Valkyrie of Desire

44. Red Lover

Flesh is a poor cocoon for the infantile spirit

Embrace a faithful path to mature into true freedom

Emotions are immature expressions of simple minds

Do not allow love or hate to ruin pure transcendence

Heaven awaits the faithful; the Pit for everyone else

—Joan Seventhome

The lamb does not come. Hildr shouts blessings to Hierophant, the Father of All. She presses her lips against the iron reinforcing her cell door and screams. Spittle flies and drips down her chin. Was Growt teasing? The thuggish guard had promised the meat if she prayed to his overgod.

She is no stranger to fasting for days, but this time she is chained in a cell rather than hiking a trail. Lies and starvation to weaken her; what will be the next step to break and convert her?

Only when the sun sets again does her door open. This time Growt is not alone as he gathers up her piss-filled drinking bowl.

"Lowman." Hildr slips her hand between her thighs, ready to catch the mystic gem she hides in her prison purse. "Come for revenge?"

The muscular man towers a head above her guard, but he wears only a sleeveless tunic and loose trousers with worn sandals. No weapons, and his posture is more akin to a sad puppy than a vengeful hound.

"Agastache is dead." Lowman steps into her cell, scattering straw with his wide feet.

Hildr narrows her eyes. The death of Lotus Hollow's head druidess is a little surprising. When she flew away on her griffin, Agastache was holding out against Jax's flames with an endless supply of summoned vines.

Growt taps Lowman's shoulder with the flat of his shortsword. "I have to lock you in. Shout when you are done." Leaving, he shuts the door halfway and pokes his head into the narrow opening. "Remember, don't touch her chain or mess with her face."

Hildr tilts her head. Brutes expect others to be brutish, but Lowman has spent too much time under Agastache's green thumb. Differing expectations can be teased, causing friction and slack. His depression could enable her chance to attack.

Summoning the high-pitched voice of a frightened maiden, she says, "H-have you come all this way to r-rape me?"

Growt leers like a drunkard at a brothel. "Take her from behind. It keeps women humble and leaves their hands free for prayer."

The guardsman chuckles and slams the cell door. A coffin lid would have less finality. Hildr's ears twitch, searching for anything besides his retreating footsteps. Faint singing comes from the window. Discordant, no more than a drunken revelry passing by. Not a group ready to hear a plea or care about a scream.

Raising a brow in the dim light, she crosses her arms. "Are you really here to rape me, Lowman?"

"Of course not ... that." Lowman flexes and extends his long tattooed arms apart, making his fingers into meaty fists. "For Agastache, Liam, and Lotus Hollow, I am here to beat you."

Hildr steps back, stretching her shackled ankle forward. He will want to avoid her cursed chain. Lacking her power, contact with it will knock him on his butt. Her mystic gem should be charged up by now, but it is a bad gamble. Not only might the chain's hunger disrupt the gem's enhancements, but she took it from Liam after she killed him. Lowman is sure to recognize it. Maybe the glowing gem will make him more wary, or more likely after such a long journey, he will become even more committed to her harm.

He shuffles forward with his fists up, ready to box.

Hildr arches a brow. "Are you worried I'm going to grapple you?" She points at her long heavy chain. "How can I fight?"