Page 15 of Baldr's Secret Mate

Now that I had the book, there was no time for rest or reading. I cut the magic to my rune light and darted out of the office down the hall. I made one quick pitstop at my suite to fill my backpack with snacks and sugary drinks. I’d need all the energy I could get if I was going to bring that dome down without sleeping first. But that also meant no teleporting. Oh well, at least I could eat on the way to the Skoll mountain.

Throwing my now stuffed backpack over my shoulders, I headed out of the resort and back into the snow. The past twenty-four hours had been absolutely wild. And I had a feeling things were going to get a lot crazier before it was over. But one thing was for certain, I was going to find a way to finally hold Mist for the first time and that feeling filled me to the brim with joy and no small amount of desire. Hopefully I’d be able to keep myself in check because I had a feeling my reaction to him was going to be much stronger than I anticipated.

For nearly the past decade I’d felt that he might be… my mate. But I wouldn’t know for sure until I caught his scent. And that moment was fast approaching.

Hopefully I could resist its call.

Chapter Eight: Mist

Darkness had settled in for the evening and I found myself outside the warmth of my hut. The fire was blazing inside and I was shivering in the cold. But I couldn’t stop myself from going outside. It was one of those rare winter nights where the sky was clear and the stars were bright in the heavens. Of course, that usually meant it was much colder and tonight was no exception. My breath frosted in the air in front of me as I tipped my head back and stared up at the stars stretched out above me.

I didn’t know their names or their stories, but I didn’t care. Those little dots in the night sky were my friends and constant companions. After all my time trapped in the dome, I’d come to memorize their locations and the way they shifted throughout the night and the seasons. There were some that glowed brightly, making all the others look dim. And then there were those that sparkled blue, green, or red. They were beautiful and filled me with awe. I knew enough to know they were billions of miles away and unreachable by anyone. They made me feel small and insignificant, but somehow that didn’t makeme sad. In fact, it made me feel a little less lonely to see them all floating in the darkness. Maybe, somewhere out there, someone else was looking up at me and wondering the same thing.

Maybe Baldr was staring up there and thinking of me.

The thought of him made my stomach twist painfully. He’d been gone for nearly an entire day now and I was beginning to worry. Of course, he told me the journey to see the witch would take an entire day just to get there, but for some reason I was convinced it wouldn’t take him as long. He was a powerful witch himself, so I thought the journey would be easy. However, I assumed the witch that entrapped me was powerful too. For all these years her spell had kept me a prisoner, and I doubted it would take anything less than a grand piece of magic to bring it all down.

I wished I could do it myself.

With my face still tilted toward the stars, I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. The cold filled my lungs, numbing me from the inside. I used it to focus inward, allowing my consciousness to sink down into the center of my being. There I could feel the well of power bubbling just below the surface. My magic, even from a safe distance, reminded me of wild things. Not just animals or the natural world, but the chaos of shifting continents and erupting volcanoes as well. Something about it was far more primal than anything I’d ever come in contact with.

To be honest, it scared the shit out of me. And that’s probably why I pulled away from it the moment I started to feel the power reverberating through my body. Despite my desperate need to leave this prison, I couldn’t force myself to touch the magic I needed. It felt like trying to will myself to stick my hand in the hot coals, knowing full well it would damage me beyond repair. I just couldn’t do it.

So, opening my eyes once more, I stared up at those stars, wishing someone, anyone, would come and save me from the nightmare I was living in.

The cold started to settle in. My fingers and toes were numb, plus I’d started to shiver. As much as I wanted to stare at those stars all night, I needed to warm myself back up. Baldr wouldn’t be back for some time, so there was no use standing out in the cold hoping for the impossible. For now I could content myself with imagining his face and how it might feel to finally hug him for the first time. Or maybe even kiss him. I’d wanted to do that for a long time. Among other things of course, but I tried to keep those fantasies to myself. The last thing I wanted was for them to spill over our telepathic bond and give Baldr a show he didn’t ask for. Besides, I wasn’t sure he was even into that sort of thing.

However, no sooner had I started back toward my hut than I felt the familiar ping in the back of my skull. I spun on my heel, my gaze fixed on the northern border of the dome.

“Mist!” Baldr’s voice shouted inside my mind. “North side!”

I was already ten paces ahead of him. The moment the connection formed, I was running. And I didn’t stop until I reached the far end of the dome, Baldr’s familiar face on the other side of the barrier. I slapped both hands against the barrier, smiling wider than I thought possible.

“You’re alright!” I shouted, making no attempt to hide my joy. “I was so worried!”

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” he replied, his voice full of the sound of his smile. “And I’m going to get you out.”

My heart nearly stopped in my chest. “R-Really?”

“Yes.” He sounded confident. “I promise.”

My stomach twisted into several knots as I tried to contain the surge of hope filling me from head to toe. Nobody,not even Baldr, had ever been able to damage the dome or dispel it. Even Tyr could do little more than cut a hole for himself that resealed the instant he was on the other side. Sometimes even that simple gesture was difficult for him. Could Baldr really have figured a way out of this nightmare at last?

“And we need to hurry. Tyr could be coming,” he added. “In fact, I’m almost certain he will.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Why? He doesn't know you’re here, does he?

“No,” Baldr replied, shaking his head. “But he might know the witch who built this is now dead.”

“WHAT?!” I saw Baldr flinch, my voice filling both our minds. “You… You killed her?”

“No. My mother did.”

“The protection spell?”

“Yeah. The witch usually takes payment in the form of stealing life so she can live longer. That was her promised bounty from Tyr for all her hard work trapping you. But for some reason she decided she wanted to eat me instead.”

I made a disgusted noise that made Baldr laugh.

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