Page 29 of Tyr

She sucked in a breath as she exited the room. Tall trees also surrounded them outside, but they didn’t cover the sky. On the far end, a waterfall trickled down into a pool big enough to swim in. The sounds of birds chirped and sang in the trees. Squirrelsscurried across tree branches. And she swore an actual deer ducked behind a rock.

“I feel like I’m in a fairytale,” she mused.

Tyr snorted. “It does feel a bit like that, doesn’t it?” He walked to a table and set the tray on it. Celeste sat in one of the chairs, and he sat across from her. The chair groaned under his weight, and she was once again reminded of his immense size.

He held out his hand, and she gave him the herbs. He opened the teapot and set the linen bag inside before closing it again.

“Are there many areas like this in the Underworld?”

Tyr shrugged. “I don’t know. But my bet is there aren’t.”

“Did Vali create this place?”

“I’m sure he got some help, but yes.”

“From who?”

“Plenty of people in the Underworld have magic and are willing to use it for profit.”

Celeste wanted to ask him, like who, but she didn’t want to sound like a silly child asking—why? Why? Why?

Celeste closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

“My dad took me camping once in the redwood forest near San Francisco, I think. Just him and me for a whole week. I’d never been so happy before or since. We camped and talked, hiked and swam, and ate s’mores over a fire. It was amazing and so peaceful.”

“How old were you?”

She opened her eyes. “Ten.” Her smile fell as she remembered what happened as soon as they’d gone home. “When we got back, my mother was in one of her ‘moods’, as my father called them. She and Papa got into a fight, and she kicked him out. Literally, kicked him out the door and put some kind of blessing on the house so he couldn’t enter again because he was a demon.”

Tyr’s chest squeezed. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too. My dad’s been the only stable thing in my life. After that, my mother got worse and worse until I ended up as payment for one of her debts, and then here.”

“Wait.” Tyr held up his gloved hand. “You got beaten up as payment for one of your mother’s debts?”

“Yes and no. My mother owed a guy a lot of money from gambling. He, in turn, told his boss. They broke in about three weeks ago and dragged her out of bed and into the front room. They threatened to kill her if she didn’t come up with the money that day. She said she had something more precious than money. She told them I could read minds. The boss didn’t believe her at first, but then they hauled me out as well. He told me if I didn’t read his thoughts, they would kill my mother.”

“So, you did it.”

“I’ll be honest, there was a moment of indecision on my part. Not because Papa always told me not to use my abilities unless I had to and never to show them to humans. But also, because I was sick of my mother.” She sighed. “In the end, I couldn’t let them kill her. She’s my mother, after all.”

“So he took you? The boss?”

She nodded. “Said I was the prettiest songbird he’d ever seen, and I was going to be his forever.”

“What did your mother do?”

“Nothing. He promised that as long as I stayed, she’d have as many drugs and gamble all she wanted.”

Tyr’s hand slammed on the table, making it shake, and Celeste flinched.

“I’m sorry.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“You didn’t scare me; it’s an involuntary reflex, I guess. I used to not be afraid of anything. It makes me so angry how my body reacts like that now. I want it to stop, but…”

“So, he took you and made you use your abilities?”

Celeste looked at her hands. “He tried. At first, he was nice, well, nice-ish. He took me to a fancy house and gave me expensive clothes and jewelry, shoes, and bags and said as long as I stayed with him and helped him, he’d give me whatever I wanted. That didn’t last, though. A couple of days later, he needed my help and took me down to the basement of his mansion. The man tied to a chair was a bloody mess. I expected him to die right while I watched…” She trailed off.

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