Collide and Seek by Sara C. Roethle

Author:Sara C. Roethle [Roethle, Sara C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vulture's Eye Publications
Published: 2018-05-10T05:00:00+00:00

14

I sat up so quickly my vision went black, and I had to huddle in a little ball again until I could refocus. “Come again?” I asked weakly, still on the ground.

“How could you possibly know that?” Alaric asked incredulously.

I opened my eyes to see Mikael shrug. “One of the Norns told me. I take it this was unplanned?”

I felt like I was going to faint. We were allegedly in the year 820, and I was . . . pregnant? Mikael had to be lying. He was descended from the god of deception for crying out loud.

Alaric stood and offered me a hand up. Not sure if I was ready to stand, I took the hand anyway. I looked to Mikael, unable to summon the glare I wanted to give him, but he inclined his head like he knew what I was thinking.

“I will give you two a moment,” he stated, then moved away toward the edge of a long cliff, the ocean thundering distantly below.

Oh crap, we were on a cliff, not down on solid, safe ground. Suddenly the wind made sense. Another wave of dizziness passed over me. We weren't anywhere near the edge, but I'm not great with heights at the best of times, and this definitely wasn't the best of times. I leaned against Alaric, not sure what to say.

“We were careful,” he stated, focusing on the more mundane problem, rather than what Mikael had done to us.

I nodded. “He has to be lying.”

Alaric shook his head. “That would be a direct betrayal, and would break his oath. If he'd told me that you were pregnant, he could have lied, but he told you directly.”

I shook my head, unable to digest the idea of a living creature forming inside me with everything else going on. “I really can't focus on the magnitude of both of these situations at once, so I'm just going to pick the more pressing issue. How the hell is time travel possible? I mean, I know the Norns have a lot of magic, but this is ridiculous.”

He sighed. I could tell he wanted to discuss the other situation, but still he answered, “The Norns are meant to weave the fates we choose ourselves, but they are capable of giving things a . . . shove from time to time.”

“The fates we choose?” I asked, wondering at his word choice.

Alaric smiled slightly with a faraway look in his eyes. “Fate might guide us,” he explained, “but there is always a choice.”

I shook my head, not sure if I even believed in fate at all. “If the Norns can shove fate, then why aren't they ruling the world?”

Alaric wrapped his arms around me and shrugged. “They aren't motivated by power like the rest of us. Plus, for shoves this grand, they'd have to all agree. Rarely do so many of them work together.”

“So whatever Mikael wants here is important,” I deduced, “or else the Norns would never have helped.”

Alaric sighed and kissed the top of my head.

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