anything else I can give to take it all wherever they wish. If they release you from this vindictive curse and restore your immortality.”
A sudden wind tore through the stifling warehouse, eddying madly in thickening smoke clouds.
As abruptly as the vortex formed, it dissipated.
Sigrun appeared with two other women, reeking of that inimitable Dísir bouquet, dressed as if for a board meeting. They walked toward him and the now weakly gasping Kara with tranquil steps.
Kara’s eyes grew taunting. “It’s over, aunts. You can’t have him.”
Sigrun smiled indulgently at her. “Oh, but it’s no longer up to you, sweetie. It’s up to him.” She turned her eyes to Vidar. “Did you mean what you just said?”
“I did,” he gritted. “I do. Now quit wasting my time.”
Sigrun raised perfectly manicured hands. “Just a second, big boy. We don’t appreciate it when anyone comes complaining that we didn’t give them time to read the fine print. You understand the significance of granting us such a carte blanche?”
“I do. My soul, and anything else you want.”
“You do know what ‘anything’ means, right?”
He nodded tersely. “Do it already.”
Before he could draw another breath, oblivion claimed him.
As he faded away, he heard Sigrun exclaiming excitedly, “Wow, Kara, you’ve gone where no Valkyrie has gone before. I thought you were being overconfident when you said you’d get us better than his soul. You not only made him volunteer it, he literally signed to anything of his. This means his Endowment, and anyone he’s connected to through it. The other Lokians, and even Loki himself.”
Awareness returned like an incoming train.
It impacted him, left him decimated and scattered.
His senses coalesced from the whiteout of agony, converged on a realm that pulsed with power, everything enveloping him indeterminable, beyond his grasp.
So this was Fólkvangr.
Then he ceased trying to decipher what bombarded him.
Kara was there. Whole. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
She was staring at him, her face void of expression for the first time. She looked so near. She felt as if she were in another realm.
“You’re just sensing her real feelings at last, y’know?”
The Dísir. Those bitches were here, too? Great.
“Isn’t it? We’ll make your afterlife so…interesting.”
Were those pests reading his mind?
“Here we can do that and more. We can do anything, really.”
“Then you can literally fuck yourselves,” he growled.
“Tsk. Don’t be a sore loser, Vidar.”
“You’re losers, period.”
“We’ll excuse you, poor man. You must be feeling so stupid, so used right now. But don’t feel too bad. Kara’s convoluted plan and her seamless execution of it would have fooled any of us. It was a con for the ages. I bet Loki will teach her methods in his Trickster University for eons to come. If he doesn’t join us here soon.”
Vidar turned his eyes to Kara’s impassive one.
He turned to the Dísir. “Play another one.”
“Which one? The game where we try to pretend that you’re not the laughingstock of the afterlife? The master trickster who was taken in like a wet-nosed chump?”
“Save it, hags. As we Lokians say to females we wouldn’t touch with a realm-long pole, that’s one itch I’m never helping you scratch. You’ll have to live with the excruciating fact that Kara and I gave our lives for each other. But then, that would imply that you actually feel. You don’t. You’re defective models who came onto this immortal coil stripped of vital components, so you’ll never understand why we did what we did for each other.”
“You got a mouth on you, boy. We have an eternity to…put it to good use, though.”
“Save your threats for someone who gives a shit, or looks at you and sees anything apart from pathetic jokes.”
The Dísir looked at one another, then burst out laughing.
Sigrun pretended to wipe away a tear of hilarity. “Oh, boy. Taming this
A sudden wind tore through the stifling warehouse, eddying madly in thickening smoke clouds.
As abruptly as the vortex formed, it dissipated.
Sigrun appeared with two other women, reeking of that inimitable Dísir bouquet, dressed as if for a board meeting. They walked toward him and the now weakly gasping Kara with tranquil steps.
Kara’s eyes grew taunting. “It’s over, aunts. You can’t have him.”
Sigrun smiled indulgently at her. “Oh, but it’s no longer up to you, sweetie. It’s up to him.” She turned her eyes to Vidar. “Did you mean what you just said?”
“I did,” he gritted. “I do. Now quit wasting my time.”
Sigrun raised perfectly manicured hands. “Just a second, big boy. We don’t appreciate it when anyone comes complaining that we didn’t give them time to read the fine print. You understand the significance of granting us such a carte blanche?”
“I do. My soul, and anything else you want.”
“You do know what ‘anything’ means, right?”
He nodded tersely. “Do it already.”
Before he could draw another breath, oblivion claimed him.
As he faded away, he heard Sigrun exclaiming excitedly, “Wow, Kara, you’ve gone where no Valkyrie has gone before. I thought you were being overconfident when you said you’d get us better than his soul. You not only made him volunteer it, he literally signed to anything of his. This means his Endowment, and anyone he’s connected to through it. The other Lokians, and even Loki himself.”
Awareness returned like an incoming train.
It impacted him, left him decimated and scattered.
His senses coalesced from the whiteout of agony, converged on a realm that pulsed with power, everything enveloping him indeterminable, beyond his grasp.
So this was Fólkvangr.
Then he ceased trying to decipher what bombarded him.
Kara was there. Whole. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
She was staring at him, her face void of expression for the first time. She looked so near. She felt as if she were in another realm.
“You’re just sensing her real feelings at last, y’know?”
The Dísir. Those bitches were here, too? Great.
“Isn’t it? We’ll make your afterlife so…interesting.”
Were those pests reading his mind?
“Here we can do that and more. We can do anything, really.”
“Then you can literally fuck yourselves,” he growled.
“Tsk. Don’t be a sore loser, Vidar.”
“You’re losers, period.”
“We’ll excuse you, poor man. You must be feeling so stupid, so used right now. But don’t feel too bad. Kara’s convoluted plan and her seamless execution of it would have fooled any of us. It was a con for the ages. I bet Loki will teach her methods in his Trickster University for eons to come. If he doesn’t join us here soon.”
Vidar turned his eyes to Kara’s impassive one.
He turned to the Dísir. “Play another one.”
“Which one? The game where we try to pretend that you’re not the laughingstock of the afterlife? The master trickster who was taken in like a wet-nosed chump?”
“Save it, hags. As we Lokians say to females we wouldn’t touch with a realm-long pole, that’s one itch I’m never helping you scratch. You’ll have to live with the excruciating fact that Kara and I gave our lives for each other. But then, that would imply that you actually feel. You don’t. You’re defective models who came onto this immortal coil stripped of vital components, so you’ll never understand why we did what we did for each other.”
“You got a mouth on you, boy. We have an eternity to…put it to good use, though.”
“Save your threats for someone who gives a shit, or looks at you and sees anything apart from pathetic jokes.”
The Dísir looked at one another, then burst out laughing.
Sigrun pretended to wipe away a tear of hilarity. “Oh, boy. Taming this
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