One Night With The Valkyrie. Jane Godman

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       Chapter 3

      Warda was eerily quiet as Maja made her way back to the place where she had left her horse, Magtfuld. Most of the buildings were reduced to mere shells after the bombings, although some still smoldered in the predawn light. Several cars were blazing, and she guessed they would soon join the graveyard of abandoned vehicles that littered the side of the road.

      Even in this scene of utter devastation, there were signs of life returning to normal. An old man drove a herd of goats down the center of the street, seemingly not noticing the strangely clad woman who passed the other way. A family huddled in what was left of a bullet-riddled house, pulling blankets around themselves as they watched Maja, who hadn’t used her power of invisibility, with listless eyes.

      I should do something. Try to help them. Even as thoughts of anonymous rescues that would remain hidden from Odin and Brynhild entered her mind, she dismissed them. You have already done enough to secure your death sentence.

      How had this happened? How had she gone from being the ice-cool shield maiden carrying out her mission as Odin’s representative here in the mortal realm, to a quivering mass of raw emotion? Adam Lyon. That was how.

      The thought of him almost stopped her in her tracks. Instead of continuing in her determined stride, she wanted to find somewhere to hide away, to curl up tight and examine the whirlwind of feelings that were buffeting her body. The memory of his touch was almost too much to bear. Too intense. Too perfect. Just the thought of him made her internal muscles clench with remembered longing.

      No one told me how much I would enjoy breaking the Valkyrie Code!

      She had been taught only that sex was forbidden, not that it was pleasurable. Maja choked back a laugh. Pleasurable? Try magical. No one told me how much I would want to do it again...and again. But even in her dazed state, she knew this was not a reaction to the physical act itself. This was about Adam. He had changed her life. Changed her. But now she had to face the consequences.

      Indulging in daydreams about her handsome mortal lover wasn’t an option. After the storm of their lovemaking, she had allowed herself the brief indulgence of lying in Adam’s arms and watching him as he slept. But she had done so knowing that she must leave him. It was time to go back to Valhalla and confess both her failure and her crimes. Her failure was bad enough. If the true American Lion had been in Warda during the latest outbreak of fighting, Maja had found no trace of him. But her crimes? They must surely be the worst ever committed by a Valkyrie. The only words they were permitted to exchange with their target must be relevant to the mission. The penalty for a Valkyrie who was found to have spoken unnecessarily with a warrior was imprisonment.

      But Maja had done so much more. Not only had she spoken to Adam, she had saved his life. And then, as if driven by some inner madness, she had violated the Code in the worst way imaginable. I lay with him in his bed. I took him into my body. All the things I have been warned against... Yet I cannot find it in me to feel shame. Even though I will admit my transgressions, I will do it with my head held high.

      There was no place in Asgard for a Valkyrie who had lost her virginity. On her return, Maja should expect her execution date to be set immediately.

      With her usual disregard for convention, she had once asked Brynhild about the reasoning behind the rule about Valkyrie purity.

      “Wouldn’t it make more sense if, instead of recruiting stepdaughters, it was the descendants of the true Valkyries who enlarged our force? Our daughters and granddaughters could learn the shield maiden way from an early age.”

      Once Brynhild had recovered from the shock that Maja had dared to speak of such a topic, she had taken her sister’s hand. Her expression had been the half-resigned, half-bemused one she reserved only for Maja. “You must never speak of this matter again. It is unseemly and unwise. The decree about virginity dates back to the very first Valkyrie ride. There was an incident that took place after the fighters were brought to the great hall—” Brynhild had shuddered as though the memory was still distasteful to her. “The warriors felt that the duties of the Valkyries included meeting their carnal needs. Sadly, some of our older sisters did not refuse their demands, and the result resembled an orgy. It was so shocking that Odin was forced to introduce the death penalty to ensure there would be no repeat. The distance between the men of Valhalla and the Valkyries must be maintained.” She shook her head. “We will not dwell on the past, but these things are decided for good reasons.”

      The Valkyries lived a separate existence from the gods, but Maja had caught glimpses now and then of pregnant women. СКАЧАТЬ