Page 15

I PICKED A lighter axe from the array of weapons in the arena. The sun beat down, glittering against the gold head of my weapon, and I wiped sweat from my brow. It may have been cold in Danmark, but Asgard had ignored the natural phases of the seasons and offered only warm days and brisk nights.

Beside me, the girl I trained with picked a similarly sized axe. “I’ll match you,”

she said. “Want a shield too? That’s what you grew up fighting with, right?”

“Usually,” I said.

Ve had four friends, one being his brother, Leif. Then there was a Bjorn who, true to his name, was the same build as a bear and just as dark. He’d strike me down in two seconds if we fought. Bjorn had a kind laugh though, which he shared freely. Ingra was another friend, a girl with raven black hair, blue eyes, and a partiality toward the spear she threw with deadly accuracy. I stayed away from her as well. She also kept a sharp eye on Ve and after what happened with Trig and Tova, I was wary.

She could have him though. He wasn’t mine.

Then there was Liv, who proved fun to spar with. She was pulling her hits, I could tell, but she let me have a good fight and occasionally get a win before she beat me. She paused to gather her thick mass of golden hair into a knot on the top of her head, wrapping a strand of leather around it to hold it in place. Some strands fell loose, but the whole chaotic-warrior thing worked for her. With exception for Svana, who I’d yet to see again since that first night in Asgard, Liv was easily the most beautiful girl I’d met. Full cheeks that dimpled with her smile, a strong body, and a wicked swing with the axe.

“Want to hear a secret?”

Liv tossed me a shield. “The shields are a trick. We know mortals go for the shields because it’s what they are used to, but they make the matches boring. We like the mortals on offense, not defense. So we rigged the shields to break easily.”

I shuddered at the thought. Going into a match with a shield gave you some sort of protection. Losing protection so quickly when all you have left is an axe would be terrifying.

How many mortals had died that way because the gods wanted a good show?

The arena was every bit as glorious as I’d pictured it, and just as frightening. It’d been constructed at the top of a mountain with a killer view the mortals would never get to see. Ve told me they had cells inside the mountain itself, with an entrance to the arena from below. The walls were thick wood, with iron casing on the outside for good measure. They stretched fifteen feet high. Above that stood the stands where gods would gather to watch. They didn’t create a fence between them and the fighting, but they didn’t need to. I’d seen the size of them. Even if a mortal threw a spear upward, the gods would catch it like a floating leaf and hurl it back with deadly accuracy.

I trembled thinking about it.

So far, everything in Asgard was serene. The crystal waters, the marble homes, the still nights, and the plentiful vegetable garden that grew outside Hitta Haven. Even when Erik struck me, I hadn’t felt great fear because I knew I was safe here. But standing in this arena, the one designed for combat to the death…

I remembered the wrath of gods could be a dangerous thing.

The idea behind the Champion Games was for mortals to glorify the gods through combat, and offer ourselves as sacrifices to them. It only occurred once a decade, but the clans spoke about it so often, it lived on through the rest of the years. It was a great honor to be chosen to go.

If they could see this, they might not think it such an honor.

And the weapons were rigged. I tucked that bit of knowledge away, and set down the shield.

“Let’s fight without them then. Keep it interesting.”

Liv flashed a toothy grin. “I like you. Let’s go.”

Her first attack was ruthless, dragging the heavy axe in an upward swing. I had to bend backward to let the blade slice through the air above me. It missed my nose by a hair.

I glanced to the side where Ve stood with the other three, watching us. It comforted me to have a healer in the group, but I doubted Ve could heal a severed head.

When Ve said it was tradition for him and his friends to sneak inside to practice, he meant they snuck in here and risked their lives. I wasn’t sure what that meant to an immortal, but I bled easier than they did.

Liv hesitated to be certain I had my footing. I dug my heels into the dry dirt, tightened my grip on the handle, and swung. Her eyes lit up when she realized I wasn’t frightened. She raised her axe above her head and met mine with a clang that reverberated through my shoulder.

I countered quickly, releasing with one hand when the blade was behind my head, twisting it upward, regrabbing, and swinging with an outer-strike. Thanks to having two hands on the blade, I could swing with more force than if I were holding a shield, but so could Liv.

She backstepped from the swing, then cut upwards from inside.

I swallowed a yelp and leapt to my left, letting my axe block my vulnerable side.

“Easy, Liv,”

Ve yelled from the side. He stood with a spear in hand and worry etched across his face. It warmed me that he would be worried for my safety, before remembering I was his best ticket out of Asgard.

“She’s got this,”

Liv replied with a devilish glint in her eye, pausing to rub the edge of her weapon clean.

“I appreciate your faith in me.”

Truthfully, I held up better than I thought I would. I adjusted my grip and widened my stance.

Before Liv could reposition herself, I cut inward. Her eyes widened the moment before the blade reached her.

It was cheap to attack when she wasn’t prepared, and because of that, I pulled my weight back and let the blunt face knock into her. That was all the warning she would get though. As her head snapped up in surprise, I wound the axe in an arc over my shoulder and swung down.

She was more prepared this time. Her weapon came up to meet mine. The weight of my swing drove her axe into the ground and her to her knees.

She grunted, still gripping the handle. With a jolt, she ripped the axe upward and sent me staggering back.

Liv glanced to the side. “No concern for me though?”

“You’re doing great,”

Leif shouted with feigned enthusiasm. Liv rolled her eyes. “So unappreciated,”

she muttered, then tightened her stance.

I thought she was going hard before, but her next attack nearly tore my axe from my grip when I blocked it. She swung again, slicing from outward and snagging on my tunic. I jumped back as she swung again.

As soon as her blade passed by, I sliced with my own, but she was quick to yank her weapon back in defense.

As she raised her weapon, I put my hands wide on the handle, dropped to a knee, and lifted it up to deflect. The axe head stopped right above my forehead.

Liv’s hand shot out to grab hold of my handle. I yanked it back, but she held fast. With her other hand, she flipped her axe in the air, grabbed hold of the iron head, and swung the handle against me. It knocked into my chest and sent me rolling backward, banging my head into the wooden wall. There was a crack, and wood splintered.

My head roared. “I relent,”

I said. It was unnecessary. She held both axes in her hands.

“I said careful!”

Ve yelled.

“She’s fine,”

Liv replied. She knelt at my side. “You’re fine, right?”

“I’m very aware of my teeth right now,”

I mumbled. My voice seemed to echo in my own head. “I can taste them.”

“You can taste your teeth?”

Liv asked, raising one brow.

“I feel like my whole body is vibrating,”

I continued.

Liv looked over her shoulder to the others. “She’s perfectly fine.”

Then she whispered to me, “You’re lucky these aren’t the real games. You’d be dead right now.”

“I think I got the first hit in,”

I reminded her. I shook my head to try to clear it, but that only made the buzzing worse. I checked behind me to see what had broken.

A wooden grate with five oak spools created ventilation through the stone wall, leading into a tunnel of sorts. One of the bars had snapped when I hit my head against it, and now hung lopsided from the top and bottom where it had cracked in the middle.

“Where does this lead?”

I asked, trying to reposition the bar. A cold draft came from within.

“Outside eventually.”

Liv helped fix it. “There. No one will know it’s broken.”

She dropped my axe at my feet. “Go again?”

I shook my head. “Give the axe to Ve, and he can spar next. I need to rest before my breathing gets bad.”

She shot a look over her shoulder. “Ve would never touch an axe.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

Ve was with his brother, but shooting us looks. Liv adjusted herself so her back was to him, and dipped her tone. “He doesn’t like to talk about it, but his sister was killed by a mortal. They found her in Norway with an axe in her back. We gods are easier to kill on Earth.”

Aware of how Ve was watching me, I tried to school my expression flat. But my eyes still flared wide. With her words, chunks of Ve’s story clicked into place. That was why he stiffened at the mention of a sister. That’s probably why his parents didn’t want him to go to the mortal land where his sister had been killed. My words to Erik came back with a sting. You’ll lose them in the end. I’d been chastising him for holding on too tight, warning him he’d lose his child. Meanwhile, he already had.

“Why does he want to go there so badly if that’s where his sister died?”

“He promised Elain he would. He, Elain, and Leif had planned this whole adventure together on Earth, visiting every country and sailing every sea. She had gone down early to scope it out, and her brothers found her dead a week later. Leif refuses to go back to Earth now, but it’s killing Ve. He feels like they are betraying her memory by giving up on the dream. Like if he doesn’t go, she died for nothing.”

I stared past Liv to Ve, feeling like I was seeing him for the first time.

“What are you guys talking about?”

he yelled across the distance. At the other side of the arena, Leif, Bjorn, and Ingra were throwing spears at targets with perfect accuracy, but Ve stayed between the two groups with his eyes locked on us.

I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been for him to watch me cling to an axe everywhere I went like it was my most treasured possession, when my people had used one to slay his sister. He’d even asked me to leave my weapons behind last night, and I’d refused.

“Nothing,”

Liv shouted back. Her voice dropped again. “Don’t tell him I told you about Elain. He’s sensitive about it.”

“I won’t,”

I promised.

“Now he has something to stay for though,”

Liv said, offering a hand to help me up. I flashed a confused look at her, and she grinned. “You.”

Guilt crushed me. I wasn’t helping Ve stay. I was helping him leave. I clamped my mouth shut and nodded, cleaning the dirt off the head of the axe.

Liv was blind to my discomfort as she went on. “I’m glad you’re here. I haven’t seen him happy in a long time.”

When the sun had set and the air had cooled, we gathered in the stands overlooking the arena now bathed in moonlight. It looked different at night. Less hopeless and more haunting. Seats glinted with a silvery shine, the dirt was coated in black darkness, and only the heads of weapons could be seen, peeking out from their shadows to remind us they were still there. It was like looking at a nightmare instead of living in it. Reminding me what was about to happen tomorrow.

“The mortals will be here tomorrow,”

Leif said, as if reading my thoughts. He’d left for a pitcher of liquid so dark red, it could be purple, and was now pouring it into six chalices. The cups were made of stone, with tops chiseled like a wolf’s mouth, opened wide to hold the drink, and bottoms like their claws. “And then it’s the most glorious week of the year.”

“What will happen?”

I asked as he passed a chalice to me. It was large enough I had to hold it with both hands.

Ve sat beside me, resting his feet on the seats in front of us. He’d strung his hair back, and his expression fell soft like night erased all his worries. “First, we meet the mortals. The next two days are one-on-one combats until half are eliminated. After that they are let loose in Asgard.”

He took a sip, leaving me confused.

“Let loose?”

The thought of ten desperate mortals roaming the streets of the city was not a pleasant one.

“The city is emptied, of course,”

Ve said. “At least the streets. We watch from above the rooftops as the remaining ten fight it out until the last one is standing.”

“How long does that take?”

“By the end of the day, only one lives. They are honored with a banquet, then released with all our blessings. They return to a promising life.”

I took a sip for no reason other than to have the chalice cover my face so they couldn’t see my thoughts. Those were my people who I would watch bleed for entertainment. I’d see them die and could do nothing to help them without exposing myself. I looked over the vast arena and thought of how freely I’d been training there today, when mortals would die there tomorrow. They’d bleed in the same place where I had laughed, and I’d watch. It was sickening.

Ve placed a hand on my knee. “You won’t know them.”

“I might,”

I responded. “It could be someone from my clan.”

“There are thousands of clans. It’s unlikely.”

I shifted. He frowned. “Ruin, you don’t belong amongst them anymore. They fight to honor you.”

“I don’t want that.”

“Remind me, did they treat you well there?”

He angled to see me better, as those around us pretended to be very busy with their drinks. “Were you loved amongst them? Do you think any of them would care if you were the mortal sent here to fight for your gods, or would they be grateful it was you they lost and not Tova?”

His words were true, but it hurt to hear them.

I set my jaw.

He dropped to his knees before me and gathered my hands in his. At the tender gesture, everything in me froze. His expression was soft as he soaked in the look of me, and I concentrated on the warmth in his hands. “I don’t say that to hurt you. To us, you are everything. I don’t want you to forget who disregarded you, and who would turn over the whole world to keep you safe.”

By the tone in his voice, he was the one who would turn over the whole world to keep me safe.

He was right though—the Champion Games didn’t concern me. I had my own struggles to fix. But I would not enjoy the next few days. “I’d rather not watch, all the same.”

“You won’t have to.”

He hesitated. “Though, we are going to be presented there.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Asgard is…obsessed with you right now.”

He searched for the right word there. “And it’s Odin’s request you are seated in his seat tomorrow to watch the mortals be presented.”

I swung my eyes to Odin’s seat—an enormous thing centered in the stands with a white stone back, ravens carved into the armrests, a velvet throw, and a crown at the back. As the mortals fought, they’d have no choice but to notice it. Notice me.

“That sounds mortifying. I’ve zero interest in being stared at.”

“I know. But it’s only for a few minutes, then none will be watching us. Plus, it’ll be another opportunity to show off our love.”

He coated those words in a second meaning, which told me he hadn’t informed his friends of our plan. I’d guessed as much when Liv told me he had something to stay for now, but his look proved it. He drilled his gaze into me, and I heard the secret words. This is what you agreed to—two months proving we are in love. You don’t have a choice.

“Fine.”

The words were difficult to get out. I’d rather face off against Erik again than sit in front of all of Asgard as they brought mortals in to slaughter. But I could play my part. “I’ll be there.”

“And maybe leave the axe behind?”

Ve added tentatively. “You won’t be the one fighting.”

Now Liv caught my eye, and I thought of Ve’s sister and how he found her with an axe through her body. “I’ll leave my axe behind.”

He looked relieved. He straightened the lopsided ends of his tunic’s collar, and refaced his friends with a plastered on smile as if he had not a care in the world.

I stared into my drink. My stomach churned at the thought of the Champion Games, and no amount of wine could settle it. Still I tried. I downed half the drink before lowering it to inspect.

I was familiar with wine. Tova and I had snuck our fair share to know the taste, and this wasn’t it. This ran sweeter, thinner, and had no scent.

“What is this?”

“Jravn,”

Leif said, lifting his chalice high. He’d already refilled his cup, and his lips were tinted darker from the juice. A warmth clouded his cheeks that wasn’t there before. “It’s the wine of the gods. You’ve been missing out your whole life.”

I left it on my tongue with my next drink to soak in the flavor. “You’re right, this is good.”

Not good enough to wash away my concerns, but it was a nice distraction.

I’d almost drunk the rest before Leif spoke again. “It’s revitalizing to gods, but one drop would kill a mortal in an instant.”

The chalice fell from my hand to crack at my feet, and I spewed what was in my mouth.

Everyone jumped to their feet as the drops fell around their heels. My blood pumped fast.

“What was that?”

Liv asked, holding her goblet close while sending me a wary look like I was a feral dog. Bjorn was rubbing the droplets from his shoes, and Leif was shaking his head at the broken chalice and stream of dark liquid seeping down the stands, muttering about the waste.

My ears rang. Every muscle tensed.

“It kills mortals?”

“You’re fine,”

Ve said, putting a hand on my arm. “I know you seem determined to keep some of your mortal tendencies, but you’re a goddess.”

I gave the weakest laugh I’d ever faked. My chest tightened with the action. The wine felt too much like blood on my feet, and the taste had turned bitter on my lips.

“I saw someone die from it once,”

Leif said. “Loki felt wronged by some warrior on Earth, so he invited him to Asgard and threw a banquet in his honor. Then he gave him the wine, and the moment it touched his lips, the warrior died. Loki stood up, thanked everyone for coming, pried the glass from the dead man’s hand, and downed the rest of it before walking out.”

While the others joked about how that sounded exactly like something Loki would do, my thoughts were whirling.

One drop would kill a mortal in an instant.

I’d consumed far more than one drop, and my panic was the only thing going down hard. I was not dead. Not even close.

In fact, now focused on it, I felt. . . stronger. My breathing was easy. My legs weren’t tired even though I’d been training all day. I felt as though I could take on a giant wolf with my bare hands just as our chieftain had—or I could take on the chieftain and win.

“Are you okay?” Ve asked.

I forced a smile. “Perfectly fine. I simply forgot who I was for a moment.”

As far as I could tell, there were two options for how I’d survived the past hour. One, I really was the missing goddess.

That still wasn’t likely.

Two—and the more reasonable answer—there was a god here manipulating the strings.

My mind pulled every other odd instance to mull back over. The scar on my arm that matched Astrid’s birthmark. Eating the forbidden grapes in the vineyard. The seer’s prophecy about me.

All else is veiled from me.

Who did that? What god allowed me into Asgard, set me up as the missing goddess, let me eat the forbidden grapes and drink jravn, and shielded my future from the seer?

I wanted to believe it wasn’t Ve, but he’d lied to me about his sister. He could be lying about more. There was a possibility he brought me here so he had an easy escape from Asgard.

Something about him encouraged my trust, but beyond him, I had no guesses.

More important than that question was the next one: What did this god want with me?

“Ruin.”

Ve’s hand slid into mine, and he whispered so the others wouldn’t hear. “Are you certain you’re fine?”

I tried to push my thoughts away so he couldn’t see. I shoved them deep into my mind to come back to when I was alone. I had much to figure out.

“Only worried about tomorrow,”

I lied. “I don’t like all the attention on me.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Ve’s gaze swung around the arena. “There will be so much excitement, the gods will hardly be looking at us.”