Page 33

I SWUNG TO find Ve. “Please,”

I shouted to him. “I didn’t know.”

His cold gaze told me everything.

“I never meant to lie,”

I yelled. “I didn’t know what to believe.”

Behind, Tova was pulling at the barred door, but it held fast. Trig was searching the walls. Gods were watching with hands clutching their collars, wide eyed and soaking up every ounce of amusement. We were a show to them. An act to watch.

I paced toward Tova. “We don’t have to do this. They can’t force us to fight.”

“So we stand here forever?”

Trig pressed.

I flung myself around to him. “Are you going to throw the first punch?”

“Of course not.”

His hands were on his hips and he breathed fast. Sweat formed along his brow. “How do we take them?”

From the look on Ve’s face, I’d lost any allies here. We only had each other.

“I say we fight.”

“All of them?”

I opened my arms wide. “We stand zero chance.”

“Then we die fighting! Together!”

I appreciated the sentiment, but I backed up all the same. “That’s not an option.”

I crossed to yank on the doors. “None of us are dying tonight.”

I would not let my death be a mere amusement for the gods who had turned their back on me, once again. My mind raced as my eyes darted around me, to the weapons we had, to the number of gods around us, and to any way to climb out. Some daggers might support our weight if we could find cracks in the stone. Or use our clothes to tie a rope. We hadn’t the time for any of that.

My gaze snagged on the wooden bars over the vent. It allowed air through to the cages below, the cages that were now empty. The door to the tunnel was locked, but if we could make it into the ventilation…

And we could. Because when Liv and I had trained in this arena before the mortals arrived, I damaged those bars.

They weren’t sealed.

“If you don’t start fighting, I’m sending Thor in,”

Odin declared.

The plan formed in my mind. It wasn’t perfect, and it only sat half formed, but at this point, I’d take any plan we had.

“That won’t be necessary,”

I said to Odin. With one hand, I reached to my back and drew out the sword Odin had crafted specially for me. A sword fit to take on the gods.

I raised it above my head and charged at Tova.

Trig scrambled to stand in front of her, and he drew a dagger out to block my thrust. Our blades collided. Tova flinched behind Trig, both of their eyes going wide with betrayal. Fear lived within them. It lived within me too, pulsing at every thread, humming beneath the surface.

“Trust me,”

I whispered. “Fight.”

Thankfully, the confusion gave way to acceptance. They were not like the gods, who could so easily believe I would betray them. They knew me, and they trusted me.

I broke first, backing up to allow them a mere moment to compose themselves before charging again. With my first strike, I shoved Trig backward with the blunt end of my sword. He swung with his fist, but the punch was pulled. I reacted as if it was the worst pain in the world, falling to my knees. There, I swung, letting him jump the blade. Tova came for me next, and Trig stepped back to compose himself and allow her room.

It was significantly easier to fake fight with Tova. I knew her style, and she knew mine. It was a dance of twirls and parries and thrusts that looked a lot more real than Trig’s and mine had.

She used a long-tipped dagger, and when our blades met, I stepped close, feigning pressure. “The grate to our right is broken,”

I whispered. “When we get close, we escape through there.”

Relief curved across her lips. With her free arm, she wiped her wild hair back from her face and nodded, then shoved me away. She retreated to Trig, and used her hands to gesture as if planning to surround me. I knew the plan was being relayed.

They came at me, forcing me toward the grate. I picked up the axe Tova had thrown earlier, holding a sword in one hand and an axe in the other. Step by step, I slowly backed up, until my back pressed against the wall. My ankle pushed against the grate, and it shifted. This was the perfect time.

Tova and Trig advanced until they were almost upon me.

I looked once more to Ve. He gnawed on his lip with his hands on the railing, but made no move to stop Tova or Trig from running me through. Just before they reached me, a flicker of worry crossed his eyes.

If he’d planned to do something, he was too late.

I took in the other gods. All cheering for my death. Frigg staring blankly at me, as if guarding her heart. Balder still arguing with Odin. When Odin didn’t listen, he left. Meanwhile, Odin watched my every move. We’d have the briefest head start, but I’d take every moment I could get.

Goodbye, Ruin, goddess of determination and wit.

I kicked, sending the grate inwards, and threw myself into the darkness. A blast of shouts echoed through the chamber. They’d follow soon. Blind, my hands fumbled for damp walls, before my sight adjusted. There was hardly room to stand. I focused on the sliver of light from the other end of the vent. Morning would be upon us soon, and it’d be the light that guided us away.

Tova came through the hole next, followed by Trig. We hit the ground running for the other side of the vent. When we neared, I lowered my shoulder and barreled through. The wooden posts cracked. We were freed.

We couldn’t celebrate yet. An army of gods would follow. Already the clatter of footsteps came along with the booming order from Odin to find us.

I hoped they never did.

“Where to?”

Tova asked. We ran aimlessly. The only goal was away.

I thought fast. “I know a cave.”

We couldn’t return to Hitta Haven. That’d be too obvious. But the cave where Astrid’s temple sat was remote enough, we could hide out until we came up with a better plan.

Someone spotted us from outside the arena. Balder. He took in the madness we left behind, then stared at us.

I hadn’t time to speak. I turned and ran.

“Ruin,”

he shouted.

It only made me go faster. We sprinted down the hill and into the cover of evergreens, where needles whipped our cheeks and uneven ground tripped at our feet. Wolves howled in the distance. Odin’s I bet. We kept running, even as our breath grew shallow and legs roared.

It wasn’t until we reached the glistening stream where I’d first held a blade against Ve’s throat—the place where my adventure here really began—and we slipped into the cave that we dared to catch our breath.

I dropped to my knees and buried my head in my hands. Tova kept her dagger in a tight fist, standing by the entrance to look around. When she was content, she marched inside. “What was that?”

“The wrath of the gods,”

I replied.

Trig ran his hands through his hair. “Are you a goddess or not?”

I let out a deep sigh. “Not. But they made a convincing case for it.”

“How are we going to get home?”

Tova asked the more important question, and a fire burned within me.

“I don’t know.”

My voice came out louder than I intended, and I worked to lower it. “I don’t know. I have no friends here anymore, and no idea how to get back to Danmark.”

The image of Ve’s face seared into my mind, forever imprinting it with a look of betrayal as he learned I was mortal. He’d thought I was like him. He’d thought I was special. When he learned there was nothing important to me, he turned his back.

That hurt worse than any battle wound, and it was all I could do to keep my head up.

Beside me, Trig wasn’t trying to keep his head up. He’d huddled in the corner with a dagger in each hand, eyelids already closing. Tova noticed and lifted a brow. “What are you doing?”

“His body needs time to recover after Ve healed it,”

I told her. “He can’t help it.”

“If I’m going to die, it won’t be in my sleep,”

she muttered.

That wasn’t a tender line to fall asleep to, but Trig paid her no mind as his eyes shut completely and chest fell into a rhythmic lull. Memories flashed through my mind of when Ve had healed me after the wolf, and how I’d fallen asleep too. Memories of when I woke. Memories of the kiss.

I drove my feet into the ground to stand. “I’m going to find some sort of food, while you need to hide.”

“Hide?”

Tova grabbed my arm. “How long are we staying here?”

“I don’t know,”

I answered honestly. “But until we find a way home, hiding is our only option.”

She opened her mouth like she might say something, then shut it. I wandered one direction, my sword in hand, while she took the axe to stand guard at the mouth of the cave, all while Trig slept and our world came down around us, one piece after another, like a shield splintering before it shattered.

My future had shattered. I’d be lucky to live another week. I was a trespasser in Asgard, and more than one god had reason to want me dead. I could only hope to take a few down before I fell. When I did, I doubted Valhalla waited for me.