Filed To Story: The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert
Astraea watched her mate bleed out his divinity and knew that this would be a fatal wound. Vidar was done, but that did not bring her joy. She turned on her heels and searched for Fenrir, leaving her past tormentor behind.
Her heart was racing in her chest, but when she noticed a familiar tall figure behind Warg and Kara, she sprinted towards him.
Fenrir caught her in his arms effortlessly, spinning and pressing her as close towards his chest as he could.
“You did it,” he whispered. “Astrea, you did it. I knew you could do it.”
“We did it, Fenrir,” she corrected, lifting her head to lock their eyes.
“You are as beautiful as the first day I laid my eyes on you.” He smiled at her, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and she sensed that something was off. Why was he sad when everything played out so well for them?
They were in Asgard at last and had just won their battle, but something was off-something really important.
She distanced herself from her beloved, scanning him up and down. Fenrir was perfect not a hair in the wrong place. His tunic had no creases, and the golden embroidery on it was like the one he wore the first time they met.
His eyes were the only thing giving away the pain that stormed inside him.
“What happened?” She was surprised to hear her own voice. It sounded so foreign now. “Fenrir!” she grasped him, nails digging into his flesh through the fabric. The looming sense of dread was overwhelming.
It did not help that everyone was silent. Their friends were not celebrating the victory. They already knew something she didn’t.
Only now, she noticed a young woman standing behind her favourite Wolf God. The girl looked perfect, with radiating Skin and raven black hair flowing down her slender shoulders. However, she tilted her head, and Astraea was taken aback when she saw the second half of her face-a landscape of scars and darkening grey skin. It was the face of the monster from legends. Her left eye was glowing white and missed the iris. Her lips on that half were black, forsaking their vibrant red colour.
Astraea knew who stood before her, and so did everyone else.
Hel, the Goddess of Death and the Ruler of the Underworld.
“No,” Astraea whispered, shaking her head. She must have come for the ones Astraea dispersed. Many men fell here today.
Then again, those deities would not be going to the Underworld. Their essence and divinity returned to the Source. Other than that, there was nothing left of them. Hel, however, was collecting souls.
“Astraea, it’s all right,” Fenrir placed his arms on her shoulders, drawing soothing circles with his thumbs. “We won. You are alive, and- I couldn’t have asked for more.”
“No!” she repeated, firmer this time, and glared at his sister, repeating, “No! You can’t take him!”
“I wish I didn’t have to,” Hel offered her a sad smile. “I dreamed of a different destiny for you two, but he didn’t return to the mortal realm in time. Now, he doesn’t belong here or there. My brother belongs with me.”
“No!” Tears streamed out of Astraea’s eyes, and she wiped them angrily. She tried to push Fenrir away and stood before him to ensure the Goddess of Death kept her distance.
“I will not let you take him!”
“No offence, but it’s not for you to decide,” Hel replied with the kind of confidence that let everyone know she was not used to objections. The sky darkened behind her, the last rays of sunshine disappearing
Astrea flexed her fingers, and stars shone brightly, illuminating them all.
“You are a powerful goddess,” Hel admitted. “And I have seen and enjoyed your wrath, but there are things even gods can’t do. After all, we are all servants of the powers we were given. I can’t change that, and neither can you.”
“We overcame destiny before!” Astrea insisted. “We will do it again. You are not taking him! If you so much as try, you will have to fight me, and I swear that I-“
“Astrea,” Fenir took her hand and pulled her into his chest, kissing the top of her hand. “No, Astrea, I don’t want you to fight. It’s okay. It’s fine!”
“No!” She hit his chest with her fist. Nothing here was fine.
Her body contorted with a sob she had suppressed for so long. “I told you not to come here! I told you not to risk it!
Why did you-Fenir! Why?”
He closed her in his embrace, kissing her hair again and again.
“I love you so much. We deserve our time together! I can’t-can’t lose you like this again.” She clenched his tunic, inhaled his scent, looked into his dreamy eyes and then tucked her face back into his massive chest. Nothing seemed enough. Not when each moment was their last.
Her heart became an empty void, her soul aching. She could never recover from this.
“My love,” Fenrir whispered, peppering her with kisses.” How I wish we had more time, but even like this, it was all worth it. Each fleeting moment with you-each second we spend together. I wouldn’t change anything. You gave my life a purpose, you filled an empty heart with love, you were my everything! During the endless night, you always were my guiding star. All my life, I was waiting for you to appear _
“Fenrir!” she grasped him tighter, unwilling to let go.
“We need to go,” Hel urged them, and Astraea looked around, searching for support. Devoss averted his gaze, and Bash helplessly shrugged his shoulders, turning away.
Selene stepped forward, but looking at her expression, Astraea knew she couldn’t help them either.
“I am sure Hel will allow you to visit sometimes,” her mother said. “Even if for a little, it’s better than nothing.”
“No!” Astrea said firmly, and Midnight came to her side, lowering his horn as a sign that he was ready to fight for her. “We didn’t go through so much to not end up together!”
“Are you sure you want to fight me?” Hel formed dark energy around her hands, taking a battle stance
Astrea did the same with her star fire when an ugly cackle interrupted them.
“I did it!” Vidar chuckled painfully on the ground, still bleeding his divine essence from his wound. “I was destined to kill Fenrir after all. I was destined to keep you apart! I succeeded!”
Hel turned with her dead side towards him, her empty eye gleaming menacingly.
“I don’t know what you are so happy about,” the Goddess of Death sneered. “Now you get to spend eternity in my kingdom, where my main task is to devise the best punishment for you. I am currently choosing between Fenrir’s lowest slave or a giant’s pet on a leash. And that’s just for the first century or two. I haven’t gotten souls worthy of punishment for a while. I am a bit rusty!”
“Take him and leave Fenrir here!” Astraea suggested desperately. “This would be the worst punishment for him.”
“I wish I could. I really do.” Hel sighed. “But I have no choice.”
“Then neither do I,” Astraea blinked the tears away, and the star fire on her wrists intensified.
The two women were about to clash when two strong hands wrapped around Astraea’s waist, pulling her back.
Dragonfly, stop!
Joran looked at Fenrir’s breathless body as Riannon struck him with bolts of lightning again and again, trying to restart his heart. He blocked the entire world and the fighting out to listen to that too, hoping for that rhythm more than he hoped to return to Asgard.
“Come on, brother,” he muttered under his breath. “You can’t die like that. Not on a carpet in some-room. You were supposed to have a glorious return to Asgard, remember?”
Riannon charged his sibling again, his back arching as if he could feel something, but the next moment, Fenrir fell back to the floor, breathless.
“Again!” Joran ordered, and the Queen of the Western Kingdom gave him a stern glance.
“There is no use-” she said, pursing her lips.
“Do it again! Harder!” he ordered. “He is not a mortal. He needs more than that to-“
“Do you want me to fry him?” the woman shook her head, but the electricity was already playing between his fingers.
“If you don’t save him, I will rip your head off!” The Serpent promised, and Gideon’s growl followed immediately as the lycan appeared next to his wife, baring his teeth at the deity.
“The worst thing you could do to me, you have already done,” Riannon replied dryly, stunning him. As far as he remembered, he did nothing. Or at least he didn’t do much.
“He is the love of your sister’s life!” The Serpent tried to change his approach. He could definitely guilt trip her into saving his brother.
“Do you think I don’t know that?” She glared at him with hatred. “I like him! We all owe him! My husband was blessed by him! If I could, I would have brought him back, but I am not the one who has such power out of the two of us!”
His lips parted as he tried to process what she was saying.
He had no power to bring the dead to life, either. At least not anymore. He wasted that bead on Bjorn months ago.
“What are you-” He stopped, finally getting what this she wolf was trying to tell him.
Joran fell to his knees, looking at Fenrir’s lifeless face.
If he was really dead, then it was all over. Hel would take him to the Underworld, and this would be where he would spend the rest of his existence. He would not be a god again. He would be just another soul… At best, Kara would allow him to the halls of Valhalla, but he and Astraea would never have the life they dreamed of.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?