Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (latest ebook reader .TXT) 📕

My lip curls in revulsion. “Goddess or no, if you stand between me and Aiden I will end you. Freya.”

She stares down at my belly as though she can see the pregnancy within. “You can’t cross, not while you are with child.”

“Then I’ll find another in-between. Midnight isn’t far off. The largest in-between in the world.” One I had crossed though before.

“No, Nic. You need to listen.” Harmony holds out her hands, palms facing me. “I promised him I wouldn’t let you go after him, no matter what.”

“And you think this is the right way to go about it? Go running back to the goddess to tattle on me?”

Freya lifts her chin. “The dead swarm over the fey lands without cease. There is nowhere to hide. You are marked. If you cross, you will be overwhelmed and torn apart.” Her gaze holds mine. “Just as Angrboda was.”

I sway on my feet. “It was real?”

The goddess tilts her head, studying me. “You know it was.”

Angrboda’s…dead. The giantess who was literally larger than life, who risked her neck so I wouldn’t have to go….

My throat feels raw as if I’ve been screaming. The world tunnels and I shake my head, trying to fight off the dizziness, the overwhelm.

“Nic?” Chloe’s hand is on my back. It is only then that I realize I’ve fallen to my knees. “What have you done to her?”

“Nothing. I am here to protect her and Váli Sigynjarson’s child,” the goddess says.

Shoving my grief into one of those small compartments I used when hunting to suppress fear or doubt, I slam the lid then struggle to my feet.

“You tried to seduce Aiden,” I growl up at the goddess then turn to face Harmony. “Did he tell you that? She was trying to seduce my mate. Isn’t it enough you snared him when he was a boy?”

Harmony’s purple face pales in the moonlight.

“As if you didn’t hurt him even worse than I have done.”

That’s it. I am sick of owning Nicneven’s mistakes. “Not in this life. It took me a while to accept him but now that I have, I will never let him go.”

The goddess’s hands ball into fists. “How dare you speak to me in such a way? I am a goddess of Asgard.”

“Clearly you have your own agenda,” I say. “Tell me what it is.”

Freya glowers down at me. “I wanted his child for the prophecy. My seer predicted that the One True queen will stop Underhill’s reign of terror and free the fey. What better queen than the daughter of two gods?”

“Except that he doesn’t want you.” I’m done arguing with her. “He needs me, I can’t just sit here while he’s captured.”

“Listen to me. You must stay behind.” Freya’s hair whips in the wind. “You are marked. She will come for you if you cross. And if Underhill manages to kill you or your child, the fey’s final hope dies with you.”

“She wants to murder him. Murder my Aiden.” Terror coils in my gut at the thought she already might have done it. “He’s been through so much already. Overcome so much. And you’re asking me to abandon the man I love?”

“Not forever,” Harmony gestures to my belly. “You felt the power of the One True Queen. Just wait until she is ready to fulfill her destiny.”

“He would come for me,” I tell them all. “He wouldn’t wait.”

“But he wouldn’t expect you to come for him, especially not if doing so would put your baby at risk,” Chloe murmurs. “They’re right, Nic. You must wait.”

“How long?” I look to the seer. “How long do you want me to do nothing?”

Harmony takes a deep breath. “When your child comes of age, she will be the savior of the land under the hill.”

I shake my head. “You’re talking years? Aiden doesn’t have years.”

“He might get free,” Chloe pushes my hair back over my shoulder. “He has allies there. Nahini and Bard, Soladin and Fern. And don’t forget Addy. You can’t count her out yet.”

Years. They wanted me to sit around in the relative safety of Midgard while Underhill is torn apart. While my mother plots to bring about the end of the world.

“What if I’m too late?”

“Time moves differently beyond the Veil.” The goddess says. “I can slow it to a crawl. Years here will be no more than a handful of hours to Aiden.”

“Nic,” Chloe says softly. “That’s better than anything I could do. You can have the baby and when she is ready, she can rule.”

When I have the baby, because Aiden wouldn’t be here for the birth, to see her come into the world. See her first step, hear her first word.

“We’re supposed to be together, to raise her together.” I cover my stomach with my hand.

“So stubborn,” Freya snaps. “You get to have your cake and eat it too, Nicneven. Why do you hesitate?”

“Because I love him.” I glower up at the goddess. “This is what you do when you love someone—whatever you can.”

She doesn’t respond aloud. I wouldn’t call her expression regretful, but she does appear a bit more contrite.

“Nic,” Harmony reaches out a tentative hand as if she wants to touch my stomach. “That’s my niece in there. I couldn’t protect Váli, but I can protect her. Please, help me do that.”

“I won’t abandon him.” The words clog my throat.

Chloe puts her hand on my shoulder. “I can’t see the future, not like Addy. But she’s right about your banishment. You might not even make it through the tear, the force could shred you both. Or you could land surrounded by a thousand Draugar.”

Just as Angrboda had. Underhill knew she was coming because she was marked.

I stare up at it, the gap between our world and the fey realm beyond. “You’re asking me to walk away from all of them. Addy, Nahini, Bard, and Soladin. Aiden.”

Chloe shakes her head. “Not forever. Didn’t Freda teach you never to go into battle unarmed? You have no magic.”

“The fire—”

“Is the power Underhill holds. She