Page 32

I WATCHED AS Tova retrieved her weapons, looking them over and deciding which to keep. The axe was one of them. “When will she return home?”

“We celebrate her where it all began, in the arena,”

Odin replied. “Then she is free to go and your clan will be blessed for the next decade.”

Thanks to the blessing, our lands would be plentiful and wombs fertile, and perhaps a season of peace was in order. If Tova had been loved before, she’d be absolutely adored now. But all I cared about was she lived. I couldn’t run to the arena fast enough. Ve was by my side, sprinting down the stairs and out the doors, soaking in the fresh air as if tasting life for the first time. As soon as we made it into the trees, he pulled me against a trunk.

“You did it,”

he breathed into my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You kept your sister alive.”

“I’m not confident she needed me.”

My laugh was nervous, part of it taking away the fears I held and the other tightening them up to remind me it could still go wrong. I’d been living in constant worry ever since I arrived in Asgard, it was hard to believe things were okay. But Tova had won. She and Trig and her would go home. I had Ve. Things just might be good.

It was a precious moment, and slowly the fragility began to harden until it felt like something I could tangibly hold in my hand without breaking.

In the midst of it was Ve’s steady breathing against my shoulder. “Go to Danmark with me,”

he said softly, the words like dainty kisses on my skin.

“Yes,”

I replied. My fingers wound through his hair. “That’s the plan.”

“No.”

He backed up until he could see me. “Now. Let’s sneak away before sunrise. It’ll be believable that you wished to see Tova home safe, and I don’t think any can doubt our connection. When the morning comes, we will be in Danmark.”

He was kissing me now, speaking between kisses. “Building a home together,”

another kiss, “finding land and shelter and food,”

another kiss, “and a gothi.”

I sucked in a breath at the mention of a priest.

His nose rubbed against mine. “Rune, come to Earth with me tonight, and marry me.”

My skin was alive with heat, and my smile so wide it could crack. I buried myself into him, kissing his face as tears ran down my cheeks. This was what I’d wanted—to leave today. And if he was offering, then he’d have a way out.

It wasn’t just that my problems were solved, it’s that my heart’s greatest desires were fulfilled, and every one of them pointed back to him.

“Yes,”

I breathed. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I’ll go to Danmark with you; I’ll do it all with you. A life, Ve. We are going to have a life together.”

“A very long life.”

I heard the meaning in his voice. Eons. Long might mean fifty years to a Viking, but it meant ages to a god, and that’s what he was.

That last untied thread wavered before my face. He believed I was a goddess.

I’d tell him before we went to Danmark, but first we’d get Tova safe. Then he’d know the truth of who I was.

And I’d pray to every god that he still wanted me.

“Are you okay?”

His hand brushed my cheek.

I wove my fingers through his. “More than okay. Just hoping it doesn’t come crashing down.”

He gave me a last kiss. “Nothing could make that happen.”

Ve tugged me toward the arena, and with a tentative hope in my chest, we ran.

The gods were there when we arrived. They filtered into the seats with either praising shouts or glum looks, depending on wins and losses. Money was exchanged for those who’d bet correctly, and jravn flowed freely.

Ve’s friends were there to greet us, with wide smiles and perfectly curled hair and clothes that hadn’t seen a true battle ever. They clapped our backs and pressed cups into our hands. I gave them the bare minimum pleasantries before passing my cup to Ve and hurling myself over the railing to land in the arena. Tova stood in the center, head held high, firelight flickering from her tan skin. Trig was at her side.

I barreled into them.

“You did it,”

I shouted over the noise. “You won.”

“We won,”

she said back. Her arms tightened around me, and I felt how her body shook. “Thank the gods, we won.”

The arena roared louder as we embraced, like thunder around us.

Then it all came to a dead silence.

I looked up.

Odin stood before his majestic seat, with his fist in the air to call us to attention. His eyes were stone. His body rigid. As his gaze swept over me, it hardened.

I’d been frightened of him when I first arrived in Asgard, but it was nothing compared to how murderous he appeared now. My blood froze. At his side, Frigg crossed her legs and wrapped her arms over herself, letting a single tear fall. It glistened in the orange light.

“Something’s wrong,”

I whispered.

Tova stepped forward, keeping a hand in mine. “Let me go. I have won your game and earned back your favor.”

He gave her a withering stare. She stood her ground.

From the shadows behind his chair, Aegir stepped forward. I let go of Tova’s hand. “This isn’t about you,”

I said. “It’s about me.”

Odin lifted his voice to speak to the arena. “We have been fooled,”

he said. “Lied to, and betrayed in the most vicious ways.”

“Tova, you should run,”

I hissed. Odin could take his wrath out on me, and me alone.

“What is he talking about?”

Odin continued, “A mortal has come in, pretending to be one of us, to be my own blood. And has tarnished the memory of Astrid in such a way.”

I whirled to Trig. “Take her and run.”

Trig grabbed Tova, but she planted herself and refused to move.

The gods were a grumble of questions that rose over the barracks of the railing and settled over us like rain. I prepared myself for the storm.

Odin was shouting now. “Ruin is no granddaughter of mine. She is a fraud.”

Now it was an uproar. I yelled through it. “Odin, I beg you to listen to me. I’ve come to Asgard not of my own free will, and never caused harm.”

But my words were drowned out as Odin threw himself into the arena with us. His feet landed with a pound to silence us all. It was a slow prowl that led him to our side, while I clenched my muscles to prepare for what might come. Tova tried to stand in my way, but Odin growled. “Move. Aside. Now.”

Thank the gods, she obeyed.

Odin held a glass in his hand, and he held it to me. “Drink.”

I didn’t need to look to know what it was. He held jravn. One drop would kill a mortal.

I’d survived it before, for a reason I still didn’t know. Some god playing games with me. Whatever the reason, I knew deep in my bones that if I drank now, I would have no such protection.

My teeth clenched and my mouth tightened. I shook my head.

“No?”

he pressed, shoving the drink closer. “If you were my granddaughter, you’d have no problem drinking. Drink, and prove who you are.”

I wouldn’t.

“She drank before!”

Ve’s brother, Leif, shouted over the railing. “I gave her some from my own cup.”

I wasn’t such a fool that I’d allow any hope to curl within. Odin wasn’t relenting.

“Ahh, but she won’t drink now.”

He withdrew his cup. “A final test remains. Aegir? Take the blood.”

Take the blood didn’t sound pleasant. I might rather drink from the cup than let someone take the blood. I backed away, my eyes wide in terror.

“It is a drop.”

Odin’s words were sharp as knives, as if speaking to me was beneath him. It was, but only an hour ago he had a hand around my shoulders. Now I suspected he was minutes away from using the sword he’d given me, still strapped to my back, to run me through. He glared at Tova as she tried to step in front of me again. She stilled.

Aegir stalked toward us with a teapot in hand. A hint of victory danced in his eyes, and it made my skin crawl. He stopped before me and held up his hand. “Your arm, please.”

With no other choice, I offered it.

He put a hand over my wrist, and with some god power I didn’t care to try to understand right now, he pulled a small amount of blood from the veins and spilled it into his teapot. Then he poured a single drop onto Odin’s finger.

The gods all leaned close, crowding each other against the railing, none seeming confused as Odin lifted the finger to his lips. He paused at the confused look on the three of our faces.

“Blood of a god runs sweet. Mortal blood is bitter with the taste of mortality. You can cheat many things, but your blood will not lie.”

He pressed his finger to his tongue, then retracted.

“It is bitter!”

He announced, and the words sealed my fate.

Quicker than wolves, he and Aegir were back up beyond the safety of the railing, and sitting down with a fire in their eyes. Beside them, Frigg let another tear fall. It hit me like a slap. When she caught my eye, she tore her face away.

I dropped my gaze.

I’d been prepared to leave Asgard. But now it was being torn away from me, and it felt like a family was abandoning me. The searing pain it left behind stung of loneliness.

My attention found Balder next. He was plowing through the crowd to speak to Odin, who held up a hand.

“I will speak to you later.”

The sharp edge couldn’t be lost. Balder was the one who’d brought me here, and who told them all who I was. That wasn’t someone Odin could easily forgive.

“She has the marks,”

Balder shouted, throwing a hand my way. “She ate the sacred grapes!”

Odin’s tone was deadly. “I will listen to none of it. The blood is bitter.”

I snapped my gaze to the left, and found Ve there, amidst his friends, looking as lost as I felt. My feet instinctively moved his way. He shook his head once. I froze. His expression was more than just blank—it was placid. Uncaring. Deceived.

“I didn’t know,”

I shouted to him, hoping my words reached his ears. “I never wanted to lie to you.”

Tova grabbed my arm. Her fingers dug into my skin. “We need to go.”

I swung my eyes around. “Where?”

I asked desperately. “There is nowhere to run.”

“Did you find a key?”

Trig asked, his words coming fast. It was like walls were closing in around us and we hadn’t much time. If I didn’t think of something fast, my life would end.

But there was no way out of this arena. “I thought I had a key,”

I said. I looked to Ve again. He set his jaw. The accusation was in his eyes, and it seared into me. I was heavily aware of the laurel on my head, and how meaningless it was. Unity. Now empty. “But I lost it.”

I lost my everything.

This couldn’t be how it ended. I crossed the arena, begging at Odin’s feet. I almost regretting coming nearer, for the hatred in his eye shone clearer, and the hurt in Frigg’s. “Odin, I plead to you. I never set out to deceive you.”

“Did you not? Do you deny you renounced us? Cursed our names in our sacred vineyard? Came into Asgard as a mortal?”

I could deny none of those things. Trig bore witness to me renouncing the gods. Balder bore witness to me eating the sacred grapes and cursing the gods. Everyone else saw me flaunting around Asgard as a mortal. “Search my heart,”

I begged him. “I caused no harm. I didn’t know what to believe when I was brought here, but I never once hurt anyone.”

“You didn’t know what to believe? You made me believe you were my granddaughter. I thought I had a piece of my daughter back.”

His voice cracked, and I shivered.

Whatever my intent was, I had done harm, in giving them a part of their family then tearing it away. I should have never played that game.

Odin’s voice raised over the arena, commanding all attention to him, and I couldn’t move. From here, I could see how his knuckles whitened.

“My mind is decided. The Champion Games are not finished.”

He stood. “Since the three of you mortals,”

he said the word as if it were dirty, “are so determined to fight together in the games, you will finish the fight.”

The words fell over us like a deadly promise. I blanched.

Odin shouted our sentence into the night. “As punishment for masquerading as a god, for renouncing us, and for interfering with the games,”

he looked to us all at the last part, “you are all sentenced to continue the Champion Games until a sole victor is named. You will share the testimony on Earth of how none can cross the gods and get away with it.”

In response, Tova took the axe from her back and threw it far away until it clattered against the bottom of the wall that held us captive.

Odin chuckled. “However long it takes,”

he said as he sat down. “Only one of you is making it out alive.”