“Straight to the entry point this time, Hel. No tricks,” Gabriella cautioned, “just like we discussed up top.”
Hel’s eyes flickered over to him uncertainly. He smiled coldly in return. “It’s a long walk,” She hedged. “I could explain how to get there and stay up here.”
“Not an option, you’re going with. Lead on.” Over the course of an hour, they split off into pairs, Gabriella ending up just ahead of him, next to Tyr. Straining, Balder caught bits and pieces of their conversation. “So, when you came before, this was how you got in?”
“No, I went in through a cave in upstate Wisconsin. It was a back-door Odin set up a long time ago. Once, I took them an enchanted ring, and we traded for information. To save Hunter, I gave them something else entirely.”
“A trade?” Balder heard her ask curiously. “Maybe we could trade something today.”
Tyr pulled at his collar nervously. “They would ask for things you aren’t willing to part with, Gabriella. They usually want something of a…sexual nature.” Uncomfortable silence all around until Tyr cleared his throat and redirected. “Legend has it, they’re sisters. We know them as Past, Present, and Future.” Nothing but scorn in Tyr’s voice as he spat out the titles.
Tyr slowed, Balder matching his pace with theirs. “They try to trick you, use your words and actions against you, Gabriella. They don’t deal in the realities you and I live with. These goddesses are something altogether different. They used a mistake I made in the past to bind me. It almost cost Hunter her life.”
Balder couldn’t see Gabriella’s face, but her voice sounded strangled when she asked, “Then we have a real problem. There are some really bad things in my past that could be leveraged against us, Tyr.”
Balder bristled at the way Tyr gave Gabbie’s arm a gentle squeeze. “There are things we’ve all done they could use. Just be careful—that’s all I’m saying. Everything they say is a trick. Every move is ten moves ahead of us. They have the advantage of knowing and controlling the things that we only wish we could.”
Gabbie’s feet slowed even further as Tyr added, “I’ll do the talking today. Since you’re human, I doubt they’ll even acknowledge you.”
“Then why did you even include me?”
“Because this is your plan, which is brilliant, by the way. You’re part of this team now—and we all agreed—you should be here. Now watch, up ahead, there’s the portal. It’ll be dark on Asgard, but once we step into that realm, they’ll be waiting for us.”
The door that Hel waited by did appear dark and hazy around the edges, and when Balder followed them through, it was another painfully, stretched out experience. But his feet firmly on Asgard soil once more, he felt…strangely ungrounded. As if he didn’t quite belong.
Balder hung back, watching the group straggle away. As soon as they rounded a corner, he headed for a nearby clump of trees.
“Where the fuck is Balder?” At Mir’s shouted curse, he changed direction, pulling the stone from his pocket that he’d stolen earlier from Sydney.
Tossing it behind a half-rotted wall, he strolled back toward the voices. When he caught up, Tyr was still handing out information like it was candy, and Gabriella was still eating it up. Mir shot him a suspicious look, then planted himself as a buffer between him and Hel, who trudged up ahead, determined to stay as far away from him as possible. Smart girl.
“Remember our counteroffer,” Gabriella advised Tyr. “It’s a good one, remind them they have everything to lose.”
But it was never about what someone had to lose.
It was almost always about what someone had to gain.
A rich man only wanted more. A poor man only wanted more. And it didn’t matter what they started with because wealth was relative. Balder waited until they were twenty feet away before he increased his pace, moving up and through them, then slightly ahead. A pace ahead, then two. Then three.
Insurance.
What Gabbie had planned out was good. Solid. Smart. But having insurance in a world gone to shit was always a better policy.
Everybody wanted something. The trick was, to know what that was. An honest man, the man he’d been before entering the cairn, would believe offering the Fates a chance at survival would be enough. A noble cause, saving the Nine Realms, or what was left of them. Blah blah blah.
The man he was today knew better.
Why settle for a sure thing when you can get more? Because there’s always more to be had. One thing about Fate—she was a predictable bitch.
Which was why, five paces ahead and Gabriella’s glare burning into the back of his head, it was he who ended up bargaining with Fate to save the world.
“Still busy knitting, I see.” Balder drew to a stop a few feet away from them, the oak tree stretching its arms overhead. Tyr had been right; the women were ageless. The trio sat waiting—blonde, raven-headed and one with hair of fire. Young, yet so old, he could feel time seep from them. Beautiful, if you thought spiders beautiful. Patient, in the manner of mountains or ocean tides.
“We expected you.” Future, then, with her black hair and flat, obsidian eyes, cast her gaze left, scanning the group, her lips pursing when they fell upon Gabbie. Past and Present remained still as statues beside her.
“Good. It will save me the bother of explaining what’s at stake.”
“The future is already set, which means you coming here is pointless.” Her eyes, clear and pale gray, saw right through him.
“Everything is up for negotiation. Especially the future. Weave another thread. Or cut one, I don’t give a shit.”
“The future is as certain as a sunrise. We know of nothing that can stand against the Orobus. And now that the…other has joined him, your destinies are already determined.”
Balder knew two things. Anything could change. And everyone was wrong, at least once in their lives.
“Are you sure about that? Because I think, if you look very carefully, you might see things differently.” The blonde and the red-haired woman shifted their gaze to their darker sister, watching her carefully.
“Yes, watch her—watch and learn. Even now, the scales tip the Orobus’s way. Away from the light and toward the darkness.” His voice was soft, careful. “You are fools to believe yourselves safe.”
“We cannot help you.” The blonde’s voice turned plaintive, limned with fear.
“Of course, you can’t,” Balder continued, his tone bland and uncaring. “You can sit here, under your tree, knitting away. All these threads, all these lives, keep weaving them together until every single one of them poofs out of existence.” He snapped his fingers, and the blonde jumped. “Until the Orobus and Ava Burke wipe all Nine Realms clean of life. And then, maybe, you’ll begin to worry about what happens next.”
“What happens next?” she scoffed. “We have existed longer than any but the first gods. And we shall continue to exist long after the likes of you have passed from memory.” The raven-haired sister, black eyes gleaming, leaned forward, teeth flashing. When her gaze slid over to Gabriella again, it took everything for Balder not to grab her by the throat.
But he managed a faint nod. “You have existed a long time. Longevity hasn’t made you any smarter, though. Once they wipe Midgard clean, they’ll move onto the next realm, and then the next.” He noted how they relaxed, the lines around their mouths smoothed, their eyes shone with the truth they thought only they knew.
“What will you do, once everyone is gone?” He watched Future’s mouth curl into a victorious, evil little smile.
“We are hidden. Asgard will never be found.”
Gabriella let out a small sound, a sound of defeat. Of failure, and Future’s smile grew infinitesimally brighter. Behind him, Balder felt Gabriella’s cautious approach, perhaps with the intent to beg these vile creatures for mercy.
He shot a quick, warning glance her way. “Oh, you’d love to think so, wouldn’t you?” It was true. This world was hidden away. In the shadow and mist remaini
ng from the fires of Ragnarok, from the day they’d all perished.
“For now, you’re hidden.” He shrugged. “But what happens when you’re not?”
He sensed the jolt of surprise that went through them.
“What happens when the Orobus finds you three? Uses that black darkness of his against you? Twists you to his will? Or just wishes you out of existence all together? Think your threads are going to help you then?” Balder mused, looking skyward. “Do you truly believe, for one second, he’ll spare you? What can you offer him that he doesn’t already have?”
Balder’s face grew ugly. Fiendish. “Do you really think, if it comes down to it, I wouldn’t throw you three at his feet—just to save myself?”
Now he felt Gabriella’s condemnation like a blowtorch, burning into his back.
“Tyr threatened you with this once before. The difference is, he’s noble at heart. I’m not. Anymore,” Balder amended, meeting their eyes, one by one so they knew he was dead serious. “I’ll bottom line it for you. You help us—you survive.
“You don’t, you’ll face the same fate we do. No exemptions, no reprieves. I think you three have enjoyed your safe haven on Asgard long enough. I think it’s about time you take your chances with the rest of us.”
Future’s lips twisted into a sneer. “No one has the power to expose us. Not even you.”
Balder laughed. “Depends how you define power, I guess.
“The Orobus left Markers strewn across the universe—stones holding vestiges of his power. I planted one here when I came through the portal. I expect he’ll be curious to investigate its new location, since they act as homing beacons.” He fixed the threesome with an ice-cold glare. “I might even point him in the right direction, should you three piss me off any further.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed.
“Oh, I so fucking would,” Balder insisted, widening his stance. “Maybe just for the simple joy of seeing you three laid low.”
“Now.” He smiled. “Tell me. Are you going to help us or not?”
“Yes,” Past instantly agreed, without so much as a glance toward her sisters. “We will. In return, we want…”
“I don’t care what you want,” Balder said flatly. “In return, I’ll retrieve the stone and take it back to Midgard with me. That’s all you get. No promises. No blood. No pound of flesh. Nothing.” He spat the last word out at them like it was poison.
Her lips thinned out, but she nodded tightly. “It’s done, then.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
It took an hour and eleven minutes for them to reach the gate that led back to the Underworld. Balder knew, because he felt every second of them measured in the cold distance between him and the others.
Sure, they could have spent hours bargaining, posturing, bluffing. For what? For them to fail? For the Fates to wring something else out of Gabriella? Her life, her soul—or something even more costly?
“Who has time for that?” Balder muttered, stooping to pick up the stone he’d planted forty feet from the portal, next to a clump of withered grass.
He was the last one in.
“You’ll all thank me later,” he muttered softly to Hel as he ducked through, feeling the moist, clammy fingers of the Underworld pull him in.
“You just keep telling yourself that,” she answered back, just as softly, before following him in. “And see if that makes you feel any better when you’re all alone by the end of this whole mess.”
48
Fenrir’s keen ears picked up the faint sound of breathing, and he smelled the interloper’s presence a second later.
He’d come to the Fae realm alone, hoping like before that the borders of Annwn, a world even older than Asgard, were well patrolled and under twenty-four-hour guard. What he didn’t expect was the Queen of the Fae herself to come and greet him.
The Morrigan’s presence was unexpected, to say the least. But with his day already gone so far into the fuck-it bucket, he wasn’t sure things could go any further south. So, he stood his ground and waited. The Morrigan was a goddess of another sort, a phantom, a nightmare, a death head’s Valkyrie goddess, and her refusal to help could spell disaster for them. The real question was, why had she come?
He had to hand it to her though, as she materialized out of the sifting fog, armor clinking, boots heavy on the ground, the girl had swag. Always had, always would. “Greetings, Mara, nice of you to receive me.” Using her nickname should have softened her up, but it only made her frown deepen. He would have bowed, but he was, you know, afraid of her.
Her lips thinned out. “You stink, wolf.” Her frown turned bitter. “And you only show up when there is trouble on the horizon.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong about that.
“We need your help. The Dark God has amassed enough power he’s become unbeatable. And he has an ally, a strong one. However, if we all provide a united front, Odin believes…”
“His ally was one of yours, once.” Morrigan smiled, and it was not a pretty sight. “And now you’ve lost her, so you come crawling to me. Over this mortal…this, Ava Burke.” The slightest narrowing of her gaze should have warned him. “This has to do with the bargain you made my brother. Dagda told me you’d kill the girl, if you found her. Did you lie to him, wolf?”
Not exactly. Well, maybe, just a little.
“You were warned.” The Morrigan hissed. “My brother traded safe passage to you, in exchange for killing any human with the name of MacAskill. Not only did you find her, you protected her. Which means this whole mess is on your head, Fenrir.” Lifting her hand in the air, she made a fist.
“Tell me, wolf, how long did you think you could keep it a secret?” She snarled, her magic crushing his larynx, the muscles and tendons and cartilage breaking under the pressure, as well as his hopes of ever drawing another breath. Except then, the strain of her anger was gone, and she remained full ten feet from him, as if she had never moved. “Let us try again. Is Ava Burke a MacAskill?”
He managed a nod, rubbing his throat, finding not a hair out of place, not an inch of skin bruised. Weird.
She drew in a ragged breath, looking ill. “Then it’s done.”
Fenrir shook his shaggy head. “Not entirely. Hel has abdicated from the Orobus’s ranks—for the time being—and she’s joined us. If we get to her in time, Odin believes Ava can be redeemed.”
“Odin’s a fool.”
While Fen didn’t completely disagree, he wasn’t about to tell her that. “So, all is not lost,” he went on, deciding that selective hearing was the way to go in this situation. “A group of us went to enlist the help of the Fates. While I volunteered to request your assistance.” Idiot that I am.
“Even if the Fates agree to help, they won’t be enough,” the Morrigan observed drily. “Their power isn’t in conflict, it lies in manipulation.” Apparently, you haven’t met the Orobus, Fen thought.
The Morrigan’s stance straightened as a large form emerged behind her. The Dagda. So now he was doubly screwed. “My brother will be displeased you broke your oath to him,” she warned softly.
“This is the beginning of the end. I hardly care how displeased he is with anything, when we’re all going to die,” Fen needled. “Right now, all I need is a yay or a nay. Then I can get back to defending our home against an onslaught of Dark Elves. Tell me if you’re in, because once the Orobus is finished with Midgard, it won’t take him long to suss you out here in Annwn.” He went on, ignoring the swords at their sides, “Your impressive security aside, once he sets his sights on this realm, you guys are toast.”
“Then we will help you.” The goddess threw her head back and laughed at the expression on Fenrir’s face. “Do not look at me like that, wolf. This disaster might be on your head, but blame won’t solve anything right now. The worst has come to pass, now it’s up to us to fix it. You have my armies and my sword, should you need them.”
“But my brother,” she murmured, with a side
-long glance at the raging Fae King at her side, “may take more convincing.”
49
“I was just coming to find you.” Gabriella paused in the doorway, taking in the bloodstains covering Odin’s coat. A mix of red and black—black being the enemy’s. The horde of Dark Elves hit them just after midnight, the creature’s attack sloppy but brutal. Had they not been prepared, it would have been devastating. But between the fortifications and the planning, her work here was almost done.
“Some of it’s mine,” Odin explained. “A little of Fen’s, but you know that already since you already treated him.”
Her heart relaxed a bit. “Nevertheless, I should take a look at you.” When she didn’t get an answer, she stepped into the room. “Fen said you incinerated most of them?” In truth, the protein stench still clung to him, the smell pungent and strong. Elf Fricassee.
“The ones I didn’t get with my initial blast fought back. Not for long, but we took some hits.” When he turned, she gasped. The long, winding wound down the side of his face disappeared into his collar, narrowly dodging his eye.
“Would have been a real shame to lose it, especially since I just got it back.” He winked. “Lucky me.”
“You healed quickly,” she observed, reaching out to turn his face to the light so she could see better. Right before her eyes, the skin was knitting together; the edges of the wound pinkened as they fused. “Wow, you guys hardly even need me around anymore.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Odin countered, gaze narrowing as Gabriella quickly closed the door, shutting them in together. After a moment of internal debate, she decided prefaces were overrated.
“Something happened to Balder when we went to Gavrinis. Now he doesn’t have a conscience. Or morals—I can’t quite decide. The transformation is making him reckless. Dangerous.”
“You mean you can’t trust him.”
She hesitated. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” As much as this sneaking around behind Balder’s back rubbed her the wrong way, she didn’t know what else to do. Face it, she was an ant in a world of giants, and who was she kidding? Something had happened to Balder.
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