Page 58 of Luna Cursed

"We better follow them so they don't do anything too stupid," Imogen said. A smile lit up her face. "Oh, the Hunt is here."

"How can you tell?" Lachie asked.

Imogen's eyes flashed black again, and Ciara felt the power rolling off her for the first time. She opened her mouth and shut it quickly again.

"Let's just say Ciara isn't the only one with a special bond," Imogen replied.

Strange, haunting horns sounded, and the world trembled around them. The sky split open, and mounted warriors on giant black steeds rode through the nothingness and thundered past them.

"They will clear up the mess. Come on, we have a wolf god to find," Imogen said cheerily.

Ciara stared wide-eyed at her. "What the hell are you?" she stammered.

"One of a kind, bitch. Now stop gawking at me and get moving," Imogen said and nudged her with the butt of her ax.

"This day can't get any weirder," Ciara said to Lachie, shaking herself back into action. She was about to find out how very wrong she was.

30

The sun was rising and making the dirty, rough marble under Arawan's hands glow.

"Definitely Havi's magic on it," he muttered softly. "Complex weaving too. He didn't half do it. If you hadn't already seen the passage open here, I doubt we would have discovered it."

"If some shoddy shaman of Varg's can open it, I'm sure we can too," Tor said from beside him.

Ciara, Imogen, and Lachie had found them minutes beforehand. Arawan was still running his fingers over the groove of stone, a frown on his face.

"It's god magic. Varg might have been willing to sacrifice one of his shamans in order to get it open, but I'm not going to be so stupid. Havi isn't an idiot, and I'm not in the mood to grow back my hands because of a trap," Arawan replied.

"Take your time, baby. The Hunt is dealing with the rest," Imogen said and rested her dirty ax over her shoulder. "I'm going to need your hands fully operational later. I'm feeling very battle lusty right now."

"Gross," Lachie muttered.

"I dunno about that," Ciara said, looking Tor over. He was gloriously naked and didn't seem to give the slightest fuck about it. Imogen waggled her eyebrows at her when Arawan's and Tor's backs were turned. Ciara rolled her eyes and fought the urge to shield him.

"Get your eyes off her man, or she'll end up fighting you too," Lachlan warned, reading Ciara far too easily.

"Ah, there it is," Arawan said, stopping their bickering. His magic made the hair on the back of Ciara's neck rise.

The stone began to glow, and golden runes, unlike anything she had seen before, started to appear as if written with an invisible hand. The rock in the middle of the shimmering archway seemed to go liquid before disappearing and leaving a black opening.

"I'll go first," Tor said and stepped through without hesitation. Ciara followed him into the darkness and found herself on a stone staircase lit with blazing crystal lights. They were similar to the ones she had seen at the Heart of Yggdrasil. Magic hung so thick in the air, she could almost taste it.

"Where are we?" she asked Tor.

"Wherever it is, it's not in Norway or any of the Nine Realms."

Arawan, Imogen, and Lachie appeared behind them. "Oh, Havi, you clever bastard," Arawan said with a smile. "We are in a void space. The Norse call it Ginnungagap."

"Fucking hell," Tor muttered, taking Ciara's hand. "Stay close to me."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she replied.

Time seemed to warp as they followed the stairs down in a steep spiral. Ciara's breath began to plume as the air grew colder with each level they passed through.

"You always take me to the most exotic locations," she teased Tor. "Maybe next time we can have a white sandy beach."

"Only if you promise to wear a tiny bikini," Tor replied.

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