Page 153 of Fallen Gods

I realize I’m lying on my side on the icy ground. My shoulder armor, cape, and knives have been removed, and my legs and arms are bound with some kind of iron. The drip, drip, drip of ice melting is interspersed with a groaning sound. Wait, is that me?

“Ah, she awakens!” My father’s voice echoes against the rafters. “Bring her,” he orders.

Two suited guards in black uniforms with silver-threaded ravens embroidered at the collars—the mark of Odin—grab my arms. Their faces are hidden behind half-carrion masks of bone, hollow-eyed and emotionless, terrifying. They lift me up and spin me around, dragging me toward my father. When they release my arms, I lock my legs to stand. But they kick the backs of my legs, forcing me to kneel.

Someone nearby releases an inhuman growl.

Aric?

He looks like he’s already been through war. His face is streaked with both red and silver blood. It mats in his hair all the way along his temples. His arms and chest are still bare, but blood is caked on his abdomen like he suffered a horrific woundthere.

He’s chained and beaten, bleeding and broken.

He’s losing blood, so much blood. It pools beneath him, running in a steady beat toward that cursed obsidian mirror and those deep black waters. The sight of the pool still fills me with dread, but I try to tamp it down. I need to save Aric.

Why can’t he heal? He’s even more powerful than before—he shouldn’t be losing this much blood.

I want to call out his name, to comfort him in some way.

But to show even a flicker of emotion toward my “enemy” right now would seal Aric’s fate. So I bury the pain, the fear, and stare down my father.

“Ah, daughter. Is this not everything we planned?” The way the word “daughter” rolls off his tongue makes my stomach roil. I may be of his blood, but I was never anything more than a means to an end.

From the corner of my eye, I see that Aric doesn’t as much as flinch. Though broken, he doesn’t bend. His eyes blaze white, unyielding. Between his fingers, faint flickers of lightning spark as he rubs his thumb and forefinger together over and over again. He never blinks. He simply stares at my father, his silence speaking volumes.

Odin snaps his fingers. “Rowen!”

Rowen appears, and though I know he sees me, he doesn’t look my way.

He’s in his black suit and has a similar mask on to the men in my father’s employ, only his is pitch-black. My stomach drops. I know Rowen goes along with everything because he has no choice, but I wish for once, he would choose himself.

I used to respect Rowen for his strength, but now I see it for what it really is: misplaced loyalty to a man who would kill him without a thought. He talks a big game about hating Odin, but it means nothing. Why? What did my father ever do for Rowen? Tohim? I know it has to do with his scars, but until this moment, I don’t think I realized just how deep that loyalty went—deeper than our friendship, clearly, if he’s just standing there ignoring me while I’m chained up.

Eyes wildly searching, I look at his hands. He’s free. He’s safe. He’s part of this.

He’s under my father’s control, so what else is new?

I shake my head at him. “I expected more.”

“He’s doing his job,” Father snaps. “One of you is, at least.”

“I’m sorry,” Rowen rasps next to me. I look up again. Tears fill his eyes, but he blinks them away and stares straight ahead at Odin.

“I’m going to kill you,” Aric speaks up. “Slowly.”

“Pathetic.” Father slams his cane against the ground. “I knew you wouldn’t bring Aric to me like you promised—”

I almost roll my eyes. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

He scoffs. “No matter. I brought you a reminder of what’s at stake.” A masked guard brings someone out of the shadows. Laufey. Like Aric and me, she’s chained. Shaking. Bloodied.

Odin shoves Laufey forward, then pulls a gun out of its holster at his waist.Fuck.

He points the gun at Aric’s head. “Tell us where Mjölnir is. And think very carefully how to proceed, because it’s not just your life on the line, is it? But Aric’s, Laufey’s, Rowen’s.” Next to him, Rowen lets out a small gasp, but he doesn’t waver. Odin continues. “Don’t think I won’t take everything from you until we’re the last two people on this planet. Is it really worth all of their lives?”

Past me would have said he was right, but current me knows Aric too well. The cost would be too great. My lips part, but it’s Rowen who grabs my hand and squeezes it. Tears fill my eyes, threatening to break free again. “I need you.”

“I promised I’d always be by your side.” He nods, then speakslouder. “Tell him, Rey. I know the Giant told you.” He’s calling Aric “the Giant” now? I search his eyes.