0765332108 (F) by Susan Krinard Read Free Book Online

Odin gave you before we came to Midgard with the Treasures centuries ago,” Eir said. “You don’t know if he intended to give you a message before you gave the pendant to Anna’s grandmother during the Second World War.”
    “If he did, he waited a cursed long time to bring the pendant, and himself, back to me,” Mist said. “And then he had nothing to say.” Eir ran her thin hand over her face, and Mist realized how much strength the conversation was costing her.
    “We can talk about this later,” Mist said, “after you’ve—”
    “What if Orn is hiding?” Eir said.
    “From Loki?”
    “Not only from Loki. Maybe he’s smarter than we gave him credit for.”
    Mist shifted uneasily. “What are you getting at?”
    Abruptly Eir slumped in the chair, her head lolling on her chest. Mist scrambled to her side and gathered the healer in her arms. Eir weighed no more than a scarecrow stuffed with feathers.
    “You’re going to bed,” Mist said. “And you’re not to do any more work until you can stand on your own two feet without listing to one side or the other like a sinking ship in a storm.”
    “But that is what I am,” Eir said, her voice a hoarse whisper. “A sinking ship.”
    “You’re not sunk yet.” Mist carried her to the area set aside for the medical staff and laid her down on her cot. “Leave Freya to me. Gods know I wouldn’t wish her on anyone else.”
    “Not even Loki?” Eir said with a short laugh.
    “Sleep,” Mist said. She covered Eir with the wool blanket, kissed her forehead, and turned away. The healer grabbed at her hand and hung on with surprising strength.
    “Promise me,” she said. “Listen to your instincts. Sometimes you give people more credit than they deserve, and too little to yourself.” She let go of Mist’s hand and covered her mouth, muffling a dry cough. “I think I’ll rest now.”
    Mist hesitated, her eyes filling with tears. She’d told herself again and again that she should never have let Eir help her fight Loki in the desert, or against Jormungandr so soon after she and Mist had returned to San Francisco. A healer wasn’t meant to use her talents to bring harm, and Eir had paid the price with her health. Possibly with her life.
    But the healer hadn’t lost her quiet wisdom, and her words continued to echo in Mist’s mind. They so closely mirrored the doubts she’d tried to push aside, because refusing to accept Freya’s help wasn’t an option.
    Even now she didn’t really want to think about it. But Eir didn’t have to remind her to listen to her instincts. Gut feeling had very clearly told her not to tell Freya everything about Orn’s involvement, just as it had nagged her to heed Dainn’s last communication.
    Do not trust Freya. Not all is what it seems .
    *   *   *
    Exhausted by the latest council meeting, Mist trudged back to the loft. She still half-expected a certain elf to be waiting for her at the kitchen table.
    Instead, someone from Anna’s small computer team had left a whole stack of printouts with information on the possible locations of two of the missing Valkyrie. Mist picked up the top page and stared blankly at the report. Anna had been trying to match Vali’s expertise since he’d betrayed them and gone over to Loki, and working herself nearly to death seemed to be her way of trying to forget that Orn had abandoned her.
    Returning the paper to the stack, Mist took a bottle of beer out of the fridge. She set it on the table and sat down, too exhausted to twist off the cap.
    “Need some help?”
    Koji sauntered into the kitchen, smiling at Mist with his usual warmth. The young lawyer was wearing sweatpants and a loose T-shirt, still perspiring from training in the gym. Even a five-dan practitioner of Japanese martial arts needed to keep in condition, and he was one of the handful of men and women who could teach the newest mortal recruits how to fight with bladed weapons … not to mention taking on the legal