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Jenna led Kaleb and Shaw on a lightning tour of the set up.Upbeat. Smiling. Absently checking her phone every fifteen seconds, even as shepointed out the bar set up adjacent to the patio. Then moved onto the threelarge barbeques positioned off to the far side. Directing their attention tohow the tables and chairs were placed, advising how that encouraged bothtraffic flow and socialisation.
Under Jenna’s ever watchful eye a team of ten workers were busybuilding temporary wooden shade structures and stringing up swathes ofcolourful lights and banners. Jenna promised the sharp edged decorations wouldbe hung up tomorrow morning. Because, as Jenna confided, no matter how manytimes she asked her crew not to play fight with the more pointy decorations,they generally couldn’t help themselves. Fervently hoping to avoid anyemergency room visits or the need to fill out any more personal injury forms.
Their last stop was the raised dais located on the grassoverlooking the designated games area. Shaw thought it looked good but bothJenna and Kaleb studied the positioning of the two gold thrones with suchcareful attention, you’d think lives were at stake. Then Kaleb began makingnoises about needing more decorations, more fuss. Jenna adding in alien wordslike glitz, sparkle and pizzazz. It was like the duo were talking anotherlanguage. Shaw was so out of there.
Inside the large house it was just as busy as outside. More ofJenna’s crew bustling in and out of the kitchen. Bringing in supplies. Stackingboxes. Unpacking glasses, plates and cutlery. Everywhere there were people;hustling, bustling, being noisy, yet seemingly efficient. But nowhere was therea sign of her boss.
Which was kind of shocking, knowing Stephanie’s love of creatingorder out of chaos.
Freyja, Shaw hoped nothing was wrong. Praying fervently her bosswas just in her bedroom boinking her Demon mate in the hopes of inducinglabour. Yes, Shaw was crossing her fingers hoping for the fucking, but her gutwas full of dread, fearing she would find Stephanie a teary eyed emotionallyunstable clinging machine instead.
Making her way deeper into the large mansion that Galen andStephanie shared together, things grew abruptly, eerily quiet. “Please befucking. Please be fucking.”
Still, playing the odds, Shaw checked the weapons room first. Nosign of Stephanie and no time to stop and drool or play. Next was the gym. Nojoy either. Time to put on her big Valkyrie armour and check out the bedroom.Annoyingly she came up empty there too.
Where could… fear spiked down Shaw’s spine freezing her in place.Was that? No, it couldn’t be, could it? Slowly, silently, she turned and headedfor the room across the corridor where the sound was emanating from. Fightingthe urge to call both her halberds, Shaw entered the room empty handed whichshe considered bloody damn brave of herself.
Oh, crap, it was so much worse than Shaw could have ever imagined.There, standing by the large picture window in the nursery, the streaming beamsof sunlight all but haloing her, stood Stephanie. Arranging flowers in a largevase, her white blonde hair tumbling down over her shoulders to her waistalmost Madonna-like, suiting the beribboned pastel yellow smock dress she waswearing.
The noise that had alerted Shaw, that was Stephanie humming underher breath and it was no battle dirge. The song instead kind of dreamy andreeking of… happiness. Perhaps the most scariest factor of all being there wasno bouncing in sight. Stephanie was just standing there, arranging flowers inthe vase as if that was… a thing people did.
Good Goddess, it was official, Stephanie was broken.
Helgastein had known it. Fix her she’d instructed. Shaw had beenwell and truly set up.
Freyja protect her, there was nothing she could do about it butforge onwards. Running away wasn’t an option, damn it.
“Hey, Shaw.” Stephanie glanced up, after nestling the last lilyamongst the greenery. Resting her hands lightly on her enormous belly, smilingserenely. Her whole demeanour calm and patient.
“Hey, Steph. How’s it going?”
“Good. Great.” Her boss glanced around the nursery approvingly,first at the gleaming oak floors, and then at the large mural depicting one ofthe bloodiest Valkyrie battles in history. Stephanie had insisted it be as trueto life as possible. As a result, there was an awful lot of vivid red paint tobrighten up what was essentially a cream room.
The two cots, positioned on opposite sides of the large room, wereworks of art. Handmade by a great-nephew of Odin himself. Metal cots made up ofwar axes, a nod to Stephanie’s personal weapons of choice. There was also twomatching change tables. Whilst between the cots sat a large wooden rockingchair, runes and war axes carved into the arm rests and back panelling. “Excusethe mess. There’s just so much left to do in here still. It’s a littledaunting.”
“Really?” Shaw knew zip about babies and even less aboutnurseries. But to her eye everything looked done. All that was needed as far asshe could tell was two screaming babies to stink up the place. “What’s left todo?”
“Oh. Just… things.” Stephanie meandered slowly over to the cot onthe left. Moving it three inches closer to the wall. Before standing back,considering the new placement for one long silent minute. Shaking her head,Steph moved the cot again, back exactly where it had been as far as Shaw couldtell. “There. That’s better.”
Observing Stephanie begin to critically eye the position of thesecond cot, Shaw decided to intervene, stepping forward, linking her armthrough her boss’s and tugging her towards the door. “I saw you have a doublebladed Iakado sword, is it new?” Determinedly heading them in the direction ofthe weapons room. A space that Shaw at least felt comfortable in. AssumingStephanie’s hormones didn’t spike and she found herself fending off an actualspike.
“Galen got it for me. It’s really… nice, isn’t it?”
Wincing, Shaw stopped before the incredibly intricately designedblade hanging in a prime position in the weapons room. Produced by a mastercraftsman. The balance no doubt perfectly weighted. The double blade honed tothe sharpest of edges. The handle curved just so, clearly designed forStephanie’s hand. And her boss was calling it nice? Things were more dire thanShaw had initially thought.
“It’s beautiful. Don’t let Zuri in here tomorrow, she’ll justbuild a fort and play mock battle all day.”
“She’s such a sweet kid.” Stephanie absently picked up a buffingcloth and began polishing a twelve inch curved evivha knife.
Zuri might be young, but sweet? She was a Valkyrie. One who likedto blow stuff up. One who could take a paperclip, a banana and a toothpick andkill an ogre at two hundred paces. Yeah, so bloody sweet.
Shaw was at a loss, she really didn’t like seeing her friend sooff kilter. Huh, her friend? When the hell had that officially transpired?
See, this was what happened when you lost your battle focus. Youdeveloped feelings. Why had no one warned Shaw of the dangers. She would havefought even harder to get back to the Fjornfall Planes. Instead, she was here,dealing with a content and happy friend. Who even now was humming somethingsoft and evocative of fluffy bunnies under her breath.
Honestly, who had Shaw wronged in this life or a previous one?Worshipping Freyja had always come easily to her. She wasn’t a hard Goddess toplease. If you got yourself into trouble, then you’d best get yourself out oftrouble. You raised a pint periodically in Freyja’s honour. You killed things,lots and lots of things. That was pretty much it. Except lately, it felt likeher Goddess had forsaken Shaw. Why else would she be saddled with a hormonallycharged super pregnant friend and… him.
“I haven’t killed him yet.”
