To save the Valkyrie who broke his heart, the Fae Sea God makes a deal with the Demon Prince of the Aerial Kingdoms, but Pazuzu has a history of stealing the women Manannan loves.
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When Mist visits her parents' home in California, she assumes th...
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Thirty-two days. Such a short time compared to the four thousand years I'd lived thus far. Five times that, if counted by Litaui's calendar. Yet still, each day since I'd last seen Mist seemed an eternity.
I dragged a hand through my hair, tugging.
Despite the distraction of helping Shannon, Elatha, and Loki to China's shore. Despite checking on the new coral beds I'd seeded. Despite rescuing a dolphin calf from a fishing net.
None of my usual activities gave me any sense of satisfaction.
Blessed Danu. How did one tiny blue-haired curvaceous pixie embed herself within me so quickly?
With a growl, I stepped through the shimmering portal between Litaui and Tír na nÓg, nodding to the black and silver-clad Atlantean guards.
"Welcome back, Manannan Mac Lir. Do you require a resting chamber, or are you headed out this rising?"
"I'm heading out into the surface waters... Balta, is it?"
The guard's mostly dark face, with only two snowy stripes, broke into a grin and he bowed. "Yes, Sea God. I'm pleased you remember me."
My answering smile was strained. Too much. I damn well remembered too much. The feel of her warm flesh pressed against me. The tangy taste of her arousal on my tongue. Her moans more seductive than Niflheim's sirens. And her scent...
Striding quickly, I left the secured portal chamber in the outpost's heart and burst into the green bioluminescence of the Atlantean dome. I couldn't outrun the memories. I'd tried. But perhaps Maeve could give me some insight into why Mist had gone, in the span of a single day, from a passionate dynamo turning my blood into geothermal springs to freezing me out with the fury of Litaui's Antarctic storms.
If Maeve couldn't tell me, I'd try to track down Kara, Mist's best friend and fellow Valkyrie. Odd that I hadn't encountered Mist sooner, given how often Kara and I had crossed paths in the past. Although, to be fair, not recently. It was curious that Kara had chosen to revert to her birth name, instead of her better-known goddess identity. Not like I could blame her for no longer using Artemis when I no longer went by Poseidon. I'm sure she had her reasons.
Either way, catching up with the fierce huntress might be a pleasant distraction. We'd only managed a few words before they'd left to mislead the Wild Hunt for our escape. No, instead I'd been trying, once again, to get Mist to speak to me, to tell me why she'd suddenly cut me adrift. Stubborn damn Valkyrie.
Just when I'd thought we'd begun something special.
I clenched my fists.
At least I knew they'd also gotten away from the Wild Hunt. The message Maeve had sent me still made me chuckle. I could imagine the fury on Cyhiraeth, Crom, and Camulus' faces when Loki's illusion dissolved to reveal who they were fighting.
