"I'm not afraid." My answer was automatic, out before I could stop it. I didn't bother to look at her. Couldn't, in fact. My attention focused solely on the amber sphere that had just freakin' blinked at me. Nothing to be afraid of? Yeah, right. I'm not supposed to be afraid of a freakin' ball that has the very unnatural ability to blink.
"Keep it with you at all times. The eye of Nidhogg will watch over you."
There. She did it. She had to go and say "eye." Great!
"What is it supposed to do?" I was curious, of course. I didn't make a practice of hauling around dragon's eyes just for the fun of it.
"It will keep you safe. That is all you need to know at this time, Valkyrie Brynhildr." Lady Tyra's voice cooled as she met my gaze, her eyes matching the frigidity of her voice. "Remember this. If you are unsuccessful—if Siri, daughter of Steinn, heir to the kingdom of Nidhogg, dies—I will kill you."
I tried to answer her, but what escaped my lips sounded like a frog with a cold. I resorted to clearing my throat and nodding my head.
Lady Tyra smiled at me. A cool, threatening farewell.
Around her, a mist of gold shimmered and swirled until it thickened. Then my eyes confirmed what I'd already suspected. Steinn's mother slowly swirled into a cloud of golden dust. The tornado of gold mist spun before me, then collapsed onto itself and disappeared into thin air.
***
I had to admit it. As far as dramatic exits went, the golden tornado mist of Lady Tyra topped every one, hands down.
Tucking the dragon's eye into my coat pocket, I made a mental note to speak to Fen about the design of the new, slimmer version of the chainmail. What we needed were pockets.
I slipped out of the room, closing the door softly behind me despite knowing nothing in the world could awaken the sleeping beauty, least of all a door slamming shut.
Mika leaned against the opposite wall, arms folded, jaw rigid. She was still scowling.
"Are you done?" She raised one eyebrow.
"Yes, let's go."
"Back to Asgard?"
I nodded.
"Very good, then. But you better be ready for it."
"Ready for what?"
"Do not tell me you are so naive," Mika scoffed. "You deserted. Fenrir, and Odin will be furious at this breach of protocol."
"Well, then I guess you and I will just have to explain ourselves, won't we?" I put a cheery edge into my voice. "You did want to come with me, Mika. And even if you felt the need to protect me, you're still as guilty as I am of desertion. I don't think even having a dad in high places will get you off this one without a good explanation."
The look Mika threw me would've frozen a river of lava solid. I laughed. Still so sensitive, Mika?
I laid my fingers on her forearm and hoped she wouldn’t pull away. "What's wrong? What did I say? I was only teasing, you know." I wondered what Mika wasn't telling me. Perhaps there were father-daughter issues that she just didn't want to discuss.
Mika's eyes darted away, then flicked back to my face, as if in that brief millisecond of thought she'd decided what her response would be. "That is your downfall, you know. You just cannot take things seriously."
I laughed and shrugged, relieved to see her answering grin. "Come on. Let's go home."
We hurried into the first passage and came upon Steinn, seated on the little rocky outcropping, scraping his long fingers through his dark golden hair. He got to his feet, looking slightly startled and very, very worried. "I see you are ready to go."
"I have as much information as I could get. I'm sorry, Steinn. I never meant to bring this to your home."
He laid a palm on my shoulder. "Silly child, of course this is not your fault. I just need your help to find a cure."
Steinn may not have blamed me, but his mother sure had. What would he say if I told him that Móðir dearest had threatened to kill me if I failed in this task? But he had enough on his mind right now. The last thing I wanted was to weigh him down with further worry.
He guided us back toward the Bifrost, and I followed, paying scant attention, my mind focused on the breadth of Loki's cruel mischief.
God or not, he'd better watch his ass.
Chapter 23
We followed Steinn toward the Muspell entrance to the Bifrost. This time the journey seemed to take forever. Plenty of time for me to dwell on the weight of guilt I bore. So many ifs.
If Aidan hadn't come to Craven, he'd be a normal, healthy human kid right now. If we hadn't been so careless, Astrid wouldn't have seen us making out in Valhalla, and then Freya would never have known she had the power to manipulate me using Aidan. If we hadn't been so complacent about Loki, we would've been prepared for his attack and Aidan wouldn't have been stabbed. If I'd just had nothing to do with him, he'd be a powerful Warrior now instead of lying comatose in Hel.
And if none of this had ever happened, we wouldn't have met, and I wouldn't have learned how wrong I'd been about giving my heart away. It had been worth it just to experience a little bit of exhilarating joy. And yet a part of me paused. Why had I stopped when I meant to say I loved him? Instead, my instinct chose the word care. My feelings for Aidan had rollercoastered ever since the first day we'd met. From instant attraction to heated dislike to heated kisses. Nothing had ever followed a normal trajectory with us. He'd even deserted me when I'd needed him most. And if I was being really honest with myself, we'd barely had a real relationship. The closest we'd come to a date was a burger and fries in a dingy motel room somewhere between Illinois and New York State.
I longed to see him again. And have him hold me close again. Maybe once I got him back, we'd be able to try the whole normal couple thing, figure out what it was that we had with each other that was more than just rapid heartbeats and hot kisses. Besides, we had a lifetime to figure it out, what with being almost immortal and all.
My fingers found the smooth surface of the dragon's sphere in my pocket. I made to draw it out, to study it further, but instinct kept my hand within the private darkness of the pocket. Tyra's warning hadn't gone unheeded.
I twisted the ball within my fingers, again trying to understand what it could be. It certainly wasn't the eye of a real dragon. Or was it? No, it was silly to even contemplate such a thing. It was just a magical ball given to me by the dragon matriarch for protection. She wouldn't put me in danger while I tried to find a way to save her granddaughter's life. Would she?
I shook my head, dismissing the thought. Tyra knew I was an asset. The best thing to do was just go with it. That didn't mean I had to trust Steinn's mother, no matter how powerful she was. But right now I needed all the help I could get, and I didn't see anyone else getting in line to offer me aid of any sort.
I bore in mind that Tyra had a strong stake in this—the life of her bloodline. What had she said? That Siri was heir to the Nidhogg throne. That, right there, was a majorly good reason to find a cure. And soon.
At the bridge, Steinn sent us through with a cool nod to Mika and a slightly more effusive hug for me. This time the swirling, multi-colored beauty of the bridged entrance failed to grab my attention. I couldn't help the sadness that filled me. Mika, on the other hand, gazed at the array of rainbow colors, as startled and entranced as I'd been on my first trip back from Muspell.
We landed in the transfer room, throwing greetings at a pair of goggle-eyed Warriors donning their weapons for their next scouting mission. The two einherjar's responses were stilted, almost hesitant, and I shared Mika's worried scowl. Word had certainly gotten around fast. And from the look of it, we were in deep doody.
We hurried to Odin's hall, and I crossed my fingers behind me as I entered the monstrous room. At the back of the hall, I could make out the human form of Odin, seated quietly with one raven on his shoulder. The black bird bent his head as if listening to my footfalls, then turned to stare straight at me with those beady, glossy black eyes.
In a blink, he was whispering into Odin's ear. I should have known what would happen next. I shouldn't have been surprised.
Odin rose to his feet, and slowly the form of the grey-haired old man shimmered and expanded; colors swirled, solid and liquid and dusty, rising higher and higher into the air until they all solidified into the God Odin, the mighty All-Father.
His golden armor gleamed, the glare poking me in the eye. I tilted my head and looked up. Way up. In that moment I recalled the first time I'd ever seen the All-Father in his godly form. The day he'd given me my wings. Being the first Valkyrie ever to be born, rather than made, I was something of an anomaly. Even the granting of my wings had been more of a formality, since they would've appeared at some point in my life anyway. But despite my ability to flout the rules of the Norse gods, Odin hadn't cast me out. He'd taken me in, given me a home and a life and the truth of my soul.
And right now he was furious with me.
"Valkyrie Brynhildr!" he roared. Well, to be honest, he only spoke my name, but his huge form and my huge guilt amplified the sound in my head, and I quivered with the requisite amount of fear in my veins. "Do you know what you have done?"
"I'm sorry, my lord." I bowed my head, not daring to look at his face any longer. The disappointed, mottled red of his anger was too much to bear. I actually felt guilty, when I'd done nothing wrong.
"Your apology is far from sufficient. Fenrir and the teams have been searching all of Midgard and Asgard for you. What you have done is tantamount to desertion."