge your own path. But I think you already know that. Because I think you’ve already made that choice.”

  Tore’s eyes softened, and he pulled me tight against his chest. As he exhaled, his warm breath tickled my ear. “Gods, I love you, Allie.”
/>   “And I love you,” I said with a smile.

  Tore reached up to wrap his fingers through my still-damp hair. He gave a gentle tug, pulling my head back. I shivered as he dropped his head, pressing warm lips against the hollow of my neck. He nipped at my skin, raking his teeth along my collarbone before moving up to suck gently on my neck. Holy mother of all things hot. That demigod was going to be the death of me. But what a way to go.

  Without warning, Tore wrapped one arm around me and pulled me higher on the bed. He swung his leg up so he straddled me, and laid me back against the thick, downy pillows. Pushing my legs apart with one knee, he slid his body on top of mine to pin me beneath his massive form. With one hand, he wrapped long fingers around both of my wrists, binding them together above my head. And with the other, he ran one fingertip all the way from my elbow down my ribcage. When he got to my waist, he paused, then ran it lightly along the edge of my thigh, before pressing his hips firmly into mine. The sensation made me moan out loud.

  Oh. God. Yes.

  With me on my back nestled beneath him, Tore returned his lips to my neck. He traced a light pattern along the sensitive skin with his tongue, languidly making his way down the deep scoop-neck of my tank top. My chest rose and fell against the light pressure, and when his jaw brushed against the lacy edge of my bra, it was all I could do not to rip off my shirt and jump him right there. But his door was open and our friends were downstairs, and I knew that Mack would not appreciate anyone being late for mealtime, regardless of how badly said anyone needed to get some action. There was a legit bell in the farmhouse kitchen. Whoever’d decorated this place had gone overboard on the theme.

  As if my thoughts had conjured it, the dinner bell rang. Stupid dinner bell.

  With a wistful sigh, I tugged my hands free of Tore’s grip, nudged his head away from my chest, and raised his jaw with one finger. “Bora Bora?” I asked hopefully, picturing the clothing-optional vacation we hoped to take one day. One day soon.

  “Ja.” He exhaled. “Or, we could just send these guys out for sushi one night and get the house to ourselves.”

  “Or that,” I agreed.

  With a long-suffering sigh, Tore rolled off of me and held out a hand to help me off the bed. “Come on, Pepper. The dinner bell waits for no man. And now that we’re settled, we need to work out a strategy to locate the last three pieces of your weapon.”

  I tugged my tank top back into a respectable position, and smoothed the wrinkles from my sweats. “Right.”

  I planted a wistful kiss on Tore’s cheek, and let him lead me down the stairs. Saving the worlds—not to mention our moms—was the priority. But it also carried a really heavy weight—one that rested squarely on my shoulders. And while I was honored to do everything I could to fight against the darkness . . . I also couldn’t wait until all of this was over, and I got to just be a regular eighteen-year-old again.

  Well, a regular eighteen-year-old demigod. In Bora Bora, of course.

  ***

  After a beyond delicious dinner of spicy chicken chili with cheesy jalapeno cornbread, my friends and I paired off, dividing and conquering our nighttime chores. Bodie and Greta shifted their love bubble to the sink and set to work washing pans. Ever since we’d saved Bodie from Nott, he and my healer friend had been inseparable. I smiled at their easy banter while Johann and I cleared the table, but my gaze followed Tore as Mack pulled him into the living room. The lumberjack’s low baritone was just loud enough to carry through the peaceful evening air, so naturally I listened in.

  “I know this is hard for you,” Mack began. “I wonder if you want me to handle things with your mom. Make friends with her . . . invite her over for tea to get the ball rolling.”

  I couldn’t hear Tore’s reply, so I edged closer to the doorway. Johann inched after me, the tilt of his head letting me know I wasn’t the only eavesdropper in the kitchen. He shot me a mildly guilty glance, but in no way was I judging him. We all wanted what was best for Tore. Solidarity, buddy.

  Tore finally spoke, his voice thick with emotion. “Did you see how exhausted she looked?” The poor guy sounded haunted.

  “I did,” Mack affirmed. “She’s been working these fields for years. Probably the entire time . . .”

  My heart tugged. Tore’s mom had undergone such a dramatic lifestyle change, with seemingly no awareness of what she’d been through. She’d been taken from the luxury of her Asgardian home, and placed into the farmlands of Trondheim. She’d been a healer in her previous existence, and now tilled fields from dawn until dusk. I wondered if she liked her new life, or if some long-forgotten part of her mourned the loss of the one she’d chosen for herself—even if it had been filled with heartbreak.

  “God, Johann, this must be so hard for—” I broke off when Johann held a finger to his lips. He tilted his head to the living room, where Tore’s voice spoke with a strength I hadn’t heard since we’d left Asgard.

  “The Norns oversee the workings of this community, so talk to whichever of them approved my mother’s employment on the farm and take care of the situation,” Tore ordered. “I want her in our custody as soon as possible. She won’t understand why we want her to become involved with us, so offer her a job—something that will keep her close. Find a reason for her to stay in the guest cottage near the complex. We don’t want to frighten her. She needs to get to know us all over again.” Tore’s voice cracked during the last sentence. He would have to re-introduce himself to his own mother. Everything about this broke my heart.

  “I’ll take care of everything. We’re getting Ophelia back,” Mack promised. Then after a pause, he added, “I just hope she still remembers how to cook that apple strudel.”

  Tore’s genuine laugh rang through the house. It was the best sound in the world, and it sent an ear-to-ear grin shooting across my face. “I hope so, too.” He chuckled.

  Johann and I finished clearing the table. Our happiness lasted while I swept the floor and he emptied the dustpan. But it wasn’t long before the weight of our responsibilities settled over the house again. When the kitchen was clean, we all moved into the living room. I was jet lagged beyond belief, but I knew that with just three pieces of my weapon left to find, Nott was going to get desperate. She’d already thrown an earthquake-tantrum that had leveled our last home, and my most recent run-in with her had left me with permanent goosebumps. The woman was beyond terrifying. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could become so cruel.

  “Bodie?” I hated to pop the love bubble, but we needed to strategize.

  He looked up at me. “Hmm?”

  “Do you have any memories of when Nott wasn’t . . .”

  “A complete psycho?” Bodie offered.

  “Bat-skit crazy?” Johann chimed in.

  I chuckled. “Yeah, that. I mean something must have turned her dark, right? Asgardians aren’t born that way.”

  “My dad was,” Tore offered.

  I let that comment slide, and kept my attention on Bodie. I wasn’t sure exactly how his gift worked—whether someone had to willingly transfer their memories into his brain, or if he could just channel them from some invisible, Asgardian database. But since he’d shown me my mom’s baby shower, I knew he could replay memories he hadn’t actually seen himself. I was hoping he could show us a piece of Nott’s history that would make sense of all of this.

  “So?” I pressed. “Got anything that might explain what made Nott so horrible?”

  “Sorry, Allie.” Bodie shook his head. “I don’t. The Alfödr’s the only one who knows what happened to her, and I can’t access his memory bank without his permission.”

  I sighed. “I understand.” I did. But I didn’t like being in the dark about the Goddess of Night.

  “If it helps, I do believe she was normal once. The story in Asgard is that she was a light goddess, same as everybody else, until something unimaginably awful happened.” Bodie’s voice deepened and he tilted his head down.

  I leaned forward. “What was
it?”

  “No one knows for sure.” Bodie shrugged. “But I heard Hel forced Nott to sacrifice a child to save her own life.”

  Tore chuckled at my horrified gasp. “Don’t listen to him. I heard she proposed to some god, and she flipped when he turned her down. Went off into seclusion for a decade and taught herself dark magic.”

  Greta shushed the boys. “Stop spreading false rumors. No one knows why Nott went crazy. Well, no one except Eir and the Alfödr.”

  Goosebumps sprouted at my wrists, creeping up my arms to pimple my neck. “My mom has something to do with this?”

  Greta nodded. “I heard your mom was there the night Nott . . . flipped.”

  Maybe that was why Nott went after my mom and put her into the Night Sleep. But what had caused Nott to go dark?

  Mack pushed himself off the couch. “There is no use in trying to make sense of Nott’s troubled soul. We should focus our energy on what we can control—what’s in the now. Presently, we have three more pieces of Gud Morder to locate. One is here on Midgard. The other two are on Helheim and Svartalfheim—two of the darkest realms in existence.”

  I swallowed hard. Mack was right; there was no use trying to figure Nott out. I needed to get my weapon forged and end her evil reign so my poor mother could wake up and Earth could have a break from Nott’s destruction fetish. The recent strike had been one of the worst global calamities since the dinosaurs had met their doom. With an eight-point-zero quake on every continent, most of which were epicentered in high-density regions, Nott had managed to level a number of major cities. It would take years to rebuild the areas that had been hit, and in the most developed areas, the death tolls had been horrifyingly high. Nott was sending a message—one she knew we’d receive.

  And until we found and fused every last piece of Gud Morder, there was nothing we could do to stop her.

  Tore stood to clap Mack on the back. “You’re right. I say we start searching Midgard. We’re here, and since we have no leads, we might as well stick to the realm we’re on.”