by Nora Ash
I glared at my father, but the smirk on his lips spoke all too clearly of his intentions. He wasn’t just unbothered about needling Modi—he was actively trying to bring him misery.
Once upon a time I’d have laughed at such antics, delighted in my enemy’s pain. But that was before a rope made of flesh and iron tied us together, making me feel every ounce of agony he did. Before I’d known for myself what pain came from your own father betraying you.
“I don’t know how we’re going to get back to Valhalla—but we will,” the redhead said, the determination in his voice subverted by the despair ricocheting through the bond tying me to Annabel.
I breathed in deeply, and without looking at my father, undid my thick winter coat to reach for the hidden leather pouch I carried close to my chest. “I may have a solution.”
Doubt mixed with curiosity was plain on his face when I pulled out the old map and knelt to spread it on the floor, smoothing the curled edges as I looked over it.
“Bjarni! No!” Loki jolted forward, reaching for the map. I jerked on the rope, sending him ass over teakettle without so much as a glance in his direction.
“What are you doing, boy? If the Aesir discover—”
“I don’t give a flying crap,” I rumbled. “Ragnarök is at our doorstep. Saga and Grim are in enemy hands. Modi can burn it if he wants, once we’ve put a stop to this mess. All I care about right now is getting to Asgard before my brothers are a head shorter, and all you should care about is how you’re going to plead your case to the other gods once we get there. One more word out of you, and you’ll spend the rest of this trek with a sock stuffed down your gullet. Got it?”
Loki gasped an insulted breath, but whatever biting words he wanted to sling at me, he was wise enough to only mutter.
“What is this?” Modi asked as he bent by my side, brows knotted in a frown.
“It’s a map of the nine worlds,” I answered, pointing toward a small, swirling vortex I knew all too well. An unexpected pang of homesickness threatened to distract my focus. I forced it down. “This is a portal to Jotunheim. We can locate a path from Midgard back to Asgard using these portals.”
Modi’s frown deepened. “This is… this is a backdoor through the realms? The gods would never let such an artifact fall into Jotunn hands! How did you—”
“Does it really matter?” I asked him, eyebrow arched. “Not all magic in the nine world belongs to the Aesir, and Jotunn hands or no, this is our best shot at saving our brothers. Our only shot, unless you have any other bright ideas you’ve yet to share with the class.”
He looked like he wanted to protest, undoubtedly pushed by eons of Asa superiority complex, but reason must have set in, because in the end he only nodded.
“This is Iceland,” Annabel said as she crouched between us, her fingertips grazing the swirl of the portal near our farm. “How are we supposed to get there?”
I smoothed my hand across the map. The ink shimmered and flickered, then slid into new shapes and forms until it displayed a detailed map of North America. “Hopefully there’ll be one not too far from us.”
It was harder to spot the portals on this map thanks to the vast size of the continent. I frowned and squinted at the map, hoping against hope that one would be close to Seattle.
“There,” Annabel said, pointing to a small black ink smudge. Far up in Alberta, Canada.
“We won’t make it there in time,” I said softly. “We need something closer.”
Silence fell again as the three of us stared at the map while Loki tapped his fingers impatiently against the floor, thankfully keeping his mouth shut.
“Is that one?” Modi finally asked after several minutes.
I followed his finger to a small smudge north-east of Portland, Oregon. My heart picked up speed as I caught the swirl in its center.
“Yes! It’s…” I stopped myself, cursing under my breath.
“What?” Annabel asked.
“It leads to Niflheim. Fuck!”
“Niflheim?” she asked as Modi spat out a foul oath from her other side.
“The realm of fog and mist,” Loki said, that damned smirk back in his voice. “Darkness and ice rule there. It’s certainly no place to bring a vulnerable little human.”
“What did I say about keeping your mouth shut?” I growled at my father.
“He is right,” Modi said. “We cannot bring Annabel there. It is not just ice and darkness that lurks in Niflheim.”
“Are you joking right now?” our mate asked, a snarl in her voice that had no business coming from an omega. “If this is the only way we’ll make it back in time, then this is the portal we’re using. The human world’s currently hosting an unending winter and a big fucking serpent planning on covering the world in acid. It’s basically already ice-and-darkness time here. So, unless someone spots a better portal, let’s go.”
I exchanged a look with Modi. The girl had a point.
“Let’s see where the next closest portal in Niflheim is located first. We have limited time, and with all this blasted snow it’s going to take at least five to six days to make it down far enough into Oregon,” I said, brushing my palm over the map once more.
It shimmered again, ink moving until the jagged edges of Niflheim lay in front of us.
“There’s our spot,” I mumbled, placing the pad of my index finger on the location we’d be arriving from. “Now where’s the nearest portal out?”
It took the three of us a lot of scouring until finally Annabel prodded a black vortex several inches from my digit. “There. Where does that one lead?”
I squinted at the mark, then lit up in a grin as hope seeped through my veins. “Asgard! Stars be blessed, it’s a portal to Asgard!
“How long will it take us to get there?” she asked. I saw the same kind of wild longing on her pretty face as pounded in my heart. We were so close.
“About… three days?” Modi said, measuring the distance between Annabel’s and my fingers with his hand before he looked to me for confirmation.
“All depending,” I murmured, frowning at the flat map. “I’ve never been, though I hear the terrain is supposedly as rough as its inhabitants. But yes, I think three days is a reasonable estimate. That gets us back to Valhalla with only a single day to spare for any unforeseen circumstances along the way.”
“Then it looks like it is our best bet,” Modi said. “Let us rest and eat so we can head out in the morning with as much energy as possible. We are going to need it.”
Thirty
Annabel
The trek to Oregon was tougher than our hike from Seattle to find Loki and back. Much, much tougher. The wind howled constantly, throwing icy snow in my face despite Modi and Bjarni doing their best to shield me from the elements by sandwiching me between the bulk of their bodies.
We walked for sixteen hours that first day, forcing our way through hip-deep snow—though again, the alphas took turns taking the lead, so they could flatten the path for my human self. They did everything to make the journey as easy as possible for me, and it made me feel absolutely useless when we still had to stop for the night because I physically couldn’t move anymore.
“You should have said something,” Bjarni rumbled as he slipped underneath the blankets and wrapped me up in his blessed warmth shortly after we made camp. “All this is gonna be for nothing if you keel over dead from exhaustion.”
“We’re never going to make it if I can’t even handle walking in my own damn world,” I growled. “We’re so close, Bjarni. But if we have to keep stopping because I’m not strong enough—”
He stopped me with a kiss. “Shush. You’re human, Annabel. You’ve shown resilience above and beyond anything I could have dreamed, but you are human. It’s not a weakness. Look at all that magic thrumming right underneath your skin. Your willpower. You brought the God of Mischief to heel. You’re strong enough, sweetie. Stars, you’re strong enough to stop even Ragnarök. Tomorrow, when you start to tire, Modi o
r I will carry you. And we will make it in time.”
“I’ll slow you down,” I said, guilt clutching at my throat. “Without me—”
“Without you, we wouldn’t have had a chance at capturing Loki. Stop this nonsense, Annabel. Do you expect to do everything on your own? Why do you think Fate planned five mates for you? If your fate is truly to stop Ragnarök, then ours is to lend you our strength when you need it.”
“You make it sound so simple,” I whispered.
“It is simple,” he sighed, placing a peck on my forehead. “I don’t understand why you’re all angsting about it all the damn time. We’re meant for each other. I feel it right through my bones every time I look at you. And I feel it when Modi, curse his stupid ass, touches you. I saw it when the three of us took down one of the most powerful gods in the world. So tomorrow, you will let your mates carry you when your body grows tired, and together we will make it back to Asgard in time to save my brothers.”
It was a strange sensation, floating on the edge of consciousness and listening to his completely calm, rational explanation for something I’d struggled with ever since I fled from their farm so many weeks ago now. As if this whole, insane Norn-created mess was the most natural thing in the world. But my exhausted mind could only grasp onto the here and now, the physical problem.
“You need your strength. It’s so much harder for you two—”
“Annabel. We’re gods.” Bjarni’s otherwise so patient voice took on a stern note. “We’ve both faced far, far harder challenges in our immortal existence than dragging your sweet ass through some snow. Now, I will hear no more protest out of you. It’s time to sleep, and so help me if you don’t let us know the second you need to be carried tomorrow, I’ll show you exactly how much strength I have left. Fimbulwinter or no.”
I had a pretty good idea of how he was planning on showing me his strength, and I couldn’t hold back an amused snort even as my eyelids slid closed, my body more than prepared to obey his command to sleep. “Why is it always about fucking with alphas?”
“Sleep,” he growled.
I did.
The rest of the journey was still exhausting on a level I hadn’t experienced before, but true to his promise, Modi and Bjarni carried me whenever my body refused to continue another step. I knew it slowed the pace they could have set on their own, but I soon realized that it was faster for us all than if I tried to force my legs forward after I’d run out of steam.
It was midday on the fifth day when we, deep into Mount Rainier National park, finally located the portal.
We found it deep between a forest of huge pines and thick undergrowth that ripped at our clothes, its dark expanse a sharp contrast to the blanket of white covering everything else.
“Finally,” Bjarni sighed at the sight of it. He hadn’t said anything, but I knew both my alphas were stressing at our tight timeline. “Let’s not waste any time—come on.”
“I really think you should reconsider,” Loki said. He’d kept mostly quiet for the entirety of our journey, probably keeping Bjarni’s threat of getting silenced with a dirty sock in fresh recollection. “Niflheim is no place for a human. You know this.”
“I’m sure you are just dying with concern for our mate, and not in the least motivated by desire not to face Odin’s wrath,” Modi said, not bothering to look at him as he eyed the portal.
“Yes, well, be that as it may, my survival is also relying on the human girl surviving,” Loki said. “That part of the prophecy was clear. And if you get her killed in Niflheim, we’re all screwed.”
Bjarni spun toward him, eyes narrowed. “You do understand that if Saga or Magni dies, so does she, right? You do know how fundamental and inescapable the bond you were so keen on your sons to enter into is? Or was this grand plan of yours less contingent of the nitty-gritty details of how our lives would be forever altered, and more focused on how to save your own skin?”
Loki rolled his eyes. “Please, I have enough faith in Grim to know he’ll find a way out, even if Saga and Thor’s oaf of a bastard fail. If there’d been any real danger to them, of course I would have come to their aid.”
“Of course,” Bjarni bit.
“Ignore him,” I murmured, placing a hand on Bjarni’s bicep. “He’s just trying to distract us. Let’s go.”
“I will go through first with Loki,” Modi said. He was standing in front of the portal, letting his fingers skim over the void as he inspected it. “Make sure it is safe before you bring her through.”
“No!” My shout rushed out of my throat before I could stop it. I lunged the few yards from Bjarni to Modi, my heart hammering in my throat. I grasped on to his coat with both hands.
Modi stared down at where I had a hold of him, one eyebrow arched in clear bemusement at my reaction. “No?”
“I…” How did I explain to him how it’d felt like when Magni abducted me to Jotunheim through a portal and I’d thought I would die until Saga followed, gluing my soul back together? “We… We need to go together. At the same time.”
“It’s safer—” he started, but I cut him off before he had a chance to continue.
“No. If anything, it’s safer if all three of us are there, should something dangerous be waiting for us. It took the three of us to catch him, remember?” I said, jerking my head toward Loki without releasing my grip on Modi’s coat.
Modi sighed, an exasperated look passing over his handsome features, but he didn’t pry my hands off him. “Annabel—"
“Girl has a point,” Bjarni rumbled, his amusement obvious even without looking at him. “And if you make her use her magic to stay attached to you like a barnacle, she’s gonna need a fuck the moment we hit Niflheim. Dunno about you, but it’s almost been a week since I got off, and there’s no chance in Hel I’m keeping watch while you top off her magic.”
It was the first mention of the fact that that we hadn’t had sex since before we'd left Seattle, and embarrassment heated my cheeks at Bjarni’s bluntness. The journey had left me near-unconscious every night, and miraculously both alphas had decided it was more important that I recuperated my strength than satisfy them.
Modi grunted. “Fine. But you stay behind me. Got it?”
“Yeah. Got it,” I said, relief making me smile up at him. “Thank you.”
He only nodded and turned his focus back to the portal. “You’re with me, Betrayer.”
Loki sighed dramatically but trudged through the snow toward him and the portal—encouraged by the yank on his rope from Bjarni. He eyed the darkness and pressed his lips into a thin line. “I truly hate this place.”
“Everyone does,” Modi rumbled. “Forward.”
Loki rolled his eyes again, shooting the redhead an ungrateful look. Then he stepped through, leaving nothing but the end of the rope in Bjarni’s hand behind.
Bjarni grabbed my shoulder with his free hand and pushed, making me press up tight against Modi. I grabbed onto his waist as he turned around, effectively sandwiching me between his back and Bjarni’s chest.
We stepped through as one, and I sucked in a breath as the sensation of falling rippled through my body, pulling me apart and putting me back together again before I could scream.
A cold, clammy sensation clung to my face and seemed to bore into my lungs with every breath. I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly to try and regain my bearings.
For a long moment, everything seemed to be silent, gray nothingness. If it hadn’t been for the comforting pressure from in front- and behind me, I’d have panicked at the absence of sight.
Only when a shadow moved in the gray nothingness a little bit ahead did I realize that the clammy chill was thick fog surrounding us from all sides.
“Ugh. You could have warned me that this portal of yours would land us in the middle of a swamp,” Loki’s voice sounded from the dark figure. He waved his bound hands, making the fog swirl around him enough that he became somewhat more visible. “Where’s our exit, then?”
I sh
ifted cautiously at his words, trying to make out the surface we were standing on, but it seemed to be frozen solid. A few dead tufts of grass crunched underneath my feet, but at least there was no snow.
“Three days east-northeast from here,” Bjarni rumbled behind me.
“And where exactly is ‘here’?” Loki said, forced patience dripping from every syllable. “Because it generally helps to know where you are when you’re looking to find somewhere to go.”
“We’re at the portal. Don’t really need to know anything other than that,” Bjarni said, irritation flickering in our bond as well as his voice.
“Just show him the map,” Modi sighed. “Your brother, the cold one—there is a rumor he spawned from this world, right? Which would mean your dear father knows these lands better than most. Odin or no, I am pretty sure even the God of Mischief can see the benefit of spending as little time as possible in Niflheim.”
“Is that why Grim’s so cold?” I asked, distracted by the unexpected bit of gossip. “His mother is from here? What—what is she?” I frowned, remembering what else Loki had fathered. “Oh, God, she’s… she’s human-ish, right?”
“Ish,” Loki agreed mildly, doing nothing to calm the wild images suddenly flying free in my imagination. “Ah, thank you.”
The last bit was directed at Bjarni, who thrust the rolled-up map at him. It took him a bit of fumbling to smooth it out with his bound hands, but when he managed he crouched down to scrutinize the old parchment. Apparently, god eyes had less trouble with the thick fog than my human ones.
“Ah, so we’re in Sötunmarsken,” he said, drawing his finger to the right. “And the other portal is—no! No, are you mad?”
The change in Loki’s tone was so immediate and volatile I took a step back. Bjarni’s hand on my shoulder kept me from tripping over another lump of frozen grass and falling on my ass.
