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I steady my thoughts and look back at Ehlga. Maybe I could ask her about the crest. “Ehlga, that crest over there.” I point to it. “Can you tell me about it?”
“Of course. It’s one of the Butyrskaya family crests.”
“Butyrskaya?” I don’t know anybody by that name and I’ve never heard of them either. “Were they part of the Knights?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know them?”
“No. Desmier’s mother worked for them as a live-in maid. This was where they all lived before moving to Russia.”
“So this is their house?”
“Yes, because he and his mother were so close to them, he bought the house and even decided to keep most of their things.”
Wow, she’s told me more about Desmier in those few words than he has.
“Isn’t he in contact with them anymore?” Maybe I could speak to them.
Ehlga shakes her head. “I’m afraid not, dear. They all died many years ago.”
“Oh.” Disappointment squeezes my stomach.
I look back at the crest, taking in the intricate design. It’s as real as I am standing here.
So…what else is real inside my nightmares?
ChapterNine
Desmier
I’m at Raventhorn Hall, the headquarters of the Knights. It is situated on the grounds of Raventhorn University.
This is the place where the Ritual of Initiation is conducted. Here you take the oath, pledging your life to the Knights to live and die by the vows you make.
I walk into the ritual hall making my way down the path where Aleksander Ivanov stands at the head.
When I gave him my report last night his one request was for me to do this—take the oath again in front of him and the Knights’ council.
That report included the truth about my father. As I am going to be Aleksander’s second in command, Leif thought it wise to tell him and I agreed. I need this man to trust me, so I will tell him all the things I feel he needs to know about me.
Aleksander is standing between the stone statue of Raventhorn and the Fountain ofPromises, symbolic of the river the Viking Knights used centuries ago for rituals like this.
Around Aleksander are the twenty four members of the Knights’ council. Leif is one of them. He is judge number eight. With the changes in the structure, he assumed the role at the same time my father got the Sovietnik position in the Bratva.
Next to Leif are my brothers who stare at me the same way they did yesterday, with curiosity and an air of trepidation.
Everyone, myself included, is wearing the Knights’ tunic.
The last time I was dressed like this was years ago when I’d gone through the same ceremony. Except mine was conducted under the old pagan ways at the Knights’ temple in Uppsala, Sweden.
Although this hall is underground, the reverence is the same as at the temple and the same emblems bind them together. The main one being the Raventhorn Crest which is high above me on the center of the ceiling. It has two blue ravens on either side of a shield and the letter R engraved in the middle, along with a golden fleur-de-lis banding the ravens together.Around the crest are black carvings of the Elder Futhark runes, paired with their Greek counterparts: Alpha, Zeta, Sigma, and Omega. Those represent the four factions of the Knights.
I, like my brothers, am a Sigma. They are tasked with the first order of knighthood, which is protection and defense against enemies.
As I continue my procession toward Aleksander, all eyes are on me—the man no one knew about who could overthrow everything if he wanted to. Because of my rune.
The law of Odin’s Rune exist to show that things can change. Something can come along to challenge the life you know, the riches you hold, and the world you think you’ve built. It’s like having a reset button.
