Joshua II Read online

  The breadknife Aimee thrust beneath his nose cut off whatever else he’d been about to say, but when he looked up and met her eyes, all he saw was the sparkle of laughter. Shaking his head he sipped from the mug, enjoying the silky sweetness of the warm chocolate as it drenched his throat. “That’s just…sinful,” he said before smacking his lips loudly.

  Aimee grinned and reached for a tiny burger. For a few moments, the pair concentrated on eating, while staring out at the view. A range of snow-capped mountains encircled the valley, protecting Odin’s castle as well as the Great Hall of Valhalla. A pair of black crows circled above them, and Joshua squinted at them. “They look like Odin’s crows.”

  “Probably are. Those two are like watchdogs with wings.”

  “You mean spies with wings?” Joshua countered.

  Aimee shook her head. “I suppose if you have something to hide then you’d follow that line of thinking. For me, I appreciate knowing that those two will bring help from Odin and Frigga, and Eir too, if we ever needed it.”

  Joshua nodded. “Good point.” Then he turned away from the view and met Aimee’s melancholy eyes. “So? What is this talk that we need to have?”

  Aimee’s face smoothed out as she shifted to all-business mode. “We need to talk about you.”

  Chapter 3

  “Me?” Joshua asked, jabbing a finger into his chest. “What did I do?”

  “Nothing. Well, I mean it’s more like what you are not doing.”

  Joshua scowled. “Maybe it would help if you used your words?”

  Aimee smirked. “What happened when you were looking into the basin of bloody water? I saw you drift off somewhere. What were you thinking?”

  Joshua stiffened. He almost told her to mind her own damn business, but then he paused. He owed Aimee so very much, both in their past lives and now. He shook his head. “It was Aidan’s blood.” He shrugged, shifting his gaze free from hers. “It just struck me then that he was gone.”

  Aimee tilted her head to one side. “You really do need to get things straight in your head. Why are you in denial?”

  “Denial about what? Bryn’s hurting, and we’ll be there for her no matter what. That’s all there is to it.”

  She snorted. “You know, it’s not really so manly when you lie to yourself. Especially when those around you can see the truth.” Aimee held Joshua’s gaze, but he shook his head.

  He wasn’t sure that he wanted to talk about this, more so because he had a feeling where Aimee was headed.

  Aimee sighed. “Look, you’re not doing yourself, or even Bryn, any favors if you keep lying about your feelings.”

  “Aimee,” Joshua said, holding up a hand for her to stop.

  “Don’t Aimee me,” she snapped, leaning toward him. “Bryn believes there is nothing between the two of you. Do you really think it’s fair to either of you to lie to her?” Aimee stared at Joshua, her expression almost angry.

  Joshua shook his head. “Maybe there was something once. But we never got to find out what it really meant. For all I know, it was merely a passing attraction.” Joshua let out a soft sigh and glanced down at his empty mug. He paused to focus on pouring the rest of the chocolate into both of their mugs, ignoring the knowing look on Aimee’s face.

  Finally, when Joshua had sipped his chocolate and savored the rich sweetness, he set the mug down and met his friend’s eyes.

  “Look…you have to understand how it was. Bryn and I…we clicked. Things were never hard for us. Everything was perfect until it just…wasn’t.” Joshua sat back and stared into his chocolate, his appetite for the delicious drink all but gone as he remembered the way Bryn had behaved.

  Joshua’s memories had returned to him, but not everything had come back with stark clarity. Now, as he recalled Bryn’s rejection, he felt again the pain of it, the helplessness he’d felt at being unable to get through to her. Joshua looked up at Aimee. “Something happened to her, to the way she behaved around me. She just stopped wanting to be around me. Not a single explanation, nothing. One day she just stopped talking to me. I figured then that what we had couldn’t have been more than a lonely girl looking for company in a new and unwelcoming town. That maybe I’d read things into our relationship that were not there to begin with.”

  Aimee sat closer, placing her mug on the table and wiping her mouth with a napkin. “So, can I ask you something?” Without waiting for Joshua’s response, Aimee said, “What are you? Why are you here in Asgard?”

  Joshua frowned. “What are you going on about now?” His impatience lent his tone an edge of sharpness, but Aimee seemed unconcerned.

  She merely smiled and then repeated the questions, then sat back and waited.

  Joshua curbed the temptation to get up and walk away from the whole conversation. Taking a breath, he said, “I’m an einherjar?”

  She nodded solemnly. “Do you know how an einherjar is identified by a valkyrie? What tells a valkyrie that the warrior is ready for retrieval?”

  Joshua shook his head. “Haven’t exactly been given the details here, you know.”

  Aimee frowned and opened her mouth to reply. Then she thought better and closed her lips. She paused then said, “A valkyrie is able to tell a warrior from a regular guy because of something called “the glow.” Apparently, warriors glow a pretty golden color which alerts any nearby valkyries that when he dies, he needs to be taken back to Valhalla.”

  Joshua shrugged. “Didn’t notice that. I looked totally normal in the mirror every day.”

  “I didn’t notice anything either.” Aimee smirked. “We can’t see it. Only the valkyries can see the glow.” Aimee shook her head and let out a weary sigh. “Joshua, for all your smarts, you’re actually pretty dense.”

  Joshua scowled, affronted at the insult. He was about to argue for his non-denseness when he stiffened. “Bryn is a valkyrie. She would have seen the glow,” he said softly.

  “Yes. And there is another thing you need to remember.”

  Joshua nodded and replied, “She didn’t know what she was.”

  “Not until she saw me, and then I died soon after.” Aimee was staring out at the view. “When she looked at me, she had this odd expression. And when we found out she was a valkyrie, it made a little more sense to me. She knew I was glowing too, and she would have put two and two together when I died. At least, she would have been suspicious of something.”

  “And I must have been glowing too,” Joshua murmured. “And she wouldn’t have known it would be anything more than just a mortal death…”

  “Yep. What do you think she was feeling when she looked at you? Every time she set eyes on you, she would have been in agony wondering if it really meant you would die too.”

  Joshua swallowed hard. Had he taken Bryn’s behavior totally the wrong way? Had he based his feelings, his interpretation of what their relationship truly meant, on Bryn’s shock at knowing he was about to die?

  Joshua was silent for so long that Aimee shifted closer and tugged his sleeve. “Even if she felt something for you, she would have been terrified. What if she was right and you did die? Did it have something to do with her? If you’d been seeing people glow wherever you went, and then they died soon after, wouldn’t you maybe think…with at least some small part of your heart…that you were the cause? That you were the one causing them to die?”

  Joshua wasn’t sure how to respond to Aimee. She’d thought it all through seemingly without much trouble. “How did you find out about how valkyries become…valkyries?” Joshua asked softly.

  “Because I told her,” said a soft voice from in front of the curtain.

  Joshua snapped his gaze to see Sigrun standing there, her eyes filled with sadness.

  “Please forgive me for walking into your private conversation. But it appears the timing is perfect?” Sigrun said, tilting her head to the right, her gray wings shivering slightly behind her.

  Aimee waved a hand at the valkyrie just as Joshua got to his feet and beckoned Sigr
un to take his seat. Sigrun smiled and sat slowly, then glanced out at the view. “You have chosen a spot with a stunning view.”

  Joshua smiled and nodded, wanting her to explain but not willing to appear rude or impatient.

  Then Sigrun shifted her dark gray eyes back to Joshua. “Valkyries are extremely rare. Bryn herself is an anomaly, a…creation that is so unusual that none of us ever expected it.” Sigrun paused and swallowed, blinking away at what Joshua assumed was a rush of tears. “The last valkyrie to enter Asgard came to us four hundred years ago. In the days when Odin and Thor walked the Midgardian planes, man and god maintained a symbiotic relationship. There was a great trust that existed, a deep sense of belief in what the afterlife held. There was an intense passion for the gods, intertwined with the passion for your brothers and sisters, both in arms and in blood.

  “Valkyries were once the midwives and the seers of the people, who, when they died, ascended to Asgard to be Odin’s valkyries, the women who went out into Midgard to claim the bravest of the brave.”

  “So Bryn is a seer? Is that what makes her special? Seers are very unusual in our time,” said Joshua, frowning as he turned the possibility over in his head.

  But Sigrun was shaking her head. “No. Brynhildr is not a seer. Her…origin was uncertain at first. Shrouded in secrecy once it was suspected how she came into being.”

  “Wait, that sounds strange. How she came into being? You’re making her sound like a freak or a mutant or something.” Aimee was staring daggers at Joshua—which he ignored even though he knew he should just shut up and wait for Sigrun to tell her tale.

  Sigrun merely smiled. “I suppose, the way a Midgardian would look at it, Bryn would qualify as what you term a freak. She is not technically human.” Sigrun got to her feet and turned to face the view. A light breeze lifted the locks of her jet black hair tossing them around her face. She brushed them away and turned to face Aimee and Joshua. “Centuries ago, a valkyrie named Brunhilde lived in Midgard. She was the daughter of Odin, and his greatest treasure. She was also the most powerful valkyrie to ever exist.”

  Sigrun stopped speaking for a few moments, then took a deep, ragged breath. “Then Brunhilde fell in love, and she wanted a normal life, she wanted children. And Odin gave her what she asked. Perhaps he loved her too much, so much that he happily broke the rules for her. No one had ever heard of a valkyrie with children, not until Brunhilde did the impossible. And surprisingly, she still performed her duties as a valkyrie. Even though she had a family. She proved that valkyries could still love, that they could still have children and a husband. She gave us hope.”

  Chapter 4

  Odin’s Great Hall hummed with the low echoes of urgent conversation as warriors, valkyries and Ulfr alike awaited Odin’s and Fenrir’s words.

  Joshua and Aimee, along with Karim and Jill had gathered to the left of the great dais.

  Odin sat on his stone throne, his spine bent, his shoulders bowed as though the weight of the world rested upon them. He wore a dark cloak and a wide-brimmed matching leather hat that cloaked his eyes in shadows.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly, warriors, valkyries, and Ulfr,” Odin said, his voice filling the hall. “We have had some disconcerting news, which is why you have been summoned so quickly.

  “Mimir has given us his word,” said Odin. “He has confirmed that the Vanir have made progress in infiltrating Midgard. They have long been working to place their agents in vital positions within the governments and businesses of the world. I fear they are too widely spread for us to eradicate. And we are very concerned that these agents of the Vanir will succeed in undermining the power of Asgard.”

  Joshua and Aimee stood silently as a number of the einherjar around them muttered about not being told until now. Joshua wasn’t about to inform them that he already knew.

  Odin continued, “It is vital that we make a stronger effort to bring more warriors to Valhalla. Scout teams will be formed within the hour, and will be dispatched all across Midgard. Teams will be comprised of einherjar, valkyries, and Ulfr for the best protection of the team as a whole.

  “Fenrir will be along soon to send you off to your allocated teams where you will prepare for your missions. I apologize but some of you will be leaving within a few hours.”

  A hum of conversation rose at the news, and then fell just as quickly.

  One of the einherjar generals climbed the dais to speak in low tones with the All-Father. Odin’s expression was tense and worried, and he asked again where Fenrir was. The general spoke softly and Odin shook his head.

  “What do you think is going on?” asked Jill, her eyes wide as she stared around her. She’d only recently recovered enough to join them on the fields and Joshua had found himself a little protective of her.

  Aimee chuckled softly as she stood on her toes to peer over the taller heads of the gathered warriors. “Not a clue. But damn if I’m not dying of curiosity here.”

  Karim folded his arms and smiled. “Patience dear ones.”

  Aimee rolled her eyes and Jill let out a soft giggle. “Yes, your highness,” Aimee said, dropping a short curtsey.

  Karim snorted and then waved her off with a regal flap of his hand. Joshua smiled at the camaraderie within the team. At one point, he and Aimee had been concerned about Karim. But not any longer. The prince had fit right into the team and was now as passionate as the next warrior when it came to training to defend the world during Ragnarok.

  Joshua was about to needle Karim as well when the ripple of conversation within the Hall died down a little. Not to total silence but enough to announce the entrance of someone important.

  Joshua shifted to study the entrance to the hall and found himself stiffening.

  Bryn walked in, her spine stiff, her stride sure. She focused on the ground as she made her way to the dais. Odin looked toward her as she drew close and a smile broke out across his face, one filled with sadness and empathy.

  Joshua had learned, along with many a warrior and valkyrie, that the powerful god had a heart filled with unrivaled love for this people. Now, Joshua’s gut tightened as Odin smiled at Bryn as she made her way through the gathered warriors.

  A feathered shadow streaked around the room and landed on Bryn’s shoulder. Either Hugin or Munin, Joshua couldn’t be sure. He watched as Bryn and the bird studied each other, seeming to communicate in much the same way as Odin did with his messenger birds.

  Standing there, watching her when she wasn’t aware of his presence, made Joshua feel a little like a voyeur. A part of him felt as though he really shouldn’t be watching her without letting her know he was there.

  When Bryn glared at the bird and shrugged—hard enough to almost unseat the creature from her shoulder—Joshua found himself grinning. The bird tipped to the side, flapped his black wings, then righted himself.

  “Come closer, Brynhildr,” Odin said, beckoning her closer with a curl of his finger.

  By now the conversation had begun to flow again, a soft susurration that rose and fell around them. Bryn strode closer and Joshua found himself staring at her bronze armor, at her deep red wings as they fluttered behind her. He was still finding it so hard to absorb the fact that his Bryn was a real live Valkyrie.

  She’s not your Bryn, you fool.

  Joshua stiffened as he reminded himself of where he truly stood in the big picture.

  Odin studied Bryn, his face now cheerful

  “My lord,” Bryn said, lowering her head and remaining still.

  “Child, I know you have grieved,” said Odin softly, his words drifting to Joshua clearly, “and I do know you feel you are to blame. But you must release yourself from such a punishment. None of what happened is your fault.”

  Joshua was only a few feet from her and he could already tell Odin’s words were getting her hackles up. Her spine had stiffened the tiniest bit and her jaw tightened. She’d stayed in her room for the last few days, and every hour that had gone by in which Bryn had not bro
ken free, had hurt even deeper.

  She was never the type to feel sorry for herself. But here she was wallowing in self-pity? Joshua had found it hard to understand but Aimee had made him see it clearer.

  “I understand, my lord,” Bryn replied just as softly.

  Odin nodded slowly, his hand flapping with the movement.

  “But I should really have paid closer attention to Loki, and to Aidan. Aidan was my responsibility. And no matter how I look at it, I failed.”

  Odin frowned at her words, but Bryn seemed to be staring back at him too.

  “She’s definitely got guts,” whispered a warrior in the group near Joshua. “Nobody has the audacity to behave like that to Odin.”

  Though Joshua wanted to tell the two warriors to shut up, he forced himself to not act on the temptation.

  Odin began to laugh, the sound enveloping the occupants of the hall like rumbling thunder. “Come now, Brynhildr. You must pull yourself out of this grief and self-blame. It is time to move ahead. Time to act instead of feeling sorry for yourself.” Joshua glanced at Aimee, catching her eye as she too appeared to fume at the warrior’s comments.

  He shook his head and frowned, receiving a roll of her eyes for his efforts. He turned back to the dais as Odin spoke, leaning forward to study Bryn’s face. “Life is moving along without you,” the All-Father said, a hint of impatience in his voice, “and I can no longer allow you to wallow in self-pity. I need you on the front lines.”

  “About time someone pulled her out of her self-pity,” muttered Aimee.

  “Grief isn’t self-pity,” Joshua said softly. He hadn’t forgotten what Aimee had said, hadn’t been able to stop wondering if she was right, if Bryn was more angry with her failure than grieving for Aidan.

  He focused on the conversation as Bryn said, “What’s going on?” She frowned as she scanned the hall, her gaze flicking over the warriors and valkyries all gathered in the hall. Many were still talking in their groups, paying little attention to Odin’s conversation with Bryn. They’d been summoned here for a reason, but it had little to do with Bryn herself, so the gathered troops bided their time until Odin addressed them.