Sceadulyr didn’t answer, and before I could ask him anything else or demand that he let me go, something behind him caught my eye. Something dim, coated in gloom, but getting closer and sharper every moment.

It was a sword, slicing through the air. I almost sobbed when I saw that it was Wylfrael.

“Sceadulyr,” he roared, slashing his blade as if he could cut through the shadow that surrounded us. “No matter how much shadow magic you use, I can still smell her. You cannot escape from me.”

The ground underfoot began to shake. I knew it wasn’t Sceadulyr’s doing, because his silver and black eyes narrowed in irritation.

“Wylfrael and his stone powers,” he muttered. “So brutally unrefined.”

Vertigo overtook me as Sceadulyr’s grip on my body vanished, leaving me caught up in the momentum of his movements with nothing to hold onto. I swayed drunkenly to the side, tripping over my own feet, about to topple –

Two arms seized me and hauled me to a broad chest. Wylf. I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed in his familiar scent, cool frost and warm leather, fighting tears.

“There’s your bride for you, Wylfrael. I trust you’ll find her in the same condition as you left her. All dainty human fingers accounted for,” Sceadulyr purred from nearby. “So, you may reign in your bludgeoning, barbaric power and can stop threatening to topple my tower now.”

I tentatively opened my eyes to find we were in a new room, no longer the dome with everyone else. It was a much smaller circular space, the white walls curving upward – one of the cylindrical towers I’d seen from outside. There was no more darkness, and just like in the dome, the sunlight shone in here despite the stone roof.

The roof was shuddering, as were the walls and the floor, the stone vibrating with Wylf’s rage. He ignored Sceadulyr, cradling my face, his gaze piercing through the holes in the mask.

“Are you alright?” he asked, voice strained.

“Yes,” I said shakily. “Yes, I think so. He didn’t do anything.” Nothing besides dance me around until I nearly puked and scare the living daylights out of me, anyway.

Wylf shoved me behind his back, keeping one hand tight around my left wrist, his other hand holding his blade aloft.

“I should kill you for what you just did,” Wylf bellowed, pointing his blade accusingly at Sceadulyr. “Taking a bride from another god is unforgivable!”

Sceadulyr looked completely unperturbed by Wylfrael’s anger, which was a mark of power in and of itself. Even I, who loved Wylfrael and trusted him, was terrified by my husband’s rage, unlike anything I’d ever seen, even when he’d first found me.

“My, my, Wylfrael,” Sceadulyr said smoothly, arching a dark brow, “how sentimental you’ve become under the influence of the starburn. No need for all the dramatics. Your bride is fine. I suggest you stop threatening me, and leave my world, before that is no longer the case.”

“What did you just say?”

Wylf lunged forward, his blade coming to rest right under Sceadulyr’s throat.

Sceadulyr didn’t respond the way any normal person or even alien should have. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed, even though the movement caused his skin to slice, spilling silver blood down his front. His laughter died down, though his unnerving grin remained.

“Try it, Wylfrael. I may not have my star map, but I am just as powerful as I’ve ever been. If you think your stone power and sword can kill my shadows, I relish your challenge.” His voice fell lower, a whisper that somehow echoed everywhere. “But you should know that, if you lose, I will kill you and keep your bride for the rest of her mortal life until she dies alone without you.”

The walls shook harder, white dust and gravel falling like snow. I pulled my husband’s arm, begging him, “Let’s go, Wylfrael. Please, let’s go.”

I couldn’t stand the idea of Wylfrael fighting another stone sky god right in front of me and maybe even losing. He’d explained to me once that the bond of mortality only went one way. The stone sky god’s life became bound to his mortal mate’s, but hers was unchanged. The moment a mortal bride died, so did her bound stone sky god mate. But a mated stone sky god could be killed and his mortal bride would not die instantly the same way. She would live the rest of her natural life, same as she would have done if she’d never even met him.

I couldn’t bear that thought. I’d always operated under the assumption that I’d die before Wylfrael, and the alternative was catastrophic to me.

“Please, Wylfrael!”

Somehow, my pleas got through to my enraged husband. Without another word to Sceadulyr, he lifted me against him with one arm, keeping his sword aloft with the other. My legs went around his waist instinctively, the black skirt of my dress hiking upward as Wylfrael stormed out of the tower’s arched doorway and into the courtyard.

“We’re going back to Sionnach,” he spat. “I was a fool to bring you here.”

“It’s OK, Wylf,” I said, trying to soothe both him and myself. “He really didn’t do anything.”

“He took you from me!” Wylfrael shouted. “That is more than enough to have earned his death. Almost gave it to him, too. But I have to protect you and get you away from here. Your safety is the only thing I care about right now.” Breathing heavily, he slammed his sword into its place on his back and set me on my feet. “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing, really,” I said, wanting to calm the turmoil in my husband. “He danced with me and asked about the humans’ ability to travel through space.”

“Typical,” he scoffed. “He’s getting desperate now that his star map has gone dark. He’s probably looking for any other way to travel now.”

He sighed harshly, running his hand through his hair and gazing steadily at me.

“I’m taking you back to Sionnach. Where you’ll be safe. Then, we’ll reconsider our next move.”

“We can’t reconsider,” I cried. “We have to get you on that council as soon as we possibly can! We have to find Skalla and be strong enough to face him when we do!”

“That can wait-”

“It can’t!”

I panted as Wylfrael watched me with searching eyes.

“It can’t wait,” I said again, taking a deep breath. “Because Skalla’s mate is human.”

OceanofPDF.com

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FIFTY Wylfrael

With my bride in my arms, I stepped through the sky door. We had not returned to Sionnach, as I’d originally wanted to.

We’d come to Heofonraed.

Torrance would not accept any more waiting now that she’d learned from Sceadulyr that Skalla’s mate was human. “What if it’s one of my friends?” she’d cried, tears a veil over her eyes. “What if she’s hurt, or needs help?”

Or dead.

I hadn’t said that part out loud, though I thought it rather likely. If Skalla was even half as mad and strong as he was when I’d last fought him, a human woman would not stand a chance. I’d grown to learn by now that the human spirit was strong. But that strength was not matched in body.

I hoped, more for my wife’s sake than anything, that Skalla’s mate was not dead. Torrance had lost enough, she didn’t need to lose this, too.

Torrance in my arms, I touched down on the shining white stone of Heofonraed. The two giant Eaforswynne eyed us closely, and Torrance cringed into my side.

I would rather have left her on Sionnach. Many of the council’s brides chose to stay on their own worlds, but all stone sky gods were required to bring their bride to witness the vote that would either help them gain entrance onto the council, or reject them.