Witch Bound

darts that were the hounds. And the magic, more powerful than anything she’d been exposed to, raw and bleeding from Asgard into this world. The riders were people she’d known all her life, but that night had been a revelation.

She’d understood why Kathy insisted she go. Raquel had asked to accompany the hunt a second time to try to make sense of the magic, all those small interactions. It was like an incredibly complex symphony and experiencing it once hadn’t been enough. Despite her fear, she’d wanted to witness that horrible perfect beauty again in an attempt to grasp the how of it.

Seeing the hunt in action had also made her aware of all they had lost. An ancestor of hers had cast the spell that made it possible. She could barely comprehend the complexity of the spellcraft, let alone hope to recreate something similar. Instead of giving her some insight to enable her to reach her magic, it had only made her more wary than ever—and she was not by nature a particularly humble or cautious person.

The harsh caw from a crow caused her to jump and Christian touched her knee. “Steady. It’s Rane letting us know she’s reached the portal and that the way is clear. A couple months ago, it split early and we ran right into a pair of demons heading toward Alan’s house. Elin saw them a few seconds before I jumped the ditch they were hiding in. She saved my life. Aiden’s had the crows scouting the area early and thoroughly before we ride, especially with the fault so unstable.”

That thought distracted her temporarily and she grabbed onto it. “Christian? What’s between you and Elin? Without the contract in your way, maybe you can be together.”

She felt his sigh more than heard it. He dropped back a bit and the deepening darkness gave them the illusion of privacy. The frost on the ground glinted, making it seem as if they passed through a field of stars. It crackled beneath the horse’s hooves as they rode. Christian’s voice lowered even further though they’d barely been speaking above a whisper. “Did Fen tell you that? That’s not why—”

“No,” she said. “That’s not the reason I can’t marry you. You know this isn’t right either or you would have been more upset about me breaking it off. I didn’t even get a sniffle.”

“Maybe I’m crying on the inside. Is this you trying to ease your conscience?”

“Do I need to?”

He gave a long-suffering sigh. “If I say yes, do you go back to being too scared to talk to me?”

“I was never scared.”

“Good.”

“Elin?” She prodded gently when he fell silent.

“Elin’s in love with a man who’s been dead nearly a century. She’s no more in love with me than I am with her, though I do love her dearly.”

And now Raquel felt like crap for bringing it up, not only because she again felt guilty about ditching Christian but also because her heart ached for Elin. “I’m sorry. I thought you were together.”

“We were,” he said quietly. “For a time, until I realized she was only interested in me because I reminded her of someone else.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say anything to her.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“And you don’t need to worry—” His head lifted as if he scented the wind. All the hair lifted on her body. She felt it too. “It’s starting.”

Christian kicked his horse forward. She wanted to rub her arms to scratch away the pressure against her skin. Old magic. It called a response from inside her. Odin hadn’t created the bridge, no ?sir had. They simply were, like the stars and the planets. Her people had learned to travel them, manipulate them to some extent. But if they’d ever understood completely how the bridges worked, that knowledge was lost to them now.

Odin, to protect his fleeing people, spelled Asbru to prevent the non-?sir from crossing. The fire demons could cross though. The geis they were under to destroy the ?sir allowed them to pass. Their magic tied to both Asgard and the ?sir. If what she suspected was true, the demons might not survive the fulfillment of their bargain with the Vanir. And maybe that’s what the Vanir had intended all along. Who could say? Motivation wasn’t her concern. She just needed to untangle the mess left behind. It was the geis that had given her the idea to tether Kamis’s magic to hers. It should allow him to cross.

She wrapped her hands around the leather grips until her knuckles ached, forced her fingers to relax so she didn’t lose the use of them. The hunt gained speed as they approached the fault almost as if pulled to it. When the portal was open like this, there was no mistaking the location. Even the horses, bred from Asgard stock, could feel it. The horses not with them would be locked in their stalls so they couldn’t follow the call. Children would be watched over more closely than usual. Doors would be locked. The hunt thundered through the woods toward the source of the magic, frost crackling beneath their feet, steam billowing with every breath. The faint glow emanating from their Skimstrok blades grew stronger the closer they got to the portal. And they were very close now. Despite her fear, her heartbeat slowed to match the low throb of the magic. The trees passed in a blur. There was only the hunt, ancient, fierce, terrible and necessary.

Humans thought the riders of the hunt were ghosts. Raquel could see that. There were ghosts here tonight. Her ancestors, explorers who’d first crossed into this world to learn about its people, as gods and then as refugees, and every generation of her family since then, riding this hunt beneath full moon and dark, the magic of Asgard pulsing in their veins.

Christian gave a shout and she found one erupting from her own mouth when the portal came into sight, a shimmer of magic, spreading like a ripple in the fabric of this world. The crows were first through, dropping to a glide and then disappearing as soon as they touched the portal. Fen. Aiden. Christian’s body tensed and her heart skipped a beat as they were engulfed in the most powerful magic she’d ever encountered. The sliding sensation of movement even though her thighs and hands locked her to the horse. Like riding the world’s shortest, fastest roller coaster.

Then they were in Asgard.

Christian didn’t hesitate. At some point during their mad ride, he’d drawn his blade. Not two steps past the portal and something leaped at them from the right. She flinched, the horse’s step faltered briefly and Christian’s body flexed as he slashed the thing to the ground. They moved on without making sure the demon was dead. She’d been warned that speed was of the greatest importance. Get in and get out before the demons had a chance to swamp them.

Right now, there were only a few demons around them and the hunt passed easily, following Rane and Elin through the stark landscape. There was no wind, yet the cold still cut to the bone. It looked like the waste left behind after a volcanic eruption, but the jagged hills weren’t formed of volcanic rock, they were covered in a slick black ice. Raquel was surprised to see trees—bare and twisted, possibly petrified. She couldn’t imagine how they could be alive, how anything could survive here.

She also couldn’t have imagined the hunt moving faster than it had been when they accelerated for the crossing. But now, with the demons on their heels, they flew. Hooves clattered on the brittle ice that fractured like obsidian. No wonder they wrapped the horses’ legs. She was grateful for the leather guards protecting her own. She shifted her weight when Christian leaned forward, trying to move with him, trying to stay the hell out of his way. They slowed briefly, though she didn’t know the cause of it until they surged forward again and she looked down to see the slaughtered demons beneath the horse’s hooves.

A claw tipped hand reached for her foot and she kicked out. Christian turned his head. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she shouted, trying to get her foot back in the stirrup. “Just keep going.”

He’d never really paused. She had the feeling that if she’d been injured, he would only have spared enough time to make sure she was securely strapped to the horse. Down they passed, into a narrow and sheer-sided canyon, which seemed to her to be a really good way to be ambushed, but she trusted Aiden to know better than she did. The bridge that arched overhead was delicate and far too symmetrical to be a natural formation. The road they traveled on now might have once been a thoroughfare. People, her people, had once lived here.

A mass rose up ahead of them and she craned her neck to see it better over Christian’s shoulder. Algae clung to the battered rock, glowing with a blue light that outlined the ruin beneath.

A hound bayed, and they turned sharply right when they came out of the narrow passageway. To the left a pair of hounds blocked off a group of demons coming from the opposite direction. Her head snapped forward