Fate Forgotten (11 page)

He returned to Evaline, as he had promised he would, and stood on the edge of a field of ripening wheat. It was a clear day, and he saw her husband driving the goats. If he summoned lightning now, it would be the goatherds who came first, not Evaline, and he had no desire to speak to her husband. Not yet.

He settled into a nearby tree to wait. Evaline was used to his arrival at dusk, and she would be sure she was the one to come looking if he called her with thunder then. A bird cried above him, warning others of his presence, and the other creatures quieted, scurrying to hide or freezing where they stood. Thor kept still and waited for them to become accustomed to him. But there was another sound that didn’t fit among the trees. Human. A sniffling, like a child weeping at the edge of the wood. He dropped back to the earth and followed it.

A woman with dark hair sat on the bank of a creek, and though she had not yet turned, he felt certain it was Evaline. The water turned red, and he swore, lurching out of the shadows and grabbing her by the arm to stop her.

Blood was everywhere. Spilling bright from the veins in her arms. He wrapped his hand over the largest cut, applying pressure to slow the bleeding. But there was already so much.

“
Tonitrus?
” she whispered, staring at him with wide eyes in a white face.

“Little Evaline.” He sighed. She held a dagger in her other hand. “Why would you do this?”

She was crying again, harder now. And he worried that she would make herself pass out between the sobs and the blood she had lost. “He said you wouldn’t come back again unless I sacrificed. That you were angry with me. He said you would only answer to my blood.”

“Oh Evaline…” He could feel the pulse of her heart in the rush of her blood against his hand. He didn’t dare to fool with it further. Once he had drawn lightning into his palm to cauterize a man’s arm when he had lost it in a sword fight, but if he tried that now, she might lose the limb. He wished he had Idunn’s healing touch, or even Eve’s memory for herbs. If he could get her back to the house, they were sure to have some kind of healer. “Who told you this?”

“He said he was a god. He said he was your uncle. That you had sent him. He called himself Lopter. When I said I didn’t believe him, he turned into a monster. He said he would eat little Eve if I didn’t do as he told me.”

Loki, then. He bit back a curse and focused on keeping the pressure on her arm. With his other hand, he fumbled for the hem of his cloak, and then tore strips from the bottom with his teeth. The pressure against his hand seemed to ebb, and he began to wrap it with the strips of woolen cloth, so that he could carry her back to the house. There was a chuckle, he thought, from deeper in the wood. Loki, staying to admire his handiwork?

“I have never asked for blood, Evaline. Not from my people, and certainly not from you. Nor would I ever harm your child, or let harm befall her.”

But what could he tell her to do if Loki returned? Zeus did not guard this land, and the True God did not seem to bestir himself. He grimaced. Charms of protection would have to be wrought. He would need help to do it right. Now that Loki had seen him helping her, there was no way the Trickster would leave them alone.

“Let me take you home.”

He lifted her into his arms, supporting her head against his shoulder when it lolled. Her eyes closed and he let the lightning carry them, flaring white and hot, crawling over both their forms and swallowing them whole. Faster to deliver her, and less likely to jog her arm and start the bleeding again. They reappeared in her bedroom and he laid her down on the mattress, calling for a servant or a healer, and someone to find her husband.

Athena?

Thor. You’re upset?

I have need of you, and your sister Artemis. And Apollo, if he will come.
He showed her Evaline, in the bed, and gave her his knowledge of how it had come to pass.
Please, Athena. I dare not ask my own people, for fear my father will forbid me from this too.

She was silent for a moment, and he felt her distraction.
Better not to ask my sister or brother, but Ra will send Isis to you. She will be able to do the work of both without risking it revealed to your Trickster.

And you?

I come.

A woman came into the room and stopped short at the sight of him, crossing herself and mumbling a prayer. His eyes blazed white, and he forced himself to calm. “She’s lost blood. Heat water for me, please.”

She disappeared again just as quickly, and he checked Evaline’s arm. The bandage was wet, but with Isis coming he was less concerned. She would be healed.

He moved to the window, looking for the goddesses, anxious for their arrival. Loki stood outside the house, cloaked and grinning. Thor growled, the sky blackening but before the lightning charged, Loki flickered and disappeared.

Light filled the room, blinding in its intensity, and then Isis was there. A welcome distraction from his anger and frustration, which already rattled the house. Thunder boomed and rolled across the sky, impotent and useless.

“Quiet, Thunderer, is what this girl needs,” Isis said. She tsked, her fingers moving delicately over Evaline’s skin, tracing the bleeding scratches. The wounds healed almost at once, and she unwrapped his crude bandage, sighing at what she found. “Self-inflicted?”

“She was tricked,” he said.

Isis nodded acceptance and wrapped her hands around the deep cut on Evaline’s arm, speaking so quickly and so softly that he could not hear what she said. Light filled the room again, softer now, but just as powerful, turning Evaline’s skin translucent.

“What is this? Who are you? What’s happened to my wife?” a man’s voice demanded.

Thor grabbed him by the arm and hauled him back out of the room so as not to disturb Isis. “Do you know me?” he asked.

The man, Gaius, hesitated, then nodded. “Thor of the North.
Tonitrus.
”

Evaline had kept her word. He relaxed slightly. “I found her in the wood. There was an accident.” He did not want this man to think she had hurt herself purposely. Nor did he want to explain Loki. The Trickster would not be troubling these people again, regardless. “Isis heals her at my request, but she will need her rest.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know to find her?”

“I am a god, Gaius.”

Though he did not want to think what would have happened if he hadn’t arrived then. Or had Loki’s manipulation been timed for his benefit? How long had Loki been waiting to do this, watching the House of Lions. He grimaced as he considered that Sif might have been with him. It didn’t matter. Once the charms were cast, she would not be able to harm these people either. Nor would Odin forbid him from protecting them. Banishment served him in this, if nothing else.

“Do you still doubt me?” Thor asked.

Evaline’s husband glanced at the doorway. White light streamed through it, brighter than sunlight. An owl swooped through an open window, and melted into Athena. Gaius swallowed audibly, staring at the goddess with dawning comprehension.

“My Lady Minerva!” He dropped to his knees.

Thor sighed. “Me, he questions, but you he knows on sight.”

Athena smiled without humor. “And well he should. He comes from my lands.” She waved the man to his feet. “Your family is thrice blessed, Gaius. Thor does much to aid you.”

Gaius stood, but kept his head bowed. “We’re honored by your presence. Can we offer you wine? Bread?”

Athena shook her head. “Call your people in from the fields. We have work to do to protect your household now that your wife is healed. Do not disturb us.” The man bowed and went to do as he was bid.

Thor returned to the bedroom. Evaline was awake, watching Isis with something close to fear. Her expression cleared the moment she looked upon him, and he crossed to her side, taking her hand.

“Little Evaline. You’ve nothing to fear now.”

“Please, will you stay? For dinner? To tell us our history?” To keep the other away, her eyes said, to protect my daughter.

He stroked her hair from her face, and glanced at Isis. She withdrew to wait with Athena. Evaline looked so small, so fragile. He forced his jaw to relax, his tension to ease. It would not do to show her his own pain, now. She needed his strength.

“I’ve work to do this night to keep your family safe,” he said gently. “Make a bed for me and I’ll share the meal with you in the morning. But you must make me a promise Evaline.”

“Anything,” she said. Her fingers tightened around his hand.

“You cannot leave your lands. Keep yourself and your children within the boundaries that have been marked. And never offer your blood in sacrifice again to any god, no matter what you’ve been told.”

She turned her face away and closed her eyes. “Forgive me.”

“No, Evaline.” He knelt beside her and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I brought this trouble to you. Lopter—Loki, he only came here to hurt me. But I promise you, this land will be made safe. No immortal meaning harm will be allowed to pass through its borders. I should have done it long ago.”

Gaius has brought his people inside. We may begin.

He kissed her forehead. “Rest, little Evaline. I will be here all night. Bringing thunder and lightning for Isis to work her magic.” He let her go then, and though he knew she wished he would stay, he left the room. Gaius would offer her better comfort, besides.

I have already called for him,
Athena said.

Thank you.
He rolled his shoulders, fighting the weight of his own guilt. Now was not the time for recrimination. It would only interfere with the work that must be done. “Thank you.”

“Let this thing be done quickly,” Isis said. “Before the Trickster returns to do more injury.”

He led the way through the fields and the trees to the edge of the land belonging to the House of Lions. The edge of the lands Zeus had ceded to him. It had grown dark, and Athena sent her owls to fly and watch for Loki and Sif. They walked the border together, and with lightning and the magic Isis wove through it, drove the symbols and runes of protection deep into the earth as they went. They carved the marks into the trees and stones as well, to warn those who passed this way. This land was claimed. This land was protected. This land was saved.

It took them all night, but when Isis left them, he knew Loki would not be able to reach these people again, and he had kept the pledge he had made to the House of Lions over a thousand years ago. The pledge he had renewed each time he returned. And the next time Eve returned here, she would be safer than she had ever been before. Safe from Adam, safe from Sif and Loki, safe even from the angels if they ever sought to harm her.

Athena returned with him to the house where Evaline lived, and he collapsed onto the bed that had been made for him, too tired even to object when Athena rolled him over and crawled beneath the blanket beside him.

“My price for removing your boots,” she murmured, curling up against his side.

He heard nothing more until morning, when the birds and the sun brought him half-awake. Athena lay beside him still, her skin soft and warm, and the spice of olive and lightning in her hair. His arm tightened around her waist, drawing her nearer, fitting her into the curve of his body. It had been so long…

Evaline’s voice rose sharply through the window, chiding a slave, and he jerked back, nearly falling out of the bed. Athena. Not Athena, of all women. To use her that way—to even think of it, at all—was unforgivable.

He stumbled out of the room, for he had promised Evaline he would join the family for their morning meal, and he had never been gladder to take up his duty.

When he returned to the room to sleep off the remainder of his fatigue, Athena was gone. But he missed her warmth in the bed and the sound of her heartbeat, and his body did not forget how perfectly she had fit against him. How desperately he had wanted her closer, skin to skin and hardened need sinking deep inside her welcoming heat.

Thor lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Clearly, he had been too long alone if he could be tempted so easily by a warm, soft body in his bed. And it was very good, he thought, before sleep finally claimed him again, that Evaline was married.

Chapter Eleven: Present