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My pulse slowed.But if she did remember, how would I tell her about Fenrir… and Baldur?
Tuggy yowled, snapping me out of my head. She stood in front of the door, crying. Lively music played within.
“Don’t be impatient,” I mumbled.
I opened the door, and the fluffy feline scurried inside. I followed her, watching as she ran past the kitchen into the great room where Angel snoozed. The cat groomed the shepherd’s head before curling up with her. I shook my head and scanned the room.
Aya sat in front of a laptop in the breakfast nook. She split her focus between the technology and the activity in the kitchen. My attention was drawn to the latter. Astrid dancing around was too distracting to not focus on.
Her body flowed with sensual movements in step with the Latin music playing. My eyes followed each jerk of her body and sway of her wide hips. It stirred desire in me. I almost stepped closer, ready to reach out and pull her firm against me and feel what she was like in this life, when a hand reached out and grabbed hers.
Diego pulled her to him, spinning her as she went. Her body molded into his and he murmured something in her ear. Her cheeks tinted a light shade of pink before she pushed away to dance some more. Diego snagged her back, their bodies syncing. My jaw clenched.
I’d hung onto the friend label she’d given him, but it was already looking like I needed to be careful or I’d lose my chance.If I haven’t already.
I tore my gaze away and settled it on Aya. This was happening right under her nose, and from the goofy look on her face, she not only knew, but had no intention of stopping it. I stalked over to her.
Aya stroked Buggy, who sprawled on the table as if she owned it. “Poetry has changed quite a lot since the old days.”
She spoke in an archaic language only us gods knew these days. While I appreciated our conversation would be a bit more private, her comment was another story.
I dropped into the spot next to her. “How long have you been keeping her from me?”
Aya continued to pet her cat. “I haven’t been keeping anyone from you.”
My hand balled into a fist, my muscles coiling. I used to have control over my fury. But without my Valkyrie to help curb my reactions when I struggled to maintain control, that control crumbled over the centuries. “Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot. How long?”
Aya frowned and turned her focus on me. “Since she was seven years old.”
My gut clenched, as if a raging Berserker slammed into me. Seven?Aya had found her some twenty years ago…“And you never told me?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
My eyes narrowed. “Don’t play games with me, Aya.”
“I’m not. If you really believe you showed up here of all places by chance, then you’re a fool.” She tapped on her keyboard, pretending to work for a moment. “I lured you here when I thought it was safe enough for you to know.”
My muscles coiled tighter. I didn’t like how she worded that. “Explain. I had a right to know the moment you found her. You swore under oath—”
“I didn’t break my oath!” She sucked in a slow breath, calming herself. “And what would you have done had I told you about her? Groomed her?”
I reeled back at the accusation. “The hell I would have.”
“Are you sure? Because I know you, Tyr. I know you wouldn’t have been able to stay away until she was an adult.”
“I would have been there for her.” I gestured in the vague direction Astrid and Diego danced, now apparently to some pop song I was sure I heard on the radio in the nineties. “I sure as hell would have made sure this wasn’t a thing.”
Aya smirked. “Jealous? You didn’t have any qualms when she was getting close to Baldur.”
“That was different.”
She shook her head. I didn’t expect a goddess of sex to see it the way I did.
“Beyond this fucking annoyance that I now have to deal with, since you’re so content to let it happen, given you apparently were with her this whole time somehow—”
“I have magic, moron.” Her eyes narrowed. “She has no idea I posed as the woman she calls grandmother. She doesn’t know the lengths I went to to change my identity in her life to stay with her when she went off to college. All for the sake of protecting her.”
She turned her attention back to her computer, a frown pulling down her lips and her shoulders drooping. “You don’t know how bad it got, Tyr. I didn’t tell you all the times she died.”
