Stronger Together chapter 201

The people decorating the Raith Deeps were miracle workers. We'd been  here earlier today and seen the layout, but they managed to completely  overhaul it in the time we had been gone. The persian rugs were replaced  with thick white carpets and the walls had sconces and decorations on  them. Something about the setup managed to pull focus from the stone  behind it and somehow remove the cave aesthetic, actually making the  place feel like a real ballroom, albeit a carpeted one.

Barb  gave a low whistle as she stepped up beside me wrap her arms around my  elbow. "Wow. This place is so much nicer than the cave I grew up in.  Which is saying something because the Batcave was pretty swank. Lot's of  decorations and trophies and that weird car based lazy susan thing I  always liked even if I felt like roundabout could have served the exact  same purpose. This place though...this is so nice you can barely tell  it's a cave at all." Everyone else was looking at her in confusion  except Kara and Raven but I just smiled at the comment.

Barb  didn't reminisce much about her old world. My redhead was very much a  force of nature and she tried to bull her way forward all the time. I  knew it was because she missed her dad and Bruce and even that cock  weasel Grayson and I didn't push her to dwell on it. Still it always  made me smile when she felt secure enough to share things from back  home. It let me know that she was healing even if she didn't show it.  Where Yang had kind of fallen apart when she got here Barb had gone the  opposite route and repressed like hell. It took months of time with her  before I even noticed she was hurting.

Harry  had really helped fill that void in her life, just like he had for  Yang, and the new baby and all the kids and Carpenters made her life  here so full of family and joy I think it became hard to hold onto any  feeling of being alone. I wondered how much of that was Raven pulling  strings behind the scenes to help her feel better, my sorceress was a  hell of a therapist even if you didn't know she was head shrinking you. I  pulled Barb close to my side with that arm and put my other around  Cinder's waist, shooting Raven a wink.

My  girlfriend knew the two of them needed me more right now and give me a  soft understanding smile before stepping up to take Barb's other arm.  Meanwhile everyone else scattered. Dalton took off to do his thing, Mina  went with him, though she promised to come back when Barb was ready to  mingle, Brynn trailed behind them in an annoyed huff. Kara and Inari  took Harry and split off to go find Lara and Sam and River went to  dance, while Morgan dragged Andi out onto the floor to do the same.  Everyone just scattered as soon as we stepped inside.

As  we stepped in however we were greeted by a very surprising sight. A  tall statuesque blonde in a elegant black dress with a long slit up one  leg strolled up to us. It actually took me a second to recognize her  with the clothes and the makeup and her hair braided. My eyebrows flew  up "Gard? Wow you look great, I hardly recognized you. I wouldn't have  pegged this for your kind of party. Are you enjoying yourself?" I hadn't  expected the valkyrie here but in retrospect it made some sense, this  was Odin's party.

She  chuckled at my poleaxed expression. "Yes Cameron, I do own clothes  other than battle leathers and biker jackets." Her red painted lips  quirked up in amusement. "Your staring is certainly a high compliment  but I think your lady friends may get jealous if you continue." Her eyes  were sparkling so I knew she wasn't angry, just enjoying my reaction.  You would think after all this time in this world I would be used to  supernaturally attractive women but it still knocked me on my ass every  time.

Being  around nothing but women who violate the laws of physics with their  sheer hotness was a bit disconcerting but luckily I wasn't alone. Barb,  who had a bit of a crush on Sigrun, was staring so hard she looked like a  cartoon skunk. I had to elbow her in the ribs before she cleared her  throat and responded. "Oh, no we're used to him being a total boy and  staring all the time. He doesn't act on his impulses without permission  though so we let him drool." The suspicious licking of her lips as she  stared at Sigrun told me I wasn't the only one drooling.

Gard  laughed at that, shooting Barb a warm smile that made my girlfriend's  knees turn to jelly if her weight on my arm was anything to go by before  turning back to me. "In any case Cameron my lord sent me to get you.  You'll be signing the accords tonight before the entirety of the  accorded nations so you need to be in position when we open the gala.  She smiled charmingly at Barb. "I'm sorry to say his two escorts from  the conclave must accompany him, but I could keep the charming Miss  Gordon company while you attend the signing if you like?"

Barb  was flushed and her breath was heaving. I pulled her against me an  nipped her ear. "Nothing under the clothes without asking." I whispered  to her. She shuddered and nodded and I chuckled. Freydis had made it  clear in the books that valkyries could be outspoken when they wanted  something. Gard clearly noticed Barb's interest and was asking for  permission to spend some time with her. It was up to Barb of course but I  wanted to talk to her about it with Raven and Cinder before she went  very far. It wasn't something we had discussed.

I  personally gave no fucks if Barb had sex with another girl, even one  outside our relationship, and I doubted Raven cared either. I wasn't  sure about Cinder and I figured in general it was polite to ask. It made  sense Gard would be attracted to Barb, she was every inch the deadly  warrior and very attractive, but waiting wouldn't be a big deal. I shot  them a smile and headed off for the head table on the far end of the  hall where Odin sat beside Mab, Lara, and about four other people not  all of whom I recognized.

They  had saved me a seat and slid into the chair next to the all-father. The  old god grinned at me. "So, seem's like you've had a bit of an  adventure on your first outing in the public eye. Well done by the way, I  didn't see that one coming at all but it certainly made your point." He  shot me his usual wolfish grin before downing the very large mug of  beer he'd gotten from somewhere. Ever since we had that first drink at  Mac's it was like I had broken some kind of alcoholic ice. Odin had a  beer in hand every time I saw him now.

I  rolled my eyes. "First of all Dino, I'm not convinced you weren't  expecting that. Second of all I didn't so anything anyway it was all  Emperor Qin. I just stayed alive through the Arbitration, that isn't  really a victory." I appreciated the props, but I was halfway convinced  that accepting them would open me up to some sort of open challenge and I  would have to do it again. Somehow I doubted the Qin Emperor would go  down quite as easily as Drakul. THe vampire was kind of a lone wolf  experience aside, but Qin had led an army larger than most modern  countries to unify the six warring states and forge the precursor to the  empire of China.

Odin  bellow a laugh at that. "Boy surviving anything is a victory, much less  a life or death struggle with a millennia old starborn monstrosity that  has killed more people than you've ever met. To answer your unasked  question however no, I didn't plan that nor was I aware of it so you can  settle down. Now, before we can start this thing you just have to sign  the accords in front of everyone." He gestured to the table in front of  me and someone brought forward an honest to god purple velvet pillow  with gold tassels on it, upon which lay an unfurled piece of ancient  looking vellum.

The  paper was strange. The hide it was made from was from something very  old and scary, I wasn't sure how I knew but I did. I could just feel it.  The ink was infused with a kind of heavy magic that made me immediately  think of fresh blood, and the varying types of handwriting were so  perfect it looked like a Microsoft word font list. It seemed petty but  part of me was a bit worried my handwriting would be sloppy. I was left  handed and even though I had unnatural control of my body I'd never  bothered to work on my penmanship.

Despite  the worry though I just held out a hand and Odin passed me a long black  feathered quill with a bone nib. The feather was so huge I wondered  what it could possibly have come from but the actual writing portion of  the quill was at least thin enough to hold. Odin handed me the ink well  before giving me brief instructions on how to sign and then stood up.  The old god cleared his throat and everyone in the place froze. It was  the weirdest thing, the sound was only a bit louder than normal but even  despite the acoustics it carried abnormally well, cutting through every  conversation.

All  the attendees glances over at the table from where they were sitting or  dancing or standing and chatting. Odin raised his massive beer mug. "As  you all know, this event has been a celebration and a test. To honor  and inspect our new member, the newest signatory of this, our accorded  nations. As you all know Cameron Beddows has proven himself a power in  his own right, both in the world at large and in these very halls, and  now the time has come for him to formally bind himself to our number,  with his signing of the Unseelie Accords." It was weird how those words  were somehow verbally capitalized but it did seem to fit.

He  gestured to me and I nodded before slamming the nib of the pen into my  hand, drawing just a bit of blood. I dripped it into the inkwell,  letting my healing take care of the whole and making damn sure it all  mixed with the ink, which Odin informed me would break and thaumaturgic  links except the one with the document itself and would keep the blood  fresh and potent on the vellum. Then I slowly and carefully wrote out my  name across the accords, sealing myself magically to the rules of the  binding agreement which governed the powers of this world.

It  struck me as i did so that I had officially integrated into the series.  I'd driven this thing completely off the rails and as a member of the  Unseelie Accords I was an active participant in an organization I knew  for a fact would be the victim of an assault by Ehtniu.Assuming we let  the Fomor get jumped enough to bring her to bear against us which  admittedly we probably wouldn't.

It  somehow felt more real like this, like I had more to lose as a member  of the accords, though as a Chicago native I knew that wasn't the case. I  would be screwed no matter what if this place got crushed so I might as  well stand and fight. As I took in the crowd who had begun to clap I  somehow couldn't bring myself to care about that. This was my home now. I  would damn sure protect it.