Page 4 of Baldr's Secret Mate

“Baldr… you don’t have to promise that. I know you’d get me out if you could.”

“And I will,” he repeated. He took a long pause. “Are you sure you don’t remember who put you in here? Anything would help.”

I let out a long sigh. We’d had this conversation hundreds of times and Baldr always held out hope that I’d finally remember something from my past. But I couldn’t. And the more time I spent in the bubble, the less I seemed to remember.

“I’m sorry, Baldr… but I don’t remember anything.”

“Nothing about your family or anything?”

“I think I remember having one. And I remember life being different from how it is now. But the details… they’re fuzzy. It’s like I can see them, but when I reach out to touch them, they’re behind glass, just out of reach.”

“Someone put a block on your mind, too,” Baldr growled. “I’m sure of it. If I could just touch you, I know I could get rid of it.” He paused again. “Or if I could find out who did it, I could confront them.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could help, I really do.”

“I know. I’m not trying to make you feel bad, Mist. It’s just… frustrating.”

We both sat there for a long time, just thinking. I could feel Baldr’s thoughts racing. He tried to keep them hidden from me over the bond, but I knew he was thinking about me. I had to admire his magic, though. It was delicate, elegant, and woven beautifully. The connection between us could easily be invasive, and it had been the first few times we’d tried it as kids. But now that he was older, there was a thoughtfulness toward privacy in the spell, allowing us to communicate, but keep our thoughts private as if we were conversing verbally. It was beautiful, gentle magic, and I found myself wishing I could do something similar.

But the only times I’d ever managed to touch my own magic, it terrified me. All I could feel was a well of chaos deep, deep inside me. There was a place where it was trapped, a darkness that I couldn’t penetrate even when all my focus was bent on it. My one and only outburst had happened so quickly that I didn’t know what I’d done. However, from that day forward I kept my emotions in check, worried they might be the key to releasing the full wrath of a magic that I had no skills to control.

That’s why I never told Baldr how I felt about him. I was afraid it would set me off. Well, that and the fact that he was my only friend in the entire world. What if I told him how I felt and he never came back? Then I’d be alone forever with nobody but Tyr torturing me whenever he felt like it. That wasn’t a future I could face.

So, for now, I kept all those warm but terrifying emotions to myself. I could love Baldr quietly from the other side of the dome. Of course, that didn’t stop me from fantasizing alone in my hut at night about what it might be like if we were ever together. I was ashamed to admit that sometimes those fantasies got a bit naughty. Baldr wasn’t a prude about sex, of course and we’d chatted about it a little bit. But whenever I found myself alone and feeling frisky, it was him that came to mind. Thosewere always the best fantasies. But, when all was said and done, they only existed in my imagination.

Besides, it wasn’t like we could actually be together. The magic trapping me inside was never going to come down and Tyr would never let me go unless I could be useful to him. However, I figured it was only a matter of time before he killed me or forced me into some magical berserker state that consumed me completely. Either way, I wasn’t going to get out of the dome and then have a life to live.

My fate was already set in stone. Destruction was my future, one way or another.

“You okay?” Baldr asked, interrupting my thoughts. “You feel… strange.”

“Sorry,” I said, projecting a smile his way. “I was just thinking about the story so far and what might happen.”

“Want me to keep reading?” he asked, picking up the book once more.

“Yeah. I would love that.”

And what I really meant was I love you.

Chapter Three: Baldr

The Night of the Attack

Iawoke with a start, bolting upright. To my surprise, I found myself sitting on my own bed, the soft sheets pooled around my waist. Reaching up, I rubbed my eyes, sleep still stinging behind my eyelids.

I’d been having a vivid dream. In it, Loki and Heimdall were sneaking up the mountain, with Tyr just behind them. I could feel their hesitation just as much as I could feel Tyr’s ill intent. And when the resort came into view, I knew they meant to attack it. After that, it was just flashes of unlocked doors, dark hallways, and some sort of device I didn’t recognize that was meant to destroy. Then I saw Tyr, all by himself, running through dark halls with several grenades strapped to a bandolier across his chest.

It was a vision. It had to be. My dreams were never that vivid. However, I had no idea of when such a thing was going to occur. The vision was fuzzy, more so than usual, with little detail other than there was snow outside as they came up themountain. But that meant their attack could take place anytime in the next three to four months.

As I thought about it, my mind wandered back to the scene on the Skoll mountain with Heimdall and Loki outside the dome. They’d mentioned something about needing to plan and prepare. Something clicked into place and without understanding how, I knew the vision and their plans were connected. Foresight, unfortunately, wasn’t an exact magic, and I was doing my best to take an educated guess. I had a feeling the attack would happen soon. I just wasn’t sure when.

However, when the first explosion shook the building around me, I realized my vision had come too late. The attack had already started. And that meant Tyr was inside the resort. If that were true, everyone was in danger.

Suddenly I was no longer tired, but filled with a cold fear. While I might be immune to anything Tyr could try, the rest of the pack was not. And there were still guests inside the hotel. In fact, we were coming up on the busy season. Humans loved to come to the hot springs in the winter to relax and wind down either before or after the holidays. The resort was filling up and if Tyr was inside it, there was a good chance people were going to get hurt. Or worse.

I sprang up out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans, and grabbed a hoodie. In a flash, I was out of my room and down the hall, banging on Thor’s door. It took him only seconds to answer.

“Are you okay?” I asked, terrified Tyr’s attack was focused on my family.

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