Page 35

NIGHT FELL, AND still no one came. We filled our bellies with bitter pine needles and acorns, hungering for meat but not foolish enough to hunt. Darkness spread from all edges, and we pushed ourselves further into the cave.

“Tomorrow we need to form a plan.”

Trig was more awake now, snapping branches between his hands. The sound bounced off the walls of the cave. It was dangerous to make a noise at night, but it was too dark to see anything, and I suspected we all agreed it was nice to hear the sound and know we were not alone.

“And find better food,”

Tova put in.

We needed a key. The only one I knew of was with Balder. The impossibility of this task hung heavy around my neck, but I tried to keep my chin up anyway. We were still alive, and that was worth something.

“We will figure it out,”

I said with confidence. It was faked, but I hoped they didn’t notice.

Quiet fell upon us all, until Tova’s heavy breathing told us she was asleep. Trig and I both lay in silence for a while, his twigs all broken too far to snap again, until he finally spoke. “I once told you that you’d always have a home with me and Tova,”

he whispered.

I lay in silence, trying to find the shape of the walls around us. Focusing on anything meaningless so I didn’t think about everything else.

“I meant it,”

he said. I heard him shift. “When we return to Danmark, you still have a home in our clan.”

Tova was returning as the champion. Trig was returning to take his faoir’s clan. I had the remains of my old life to pick up, and hoped I could mold it into something purposeful. It wasn’t the same as what they had, but I grinned all the same.

“Thank you,”

I said. And this time I meant it.

Morning came softly, the light barely finding us in the back of the cave. I stretched my limbs, testing them out. I groaned. My belly hungered for food, my lips were dry, and my body ached from sleeping on rocks. The life of a goddess had spoiled me. I stood while the others slept, and wandered to the mouth of the cave to dunk myself in the river and wake my body up.

The cool water freshened my senses until they all came to life. I pooled the water across my arms, cleaning my skin, and rubbing the kohl from my face. It ran in black streaks.

If I planned to sneak anywhere to find the key, the Viking would need to sleep, and Ruin would be let out once more.

When I’d finished, I waded back to shore.

Balder stood there, a white tunic under his iron breastplate, and helmet reaching his brows. Those eyes burned into me. He clasped a sword before his body.

I eyed my own.

Balder spotted it too, and gestured for me to pick it up. “Odin has ordered you found and killed.”

He glanced to the cave. “Your friends are inside?”

“Are you going to kill them too?”

Water dripped from my clothes and my heart pounded faster.

He shrugged. “Only one must die. Say the word, and I spare you.”

I reached for my blade, holding the weight up. “You will not touch them.”

He braced himself. “As you wish.”

Balder advanced first. I skirted away from the water to find more stable ground to steady myself against, holding my sword up to absorb the impact of his first blow. Balder fought in quick movements and swift hits, not in aggressive lines and heavy strikes. It was an easier style to defend against, but he left little time to find an opening to attack. My feet moved in an impulsive dance, using both my hands to swing my sword. It beat against his own.

“I remember when I gave you this blade,” he said.

“I’d hope so,”

I spoke between breaths. “It was two days ago.”

He laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. “What had I said? May it always defend you.”

And remind you of home. How quickly the warmth of welcome turned sour, and I was being spat from their mouths.

I steadied my feet. “And I hope it does.”

He swung overhand, bringing the sword down against mine so hard, it made my knees crumple until my back met the ground. He crouched overtop, still pressing his blade down. The dull end of mine pushed against my chest. I panicked. “You did this to me,”

I croaked. “You brought me here. Forced me into this world.”

Something sparked in his eyes, like fierce regret. “I am atoning for that now.”

“This is not atonement.”

I used all my energy to shove back, rolling out of the way. I stood, breathing heavily. “This is injustice.”

“You had no life before this.”

He spoke louder now, until he was almost shouting. He threw himself at me again. “This is mercy!”

I was more prepared this time, and stepped out of the way, ducking low and lifting my sword to trip his feet, then spinning fast so I was behind him. I shoved, brought him down, and put my sword against his neck.

“Then we will call this retribution.”

My blade stayed tight, as I worked his sword from his hands and threw it to the side. As I did, I spotted Tova and Trig running from the mouth of the cave. They stopped when they spotted me in the winning position, one move away from his death.

Thoughts ran fast through my mind. Disbelief that it’d been so easy to take down a god. Fear that he was tricking me. Uncertainty about whether I could deliver the last blow. It all tangled together inside, creating a stone that sat heavy in my gut and froze my limbs while I hovered over him.

Balder looked at me, patient as ever, staring boldly in the face of extinction without fear. “What do you wait for?”

“I just need the key to leave,”

I said, holding out my hand. “Do you have it on you?”

He chuckled. “If you want that, you’ll have to kill me for it.”

I debated it. The blade stayed tight against the stubble of his neck, pressing as hard as I dared, or as hard as I needed until he gave in. The desire to kill him was not in me. He’d treated me kindly during my time here, and I wished no ill upon him. But if it came to his life or the life of my sister and Trig—I’d choose them. And without that key, we wouldn’t live.

I prepped myself to do it.

But I didn’t.

“Tova, come search him.”

She obeyed, throwing herself on her knees beside him to shuffle through his jacket. He studied her face paint. “Back to the Viking girl already?”

he asked, glancing to me.

“It seems that’s who I was the whole time.”

His face turned thoughtful. “We shall see.”

Tova came up with a golden key in hand, fitted with a long stem and three notches at the top, and a filigree design wrapping around it. “This it?”

There hadn’t been time for a good look before, but he likely didn’t walk around with a large array of keys. I nodded.

As I withdrew, Balder barked, “You better kill me now, child. Once you leave, I will chase after you.”

Tova’s eye met mine. The words inside were obvious. Kill him, and be done with it.

Instead, I tucked my blade away. “Enough blood has been shed this week. I’ve no desire for more.”

I offered a hand to him. “If you chase us, we will only defeat you once more.”

He took the hand and stood to tower over me. The expression on his face had changed—his eyes widening and lips softening until it was almost one of wonder. After a moment, he reached further into his jacket to reveal a second golden key.

“This is the one you will need. And I will take you to Earth.”

I focused on that key. Even without knowing what it looked like, I knew this was the right one. There was something about the elegance of it that screamed importance, and how he held it close to his body. Tova tossed the other one away and reached for this one. He kept it back. “You may or may not be the goddess I thought you were,”

he said to me. “But your character is of fine quality. I would not have you die here on my account.”

Understanding settled over me. He could have killed me if he wanted to. He wanted to see if I would do the same to him. If I had tried, he would have killed me in an instant. Because he was a god, and I was nothing compared to that.

Balder’s gaze snapped up to the hill, and he spoke more urgently. I felt it too, a tingling, as if other gods were approaching. Then a presence I knew well. Ve was close. “Come,”

Balder insisted, flicking out his hand for us to take. “We must leave.”

I hardly had a chance for a last look, but I soaked it in anyway. The vibrance of the sky, the warmth of the air. The way the clouds had hung low on the ground and how the sea sparkled as if made of diamonds. I risked a look—even though it made my heart ache—in the direction of Hitta Haven, where the spindles of the roof poked above the greens, and where I was leaving a part of my broken heart. Something deep inside me burned, and it drove me toward the cave to grab one memento. The laurel Ve had given me. I clutched it close. Then I reached a hand for Balder, as the others did, and let a bright light overtake us.

With the next breath, I was back on the cold mountainside of Danmark with snow seeping against our bare ankles and harsh wind biting our arms, and the fading image of Balder as he let us go and disappeared back to Asgard.

The fjord rested below. I stared at it, feeling numb.

I was home.