Jewels and Feathers (Race Games 3)

CHAPTERFORTY-TWO

When Muni’s eyesight returned, it was to see the Valhalla that had been created for the Games. It looked just as the Valhalla Muni had stepped into to find her warriors, but with one significant difference.

Where before, Muni could only see orbs, now, she saw people standing around and staring at the car as it rushed through. Vidar, staring with slack jaw at the people, let off the gas and allowed the car to stop in confusion.

They all stared silently at the world around them, at the people, and Muni’s brain started turning. There’d been a bright light just before they’d crossed. What if—

“Did we. . .” Eirik trailed off, his eyes on the people moving about around them.

“It’s Valhalla,” Brin whispered. “The explosion. . .”

“There were no vehicles in Valhalla,” Vidar commented, but Muni was looking out the windshield, her eyes wide on the woman who stepped through the crowd and took up residence in the middle of the street.

“Vidar. . .”

He followed her gaze and froze, his fingers tight on the steering wheel. The woman wasn’t someone Muni knew, but she was certainly familiar in some sort of way. To Vidar, she was wholly familiar, a face he likely never thought he’d see again, certainly not in Valhalla.

“Katla?” he rasped.

Their windows were still down after the oil spill so she must have heard him. The woman’s face brightened, and she waved in excitement.

“Vidar!” she exclaimed. “I’ve been looking for you!”

The woman was beautiful, though slight. Her hands were those of an artist rather than a warrior, but it didn’t take away from her striking beauty. Brilliant blue eyes smiled brightly at Vidar, excitement reflected there, and Muni’s stomach twisted. Vidar’s wife was gorgeous, and here Muni sat covered in swamp slime and oil. Still, she shoved down any emotions that could reflect on her face when Vidar looked between her and the wife he’d lost long ago and waited thousands of years for.

“Go,” Muni murmured. Brin’s arms tightened around her, knowing her hurt even if she was hiding it well. “You’ve waited thousands of years for this.”

Vidar met her eyes, a pained expression on his face. “But—”

“Go,” Muni said more forcibly. “Don’t worry about me.”

There was clear hesitation on Vidar’s face as he looked back through the windshield at the woman waiting for him. Her bright smile didn’t waver, as if she knew he’d step out. Something climbed Muni’s throat at that realization, but she swallowed it down, for Vidar’s sake. She would never force him to choose, would never ask him to, but her heart cracked when Vidar pulled the door handle and climbed from the car, his sense of duty pulling him to the woman he’d waited for.

“Muni—” Brin tried, but she clenched her fingers in his thigh.

“Not now,” she whispered. “Please.”

Eirik, where he was leaning into the center of the car, jerked hard against her side. He was crawling over the seat a second later, his eyes on two people stepping from the side of the track.

“Is that. . .”

Muni’s brow wrinkled at the distraction. “Are those your siblings?” she asked, and then frowned harder. “But they’re alive—”

She didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence before Eirik was scrambling out of the open door Vidar left behind. He was rushing up to the two before she could shout after him that something felt off. They couldn’t be dead, right? This was all some great illusion.

“We need to get them back in the car,” Brin growled, holding tight to Muni’s hips. “This doesn’t feel right.” Someone appeared in the road and his eyes narrowed.

“Who’s that?” Muni asked.

“My mother,” he replied. “This doesn’t feel right at all. She died before me and wasn’t in Valhalla.”

Muni was ready to agree. This hadn’t felt like death, hadn’t been like the first time. Something was wrong. But that thought disappeared from her mind a moment later.

A man appeared on the road, his hair dark and hanging around his face, his eyes so bright, it made Muni lose her breath. It had been seventy years since she’d seen those eyes anywhere other than a mirror.

“Hug?” she breathed and shoved away from Brin to climb over the console.

“Muni! Wait!” Brin called after her.

But Muni didn’t hear. No, her eyes were focused on the brother who stood waiting for her in Valhalla. The brother she desperately wanted to see again. Hug’s face crinkled in his usual smile, and the memory of that smile hit her.

Some memories never leave your bones. . .