Lucky leaned back against the trunk of the big oak tree behind him, staring off through the trees at the big Georgian mansion. He was too far away to make out any details but he was more concerned with staying hidden than with gathering intelligence. He already knew everything he needed to know about what was going on at the Falkor's house and had already put his plans in motion to get through the weaknesses he had found in Tyr's defenses. Lucky only had to sit back now and wait for the last pieces to fall into place so that he could finally get his revenge.
***
Randy sat in the undergrowth of the thick forest watching his great-grandfather and trying to hold back the low growl that wanted to break free from his throat. He had caught the scent farther out past the river and followed it in when he realized where it was leading. There had been a lot of strange scents in the forests around Frey's house lately and Randy wasn't convinced that they were all part of the group of guards who surrounded the house in shifts to keep watch over Astyr.
When it came to Astyr's safety, Randy was willing to go to extra lengths; staying awake for days on end to check every trail in the woods and going without hunting until he couldn't hold out any longer just so he wouldn't have to be too far away from her. He was convinced that Lucky was going to make his move any day now because he wouldn't want to wait until after Astyr turned sixteen and started the regeneration process. It would be a lot harder to kill her after that and Lucky was clearly getting impatient now to have this done with.
***
Astyr sat on the sofa in the game room upstairs sharing a bowl of popcorn with Hakon. They were squished up close to each other on one end because the rest of the space was taken up by Glin, Jenny, Gunnar and Ginny. Ginny and Gunnar had started to spend more time together when Jenny had deserted her best friend for Glin but they insisted to anybody who asked that they were just friends. Gunnar often drove her home after school and hung out at her house doing homework with her but he didn't hang all over her the way Glin did with Jenny.
The three couples were spending the long President's Day weekend at the end of February having a movie marathon together since Tyr and Frey had put a stop to their plans to go down south to the beach before they could even make them. The extra security was beginning to get a little boring and Astyr was getting more than a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house all the time. She was only allowed to go out for school and that was in the safe and capable hands of Glin, Hakon, and Gunnar. She understood how dangerous Loki could be, but that didn't make it easier to bear the restrictions imposed for her safety or the sitting around waiting for him to crawl out from under his rock and finally make a move. She almost wished at this point that he would just get it over with already so that she could live a normal life for once.
Well, as normal as her life could be, she thought. Her childhood had never been full of regular family moments; most of her foster parents had been only too eager to get rid of her, but she had been a member of the human race at least. Now that she knew the truth about her parents, there was no going back, even if she wanted to.
She most definitely didn't want that, though. Despite the fear of her father's enemy, the stress of waiting for an attack, and the boredom of sitting around with nothing to do but train and practice with her powers, Astyr was actually happy. She spent time with Tyr every day and really enjoyed listening to stories about his life. Also, she got to eat dinner surrounded by people who cared about her, understood her and weren't afraid of her; that was something she wouldn't trade for the whole world.
Best of all, however, was being with Hakon. They were careful not to act too close whenever Glin was around, he tended to be overly aggressive about Hakon, but otherwise they enjoyed a warm relationship. Astyr no longer felt held back by the feelings she had once had for Randy; she had forcibly put her brief time with him behind her, glad that she had found out about his betrayal before she had gotten any closer to him or made any painful mistakes.
She never had to second-guess Hakon or worry about what he wanted from her. He was just there for her and she loved the open, honest friendship they shared. Astyr would call it a friendship first over any other label because she knew that if she pulled back from Hakon, he would still be her friend, no matter what. Anyone else looking at it from the outside would have said that they were passionately in love, but Astyr didn't trust in passion or have time for silly romantic love like some fairytale princess. She only had faith in what she could see and what she saw was how loyal, patient and kind Hakon was to her.
She could also see how attractive he was; she'd have to be blind not to notice that. It was actually a little distracting sometimes because she could lose a lot of time just thinking about his lips and reliving moments that they had managed to spend alone together. Most of their alone time was when Glin was driving Jenny home and they would find somewhere deserted in the house to be together. Hakon was a stickler for tradition and wouldn't go into Astyr's room alone with her so they usually were to be found in a dark corner of the billiard room or in a deserted, pre-dinner dining room. And found they were.
On one memorable occasion it was Tyr himself who came into the library to grab a book and discovered his daughter in Hakon's arms, being thoroughly kissed, and clearly enjoying it.
Tyr had been stunned for several moments into silence but finally found his voice enough to bark out, "What's going on here?"
Astyr jumped away from Hakon in shock and turned to face her father with her cheeks burning red in embarrassment. She was so scared of her father's disapproval that she couldn't manage to say a single thing.
Fortunately, Hakon was much more composed and answered clearly, "I'm in love with your daughter, Sir."
Astyr turned to look at Hakon in surprise and thought to herself that she was doing a great impression of a cat at a tennis match. A big smile crossed her face as she asked him, "Really?"
Before Hakon could answer, Tyr took control of the conversation, "Astyr, go wait in the living room, please. I'd like to speak with Hakon alone for a moment."
Astyr wasted no time in heading for the archway that led out of the room but she turned back just before she left to give Hakon one last small smile. She walked through the rotunda and into the formal living room with her stomach tied up in knots. She was really happy that Hakon had declared his feelings for her like that but was equally scared that her father might be about to put an end to their relationship altogether.
A lot of what she had learned about Aesir customs had led her to believe that her father would probably get rid of Hakon in one way or another to keep her away from him; being able to fall in love with whoever she wanted wasn't conducive to going meekly into an arranged marriage at her parents' convenience. She sprang up from the antique French sofa and started pacing the room trying to think up arguments she could use to change her father's mind.
Before she could think of anything that she didn't feel was silly, childish or downright rebellious, her father entered the room and walked over to the large windows that faced out to the patio. Astyr joined him and he held his arm out so that she could come and stand beside him.
She put her arm around his waist and leaned against his chest as he laid his cheek down on top of her head.
"I missed so much time with you, Astyr," he began, his voice thick with emotion, "now that I finally have you, you're almost a grown woman. I always thought of you as the baby you were in your mother's womb, but you're not even a little girl anymore."
Astyr felt her eyes sting as tears threatened to break free at the sadness in his words.
Tyr pulled away and held her shoulders as he looked down into her face. "You will always be my little girl but I'm not going to stop you from living your life." Tyr smiled at her and she gave him a small smile in return.
"Your mother fought for so many years against her mother's laws about Alfar marriages." Tyr continued, "She always believed that people should be able to choose who they love and be able to marry anyone they wanted. It would break her heart to see her own daughter being told she's not allowed to love someone, especially a young man who so clearly loves and respects you, Astyr."
He pulled her into his chest and held her in a tight hug. "I love you so much and if Hakon makes you happy and treats you well, then you have my blessing."
Astyr wrapped her arms around her father and hugged him back just as tightly.
"Thank you so much, Dad." Astyr said, "You do realize, though, that I'm too young to get married, right?"
Tyr gave a big chuckle and broke away from the hug. "I do realize that, Astyr, and I'm glad to hear you know that, too. But I have lived a long time and I know how to spot a good person, and that Hakon is one of the best. You stick with him and you won't regret it."
"Ok, Dad," she answered, laughing, "I'll do that."
"Now," Tyr said, his expression changing to a serious scowl, "What are we going to do about Glin?"
Astyr's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What about Glin? What does he have to do with Hakon and me?"
Tyr laughed out loud, throwing his head back. "I don't know if you've noticed," he said, trying to stop the chuckles, "but our Glin is dead set against you and Hakon. He tends to get a little upset whenever he catches Hakon near you. So what are we going to do about keeping him from losing his head and taking his anger out on your boyfriend?"
Astyr wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought of Glin attacking Hakon. "I think Hakon and I will just continue to be discreet for now. Glin won't be here forever and once he finally leaves, Hakon and I will have plenty of time to share together."
So now, Astyr and Hakon were sitting together at one end of the sofa sharing a bowl of popcorn while Glin and Jenny sat at the other end barely paying attention to the end of the last movie in the Matrix trilogy. As the credits started to roll, Gunnar stood up and announced that he had to get Ginny back home.
"Ugh," Jenny added, "I have to go home now, too. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Astyr and Hakon said their goodbyes to the others as they all left the room and when they were finally alone, Astyr snuggled up closer to Hakon.
"I can't believe we finally get the place to ourselves," Hakon said as he brushed her hair away from her neck and bent down to trail kisses against her soft skin.
"Mmm..." was the best Astyr could come up with as a reply. It had been a long few days since they had been able to spend time together and she was enjoying the feel of his lips too much to let a silly thing like conversation get in the way.
Hakon chuckled with his lips still close to her neck and it sent her blood racing down to pool in her center. "I take it you like that," he breathed as he twisted around on the sofa to face her as he moved his hand around the other side of her neck to thrust his fingers up into her soft hair and cup the back of her head. He slowly made his way up the side of her neck and over her jaw, trailing kisses, until he reached her lips. He pulled away just the slightest bit and looked into her silvery-blue eyes, smiling.
He was leaning over her, the extra space on the oversized sofa giving them plenty of room to almost lay down, and she looked up into his green eyes, smiling.
"If you don't kiss me..." she started as he closed the small gap between their lips and crushed her to him in a tight embrace. Astyr gave a small moan and tilted her head to the side as her lips parted.
Before they could deepen the kiss, there was a burst of energy that slammed into them, causing Hakon to be thrown off of Astyr and for Astyr to instinctively throw up a powerful shield and jump up to see where the threat was coming from.
Glin stood in the entrance with a murderous look on his face.
"What is wrong with you?" Astyr screamed at him. "Why can't you just leave us alone? This is none of your business!"
"That's where you're wrong, Astyr," Glin said in growl, "you are my business and I won't have that boy putting his hands all over the girl I am going to marry!"
Astyr stared at him, dumbfounded, not fully able to get her brain to make sense of what he had said.
Hakon picked himself up off the floor and came to stand with Astyr. "How could you possibly think that Astyr would marry you?" he asked, "Why would you even think that?"
Glin gave him a cold look and sneered, "Astyr is going to marry me because Queen Elianna decided that we are a good match, and if I marry her, then I still get to be king."
Astyr narrowed her eyes and glared at Glin, "I am not going to marry you, Glin, ever. I don't care what my grandmother says or thinks. If you and I were the last two warm-blooded creatures on earth, I'd start kissing frogs!"
With that she pushed past him, using her powerful shield to brush him aside as she stomped out of the room and down the stairs, calling for her father.
Tyr came out of the kitchen with Frey and Grima behind him to see what the commotion was.
"Dad," Astyr began before she even got off the staircase, "my grandmother told Glin that he could have me as a bride! Can you please explain to him that I am not a piece of property to be given away like a party favor by that crazy old woman?"
Before he could answer, Glin came up and started talking, "Queen Elianna doesn't intend for us to get married anytime soon, she just wants it to be clear that Astyr is promised to me for when she is ready to settle down."
Astyr rolled her eyes, as if that was supposed to make it better.
Tyr put his hand up to stop either of them from saying anything more, "Glin, my daughter is not promised to you or anyone. When she is ready to get married, it will be her choice and there is nothing Elianna can do to change that. If you want to continue to be a guest here, and be able to follow your orders, you need to accept that and get the idea out of your head that Astyr has been 'promised' to you. Do you understand me?" he added threateningly at the end.
"Yeah," Astyr added, "and just so you know, if you want to convince a girl to marry you, it's really better if you don't parade your human girlfriend around in front of her all the time."
Glin curled up his upper lip in disdain, "Jenny, or any other human I want to date, will be old and dead long before you and I are old enough to think about settling down; there's no need to bring her into this."
Just then, there was a crash from the kitchen and Grima, who was closest to the door rushed in to see what it was. She found Jenny, trying to untangle herself from a fallen dining chair, looking at Grima in panic and fear.
She stopped trying to flee as everyone else made their way into the kitchen behind Grima and took stock of the situation.
Glin walked over to her slowly with his hand outstretched and spoke to her in a way meant to soothe her and calm her down. "Jenny, love," he began, "what's the matter, baby?"
Jenny lost the fearful look in her eyes as it was replaced by anger. "Baby?" she practically screamed at him, "You call me baby when you were just talking about marrying Astyr and killing me off! And why did you keep calling me 'human'? What's going on?"
Astyr rolled her eyes and stayed back to let Glin, and if need be, her father and Frey deal with this.
"That's not what you heard," Glin lied smoothly, "I would never say something like that and I would certainly never try to hurt you. You have to believe me."
Jenny looked doubtful for a moment as she paused to think and Glin took advantage of that to close the distance between them and take her in his arms. He put one finger under her chin and forced her to look up at him as he stared into her eyes. She started to get a glassy look and then swayed as whatever Glin was doing in her head took effect.
She slumped over to the side and he gathered her up before she could hit the floor.
"I'm going to run her home," he said in a perfectly normal voice, "we can finish this conversation later."
"There's nothing to finish." Astyr called out to him just as he left.
Tyr came over and took her hand, "Don't you worry, dear. I will send a message to Elianna to clear this whole thing up."
Astyr smiled at him in thanks, grateful that he was there to protect her and willing to let her make the choice for herself.
************************