I gasped. “You think that’s all I’m good for?”
“No, no,” Val said, waving his hands like a flag of truce. “That’s not what I’m trying to say. What I’m trying to say is I’m doing a piss-poor job of keeping you safe.”
“And I keep trying to tell you it isn’t your job.”
Val grunted, a disagreeable sound. “And I told you it doesn’t matter what you say. I vowed to protect you.”
“It’s a bad idea to put my survival in someone else’s hands. You can’t be everywhere at once. Neither can Thorin or Skyla.”
“I’m a god, Solina.” Val raised his chin and peered down at me. “I expect more from myself. You should, too.”
“Why?” I leaned forward and poked Val’s chest. “So I can become dependent on you, get attached to you” – I poked him again – “open my heart just to find out you’re using me to keep your own ass covered?”
Val backed away and gave me a dark look. “You think that’s what I’m doing?”
“A month ago, I thought you were a regular guy who liked going on backpacking trips and partying with his friends, but then I find out you’re really some mythical being involved in a plot to prevent the apocalypse. You’re older than time, and you’re not even really human. I don’t know what you, or Thorin, or Baldur are capable of.”
Val’s brows drew down. “Have I given you reason to doubt me?”
I rubbed my hands over my face and leaned against the wall opposite the door to Val’s room. My bed called to me, but Val needed his ego soothed first. Why me? “You’ve been good to Mani. And you’ve been good to me.”
“But…? I can hear the ‘but’ in there.”
I hesitated, trying to find the right words.
Val stepped up to me again and slid his hands over my ribs to my hips. His touch was warm, and under other circumstances I might have welcomed it. I pulled away and took a breath. “You don’t want me to finish that sentence, Val.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Because it will only lead to a fight, and I don’t want that. I don’t want things to be strained between us.”
“Then don’t say whatever it was you were thinking.” He caught my hand, pulled me in again, and brushed the tip of his nose along the edge of my ear. “In fact, we don’t really need to talk at all.”
“What do you want from me, Val? Besides a roll in the hay?”
Val went still. “Is there anything wrong with a good roll in the hay? Is there hay in that barn out back? We should give it a try.”
I shook my head, annoyed with his flippancy. Sometimes I needed his lightheartedness, but sometimes, like now, I needed him to take me seriously. “I can’t do this with you and expect there won’t be consequences. A person doesn’t love a god and come away from that without being changed.”
“You’re right,” he said, still trying for levity. “Once you go god, you’ll never go back.”
I clenched my jaw and shoved his shoulder. “I’m being serious.”
“Serious should be your middle name, Solina.”
“I won’t be able to make impartial decisions anymore.” I eased away from Val and stepped closer to my room, hoping he would take the hint. “I’ll be thinking with my heart instead of my head. I have to be able to be objective above everything else. You’re trying to take that away from me, and this isn’t the right time for me to lose track of my priorities.”
“Thorin has been getting to you, hasn’t he? You sound just like him.”
I stamped my foot. “This has nothing to do with Thorin.”
“You let him seduce you in Juneau, didn’t you?” Val paced the hallway, his fists clenched at his side. “He’s not a man. He’s a rock. He doesn’t love women, he breaks them. And that’s exactly what you’re going to let him do to you.” Val stopped, turned to face me, and sneered. “If you haven’t already.”
The ridicule on Val’s face ignited my temper, not that it wasn’t already running hot. Although the workout Tori had led me through left me drained, I gathered enough fuel for one last attack. I balled my fist and collected my heat. It came at my beckoning, easier than ever. Tonight’s training with Tori had been a true breakthrough—now I could prove to a hardheaded god that I deserved his respect. When the fire was ready, I let loose a slap that rocked Val back on his heels. He put his hand to his cheek and shot me a look of outrage.
“Oooh,” I said, turning toward my bedroom. “You should get some ice for that. It’s probably going to leave a mark.”
Chapter Thirty-two
The next morning I woke when the sun breached the horizon, and I was glad the night was over. I had slept fitfully, suffering more haunting dreams. In them the wolf was back, on a leash held by Helen, but she had dropped her amenable façade. She wore a face half rotted by death, and the wolf barked and snapped his teeth as he raged against his restraints. Every time I approached, prepared to fight, the wolf lunged and I chickened out.
The dream left me feeling helpless and afraid, and I didn’t want to be that girl anymore. I eased out of bed, careful not to disturb Skyla, who had slept soundlessly beside me through the night. I drew on a pair of clean cotton shorts and a ribbed tank top. I needed a vacation from all this turmoil, but even more I wanted to be a survivor.
He didn’t yet know it, but Chuck—the latex fighting dummy—and I had a date. A few Valkyries often rose early to exercise before breakfast, but when I got to the gym, I had Chuck and the rest of the room all to myself. After loading something loud, fast, and angry into the stereo system, I threw myself into fight mode, careful to keep my form correct so the energy I put into my punches would land with the most effect. Chuck’s head wibbled and wobbled as I worked through the set Inyoni had designed for me. I grunted, and Chuck’s rubbery torso smacked and thunked like a real body. So satisfying.
“Whoever he is and whatever he did, I believe you’ve made him deeply sorry.”
I was lost in concentration, and with the music blaring, I hadn’t heard anyone enter the room. I turned to find Thorin wearing a familiar smirk. I glared at him and then spun and landed a lovely one-two combination. Jab, right cross. Chuck’s head wobbled, but he maintained his stoic expression.
“You show a surprising aptitude for that,” Thorin said.
I turned down the music, went to the towel shelf, picked out a clean one, and dabbed my face. “It helps that he holds very still and doesn’t fight back.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
According to the wall clock over the doorway, I had spent about twenty minutes giving Chuck a workover. I hoped he had enjoyed it as much as I had. “Chuck’s glad you came,” I said, pointing to the dummy. “He was already begging for mercy.”
Thorin stepped forward and grinned. He was dressed for a workout in sweats and a tank that showed every ripple and line of an impressive physique. It exposed some pretty striking scars, too. A thick one ran from his elbow to his shoulder in a ragged line, but I would chew my tongue in half before I asked him about it. “Have you got anything left for me?” he asked.
Flirting? No. I shook the thought away. My head would explode if Thorin started in on me, too. “I don’t stand a chance against you, and you know it.”
“You do if you use your best weapon,” he said.
“I haven’t perfected it yet.”
“I saw Val’s face this morning. I think he’d beg to differ.”
“He pissed me off.”
“So I heard.”
Of course he had. Last night’s argument had taken place in the hallway outside our collection of bedrooms, and Val and I had not been discreet.
“So,” I said. “Now do you believe me when I say there’s nothing between Val and me? No silly games of romance?”
Thorin dropped his gaze and rubbed a hand across his jaw, looking sheepish. “I’m sorry for losing my temper in Vegas. You’re right, I was mad at myself and I was taking it out on you.”
I nearly choked. An apology fr
om Thorin? Sort of like Bigfoot or unicorns, I didn’t quite believe such a thing existed. I mimed snatching something from the air and rubbed it on the hem of my shirt.
“What are you doing?” Thorin asked.
“That was a real gem of an apology,” I said. “I’m polishing it up. Maybe I’ll get a setting made for it and wear it around for others to envy.”
Thorin shook his head and huffed. “You’re stalling, Sunshine. Are we going to fight or not?”
I rolled my head around on my neck and blew a breath out through my teeth. “Okay,” I said, rising to the balls of my feet and spreading my legs to lower my center of gravity. “But don’t laugh too hard when you kick my butt in the first thirty seconds.”
“Have some faith in yourself, Miss Mundy. I’m sure you could last at least a whole minute.”
“Don’t start with that ‘Miss Mundy’ crap again,” I growled.
Thorin stalked around me, and I followed, careful to keep my body turned as Inyoni had taught me, shoulder forward, torso angled to make my attacker’s target as small as possible.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Thorin lunged toward me, his foot striking at my knee. I danced aside, and he missed by a hair. He grinned, giving away that he had missed on purpose.
“You’re playing with me,” I said. “You can move faster than that. I’ve seen you.” In the hotel room with Helen, Thorin had yanked me up so fast I barely perceived the motion. And there was something behind his impression of appearing out of nowhere. He made it seem as though he had a command of subtlety and stealth, but there was more to it than that.
“Testing the waters,” Thorin said. “Learning your limitations.”
“I hope you’re a good student, because I have lots and lots of limitations.”
“Sure you do. You’re a woman.”
I rolled my eyes. “But taking cheap bait isn’t one of them.”
Thorin struck out again, an openhanded slice this time, aimed for my ribs. I turned in time to deflect it with my elbow. His hit quaked up and down the bones of my arm. I gasped, and Thorin came in with a combination—a grab for my arm and a punch to my kidney. His grab fell short, but the punch landed home. He was still holding back, but the hit nearly sent me to my knees.
I backed away from him, bent over, and put my hands to my knees. I gritted my teeth and panted through the pain. There was no keeping up with him. Even moving at half speed and pulling his punches, Thorin made short work of kicking my ass, and I had lasted all of a minute against him, just like he’d predicted.
“I told you I wasn’t any kind of match for you,” I said.
“The wolf won’t be merciful. You need to be more offensive.”
“Great advice. Why don’t you fight him?”
Thorin lunged again. I skipped to the side, turned, and kicked at his weight-bearing knee, but it was no good. I was too tired and too much of a novice, and my move had put me directly in Thorin’s path. I tried to duck away, but Thorin shot forward and threw his arms around me, pulling me into a massive bear hug.
Thorin squeezed hard, cutting off my air. My head throbbed and my eyes strained in their sockets, but then heat bloomed over my skin, fast and searing. Thorin yelped, and his arms dropped away from me. I fell to the floor and panted for breath.
“That’s fighting dirty,” he said, rubbing his arms, which were already turning red. “I like it.”
“She’s still got a long way to go,” said Tori, who appeared in the doorway. “But she’s a quick study. Can you agree that it was a good thing, Alek—us bringing her here?”
“Don’t talk like I’m not here,” I said from my prone position on the floor. “I’m exhausted, not deaf.” I giggled, reveling in my victory. “And I totally beat you.”
Thorin chuckled and held out a hand to me. I pulled my heat back inside and took his hand. He heaved me to my feet. “I am willing to admit that the ends justified the means in this case,” Thorin said. “But I would appreciate more direct dealings in the future. The swan feather was vague and a waste of my time.”
“We didn’t want Helen to catch on to us,” Tori said. “We’ve been so careful to keep off her radar. I can’t help that you forgot us so quickly.”
“You have a patron who remembers you, so what does it matter if I don’t?”
I backed away from the reminiscing couple and tiptoed to the door. I would grow a tail and swing through the jungle before I’d be the third wheel on their trip down memory lane. I almost escaped through the door before they noticed my retreating backside. “Where are you going, Sunshine?” Thorin asked.
“A shower and breakfast,” I said over my shoulder. “I’m starving.”
“I want to talk to you about what happens next.”
I nodded. “Meet me after I’ve cooled down. I’ve had enough fighting, and with me and you, that seems to be the only thing we know how to do together.”
After a hot shower, I changed into a borrowed pair of jeans and an old sweater and went to the kitchen to search for something to eat. Skyla was nowhere to be found, and I hoped that meant she was busy investigating the validity of her claim to Valkyrie heritage. She would easily fit in at the Aerie, and finding a place among the Valkyries might help her heal from the wound of losing Mani. It was certainly helping me.
I grabbed a canister of oatmeal and a box of brown sugar from the Valkyries’ kitchen pantry and put a pan of water on to boil. I took an apple from the refrigerator and cinnamon from a spice holder on the counter. The mundane routine of cooking required little of my attention, so my thoughts wandered to other things.
I didn’t know for sure, but I thought Thorin would want me to stay at the Aerie. As for Val, I couldn’t say what he was thinking, but after the previous night, a rift existed between us that neither of us would easily cross.
I had finished my oatmeal and was washing my dirty dishes when Thorin found me. The scent of shower soap wafted from his skin, and he had changed into faded jeans and a thick, cream-colored fisherman’s sweater. He wore his hair pulled back in an uncharacteristic braid. How Viking of him.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Thorin said. “We need to talk.”
We left the Aerie through a side entrance near the kitchen. A worn path ran parallel to the cliff’s edge, and Thorin steered us toward it. The wind whipped off the water and blew the ends of my hair into my face, even though I had tied it back into a ponytail. I envied Thorin’s braid. We walked a while in silence, but then we came to an outcropping of rocks that muted the wind’s roaring enough that we could speak without yelling.
Thorin leaned against a large boulder and crossed one long leg over the other. He shoved his fingers into his front pocket and pulled out a cell phone. My cell phone. “You should call your parents. They’re out of their minds about you. They’ve even resorted to calling me and Val to track you down.”
I bit my lip and took the phone from him. “I don’t know what to say to them. Last time I talked to them, I told them I’d be home in a week. That was two weeks ago. They must be freaking out.” I had thought about my parents a lot, in the quiet moments before I drifted off to sleep or during the rare instances of solitude the Valkyries allowed me. I had put off calling them, telling myself I would call them tomorrow. Always tomorrow. What could I say at this point? How much had I already hurt them? What could I do to make up for that other than go home? And I couldn’t go home. Not now. Maybe not ever.
“I’ve put them off as long as I can,” Thorin said. “Told them you’ve been on an out-of-town trip. Backpacking.”
My eyebrows arched. “And they believed you?”
“They did the first week. Last time I talked to them, they were threatening to call the police.”
I rubbed a hand over my face and groaned. “Oh, Lord.”
“You’ll call them?” Thorin asked. “This would be a bad time to involve the police.”
“I don’t know what I’ll tell them, but I’ll call them.”
&
nbsp; Thorin nodded, satisfied with my answer.
“So, what are we going to do now that you’ve found me again?” I asked.
Thorin stared off toward the water. “I’m going to Vegas. Val is going to Siqiniq to take care of some business issues and then try to find a lead on Helen’s wolves from there. I want you to stay here. The Valkyries are trustworthy, and they’d give their lives to protect you. You can learn a lot from them. I can’t look for Nina and Mjölnir and fight off Helen and keep you safe all at the same time. The Valkyries’ abduction of you showed me there are weak spots in my armor.”
I gasped. Twice in twenty-four hours, Thorin had admitted fallibility. I tried to imagine the amount of humility Thorin had to choke down in order to do that. “You want me to hide,” I said as another gust of wind flung loose wisps of my hair into my mouth and eyes.
Thorin pushed off from the rock, put his hands on my shoulders, and spun me around. He tugged the elastic band from my hair and combed his fingers through the knotted strands. As he tugged and twisted, I held my breath. It was such an intimate gesture, really, and I didn’t want to do or say anything to ruin the moment.
“What I want,” Thorin said, “is for you to stay alive at any cost.”
Thorin reached the end of the braid and looped the elastic band around to hold my hair in place. I patted the braid, and it felt smooth and even. Thorin the hairdresser, who would have guessed?
Thorin’s attentions brought him closer to me. His touch burned on my skin, prickling to the tips of my toes. Unlike Val, Thorin was reluctant to reach out to me, which is possibly why I savored his connection. But then I remembered Thorin’s warnings, his bald statements about his own self-interest. I stepped back from him before I did or said anything to invite his criticism again.
For the briefest of moments, Thorin’s brows drew together—in disappointment?—but then his face cleared, and he nodded. We had an understanding.
“Thank you,” I said, motioning to my hair.
Midnight Burning Page 24
