Page 31

MY CHEST RATTLED with uncertain breath, and it was only Ve’s steady arms that kept me upright as Tova left.

“This is her only chance,”

Ve whispered. “You cannot fight all her battles.”

Tova never needed me to fight for her. But she fought better at my side. The idea of her in the city alone with Njal hunting her was more than I could bear, and it took all my strength to let Ve guide me away.

We crossed the garden, finding Trig laying on the ground, attempting to sleep. We each took an arm and hoisted him up, dragging him out with us.

The quickest path led us out by Odin’s home, where the stone wolves sat guard in the courtyard, their beady eyes glowing red. Besides them, it was empty. Water from the fountain bubbled while distant owls hooted, but my ears were strained for far more subtle sounds than those—the snap of twigs, the draw of a blade. Something from Tova.

Trig stumbled from our grasp and toward the fountain, where he dropped himself into the water. I rushed to the side, but he emerged a moment later, dripping wet, and far more alert.

“Which way did Tova go?”

“East,”

I replied. “To find Njal.”

He drew a deep breath, wiping the hair from his eyes. “Then it’s in the gods’ hands now.”

From behind, Ve whistled. “Get down.”

At the urgency, Trig and I both dropped—him back into the water and me outside the fountain. I peered over the edge. From Odin’s home, the front door had opened and a curved figure stepped out, holding something long and flowing in her hands. She swept her gaze across the courtyard, lingering on the fountain for a moment before setting down what she held and retreating back into the home.

I stood. That had been Frigg, unless I was mistaken. Trig stepped from the fountain. “What was that?”

“I think my grandmother left us something.”

Ve crossed first, snatching whatever it was and throwing it to me. Soft fabric landed in my hands, and I looked to it. She’d made the exact replica of my outfit, unblemished from the fight.

Gratitude swelled in my heart. Odin might know what I’d been up to, but thanks to Frigg, he couldn’t prove it when I showed up in the same crisp outfit I’d worn earlier.

I ducked back into the trees to change, then fed my old clothes to the torches outside the courtyard. They went up in flames.

Ve passed me my sword, and I strung it to my back. Next, he placed the laurel on my head. He swept his hand in the fountain to wipe dirt from my face until my cheeks were clean.

“There,”

he whispered. “None will know.”

He turned to Trig. “When Tova wins, she will be brought to the arena, where you will be reunited. Go now and let them see you before she makes the final kill, so none can deny she did it alone. We will see you when this is over, and the two of you will leave together.”

Trig glanced to me. I gave a subtle dip of my chin. The three of us. Once I get a key.

Hopefully, the four of us.

Trig scampered away, and I could only hope he stayed awake enough to reach the arena. It seemed I placed a lot of faith in that word recently—hope. Hope that Trig made it. Hope Tova survived. Hope I got a key. Hope Ve understands when he learns I’m mortal.

Kingdoms could be built on hope. But hearts could be destroyed when hope failed.

“I must admit,”

Ve said as he laced his hand into mine and led me into Odin’s home. The stairwell to the glass dome would be nearby. “I’m a tad envious I didn’t see you fight today.”

I chuckled. “It was nothing special.”

“I disagree.”

Before we ascended the stairs, he twisted me to press me lightly against the wall. Our charade was back on—fooling the others into thinking I’d been with Ve the entire time—but it helped settle the fears in my mind. And no one was watching, so perhaps this moment wasn’t for them, but for me. Ve had a way about his hands that instantly made it seem like everything would be okay as long as he’d keep looking at me like he were soaking up the sun. His lips leaned close. “I think you’re beautiful with a blade. That’s how you first won me over.”

I grinned as I closed the distance, and spoke through the kiss. “Maybe I should threaten your life more often.”

His mouth swept over mine, and I felt it smile. “I heard you told Tova I’m the most gorgeous thing to walk the lands.”

My face heated. I’d said no such thing, but certainly hadn’t denied it. His laugh was like music to my ears. “I knew you were there,”

I told him. “I felt your presence.”

“It was your presence that guided me to you,”

he replied before ending the kiss too soon. “Come.”

He tugged my hand while scandal still twinkled in his eye. “We best get you upstairs so they can see you aren’t interfering.”

It wasn’t hard to drop the smile and put on a look of worry as we walked up the stairs and into the glass dome.

The first thing I saw was Odin, standing with his arms crossed and staring toward the lower city. The muscles in his back tightened, and he looked over his shoulder at my appearance. His eye dropped to my attire, the same one as before, and to the clean weapon on my back that hadn’t been used. There was no emotion there, but he put his arm out for me.

Frigg stood on his other side, a knowing smile on her lips. I tried not to meet her eye with so many watching.

I let go of Ve to cross to Odin, feeling very much like I was walking into the jaws of a lion.

“Do you see her?”

I asked. The fear in my voice was real.

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

From here, we could see the garden I’d just been in, though I was pleased to find the high wall hid more of the garden than I’d thought. Three bodies lay in that garden, but we couldn’t see any of them. There was a chance I’d get away with this.

Beyond that, torches had been lit throughout the town, casting an orange glow against the streets. Odin pointed toward a rectangle building with long eves and a sloped awning. “Njal is there.”

My heart skipped a beat. “And how many others?”

It seemed like a question I’d ask if I hadn’t watched the entire thing. Yet Odin glanced to me with an arched brow.

“Only two eligible players.”

That felt incriminating. My palms sweated. It was then that I realized the one mistake I forgot about. I’d taken off my sandals to fight. I never put them back on. The cold floor felt like ice against my feet, but I stood my ground as if nothing were wrong and stared at the building where Njal was. Doors should be locked, so he shouldn’t be inside, but I didn’t put it past him to break down the door anyway and wait until the fight was almost over. There was no honor in his strategy, and perhaps the gods would lean the balance of fates toward Tova tonight.

There, across the street, something moved.

My hands moved to cover my mouth as Tova moved through the streets, letting herself be in the wide open. I wanted to scream at her. Tell her to hide. Show her where Njal was. But all I could do was watch as she got closer and closer to the building, step by step, until she was almost upon the awning.

I pressed my hands into the glass.

One more step.

Now Njal moved.

His huge body charged from behind the awning, headed straight for Tova. She rolled, slicing at his feet with her dagger, before returning to her feet and drawing a second. She held up the two blades, and her mouth moved. I wished to know what she said, but whatever it was, it provoked Njal. He didn’t wait for her to be worn out. He attacked.

Ve stepped closer, right behind my shoulder. I locked onto the steady sound of his breathing to ground myself, praying I wasn’t about to watch my sister die.

Njal reached to his back, and produced his weapon. I gasped. He had an axe.

So far, I’d yet to see an axe in the city, and I’d guessed it was because the gods didn’t want the mortals to fight with something they were comfortable with. But the other reason was obvious. An axe would beat a sword in a fight any day. The sword would get caught up in the axe and easily torn away. Worse, Tova didn’t have a sword, she had daggers. Those stood no chance. Her only hope was good aim, and that did little help as the axe was aimed for her head.

He might be able to throw it and finish this in one breath, but Njal was smart. He knew as long as he had that axe in his hands, he would win. My cheeks were wet before I knew I was crying. Tova didn’t try to throw her blades. She kept low and on the balls of her feet, swerving beneath swings and rolling between his legs.

“Stay alive, stay alive,”

I pleaded. Some eyes shifted to me but I ignored them all.

Tova tried to throw one dagger, but Njal swatted it away with the back of his hand as if he were made of stone. That shook her, and she darted sideways.

Njal advanced slowly, like a beast who knew he’d won. This was a fight to her. This was a game to him. He swung again, but it was lazier, like playing with food. My stomach rolled. So did Tova.

When she popped back up, she took stock of the building next to her, eyeing the streets and the windows and alleys. Then she tucked her blades away, and ran to a nearby fence, climbing atop the thin posts until she was braced along the wood. Njal, seeing that she wasn’t fleeing, hadn’t thrown anything, and was now watching her with an intrigued expression. His lips moved, and she must have said something back.

Tova bent, tearing the hem of her shirt to tie her ankle to the fence, binding herself there. A moment later, she stood with her hands raised, empty, braced right in front of her chest, and my heart plummeted. She was unarmed, and tied down.

“No,”

I breathed. “Don’t do this.”

“What?” Ve asked.

From below, Njal gave a slow smile. He took a step, but Tova held out her hand. He was maybe fifty paces away from her, and would be allowed no closer.

For this trick, he should be seventy.

“She’s going to try to catch the axe,”

I said. Every eye found me. I swallowed. “It was a trick we were learning on Earth, but only with practice axes. The weight is all different with real ones.”

“Can she do it?” Ve asked.

Saying no felt like betrayal. Saying yes felt like false hope.

“Half the time.”

With a practice axe.

From below, Njal was laughing, but Tova didn’t budge. He shrugged, and readied his feet. The dome fell into complete silence, all of us hanging onto breaths, thrumming with anticipation and pounding pulses.

Njal took aim. My hand found Ve’s.

He took his time to throw, first holding the axe in front of his face so it split his image in two, muttering something under his breath. He extended it toward Tova then brought it back again.

Meanwhile, Tova stood still as a great tree in a wild storm.

Njal paused to lift his axe toward our glass dome. His mouth shouted something that looked like, ‘For the gods!’

Then he threw.

I screamed.

The axe flew, and Tova’s finger pulsed once. It came upon her within a heartbeat, aimed true to her head. Her feet couldn’t move thanks to her binds, but at the last moment, she tilted slightly to the left and snapped her hands up. The haft of the axe collided with her palms. The axe stopped, right beside her head, a few inches from her neck.

Njal stumbled back. Tova hurled the axe back at him.

It landed in his chest.

She slipped a hidden dagger from her shirt and freed her feet, then hopped down. She tossed a look our direction as if to say, you didn’t think I’d let myself die, did you? Then she charged at Njal.

He rested on his knees, breathing fast. Predictably, as soon as Tova drew near enough, he produced a dagger to swing at her, but she swatted his hand away and buried her own blade into his body.

The kill was slow, and we watched every second of it as he died.

I spoke his name into my mind. Njal, the one to be feared, and whose death would not be forgotten. I’d tell his clan of his strength and how he was the last one standing.

But the celebration would be for Tova, as she was returning to Danmark as the champion.

Screams of celebration pounded from the domes around the city. Flaming lanterns burst to life throughout the town, lighting it up until every fallen blade glistened and every dead body was seen. Odin clapped a hand to my shoulders to say the words I’d been desperate to hear. “Congratulations. Your sister lives.”