Lot takes a trip into the past and finds a new ally, or are they?
Hastings – 1844
Snow crunched under my feet as I rose. The wood was still and quiet, snow falling all around.
‘You’re magnificent,’ the man said.
I swung round and fired a knife from my sleeve.
The knife stopped short of his hand and hung in the air. ‘Inventive.’ The knife dropped into the snow.
He was old, face worn, and his tousled red hair run through with strands of white. There was a scar from his hairline to his cheekbone, one eye healed shut, the other deep green. His face rippled and he was young with chalk white skin and rich red waves, only the scar remained the same. Then he was old again.
‘I prefer having a little age, it’s more… distinguished,’ he said. ‘My wife, as people have called Frigga, reckons it makes me look like I’m robbing the cradle.’ He snorted.
‘I’m meant to know who you are.’ I arched my eyebrows as if I had absolutely no idea.
‘You know. Maybe not here.’ He tapped his head. ‘But here.’ He tapped his chest.
I shrugged and a hint of disappointment passed over his face.
‘I am Wodan, Odin, All Father. Funny story, my wife says they call me All Father because I can’t keep my dick in my pants.’ He laughed. In his pressed suit, a green silk waistcoat, polished shoes he wasn’t what I expected of someone who rode around chopping heads off. I should’ve known better.
I tucked my thumbs in my knife belt. ‘That’s lovely, I’m sure.’
‘You don’t give a fuck.’
I smiled. ‘The field is fallow. The desert is dry. Not a single fuck will fall from the sky.’ I looked up as if I was checking for rain.
He chuckled. ‘Perfect.’
‘Unless you’re going to tell your rider to bugger off and leave my husband alone maybe go away now.’
He sucked a breath between his teeth. ‘They’re not my rider. Maybe more a consequence of me riding.’
‘So, all your children are riders and you have no control over them.’
‘No, and yes.’ He tapped his lips. ‘And she’s not my child, no more than you are. And don’t worry, her mother was born in the bonds of marriage, so to speak. But I’ll have it noted Frigga is as bad as me, we aren’t inclined to monogamy. Except when we are, if you get what I mean.’
‘Careful not to choke on the bollocks coming out your mouth.’
He smirked. ‘It’s lucky my wife is a very knowledgeable woman or I might be in trouble for this mess.’ He sighed. ‘And we were doing so well, we haven’t had a storming argument in months, we have our little Renfray. Granted we wouldn’t have had our little Renfray without our last storming argument.’ He frowned at the distance.
‘Do you realise you’re talking out loud?’ I asked.
‘Am I?’ He touched his chest and his surprised expression seemed feigned. ‘Old age.’
I suspected it had very little to do with old age and a lot to do with fooling me into thinking he was a harmless old man.
‘You know, another reason they call me the All Father?’ He stepped closer. ‘I love all my children, when Jax told us about you I had to see you.’
I jerked away from his hot hand, buzzing with magic.
‘I’m your grandfather, a few times over.’ He wafted a hand. ‘I have no idea how many but you have such potential.’
I was going to take a guess that two of grandchildren using magic on each other had cause some kind of feedback. I wasn’t sure why or how but Freyja had taught me not to go asking questions of random Fae, it could get you in a lot of trouble if they decided you owed them a debt.
I looked him in the eye. ‘My potential is my own.’ My magic crackled.
He hissed, his face shifted back and forth, and pulled his hand away. He rubbed his fingers. ‘Sparky little thing.’ He examined the red marks. ‘I will tell you something that will help you, perhaps then you will trust me.’
I spread my arms. I wouldn’t ask for it and I wouldn’t trust it. The Morag couldn’t lie, but I knew from experience it was possible to lie without lying.
‘People think Freyr killed innocent people but that’s not entirely true,’ he said. ‘No rider can harm an innocent but, there’s a loophole. Belief, the most powerful force in all the worlds.’
‘Hmm,’ I said, to fill his annoying dramatic pause.
‘The wife of The Priest must know how people can believe themselves guilty. You can’t wipe away the stain of true guilt but you can manufacture it, that’s how Freyr did it.’
Energy crackled between my fingers. ‘She deliberately killed vulnerable people.’
‘That was why we made the decision to stop her but we she was our child. So, we got The Saracen to do it.’ He wafted his hand. ‘He was disposable, should it have gone wrong.’
Freyja stepped out of the trees behind him. ‘I’ve been blaming the wrong person all along.’
He swung round. ‘How do you know what I said?’
Because when you talk out your arse I can lip read from behind.’ She shook her head. ‘You should’ve told me, there was no reason not to.’
‘What are you doing here?’ He stepped closer to her.
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Because I knew what you were going to do.’ She looked at me. ‘And I know trying to manipulate Lot will always blow up in your face.’
‘Never stops you,’ I said.
She smiled. ‘I’m The Trickster God, it’s in my nature.’ She looked at Odin. ‘Either you tell her the bit you’re missing out or I will and then we’ll see which of us retains the most power.’
‘I –‘
‘No excuses.’
He sighed. ‘You made her angry. If she wants to hurt you she can use someone against you who isn’t guilty of anything, they just need to believe they are.’
It hadn’t worked on Bran, surprisingly. My breath caught.
Mille. She could use Millie. I needed to get back but I didn’t know how.
Odin turned to Freyja. ‘Pissing people off does tend to come back to bite.’
‘Read the stories, some of us are better at getting away with it than others.’ She stepped right into his personal space. ‘We need a… chat.’ She snapped her fingers.
The air whooshed. I fell to my knees in the mud by the gate to Field House.
‘Charlotte.’ Josef was beside me in an instant and Bran a moment later.
Everything was where it should be but I was trembling. ‘We need to get home. Now.’
