“Fate, why am I granted the pleasure of seeing you on your knees before me?”
His sarcasm made Fate want to throw the wine goblet at his head. Instead, she lowered her voice, seductive and full of promises she had no intention of fulfilling. “I beg a favor, your highness.”
Odin laughed at her submissive tone. This woman didn’t have a submissive bone in her body. His body had taken several days to recover from the night he had spent in her bed.
“I wait breathlessly to see just what this favor entails to bring you to your knees. Dare I guess it involves the disappearance of your daughters?”
“May we speak privately?”
“Rise, Fate. As much as I enjoy you on your knees before me, this fake meekness grows tiresome.” As she rose gracefully to her feet, he lifted a hand. “Leave us.”
Venus reluctantly slid off his lap, giving Fate a dirty look. Fate ignored the stupid bitch; she had other more pressing matters than who was next in line for a romp with Odin. She could have him and her look told her so.
Odin’s hand tightened on the arms of his throne, barely restraining himself from crushing it in his anger. He had seen the look she had given Venus and knew she felt nothing other than contempt for the women begging for his favor. He wanted to throttle the woman, right after he fucked her senseless.
When the court was empty, Odin’s voice boomed out in the hollow room, “What is it you want, Fate?”
“Get Thor to grant me an audience.” Odin knew that was why she had come. It had been her only recourse to regaining her daughters. Fate could not enter Thor’s palace without permission; it remained the one and only place that she could not appear without direct invitation.
“You’re going to ask him for help?” Odin leaned back on his throne. “I’m curious, Fate, why you are not asking for my help? I could retrieve them for you, why not beg me?”
“I would not ask you to break your oath to Mother.” Odin had given an oath to Mother never to interfere on Earth again, since the last time he had taken hundreds of lives in anger.
Odin nodded. “And what favor would you grant me for asking my son to listen to you? You know I cannot make him aide you, only to listen to your request.”
“I hope I can convince him to help me.” Fate shrugged. “But I can’t ask for his help unless he sees me. That is why I need your help. Whatever you want in payment, I will pay.”
“Anything, Fate? Be careful if you do not mean your words. Once we strike a bargain, I will not allow you to renege on it because you have achieved your goals.”
Fate stiffened. “I give you my word, and once given, I will stand by it until our bargain is met. What do you want in return for an audience with Thor?”
“You in my bed for as long as I wish,” Odin spoke carefully. When setting a trap, the hunter must never let his prey know their ultimate goal. He knew what her answer would be before she spoke.
“One night,” Fate countered.
Odin shrugged nonchalantly. “It was worth a try. Very well, Fate; one night, but be warned, this time I won’t play the part of Valentine so that you can pretend to yourself that you don’t want me. This time, you will know it’s me from beginning to end.”
“Agreed, but I have one stipulation.”
“And that is?”
“I will not see the bargain met until all three of my daughters are safely home.” Odin admired her. She was a hell of an adversary. She planned to outsmart him; she had no intention of seeing their bargain met. As always, though, Fate underestimated him. He was about to prove her wrong.
“Very well. We’re agreed. I’ll send for Thor.”
Fate breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Odin.” Turning, she started to leave in a hurry to once again check on her daughters’ movements. However Odin stopped her before she could leave.
“What makes you think he will help you? He hates you, Fate.” Fate turned back to the obnoxious God.
“I know this, but as much as he hates me as his mother, he loves his sisters.”
***
Jericho did not speak once they were back at the cabin, showing his anger in silence. Not that he talked to her more than he had to before, yet now he simply disappeared into his room, leaving her by herself. Cara sat on the couch and watched the rain outside the window.
She sighed, not much had changed from her home. Her sisters and mother often left her by herself. Cara had become used to being lonely. She got up and wandered aimlessly around the small room. The lack of color and homey feel was in direct contrast to Mary’s home. There were no photos or personal possessions of any kind sitting around. Not even a comfortable rug just lying around on the wood floors. It was as stark and cold as the man himself.
Cara frowned. She had spoken the truth when she had told him that his soul was black. There was something she had not told him that she had never seen before; a slight shade of gold had flickered within the darkness. Gold souls were the mark of immortals. His was very slight, as to be almost nonexistent. In fact, she would have missed seeing it if not for the amount of time she spent staring at the man. He pretended not to notice her staring, and as much as she tried, Cara couldn’t help herself. She wanted to touch his hard face and see gentleness, see desire in his eyes, which always were void of any emotion.
The Gods and Goddess were well known for their sexual exploits, yet Fate had kept Cara and her sisters away from the excesses. Cara had never been tempted even by the most handsome of the Gods, yet Jericho made her want him with no encouragement. This was hard for a woman to admit when her father was a Saint.
“Are you hungry?” Cara jumped when Jericho spoke from the kitchen. She hadn’t even heard him walk through the room. Blushing, Cara nodded her head.
Jericho gave her a hard look. “Is spaghetti, okay?”
“I’ve never had it before, but I’ve been enjoying trying new things.” Cara walked to the kitchen and watched as he cooked. It was very interesting watching him work around the kitchen because he was unselfconscious about his movements.
She watched as he put long strands of something into a steaming pot while the smell coming from the pan of red sauce he had been working on was appetizing. Her stomach growled. Cara put a hand to her rumbling stomach and laughed.
“You should have told me you were so hungry.” He reached toward the counter and pulled a large piece of bread off the loaf sitting there.
“I did not realize that I was. Everything smells so good.” Cara watched as Jericho moved the sauce to the counter. Thinking to help him, she reached and touched the steaming pot, wanting to move it to the counter. Searing pain in her hands was instantaneous.
“What the hell h
ave you done?” Deftly, he moved the pot away from the stove to the counter and quickly grabbed her hands pulling her towards the sink before turning on the water to run it over her red palms. The cold water soothed the pain, but not for long.
“Dammit, why did you touch it without a towel?”
“I didn’t know,” Cara’s voice trembled. It was everything she could do not to howl in pain. Tears filled her eyes. When she was immortal, she would have been unable to hurt herself. She had to learn caution now that her body had become mortal.
“Haven’t you cooked food before?”
“No, my mother’s servants prepare our meals.”
“Must be nice.” Cara could tell by his look of disgust that he was being sarcastic. Her shoulders drooped. Now he thought that not only was she crazy, but helpless as well.
“Stay still, I’ll be right back.”
Within minutes, he was back. Turning off the water, he dried her hands with a clean towel. Afterwards, he rubbed a soothing lotion on her burning hands. He was gentle and careful not to hurt her stinging hands. When he was done, he wrapped them in gauze.
“Take these,” he instructed, holding two tablets in his hands. Cara looked at them quizzically. “Just aspirin for the pain. I’m sorry, I don’t have anything stronger.” Cara took them with the glass of water he handed her.
“Now sit down while I see if I can save our dinner.” Cara sat at the table, feeling useless as she watched him fix their plates.
It took only a few minutes before he slid the plate of pasta in front of her. Cara could only think of one thing as she dug into her plate of food. Heaven, pure Heaven. It was the most delicious dish she had ever tasted. At first, she had trouble eating the stringy mess, but after watching Jericho twirl it onto his fork, she followed suit. The taste was exquisite. She cleaned her plate using a chunk of bread to sop up the remains of the tangy sauce, imitating Jericho.