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My temple pulsed, and I flinched.Ow! The hell was that?
The pulse happened again and then searing pain split through my skull. I grabbed my head and gritted my teeth.
My vision flickered and my surroundings changed. I was in a timber home. Then I was in the forest. Then I was in front of a lake. Back in the forest.
Back and forth my vision went, experiencing some other place for split moments of time—like I was there—but I was here.
People came and went. But some came more often. A woman with gorgeous red hair and a soft smile, but a dangerous air about her. A rugged man with a bushy beard who radiated warmth. A young man with braided hair shaved on either side of his head, who made me feel annoyed and happy at the same time.
Mom? Dad? Leif?
I shook my head. No, those weren’t my parents. That wasn’t my…Brother?
A hand touched my shoulder. I gasped and launched off the log I sat on, whirling around and backing up as I did. Aya stood there, her arm still outstretched. Worry lines creased her brow.
My vision slipped again, but this time, it was only her who changed. A blur, almost like an overlay, of Aya, but with a much different outfit, something from an older time period, and braided hair instead of locks.
My sight solidified to the woman I knew. Or the one I thought I knew until this very moment.She and Tyr know each other. And they have for a long time.
“How long have you known?” I demanded.
The worry in Aya’s gaze didn’t go away. “Astrid, you look like you’re in pain still. Let me help.”
I took a step back. “Tell me the truth.”
She let out a long sigh, her shoulders drooping, and then she plunked down on the log. She patted the spot next to her. “I would like it if you sat with me while I did so.”
I hesitated, struggling to want to trust the friend I thought I knew, and mistrusting the woman she might end up truly being. She waited patiently, watching but not asking, allowing me to decide my comfort level. I’d get the truth either way, but I had to decide how much I trusted her.
And as messed up as this whole situation was, I still trusted her the most right now.
Aya smiled when I tentatively perched on the log. “Thank you. I don’t want this to be difficult for you. Hell, I wanted this to go far differently. Had I known it would happen like this…” She pinched her nose and sighed. “I would have intercepted before Tyr could make things worse.”
“He always did have trouble with words,” I said before I could stop the words from tumbling out.Where had that come from?
Aya chuckled. “Yes, especially with you.”
She frowned and then sighed. “I’m sorry. I owe you an explanation. And I will explain everything. All I ask is you hear me out all the way through.”
I swallowed, my pulse thrumming under my skin, and nodded. I asked these things of my patients all the time when doing group therapy. To hear a person out entirely before forming opinions and comments.
“As I know you are suspecting, I am the war goddess Freya. We knew each other a long time ago. We were close then. When you died, Tyr was distraught and forced me into a blood oath to bring you back.”
She shook her head. “I would have made the attempt regardless, but given the situation, I understood his demands. The magic I used couldn’t give you a body, so it reincarnated your soul. That’s when the search began.”
Aya’s shoulders slumped. “We found you… but we were too late. You were dead. You were only a child.”
I swallowed, and my heart lurched.
“I performed the ritual again, hoping the next time we’d get you back.” Her fingers dug into her skirt, her shoulders tensing. “I performed that ritual seven more times.”
My blood ran cold.Seven more?That put me on my ninth reincarnated life.
“Tyr only knew of three. I couldn’t bear to tell him about the other ones. I knew it’d break him. It nearly broke me. And that’s why, the last time, I did something different. I added more magic into your revival so I could find the unique signature that is my magic. I vowed to find you sooner, and keep you safe from whatever was hunting you this time, no matter the cost.”
Aya shook her head. “I almost failed again.”
I swallowed, my pulse pounding in my ears.She knew about me back when my mom tried to kill me?
