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The call ends, and I stare straight ahead, my mind whirring.
“So, he planned this all along,” Veer says in a tone that implies he’s talking to me, rather than his uncle.
Odin slips the phone back into his inside pocket. “It would seem so, but your professor would never have been able to arrange such a feat if you had obeyed your father and uncle.”
Any other time, I would make a double take and huff a laugh at Odin’s pettiness. Professor Segul just discovered his mother manipulated him into defying Odin and now the woman he risked everything to save is dying on a rug.
Professor Segul could have done nothing and carried out his mission to save her. Instead, he interrupted it.
I bow my head, clutch at my temples, and cast my mind back to our last conversation.
You no longer hold my fascination
That hadn’t been true. Not after the great pains he had taken to let me know he didn’t see me as a whore.
I want you to stay away from that blond idiot with the guitar.
I told you to stay away from that boy
Stay away from Veer Bestlasson
Will you stay away from Veer Bestlasson?
He hadn’t been jealous of Veer. He had been planning Veer’s abduction all along.
Not mine.
How many times had he told me to stay away from Veer? The clues had been all there. He had never warned me against talking to Axel or any other man. I’d just chosen to believe he was being a possessive, controlling asshole.
Professor Segul had arranged Veer’s abduction and he wanted me to stay away from him so I wouldn’t get taken. Because he knew I would fall into the hands of Crius Vanir, who would either use my connection with Dad as a way into the prison or use me for something worse.
My chest tightens.
He sabotaged the abduction because of me.
He’s now a target of Odin because of me.
He’s now about to lose his mother because of me.
I need to find Professor Segul. Now.
ChapterForty-Seven
PHOENIX
Odin refuses to let me out, but when the car stops at the university’s security gates, the door flies open. A younger, more human version of Odin drags Veer out from his seat and wraps him into a bear hug.
This has to be his dad.
The afternoon sun shines down on their heads, turning the ends of Veer’s strands the color of spun gold. Something inside me crumbles.
This is my first sight of a person within our world showing so much love to their child. Maybe Veer is seen as precious because he’s a son, and a legitimate one at that, but it still rankles that Dad treated me as an emotional punching bag.
He cups Veer’s face with both hands. “I should throttle you for getting yourself kidnapped.”
“Dad,” Veer whines, his cheeks turning pink.
“Don’t spoil the boy. He’s going to be a married man.” Odin gestures with one hand for me to step out of the car.
