Page 12 of Polestar (The Global Paranormal Security Agency #3)

TWELVE

A na groaned and Magnus instantly lunged forward to scoop her up from the floor.

She was small and limp in his arms as he strode out of Aksel’s room, seeking any other room where he could lay her on a comfortable surface.

“This way.” Kane led him to a nearby sitting room with plump couches.

He gently laid Ana on one, placing her shoulders on the padded arm, and reached for a cushion to prop behind her.

Her eyes fluttered open, searching the room around her as her body trembled.

“I’m… it’s so… cold.” Her teeth chattered.

“I’ll get some hot tea—get her warmed up,” Kane said, leaving the room.

Magnus pulled Ana forward and slid behind her so that her back was to his chest and wrapped his arms around her, much like he’d done that first night in the hangar.

“Aksel… so many…” she struggled to get the words out. “Connected. Consuming…”

“Just rest right now,” he murmured against the top of her head, relieved to have her back. He bundled her closer, reaching across the back of the couch for a wool throw to tuck around her.

By the time Kane returned bearing a tray with a teapot and mugs, Ana’s trembling had settled into random little shivers.

Kane selected a steaming mug and crouched next to the couch. “Ana.” Her voice was soft, encouraging Ana to look at her.

After a moment, Ana’s head, resting on Magnus’ chest, tilted so she could look at Kane.

“I brought your phone.”

“Turn the recorder on,” Ana murmured as she reached for the hot tea. “Thank you.”

She recited everything she saw and felt in Aksel’s mind.

Kane and Magnus listened, steaming mugs in hand.

Magnus’ heart dropped at her descriptions of Aksel’s isolation and the view she described of all the other icebergs, both with more of his kinsmen and other victims.

She said they were all connected.

Where are they all?

“What does it all mean?” he asked when she finished.

“I’m really not sure, Magnus. But, he emphatically didn’t want me to go to the clan shaman for help.” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get anything useful out of all that.”

“What can you tell us about the shaman, Magnus?” Kane asked, refilling his mug.

He shrugged. “The shaman that I knew growing up was my father’s closest friend and advisor.

His duty was to oversee all royal rituals and activities, but above all, to protect the king from non-physical threats.

He had a Guardian Chief for the physical ones.

I haven’t seen him or anyone else from Barentia since they banished me.

I haven’t been back, and I haven’t had any contact with anyone—not even my son. ”

Ana jerked in his arms, sitting up and moving away so she could turn to look at him, her expression incredulous. “You have a son? You have a son you haven’t seen in a decade?”

“Yes,” he said, his body tensing.

She frowned as she considered this, but said nothing more about it. Instead, she turned to Kane. “Why do you want us to go into his clan’s territory?”

Kane looked at Magnus.

“Joey, she should know,” Magnus said to Kane, using her given name, which he rarely did.

“Know what?” Ana demanded.

Wearily, Joey held Magnus’ gaze before turning her attention to Ana. “It’s my fault Magnus was banished.”

“I wouldn’t say it was your fault,” Magnus objected.

“It was. Is. If I hadn’t pushed your father so hard, he probably wouldn’t have turned against you when you tried to help make him see reason about the prophecies.”

Magnus snorted. “Maybe. But there were also an awful lot of underlying clan politics that pushed him toward his decision.”

“Prophecies?”

A pang struck Magnus when Ana moved away from him, renewing the distance between them as she slid to the opposite end of the couch. She huddled in the wool throw he’d wrapped around her.

He turned so that both his feet were firmly on the floor, elbows on his knees, as they continued their discussion.

“Look, Joey, you’ve always known something was going to happen there.

That was the whole deal in the first place.

Something is happening and we need to find out how it relates.

” He rubbed his hands over his beard and through his hair.

“How else would Aksel end up on a human trafficking ship with a hex tattooed into his throat like this?”

Magnus had never seen Joey with any kind of expression that resembled uncertainty before.

“Why are you back-peddling now? Why now , when you were just pushing us to move forward on this yesterday?” he demanded. “We’re so close, Joey. So close.”

“Is it because of the shaman? And what’s this about prophecies?” Ana asked again, setting her mug on the floor next to the couch.

“Yes. The way forward isn’t as clear to me now. I need to think this through. We’ll discuss the prophecies later, but it’s all part of the reason Magnus needs to go to Barentia.”

Ana cut in. “If we can somehow break the sigil, wouldn’t that free Aksel? Then he could wake up and just tell us what we need to know? That black inky stuff seemed to consume the icebergs and I don’t know what that means for him—or the others.”

“It’s not so simple as that.” Joey’s voice was gentle as she reached a hand to Ana’s knee. “Even if there was some way to remove the tattoo, it magically embedded the ink in his skin and bloodstream.”

“Magic like that has very few counteragents.”

“Death is usually the main one,” Magnus said, “Of the creator, or the recipient.”

“Are there any other tattooed victims nearby that I could interview? I might get more information from someone that is trapped in human form,” Ana asked.

Joey shook her head. “They’re all being cared for at facilities close to their homes, although GPSA is monitoring them and keeping us informed.”

Ana threw off the blanket as she stood, then began pacing.

“Okay, I really don’t think I can do anything useful with my gifts.

But at the very least, I can pose as Magnus’ fiancée if that gets him through the door, and close to whomever he needs to talk to.

Since I can’t actually help save anyone, this is the very least I can do.

” She paused mid stride and shrugged. “If it’s a dead end, then we move on.

Who knows, maybe this will give Magnus a chance to see his son. ”

Magnus blinked. He cleared the sudden lump in his throat. “That would be irrelevant to the mission.”

“Like hell it is,” Ana exploded, color blooming in her cheeks. “Sons need their fathers. Fathers need their children. You—.” She closed her eyes, straightened her spine and drew a breath. “Everyone has the right to see their family.”

A smile tugged at Magnus’ lips. “That’s not exactly how my society works, but I appreciate the sentiment, Ana.”

“I can feel it, Magnus,” she said, impassioned, her fist over her heart.

Magnus’ gaze darted to Joey, who studied Ana closely.

His heart thudded in his chest, his emotions and thoughts tumbling between Ana and his clan—his family.

My god, she is beautiful when she is unrestrained.

The idea that he might see his son… after all this time.

Fear iced his spine.

He’d avoided thoughts along that path over the years. It did no good to entertain them.

Banished meant erased, in most cases.

The only reason he’d possibly be allowed back at all was only because he was the king’s son, and his bloodline needed to be tracked. Hence the recording of unions and offspring.

A decade had passed since he’d last set eyes on his tiny boy. He’d be approaching manhood now. Still a boy, but not for much longer.

As quickly as the thoughts appeared, he brushed them away again.

That way was dangerous. To his heart, and his soul.

There was no room in Magnus’ life for family. Not anymore.

I won’t go through that again.

No, best to focus on the mission. Always the mission.

The bigger picture.

He would go, just as he’d been prepared to when Kane had first ordered it.

And he would banish thoughts of seeing his son from his mind.

If he didn’t, he might not leave again.

He would fail the mission, because he’d take his son with him this time, which would incite a war that would ruin everything.

A na dug through her two open suitcases, seeking the warmest of her warm clothing.

Seated on the floor between them, damp hair piled on top of her head, thin robe loosely belted around her freshly showered body, she groaned.

Right back where she started. Stressing and panicked over what to wear.

But this was different.

So different.

Iceland wasn’t like Barentia.

Iceland was cold, yes, but it also had people. People that she might turn to for help, should something go wrong.

Ana laughed.

She was fucked.

So. Fucked .

She’d panicked over Iceland, was relieved to land in Ireland… and now?

Iceland was a cakewalk compared to Barentia.

Barentia would eat her alive.

Literally.

An ancient civilization of Northmen and women, never tamed like the rest of the world. Insular and strong in their brutal ways.

No, that was unfair.

She thought of Magnus.

He wasn’t brutal at all. As far as she’d experienced so far, he was more… gentle teddy bear than fierce wild northern polar bear.

Even when she’d ranted at him like an idiot.

God, what an idiot.

She sighed, throwing her cotton underwear back onto a pile she’d already moved several times.

She eyed the segregated pile of lace and satin thongs and bras she normally wore.

Definitely not practical.

But her favorites.

She sighed, picking up the small pile, trying to decide what to do with them when there was a knock on her door.

“Come in.” She got to her feet, expecting a member of the household staff come to deliver a message from Kane.

Magnus stepped inside, closing the door behind him, quickly surveyed the disaster, eyes landing on the cluster of thongs dangling from her fingers.

Ana couldn’t whip her hand behind her back fast enough.

She blushed when a thick blond brow rose over his twinkling blue-grey eyes.

She cleared her throat. “How can I help you?”