Macha's Journey

Hearing Freyr"s attempt to console her caused the well of emotions she held back to overflow. She had been scared because Jarnvid was so much stronger than she was. Macha"s recent fighting skill gave her confidence, and she never thought she would be a.s.saulted like that. She sobbed and tears streamed down her face. She used her hands to cover her face, embarra.s.sed that Freyr saw her like that.

Freyr"s heart broke. He cursed himself for waiting outside the door. If he had opened the door instead of trusting Jarnvid, then Macha would not have been in that situation. He pulled her into his arms and patted her head. He gently rea.s.sured her, "Shh... It"s all right. I"ll take care of him. You were so brave. Let me know if there"s anything you need me to do." Although Macha stopped him from killing Jarnvid, there was no way he would let it go. He loved her and he would be d.a.m.ned if he let that b.a.s.t.a.r.d walk around freely.

She clung to Freyr wanting to suck in his strength. When she heard his words, she shook her head because she blamed herself for what happened. She knew Jarnvid had shown an interested in her and Macha felt like she had been too trusting. In a bitter voice, she sobbed, "No. I should have known better."

Freyr hugged her harder. He wished he could take all her pain onto himself. Without thinking, he gently pressed his lips to the top of her head, "No. It wasn"t your fault. You shouldn"t go through life expecting people to do things like that." Now he worried Jarnvid"s actions would tarnish the beautiful light that shone in Macha"s eyes.

Her body tingled as she became lightheaded from all the crying. Macha stayed, latched on to Freyr for a while, taking deep breaths to calm her breathing. When she finally got her emotions under control, she whispered into his chest, "Thank you."

The door to the apartment silently opened. It had confused Tyr why Freyr"s men stood outside. When he walked into the room he was met with the sight of Macha hugging his cousin while Freyr kissed the top of her head. His cousin sat topless looking down at her with a tenderness in his eyes, and she had his shirt on clinging to him tightly. The scene looked so intimate that he stood, transfixed in place.

Macha looked up into Freyr"s eyes. Her tears still stained her cheeks, and she begged him, "Freyr, please don"t tell Tyr. I don"t want him to know." They were all close, but this was something she wanted to keep a secret.

When Tyr heard Macha"s request, a strong rage consumed him and all he saw was red. There was only one reason he could think of why Freyr would hold her while she begged him to keep a secret. All the pain of betrayal came back stronger than it had been with Fenrir. Tyr threw his bags onto the ground. The sound caused both Freyr and Macha to face the door.

Macha stood up and wiped the tears from her face. She greeted him with a pained smile, her voice trembled when she spoke, "Your back." She hoped Tyr did not overhear their conversation.

The fear of him finding out that Jarnvid touched her caused her body to become cold. She worried she would be dirty in his eyes. The shame was something she wanted to hide and hoped someday she would forget it even happened.

Freyr thought he heard the door open, but a.s.sumed it was one of his guards. At that moment, he wanted to focus all his attention on Macha and did not want her to feel as if she were alone. He did not expect Tyr to come home when he did. His cousin had not contacted him for the past two weeks and he a.s.sumed Tyr was deep into the mission he a.s.signed him.

Freyr picked up on the distress in Macha"s voice and he moved in front of her to hide her face from Tyr. He wanted to give her time to compose herself. Forcing a smile onto his face, he said with false cheerfulness, "Tyr, I"m happy you are safe."

The sound of Freyr"s upbeat voice caused Tyr"s face to contort. He pointed at his cousin and snarled, "You," he sought to find the words to express Freyr"s betrayal, "How could you?" Without hesitation, he ran at Freyr and kicked his cousin through the window. The gla.s.s shattered and Tyr saw Freyr"s look of surprise as he hung in the air for a moment.

Just before he had been kicked, Freyr realized something was wrong. There was only one other time Tyr had ever looked at him with that much hatred. When they were very little, Luna once got into an argument with Tyr about a game they were playing. Freyr sided with Luna and she told Tyr that she wished Freyr was her brother instead. They ended up fighting and Luna cried. In the end, they all got into trouble. This memory flashed into Freyr"s mind as his body burst through the large floor to ceiling window.

Macha screamed, "No! What have you done?" Her eyes snapped to Freyr and saw him falling towards the ground. "No!" Tyr moved so fast that she did not realize what had happened immediately. Before her mind sorted out what was happening, Tyr jumped out of the window after Freyr.

She ran to the window and dropped to her knees. Behind her, she could make out the sound of Freyr"s guards entering the room and standing behind her. They swore and ran out the door. The two figures became smaller as they dropped toward the ground. Unwilling to watch the moment of their death, Macha fell to the floor and turned her eyes.

A few pieces of broken gla.s.s lay on the floor around her. The harsh wind blew on her face trying to dry the endless amount of tears that poured down her cheeks. She lay on her side crying out Tyr"s name, unsure of where she cursed him for being so stupid or mourned his death.

As Tyr fell, he wondered if Freyr sent him on the secret mission so he could pursue Macha. Bitterness clung to him as he remembered enduring three weeks of h.e.l.l for his King and his country.

He hated dealing with drug rings because he had to kill so many people. He did not just the ones who sold drugs. It extended to the ones who delivered them and produced them. Often times, the corruption spread into whole families. The worst part was that some of the people he killed were still kids, barely even old enough to enter a guild. Those were the people that kept Tyr up at night. Those kids made bad choices or just wanted to make some extra money, but his mission required him to wipe out everyone.

Freyr looked into Tyr"s eyes as they fell. His cousin"s face was cold and full of hatred. He realized Tyr misunderstood the situation. When Macha implored him to keep the attack a secret from Tyr, he did not feel comfortable. The attack was something he thought his cousin should know about. Although he thought this, it was not his place to tell Tyr about Macha"s secret.

A few seconds pa.s.sed, and he recognized that they would hit the ground soon. Freyr enveloped his body with a golden light and turned around. The wind whipped his brown locks away from his face and he summoned a horse that shone like sunlight. It created a crater on the ground where it landed and reared on its hind legs.

Tyr saw Freyr summoning his steed. In return, he did a flip in the air and enveloped himself in a brown aura. The ground shook when he landed. His knees bent deeply, but he stood up as if he had lept down from a small rooftop. "Freyr, I"m not done with you yet," he growled.

Freyr dismounted and his horse faded away. "Tyr it is not..." before he could finish, Tyr"s fist flew at him. He had to stop talking in order to block the attack with his arm. "Tyr, stop!" he cried out.

A crowd formed to watch their King and Captain engaged in a fight. The people from the guild did not understand why their Captain would attack the King. They understood that Tyr was Freyr"s cousin and often spotted Freyr coming to visit the guild.

Tyr seethed in a low voice, "How could you do this to me?" Freyr had consoled him many nights after he found out that Fenrir cheated on him. He felt betrayed that his own cousin would do the same thing to him, knowing it would hurt him so deeply.

Freyr shook his head. Although Tyr bombarded him with attacks, he defended against each one. They spared many times in the past, and they understood each other"s moves as if they were their own. He shook his head, "Stop. I did not do anything." He urgently wanted to calm his cousin down. The punishment for attacking the King was execution and Freyr did not want Tyr to meet that fate.

Hearing Freyr claim that he did nothing, hurt even more. Freyr was not the type to willingly lie, so that meant Macha had instigated it. Tyr"s voice cracked with pain, "So Macha chose you then?" He stopped his attacks and clenched his jaw while closing his eyes. He thought things were going well with Macha since their return from Jimbaran, they had made love many times. She always seemed to enjoy herself, so he a.s.sumed he pleased her s.e.xually.

Freyr saw his guards running out of the entrance. He explained hurriedly, "No. She did not choose me. Nothing happened. Ask her yourself. You really do misunderstand." He wanted to finish their argument before his guards came. Putting a hand on Tyr"s shoulder he said in a hushed voice, "Let me do the talking. Please go back up to Macha and ask her what happened today."

His guards ran up and moved to detain Tyr. Freyr pushed them back. With a commanding presence, he ordered, "Stop. Nothing happened. I asked him to do that."

The crowd whispered, and the guards looked at each other with confusion. One of them wanted to confirm what he heard, "My King, are you sure?" The other guards nodded their head in agreement. In no way did they believe the King, but if the King said so, they had to accept it as fact.

Freyr put on a friendly smile. He made up an excuse, "Yes. You misunderstand. We were roughhousing like we did when we were younger and ended up falling out of the window. It is no big deal." Although it was a blatant lie, he knew they would have to accept it. Not wanting to drag out the awkward situation, he walked towards his carriage and ordered his men to follow. Before he left, he turned back and reminded Tyr, "Don"t forget to ask Macha. Be patient with her, please."