Page 55 of Outcast

There was no hesitation as I shoved him through the portal before he could die. His sacrifice couldn’t be for nothing. We were too close to the end.

The second his body disappeared, Helheim pushed me toward the portal. It still needed to be closed. Elkan’s sacrifice had made it possible, but I still had to do the final mending of the divide.

White hot energy pulsed through me and into the portal as I mended the fissure. Even if I couldn’t visually see the portal on the other side, I felt it slowly close, the feeling of Dark Haven muted and calm the longer I worked. It was now a background note, not something I could feel without having to try.

When Helheim retreated, so did I, letting the power settle back into place. I was breathing heavily as I came back to my senses. The bond was wide open, showing me all the pride and love they were sharing at our success.

“Thank you, Harlow,” Drake said softly. When I turned it was only him that remained.

“You’re thanking me?” I asked. “I just literally threw your dad through the portal and turned him into a human.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think you even grasp what you’ve given my mom.”

Drake was going to say more but a terrifying screech echoed through the castle. It didn’t take long to identify Loki’s voice, and something in me knew that it was time. I had to get up there and save Hel. How the fuck I would do that was still a mystery.

I was running before I could even say anything to Drake, and he didn’t question as he followed after me.

When we got to the throne room, it wasn’t just Loki and Hel. There was a human alongside her and not once did the former goddess look away from him.

She no longer was a half skeleton. Her beautiful, human face was twisted in agony. A large gaping wound had torn away over half of her chest. Blood poured from it, pooling behind her and mixing with her companions. Loki had mentioned she wanted someone to share her life with, I guess she found him.

And I was positive the gods took his life as part of her punishment too.

My heart broke at the pain they were experiencing. The middle-aged man next to her was as gorgeous as she was. They were likely a pair that everyone around them was jealous of.

Until tragedy struck.

His bronzed chest was lined in muscles, though they were coated in blood from the open wound on his throat. He still gasped for breath to no avail. Loki said nothing at the additional person, and I didn’t question it. I wouldn’t let this man suffer.

“Save him first,” Hel begged me. Knowing she would take twice as long to figure out, I did as she asked and ignored Loki’s protests. Once I reached out for his soul, I felt it. Instead of pulling it into Helheim, I fed just enough of the realm into his body to make him one of us.

His wounds slowly mended as his body and soul were infused with second life. One that tied him here permanently. The realm gave just enough to ease his suffering and let him live again.

Hel was far more complicated. There was no soul to be had and when I tried to connect with her like I had the human, Helheim was more than a little resistant.

The more I pleaded for its help, the more the realm retreated from me.

“Look, I know what she did to you. I get it,” I hissed at the realm like it could hear me. Desperation made me look crazy for the first time in a long time. “She saw you as a prison and resented you for it, yet used you to keep herself strong. It’s different now. I’m not the same. But I am begging you to help. If you don’t, I’ll be ripped away from you too.” Loki let out a hum of agreement to back me up.

“Is she talking to the realm?” Roman questioned. I ignored him as I continued to speak to Helheim. There were no empty promises, only doses of reality and a bit of pleading.

Finally, it stopped resisting me. I connected with Hel, and the moment I did, a spark of something echoed around us. It fed into her, as if her energy had been mixed with the realm and waiting for her return.

I wasn’t sure if it was a soul, or if she ever had one, but that fragment of her life energy was enough to build on and I focused on it instead of her body. I latched on easily and filled it with whatever Helheim was willing to give.

“Harlow, enough,” Loki called out. From the look on his and the others’ faces, apparently, they’d been trying and failing to get me to stop.

Hel was fine now, the wound in her chest mended. She looked disoriented, stunned that I’d saved her, but very much alive.

“What is this feeling?” she asked in horror, rubbing at her chest.

“My guess? A soul. It’s a heavy burden. Maybe now you’ll treat Helheim with a little respect.” My words were harsh, but I had no sympathy. She had put the entire world and this realm through hell.

“Why is everyone calling you Hel? Where are we?” the man next to her spoke. The confusion in his tone was enough to stop her from saying anything back to me.

“I’m sorry, love. I never meant to put you through this,” she admitted to him as she clasped his hand in hers. “There’s a lot you need to know.”

He gave her a strained smile. “It’s all right. You can tell me.”

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