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They were almost in danger of falling into the not-quite-friendly banter they’d shared in the past, and Archibald wasn’t ready to do that. Not when she’d just reiterated that he was a criminal. “So, you’re a bounty hunter? That’s not a job I would’ve ever expected to see you in. I’m surprised you’d permit yourself to fall so low.”
Pixie snarled. “I am not a bounty hunter. I am not an enforcer. I am the one who found you, proving once again that I should have been the one to guide the First. You are unworthy.”
Whiskers sprouted from her face while she harangued him under her breath, and Archibald watched in fascination.
“How do you do it?” he asked, hoping he was changing the subject away from his unworthiness, at least for the time being.
“Do what?” She narrowed her eyes, slitted pupils the only sign of her feline true self that hadn’t been absorbed by her seeming humanity.
“Look like that. Change into a human.”
Her whiskers disappeared. “It is a gift from Freya, the ultimate gift given to the one chosen as the guide. Had you truly been the one, you would have this ability. It is all the proof needed. There need be no arguments in court. All I need to do is shift between forms, since you cannot do the same, and your guilt will be established.”
Archibald knew there would be no way to successfully argue his innocence. Disputing the facts that he’d dropped out of training, waylaid the messenger who’d brought the news that events around Frankie were accelerating more rapidly than expected, and found his way to Frankie’s side would be futile. But the existence of incontrovertible proof made any attempt at defense useless.
He seldom allowed himself to fully use the human English vocabulary, particularly the words they used to express great emotion, but there was no other word that could perfectly encompass his feelings right now.
“Fuck.”
Chapter Three
After Pixie’s revelation, all conversation between them ceased. Archibald curled up and tried to nap. He didn’t know what was coming next. He believed that Pixie didn’t know their abductor, but as she wasn’t locked up in a clear, electrified bubble, he wasn’t inclined to believe that she was anything more than collateral in whatever plan was unfolding. For once, sleep was slow in coming, which might have something to do with the terror churning in his stomach.
He’d been afraid before. A few months with Frankie and the monsters who kept coming for her made fear a regular companion. But this roiling sensation was new. Before, his fear had mostly been for Frankie, and he’d always been confident that she’d get them both out of whatever situation they found themselves in. But she wasn’t here, and because they’d never bonded, she couldn’t show up and rescue him.
“I can’t get out,” she snapped, as if answering the thoughts he hadn’t voiced. “I am just as much a prisoner as you.”
He opened his eyes and narrowed them at Pixie. “Do you get electrocuted if you move too far?”
In answer, she walked to the door, the only thing marring the smooth white walls, and grabbed the doorknob.
Electricity sparked from the metal knob to her hand, and she vibrated with the force of the shock. She hissed and yanked her hand away, shaking it to relieve the sting.
Pixie turned, sweating and wild-eyed, and glared at him. “Happy now?”
“Not particularly. Your pain is not enjoyable, no matter how much my suffering amuses you.”
“You idiot,” she seethed at him. “I don’t want you to suffer.” She paused, considering, then continued, “At least not much. Not like this. I want you humiliated, forced to admit your wrongdoings, and cut off from Freya’s line. Not physically tortured.”
“Sounds like a light sentence for one who’s apparently committed multiple murders,” Archibald said, struggling to keep his voice even.
Pixie rolled her eyes. “You didn’t even adequately render unconscious the messenger bearing news of Frances Ström’s imminent awakening. The string of deaths that follows in your wake, though, is suspicious and many who don’t know your cowardice and weakness the way I do are making connections that reflect very poorly on you.”
Although it was nice to believe Pixie didn’t actually believe him to be a murderer, her reasoning cut him to the quick. It wasn’t something to argue about, though. Asserting he was brave and strong enough to murder any number of people was not likely to be helpful.
Still, arguing about his sins, both real and perceived, was a welcome distraction from thinking about the fate that was almost upon them. “Did you or anyone else consider that death followed in my wake because I was accompanying—guiding—a Valkyrie being tested by the goddesses? Add to that the presence of Loki in her life and the recent addition of a reaper into our company, and there are many reasons death stalked us.”
Pixie emitted a noise best described as an unholy screech, reminiscent of a catfight at midnight.
For once, Archibald found himself at a loss for words. He stared at Pixie as her body rapidly cycled between a human with catlike features and a cat with a terrifyingly human visage.
Once she’d regained her composure and there was no sign of fur anymore, Pixie collapsed on the ground.
“Had you not considered any of those possibilities before?” Archibald asked. “It doesn’t seem like you to ignore any evidence. You’re much too calculating for that.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, and the harsh fluorescent lights glinted off them, flashing a red glow at him. “Loki? You traveled with Loki and didn’t think to mention this before now? You are doubly a traitor, then, if you consorted with the trickster and allowed the First to be influenced by him.”
The fur on Archibald’s neck bristled, and his tail poofed out. “I did not consort with him. He was already in her life, influencing her, trying to corrupt her, when I arrived. I removed her from his sphere of influence as soon as I could after I realized who he was, and he did not arrive at the Valkyrie’s Aerie with us. Perhaps if the First had been as well-watched as she should’ve been, Loki’s infiltration into her life would’ve been noticed early enough to prevent him from planting self-doubt into her mind and leading her down the road of addiction to which she was already predisposed, two things that still negatively affect her. Loki’s presence was not my doing, but his absence was.”
