Page 17 of Rune

There was a small dagger at my hip I’d forgotten about, and I inched my hand that way while trying to keep my voice light and feet steady. I opened my mouth, and the answer came out with a little laugh. “I am the goddess Rune,” I joked. I took a few steps back, giving a little bow with my exit. “I am the goddess of determination and wit.”

His face went slack once more.He was insane,I realized. His mind was lost.

I took that as my cue to leave, and turned once more.

There was the sound of something smacking the hard dirt, and curiosity made me look back. The man had bent his knee into the ground and bowed his head. He put an arm over his chest and looked up with tears like diamonds in the corners of his sea-blue eyes.

When he spoke now, it was low and echoing, as if he’d prepared his entire life for this one line. “We’ve been searching for you for a long time.”

Those words haunted me, but I didn’t know why.

I shook myself from the trance that came with being near him. “You’re confused.” That was the only explanation I had for his behavior. His mind was failing him. It wasn’t warm enough for the heat to numb his senses, but perhaps he’d gone too long without food or water. I reached for the grape vines. “Here, take some nourishment.”

He took the grape and crushed it in his hand. “I’ve not lost my mind.” He stepped closer, those piercing eyes fixated on mine. He didn’t move like a weary man, nor did he speak like one. There was nothing but sureness in his actions now. “Were you not calling out to me? You cry out to the gods, yet you are so surprised when they show up?”

He claims to be a god.I had my proof he was not sound in thinking, though it seemed rude to tell him so twice. Instead, I stepped away.

Before I could slip from his reach, he grabbed my arm again. His fingers curled gentler this time, but the action was enough that I inched for my blade. “Your voice reached us in Asgard,” he said. “I was meant to find you and bring you home.”

I thrashed away and drew out my dagger. “Don’t touch me. The gods are not real. I renounced them.”

“Renounced them?” This was the first time he looked mad. “You renounce the ones who guard you? Who give you water to drink and food to eat? You could not renounce us if you tried, especially you.” When I pushed my blade closer to him, he laughed at it. “This would have been much easier had I found you as a child. I would have taught you to wield your weapon better.” With a quick movement, he grabbed the blade—the blade—and ripped it from my hand.

Fear coursed through me. I stumbled back. “Leave me alone.” I meant it to sound like an order, but it came out like a plea.

“No. For the first time in decades, I feel alive again.” His hand jolted out once more to grab my wrist, and my body froze. His grip wasn’t strong, but my body was collapsing under it. He was stealing all my strength.

My knees wobbled while darkness trickled in the corner of my vision. Colors blurred. My body became sluggish while I screamed, ordering my limbs to move as a heavy sleep threatened to settle over me. All the while, the man watched as I tried to fight it. When my legs were too heavy to keep upright, I sank to my knees.

“Are you going to kill me?” I managed to ask.

His arms lifted me with surprising strength and wind rushed against my face as all else drifted away. “No, child. I’m taking you to Asgard where you belong. We shall see if you dare to renounce us then.”

SEvEn

A THROBBING ACHE in the back of my head dragged me into a bitter consciousness. From the trickle of a breeze and the glaring light, I guessed I was outside, but the softness beneath my body wasn’t right. I stayed still while every sense came to life and went on high-alert. Hearing was the most important one, and it was only when I was certain there was no other sound of life around me that I pried my lids open.

I was lying on something soft, like a fur. A thin, purple blanket covered my body—one far finer than anything owned by my family—and it matched the cushions behind my back. I’d been settled across an open sided couch in the middle of a grand room with marble walls and a sweeping staircase along the side that met at a set of long, wispy curtains hanging over enormous windows. Buttery light seeped across the room. The floors were golden with filigree embossing, and polished so bright they were difficult to look at.

A rhythmic tap came from the side.Pacing.

A man had taken me. He said he was bringing me to Asgard.

With difficulty, I tilted my head ever so slightly. That same man stood across the room now, basking in the shimmery light of towering windows and pacing along the golden floors. My hearing had failed me then. I was not alone. He still wore his white tunic, now with a blue sash along his waist, clad in bronze shoulder plates and an iron sword. A shield was strapped to his back, and it almost hit the wall as he turned to continue pacing.

I wiggled my fingers awake and traced them to my dagger. The man’s attention snapped up as I moved, and I shut my eyes quickly.

I held my breath. After a few moments, his footsteps came nearer, and I formed a quick plan of attack in my mind. I’d fight him, escape this odd prison, and find my way out. He was old and couldn’t have dragged me far. I’d be with the clans again before nightfall.

The footsteps came closer, and closer. My breathing evened and years of training calmed me until at last, he stood at my side, carrying the scent of the vineyard and gentle hum in his throat.

“Such a little one,” he whispered. “I searched so long to bring you home.” The cushions shifted as he sat down beside me and placed a warm hand against my forehead with a tender touch.

Every part of me wanted to pounce, but I bided my time until he’d turn away.

He didn’t turn.

Instead, his fingers traced the scars on my arm. My blood heated. I didn’t even let Trig touch those.

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