When Loki's consort and soulmate marries his rival to save their son from a curse, a prophecy leads to consequences even the God of Chaos couldn't predict.
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The Unseelie Goddess of War's revenge against Asgard's Dark Prince puts him in a no-win s...
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We'd only walked half the distance towards the Unseelie Winter Realm when my mother burst out of the mists on the Summer Realm side of the treaty plains. Maeve rode a white stallion at a full gallop, charging at us, and almost without slowing, she threw herself from the saddle to grab me in her arms.
I'd braced myself with air when I saw her coming, but it still drew a grunt of impact out of me.
"Danu's tits, Shannon! I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you," she said, squeezing me.
"Don't you dare tell her," I warned Loki and Elatha. "She doesn't need to know I died."
I hugged Maeve back just as tightly, inhaling the light scent of horse, sweat, and lemon. "It isn't something I'd like to do again"—a flash of rending teeth and claws tearing into my flesh, raw pain exploding, had my muscles tightening and a metallic taste filling my mouth. I swallowed the memory down—"but we are here with Baldur, so it was a success."
Maeve hung on just a minute more, then released me, to turn to the others. Baldur's eyes were wide, with a slight smirk to his expression, and Isis' head tilted, with a frown furrowing her brow as she looked between Maeve and me.
"You finally had a child... and it's Shannon? My brother's soulmate is the Goddess of Lust's daughter?" Baldur asked.
Maeve shrugged and propped a fist on her hip. "Hey, I'm the Goddess of War too, golden boy, so you know my daughter can fight."
Isis's eyes widened, and she covered the laugh that burst out with a hand over her mouth.
"Golden boy?" I asked Loki as he watched the insults fly back and forth between Baldur and Maeve with a glint in his green eyes.
"I suspect my big brother had a fling with Maeve before he and Isis became soulmates." His amused tone matched the little smile curving his lips.
Baldur looked somewhat disgruntled, growling when both Isis and Maeve ganged up on him.
"Should we rescue him?" I asked Loki.
"No way! This is far too entertaining. I was young when he died, the equivalent to a boy barely out of his teens in Midgardian years and maturity level. I never got to see this side of my brother. Let me soak it in," Loki said, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me against his side.
Elatha shared a smile with Loki as he ran his hand along my lower back, below Loki's. "It's the enjoyment of younger brothers everywhere, Shannon, that we love to see our older siblings humbled," Elatha said, his amusement apparent.
"I came back from Helheim for this? You know I had my own wonderful island, right?" Baldur said, but even I could see the gleam in his blue eyes past the pouty scowl he'd put on.
Isis pulled him down for a kiss, tugging his blond hair, and when they parted, the scowl was gone.
"Shall we go kick Badb's ass for daring to curse my grandson?" Maeve suggested, with an outswept arm towards the Winter Realm. Leaving her horse to graze, she started to walk towards the twilight, mist-wrapped side of the treaty plains.
