***
Her fingers flew over the keyboard as Hlif searched through the data on her screen. With all the time and money at her disposal, she’d learned to keep herself busy. Her immense skill with computers, in particular, was one she’d perfected over the years. She wondered what the hacking community would think if they knew that SnowTip, a renowned hacktivist, was a millennia-old woman. Hlif rarely used her skill for personal use, but Bo’s abduction was an exception. She knew she’d asked Lars to trace Loki’s plane and she trusted him to get back to her, but Hlif couldn’t sit around and do nothing.
Her fingers froze, hovering over the keys as her eyes skimmed over the data. The plane landed at seven o’clock this evening. She pulled up an image from a nearby camera but it was too far away to make out the number plate of any of the vehicles waiting on the tarmac. She instead continued to type furiously.
“What are you doing now?”
She glanced at Magarethe. The woman looked fascinated as she watched the data streamed across the screen. “I’m hacking into all the cameras outside the most prominent hotels.”
“That’s smart.”
Hlif shrugged. “To catch a crook, you need to think like one.” She typed in a time code. The airport is approximately 45 minutes’ drive from the city centre. Forty-five minutes would be enough time for the entourage to reach their hotel. It took her less than five minutes to locate Loki. “Got ya! Let’s go.”
The hotel wasn’t far from her apartment.
***
Bo shook her head to clear it before she fixed her gaze on her opponent. She loved this! Beating the crap out of Loki was fun. He might not be a warrior, but he’d managed to land several good blows. With his godly powers, Bo knew he’d be a frightening adversary. However, it’s with great pride that she noticed that Loki looked worse than she did. Her training was paying off. If she survived the night, she owed Roger a steak dinner.
“Had enough, yet?” she taunted Loki. He glared at her, obviously ticked off by the fact that she hadn’t been as easy to kill as he’d thought. She was hurting where he’d kicked her in the ribs. Luckily, it didn’t feel like anything had been broken. “If not, I’ll be happy to keep on kicking your sorry ass. Or, we could strike a deal and I leave you with all your teeth intact.”
Loki’s face darkened with anger, but he didn’t attack. He pointed at the drinks cabinet and Bo shrugged. She watched him, hawk-eyed, as he poured himself a drink and gulped it down.
“You’re not what I expected?”
“And that is?”
Loki turned to her. “Not docile, but also not overly aggressive.” He poured another drink. “Something changed since you came here.”
Bo was surprised. His observation was spot on. Given a lot had happened to her since her arrival in Iceland yesterday, Bo agreed she’d noticed a definite change in herself. Security and the ability to take care of herself were her main concerns back home. For that purpose, she had a flourishing business and enlisted the help of a self-defence trainer. But since her arrival in Iceland, she had somehow deferred to Hlif in a way. The Valkyrie entered her life and politely stepped into the role of protector. Yet Bo didn’t know how to explain what the cause of her uncharacteristic behaviour was tonight. Slipping away from Hlif, who she knew must be frantic with worry about her disappearance, was the most reckless thing she’d ever done.
It was almost as if she’d been taken over by another entity.
“I don’t see how this is relevant,” she shot back.
Loki smiled, but winced lightly. She had busted his lip good earlier. “Not really, but I must say it’s not every day I’m surprised by a human. You’re all too predictable to be interesting.”
Bo itched to hit him on his mouth again. “Well, what do you know? There’s a first time for everything. It’s not every day that I get the chance to beat the crap out of an ancient god.”
“Your sharp tongue will get you killed one day.”
Bo agreed completely. Like many other things, she didn’t know the origin of this provocative attitude. Loki seemed to be waiting for her to respond. When none came, he continued.
“You said you had a proposal.”
“I didn’t. I said we could strike a deal. To do so, we need to find out what it is we both want. I, for instance, want you to leave me and my family alone and go to hell.”
Loki shrugged. “I want the complete opposite.”
“In that case, we have a problem. We might need help.” She walked to the door and pulled it open, only for her face to break into a huge smile. “Hey!”
A myriad of expressions washed over Hlif’s face. Surprise, concern, and then rage. Man, was the woman beautiful when angry. Bo swore she saw a few lightning bolts in the tempestuous eyes. The beautiful face grew dark as Hlif’s eyes roamed over Bo’s face, obviously taking in the bruises. Her mouth opened and closed.
If it was even possible, Hlif looked like she was getting even angrier. Hlif pushed the door open and Bo turned just in time to catch the look of absolute terror on Loki’s face. He quickly moved back, putting as much furniture as he could between him and Hlif. Bo quickly held up her hands.
“When I said we needed a mediator, I didn’t mean her,” she said quickly. Her assurance seemed completely missed by Loki, who was staring at his sister with wide eyes. “I meant…”
“She meant me,” Odin said from behind her.
This time, Hlif’s face froze into a mask of pure hatred. Bo knew she had to step in unless Hlif did something she might regret for the rest of her life. She pressed up against Hlif and was worried by how tightly wound the other woman’s body was. Her eyes were fixed on Odin with laser-like intensity.
“You abducted her,” Hlif gritted through her teeth. “She was still wearing a bandage.”
Had the situation not been so tense, Bo would’ve laughed at the absurdity of the bandage remark. But she wouldn’t dare. Not when it looked like Hlif was about to throttle Odin. She didn’t pay much attention in class when they covered Viking history, but she remembered Odin being lauded as the greatest warrior ever. Bo would hate for him to hurt Hlif.
“She asked me to bring her here.”
“I did.” Bo pulled at Hlif’s arm to get the Valkyrie to look at her. “I wanted him to bring me to Loki. He knew you would blame him.”
Hlif’s jaw worked under her skin. “Yet, he still abducted you and let that psychopath beat you up.”
“She was the one who came here and beat up on me,” Loki shouted from across the room, making the mistake of drawing Hlif’s attention to him. Hlif’s head snapped in his direction, her eyes flashing dangerously as they rested on Loki.
***
Hlif didn’t know what to expect when she came down the hallway to the room, but it didn’t stop her mind from running many scenarios. She was relieved that none of them had been the reality she had to face, but she was also disappointed, because she had a vague idea of how to deal with a number of those scenarios.
Not his one.
When the door swung open to reveal a battered, but smiling Bo, Hlif wasn’t sure what to do. She found herself split between hugging the woman and strangling her. Then Bo let out that ridiculously cute ‘hey’, combined with that gorgeous smile, and Hlif’s brain short-circuited. It cleared up quickly at the sight of the two people she despised the most.
“Ignore him, Hlif. He’s not worth it.”
Hlif’s blood turned cold at hearing those words. They were almost the exact words Gurith used right before she took her own life. She reached for Bo and desperately grabbed her close. “We’re leaving now.” She didn’t give Bo a chance to respond before she pulled her down the hall. They were a few metres from the room when Bo dug in her heels.
“I can’t leave just yet.” When Hlif seemed to power on, she wrenched her arm out of Hlif’s grasp. “I said, I’m not leaving, Hlif.” The Valkyrie stopped but kept looking straight ahead. It didn’t even look like she was breathing. “Hlif?”
“I understand, but not right away.” She reached out a tentative hand to touch the cold woman. Dressed completely in black and with her face set in hard lines, Hlif looked dangerous and distant. “I’ll leave with you, but not now.” When Hlif didn’t respond, nor look at her, Bo got worried. “Look at me, please.” The brunette hesitated, but she finally did. Her heart constricted when she saw the anguish in Hlif’s eyes.
“Hlif?”
“You’re not safe here, Bo. Not with them.”
Bo felt like she was missing something, but now was not the time to interrogate a visibly upset Hlif. The Valkyrie was looking straight ahead again, motionless like a statue. It was time to give Hlif a break. After two thousand years of diligently looking out for her, Bo believed it was long overdue.
“Let’s go.” Hlif gave her a startled look. “If you say I’m not safe here, then I believe you.” She held out her hand and felt Hlif’s slip into hers. They silently made their way downstairs to the waiting car.
Bo frowned when she noticed an anxious Magarethe in the back seat of the car.
“You brought her, too?”
“She insisted. It’s not advisable to stand between a concerned mother and her child.”
Concerned mother? Magarethe indeed looked the part of a frightened parent. Was it there all this time and Bo was simply too stupid or blind to see it? When she slid into the seat next to Magarethe, she was pleasantly surprised when the woman pulled her into a tight hug. Bo allowed the woman to ease her disquiet in the tight embrace and found that she liked being held by the older woman.
“Are you okay?” Magarethe asked as she pulled away, her eyes roaming over Bo’s bruised face with deep regret. She gently touched the area around Bo’s eye. She was going to have quite a shiner in the morning. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want this for you. Never.”
“It was part of our legacy.”
“Was?” Magarethe’s hand fell away from Bo’s face. “What does that mean?”
Bo didn’t have to check to know that the front row passengers were shamelessly listening in on their conversation. “Odin interfered.”
“I don’t understand, Borgny.” She looked sceptical. “You’re not talking about Odin, the Allfather, are you?”
“The one and only. We struck a deal. He promised to take Loki and banish him to the deepest, dankest hole he could find.”
Magarethe studied her closely. “And what does he want in return?”
Bo threw a glance in Hlif’s direction. “An opportunity to redeem himself.”
Chapter 19
Hlif entered her bedroom to find Bo standing in the middle of the room, looking like she’d just stepped through the ropes of a boxing ring. She also looked slightly unsure as to how her presence would be received. Hlif didn’t keep her guessing for long and took the blonde in her arms.
A soft sigh slipped from Bo’s lips as she tightened her arms around Hlif’s neck.
“It’s nice to hold you again,” she whispered into Hlif’s neck. “I’m sorry for putting you through all this.”
Not sure she was ready to talk about her embarrassing meltdown earlier, Hlif tightened her hold on Bo. The sky was already turning light outside her window and all Hlif wanted was to get into bed and hold Bo while the blonde slept. If Bo was asleep the chances of her slipping away to wreak havoc were zero.
“You need to rest. We still have some loose ends to tie up.” Bo pulled back and searched Hlif’s face. “You’re still recovering from that bump to your head, remember.” On top of the new injuries. As soon as they arrived home, Magarethe had treated the bruises while Hlif and Harald secured the building.
“Are you angry with me?” Bo placed her hand over Hlif’s heart. “If you are, I understand. I’m not so sure myself why I did what I did.” She rested her forehead against Hlif’s chest. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I’m not angry with you.” Hlif placed a gentle kiss on Bo’s cheek. “Is it right for me to assume that you’ll sleep in my room?”
Bo smiled. “Yes, you assumed correctly.”
Hlif pinched Bo’s chin and moved to the bed. She took off her boots and began to strip, not taking her eyes off Bo. The blonde’s eyes were wide as she watched Hlif removed her jacket and shirt leaving only her undershirt. When she reached for her pants, Bo swallowed convulsively and looked away.
Now dressed in a sleeveless undershirt and boy shorts, she held out her hand to Bo. “Ready for bed?” She wasn’t going to sleep, but she was looking forward to having Bo in her arms. The blonde slowly came towards her, her eyes wide. The silent question in them was unmistakable. “We’re just going to sleep.”
The expression on Bo’s face was difficult to read as she reached out and took her hand. They stood together, very close, searching each other’s eyes. Hlif wasn’t sure what Bo expected to uncover with her close inspection, but was pleasantly surprised when the blonde moved in for a kiss. It was tender and feather-light.
They climbed into bed and when Bo snuggled into her arms, resting her head on Hlif’s shoulder, the Valkyrie closed her eyes. Two thousand years of heartache and loneliness melted away at that moment. Her beloved was in her arms, unharmed.
Her hand slipped under the pillow to touch the dagger. Anyone who dared try to take Bo from her arms again would find her to not be as merciful as she had been up to this point. A soft caress down her side made her open her eyes. Bo’s eyes were closed, her breathing deep and relaxed. It would seem there was some merit in Harald’s odd theory. Gurith used to stroke Hlif’s side like that.
“Are you awake?”
Hlif cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m awake.”
“I’m sorry for what happened tonight. If I’d known you’d take it that badly, I wouldn’t have considered it.” Bo lifted her head to look into Hlif’s face. “It was thoughtless and I’m sorry.”
The sight of the bruises on Bo’s face made Hlif’s blood boil. The idea that Loki had touched Bo made her furious. Her rage must’ve shown on her face, because Bo touched her face gently.
Hlif swallowed her anger and smiled.
“It’s ok. You’re safe and that’s all that matters.”
“Yes, thanks to you.” Bo kissed Hlif and lay her head back on Hlif’s shoulder.
They lay in silence for a long while. Hlif weighed up the option of raising the topic of them and whatever it was that was growing between them.
“What are we doing, Bo?”
“What do you mean?” Bo asked sleepily. “Aren’t we trying to sleep?”
Hlif reconsidered, taking a few moments. Her hesitation stirred Bo again. She rolled onto her back, her eyes alert when she looked at Hlif. Confronted yet again with the bruises, Hlif realized that engaging in a deep conversation about the nature of their relationship would come across as selfish.
“We can talk about it some other time. You look tired. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
“No, let’s talk.” Her eyes flitted over Hlif’s face. “I guess you want to talk about us?”
Hlif got straight to the point. “What do you want from this?” She waved her hand between them. “From us?”
Bo blinked. “What do you want from this?”
“Everything.” There was no point in beating around the bush. “I’ve been waiting for two thousand years to claim your heart again.”
The blonde’s face softened and she grabbed Hlif’s hand. “You’re quite sure about this. I mean, it’s been a long time – two thousand years to be exact – how can you be so sure about your feelings for me?”
Hlif frowned. “Are you asking me if I have any doubts about us?”
“Well…I….”
“How much exactly did Odin tell you?”
“Everything, I hope.”
Hlif could see that the question had thrown Bo. She mentally cursed Odin for once again butting into their relationship and mess
ing it up. She brushed a lock of hair from Bo’s forehead.
“If he had, you wouldn’t have asked me that question. Now, let’s sleep and see what tomorrow brings.” Bo looked confused, but Hlif kissed her to stop the torrent of questions she knew her cryptic remark had stirred up. “We can talk some more tomorrow. It’s too late to have that conversation now.” She pulled Bo closer and held her tightly. “I’ll explain it all tomorrow. I promise.”
Unlike the previous night, she lay awake, holding her beloved in her arms. It bothered her that Bo was avoiding making any reciprocal remarks about her feelings for Hlif.
***
Loki studied his father over the rim of the glass, wincing slightly when the glass touched his injured lip. His humiliation at not being able to subdue the human was compounded by the fact that his father was aware of his failure. Odin’s stretching silence was louder than the censure he could read in the other man’s eyes.
“Why don’t you just come out and say it?” Loki tried to provoke his father into a reaction. Anything will do right now to break the silence. However, Odin seemed to be comfortable just sitting there and staring at him. “I’m sure you have a lot to say to me, so why not let me have it?”
“Frigg loved you the moment she laid eyes on you.” Loki frowned at the odd introduction to their talk. “I, on the other hand, wasn’t sure of the man you would grow up to be. Your true nature had already been visible at that young age. Then there was the fact that you are the offspring of a man who was corrupted by cruelty and died as a result of that. You deserved better than the legacy your father left you and I thought you would see the difference in how I treated my wife and my children and set your life on a different path.”
Loki felt his bravado slip at hearing this. He had always known that Odin rescued and raised him as his third son. Not once, no matter the number of times that Loki caused trouble because of his trickery, had Odin walked back on his decision to adopt Loki. Whatever Odin was hinting at now, seemed to be very close to him about to do just that.
Shatterproof Page 19
