Realization dawned. He grabbed Ailuin’s arm and pulled him away from the spectral fight. “We won’t win. Let Ghaldath and his followers deal with them.” He studied the faces of those he could see, only recognizing half of them. “Do you recognize the other draugar?”
“I do. The one he decapitated and those four.” Ailuin pointed to a pair of draugar fighting each other on the other side of the room. “The two with their backs to us were at the barrier, standing to Raisa’s and my left while the two they’re fighting were on our right. I guess there is dissension in the draugar ranks.”
As the battle continued, Bernard glanced toward the hallway and saw the ambassador crawling toward the front door. Nomura threw his legs behind him, his stomach slamming against the marble-tiled floor before pushing himself back up to begin crawling again. It reminded him of a puppeteer who hadn’t learned how to control the puppet strings.
“Stay here,” he demanded and sped toward the poor man, who didn’t deserve any of this. He reached down to grab the man’s arm when a deafening thunderclap sounded behind him. His eardrums popped, and for a moment, no sound intruded. The world moved on around him in complete silence.
As he watched, the ambassador fell face first onto the hard marble and lay still. Another moment passed before one leg twitched, then a shoulder.
Nomura’s head lifted, but before the rest of him followed, Freyja stepped up beside Bernard. “Be gone and return to the depths of wherever you came from. You are not welcome, nor can your evil infiltrate this good man. Be gone!”
The goddess’s voice echoed in the narrow entryway. Bernard realized he could hear again, then immediately wished he couldn’t as a new headache exploded inside his brain. The ambassador’s head fell back, cracking against the floor, the sound horrible and very final.
Freyja hurried toward the body when a black, smoky mass poured from the man’s wound, exiting through the fractured skull along with the thick stream of blood pooling beneath Nomura’s head.
The goddess stopped and grabbed the opal amulet at her neck. Raising one arm, she muttered words he had never heard before. The black mass coalesced, turning larger and darker as it writhed in front of her. Before either of them could prepare, one last screech rent the air, and the mass imploded.
He hurried toward Nomura, dropping to his knees beside the goddess as she lifted the ambassador’s head. Cradling the wounded area in her palm, she closed her eyes, and the opal glowed in its filigreed setting. Wanting to help, he placed his hand under hers and reached for the power Alva was so certain he had. Picturing a faucet, he let it flow into the goddess, sharing whatever she needed to save Nomura.
When she shifted her position, he opened his eyes to see her smiling at him. “Your magic is very much like Émilien’s, strong and pure. Thank you, Bernard.”
Embarrassed, he dropped his gaze to the man, who still lay unmoving on the entryway floor. “Will he live?”
“Thanks to you, he will.”
“He is a good man, honest, straightforward, but not too proud. In both timelines, he felt horrible for what the Japanese military leaders did and the part he unintentionally played in the attack. So, did it work? Are the Nazis gone?”
“Almost everything is back to normal regarding the war. As soon as the ambassador’s and the special envoy’s memories are replaced with historical events, it will be done.”
He exhaled, dreading her response to his next question. “And Alva?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer.
Freyja placed one finger beneath his chin and lifted his face to hers. The first thing he noticed was her smile. “Alva is fully recovered. After I reassured her...after we all reassured her you weren’t doing anything stupid and had reliable backup, she asked to visit her mother. You can find her in Aasveigheimr, so go. Ailuin and I will finish up here and make certain everything is as it should be.”
He raised one brow and returned her steady gaze, which, he noted, sparkled with humor. “Are you sure?”
“Bernard, when a very powerful goddess tells you to go find the woman who holds your heart, I suggest you do it without questioning her,” Ailuin said from behind him. The elf regent leaned against the office doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.
With a nod, Bernard closed his eyes, transported to Aasveigheimr, and found himself at the beginning of a path into a thick evergreen forest. Starting at a quick trot, he soon was running toward the queen’s castle, nestled inside the mountain.
He jogged around a steep bend and stumbled to a stop. Just ahead of him walked the woman holding his heart, her long, white braided hair swinging like a pendulum over her back. He smiled when he caught sight of the furry tip of her tail swishing on the ground behind her.
“Alva,” he called in a loud, clear voice. She turned, her sea-green eyes homing in on him like a beacon, and his heart painfully beat in his chest as he waited for her to make a move. It had to be her. Because of all his mistakes...it had to be her.
She covered her mouth with one hand, then ran toward him. He opened his arms just in time to catch her as she launched herself into his embrace. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she buried her face, his shirt catching her tears until they soaked all the way through the material. The only comfort he could give was the gentle up-and-down movement of his hand as he rubbed her bark-covered back. Surprisingly, though, it didn’t seem as prominent or rough.
“Shh, you’re going to give yourself hiccoughs, and we both know how much you hate them,” he whispered in her ear as he eased away so he could see her. His hands cradled her face as he stared down into her watery eyes. “You are so beautiful.”
She tried to shake her head but gave up after a few seconds. “I look horrible. No woman looks beautiful after they cry.”
He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. Her wide-eyed stare made him want to laugh. “My heart can’t take much more, so I need you to tell me you are completely healed.”
Her lips twitched. “Okay, I’m completely healed.”
He raised one brow. “Really? Or are you just saying that to placate me?”
“Well, you did just tell me to say it. I thought it prudent, seeing that your heart would stop if I didn’t.”
He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Your smart mouth is back, so you’re all right.”