Page 140 of Fallen Gods

I nearly take off the door to the admin building, barely keeping my rage in check as I stomp up the stairs. Sigurd’s door’s open, like he’s waiting for me.

I storm in, and he smiles.

“I do hope we can make this quick, Aric. We have a busy evening ahead.”

He opens the blinds at his window and stares out. Catering trucks are unloading food, and tons of cars are starting to pile up along the main drive, waiting for the event coordinators and valets hired for the evening.

He lets the blinds drop back into place as I approach him. “So,” he murmurs. “Have you figured it out yet?”

“Figured what out?”

“Your awakening. I had my suspicions, though I never really imagined they would have sealed their power into you. Yet in a strange way, it does make sense.” He sighs. “It all makes sensenow, doesn’t it? Why they were so weak in the end, why they…perished so easily. What a pity.”

“What?” I begin. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your parents, Aric. The very power oozing from your body comes from them, you know. You were born a Giant, but even with your powers suppressed, even with that side of you sleeping under the protection of the runes, you’re dying to break free. You hold the power of three. Your parents and yourself.

“Isn’t this a lovely twist,” he mumbles, more to himself than me. “Have you planned to let her finish awakening you, then?” He glances at his Patek Philippe wristwatch like he’s about to schedule it if I haven’t yet.

For the last few years, he’s kept me locked down, isolated, medicated, always telling me to have control. To never let my Giant free.

“It’s time to break out of the shell your parents put you in,” Sigurd says. “Maybe then we can finally defeat Odin.”

“Without Mjölnir?”

His head whips in my direction. “She told you? Splendid. You’ve done well, befriending and seducing your enemy, Aric. I’m proud of you.” Why the fuck is he so calm about all of this? He used me. He usedher! And he looks seconds away from popping off for a quick lunch followed by a massage.

My stomach clenches, but I keep my expression even.

“You can find it. Your true self knows where it is. Youwillfind it. And let her claim it. The moment she possesses the hammer, though, we strike. We can avenge your parents’ deaths.” He sighs like he’s at peace. “She won’t even see you coming for a death blow instead of a kiss.”

That’s fucked up. Even if Rey had remained my enemy, if I’d never felt her warmth or tasted her lips…I wouldn’t be able to kill her like that in cold blood.

Sigurd tilts his head. “You’re not falling for your enemy, areyou, Aric? In this war, sacrifices have to be made.”

My mind goes to the sacrifices that my parents made for me. Why did they give me their power?

“How did they die again?” I cross my arms. “My parents. You said they gave their power to me and that’s why they perished so easily. How do you perish easily in a car wreck?”

Sigurd goes very still. “It’s in the past. Focus on the task at hand, Aric. Be stronger than they were.”

His words don’t sit right with me. But a horn sounds across campus, the long, haunting note that only comes from real bone.

Sigurd smiles. “The festivities will start soon, and then it will all be up to you.”

“Do you really think you can convince Rey to use it for your own purposes?” I ask.

“Me?” He laughs. “Absolutely not.You?Yes. The time of the Gods is over, Aric. The rise of the Giants has just begun. You’re either for everything your family built—or against it. Pick a side.”

I almost laugh. “Both sides have chosen to eliminate each other. Is there no peace? No middle ground?”

Sigurd slams his hand down onto his desk so violently that it cracks right down the middle.

I jump back, shocked at the gesture and the strength—the anger—behind it. If he’s trying to remind me that he’s the first Giant, he’s doing a great job.

“Do you want to see me dead?” Sigurd demands. “Odin plans to break my body and rebuild his world with it. He will stop at nothing to take over realm after realm in his name. This is the man who burned Jötunheim to the ground. He’s responsible for your parents’ deaths. If that isn’t enough motivation, then maybe you never loved them at all—or me, or Loki.”

I snort out a laugh. “So you’ve always known, then.”