Page 46 of Loki's Enemy Mate

Clearly he didn’t know who Baba Yaga was.

“Uh… no reason. Continue.”

“Okay…” He gave me one last disapproving look before he continued. “An old woman greeted him at the door and welcomed him inside. I snuck up to the house as soon as the door was closed and listened to them from outside the window. At first, I thought they were just old friends catching up, but then the firelight dimmed, and she started to speak in a strange voice. She told him that if he wanted his ambitions to come to fruition, he’d need an outsider with power to get the job done. She said he’d meet an immovable force, a binding magic that he’d already agreed to, and that it would stand in his way.”

“Baldr…” I whispered.

Heimdall nodded. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I think that’s who she was talking about. However, she said that there was only one way to beat such magic, and that was with someone even more powerful. But she warned him that if he didn’t keepthis power secret, that ifanyoneoutside the Skoll pack knew about it, its power would be lost.”

I furrowed my brows. “But you’re telling me about it.”

He looked up at me slowly. “I know. Because as much as I don’t want you to kill my father, I don’t want your family killed either.” Heimdall took my hand, pulling it to his lips and kissing my knuckles. “Consider this a good faith payment.”

“Thank you,” I smiled, kissing him back. “So did she give him the power he needed?”

“No. But she told him where to find it. And then she demanded payment.”

“Payment?”

Heimdall’s cheeks turned red as he blushed. “It took me a minute to realize what they were doing,” he said, unable to look me in the eye. “But I think she required sex from him.”

“Oh… that’s…different.”

“I moved away from the cabin until they were done. But when my father came out afterwards, he looked old, his skin was sallow, and his movements were slow. However, the old woman I’d seen when he arrived had transformed into a beautiful maiden. It was like she drained his life force.”

“She drained something alright,” I muttered.

Heimdall shot me a dirty look but grinned despite himself. “He was so tired that I was able to beat him home without an issue. He never even knew I was gone.”

“So, when did this power show up?”

“About three months later my father sectioned off a piece of the forest and brought the witch in again to cast a cloaking spell over the area. I assume he had to pay her again because he looked terrible for a while after that. I knew where it was and visited it several times. There was a sort of dome in the woods made of magic and it was impenetrable. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get through it. Plus, it was nearly invisible. Youcould look straight through it like it was just another section of woods. But I knew something was inside. It was another three or four years before he finally let me see what was in there.”

“What is it?”

“A man. Or well, at that time, a teenage kid my age.”

“A kid?”

“He hardly speaks. But the earth breathes with him.”

I scrunched up my nose, not understanding. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. But everything inside that dome is under his control. The plants, the animals, the bugs, the very earth itself. He is so powerful that he controls them all without even realizing it.” Heimdall lifted his gaze to me, worry painted across his face. “And that’s not the issue either. The problem is that he can’t controlanyof it. His power is completely wild. And that has never changed. He gets more powerful by the day and more out of control. He… He’s a ticking time bomb.”

“And this is Tyr’s secret weapon?”

Heimdall nodded. “He’s been keeping him alive, but barely. The man is totally alone and has never interacted with anyone but Tyr and myself. I have no idea what my father has told him or done to him. But he plans on releasing this mage when things finally boil over. And he intends to have him decimate Baldr and anyone else that stands in Tyr’s way.”

“But Baldr is protected.”

“That’s why he needed an outsider,” Heimdall said, lowering his voice. “Because he didn’t make a promise to Baldr’s mother. He’s the only one in the entire valley that can touch Baldr without consequence.”

“Would he do it?”

Heimdall just shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve only spoken with him a couple of times. But my father has been his onlycompanion for nearly a decade. I have no doubt that Mistil will do anything he asks.”

“Mistil?”

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