Page 160 of Fallen Gods

The chamber cracks with tension as lightning snaps through the ceiling onto the ground. Sparks erupt. I almost smile as Aric keeps his head bowed and body taut. I trust him. I trust him.

He’s too pissed to quit. And this time, I don’t care if he has to blow up the place with me in it—Iwanthim to lose all control.

“Do it,” I yell.

Aric snaps his head in my direction. “Let their world burn, Rey. The way they burned yours.”

Chapter Eighty-Three

Aric

The chains burning around my wrists must be special. Every time I move, they dig deeper into my skin, making the pain severe. I may not be able to break free, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cause a little chaos.

After all, they haven’t broken me yet. The ultimate weapon still lives under my skin.

I latch onto the distant storm in the sky, the power of the lightning, the sensation of thunder, and exhale. I smirk. They want to make her bleed? I’ll make them pay.

“You can’t do it,” I hiss under my breath to Rowen. Not Rowen—Thor. Maybe he and Reeve are more alike than I thought, both of them lying, pretending to be who we needed them to be.

Thor’s jaw clenches, but his right hand, the one with the scars that suddenly fucking make sense, burns against my spine like the metal is trying to unlock the very bones beneath my skin. It feels like any minute my spine is going to snap. Mjölnir’s inside of me. I know that now. It makes so much sense—why I control the lightning, the storms themselves. Not only did Mjölnir have the map to the Nightfrost, but the ring could find Mjölnir. They’re a pair, a powerful pair.

Odin didn’t just want one. His plan all along was both.

I suck in a shaky breath and stare across at Rey. Her head’s lifted high, her eyes focused on Odin like she’s still thinking of ways to win. She’s perfect.

“You aren’t, but I am,” I finally whisper. “Worthy.” I hiss as his hand digs deeper into my spine. “I’d die for her. Would you? Or do you only care about past glory?” His hand pushes harder as a frustrated scream erupts from his lips. “Even now, it won’trecognize the great Thor.”

“Shut up!” Rowen screams. “It’s mine, created for me. I am aGod!”

The hammer embedded in my back thrums, faint golden light gleaming all around me.

Does it hurt? Like a motherfucker.

This asshole is trying to rip out by force an archaic weapon that’s anchored and buried beneath my skin.

And Mjölnir isn’t budging.

“The Gods failed for a reason, Rowen. They destroyed themselves because they were serving themselves.” I raise my head. It burns to meet Rowen’s gaze. Voice shaking, I whisper, “Mjölnir, you know me. My parents chose me the way you chose them. I’m not Rey. But I know who I am now. I’m the only Giant born in this realm sworn to protect you at all costs.”

The walls crack around us. Ice shatters, cascading like glass around Odin and Rey.

Tears stream down Rey’s face. “Aric, the lightning, the thunder—” She doesn’t want me to get hurt. I’m still bound by these cursed chains. The more I push, the more the chains pull.

But in the end, it’s not what I’m fighting against—it’s who I’m fighting for.

Decision made.

I close my eyes and summon all the strength of the storms, the chaos, the uncontrollable power that could easily undo me, and I cling to it.

I grit my teeth as pain erupts down my spine. “Choose me.”

Pain rips through my body, so hot that I can’t breathe. Lightning tears open the sky, pouring into me until I’m shoved against the ground in a dazzling arc.

Mjölnir erupts from my back, the gold colliding with the chains binding my hands and breaking them open in the lightning storm surrounding me. I grip the weapon, and in an instant,the wars, the bloodshed, my memories with Rey—my parents sealing Mjölnir into my body—all of them slam into me like a tidal wave.

And Odin?

It seems Mjölnir and I agree on one thing.