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“It’s your sister?”
“I think so. Without the kid, this time. She’s trying to destabilize the cave to get me to leave.”
“Is it safe?” I checked.
“Of course. She’s not powerful enough to destroy it with me in here. But the more she messes with it, the sooner the stone around it will crack.”
“So we’d better go meet her,” I said, sitting up slowly and stretching. My gaze remained on the mirror, and Odin reached around me to stroke my breasts.
“She can wait.” His voice had lowered. “You’re absolutely stunning, Velvet.”
“You said that about a hundred times already,” I tossed back playfully.
“And I’ll continue saying it.” He pinched my nipples lightly. “Get on your knees for me.”
A laugh escaped me, and he released one of my breasts to slap my ass lightly, wearing my favorite grin while he did so.
I said, “After we see why Sevva’s here, I’ll do whatever the hell you want. But I can feel her through you now, so it’s too weird.”
“Alright.” His lips brushed my forehead, and then my cheek, and then my throat. “You need a dress, though.”
“Your sister doesn’t care about my bare butt,” I told him, though I was already standing up, walking toward my discarded clothing. It had been on the floor in the bathroom for a day or two, along with Odin’s pants, but he threw them over the door when we got tired of stepping over them.
“No, but I do.” He joined me in the bathroom, and pulled his pants on while I started on my dress.
“Does it make you dizzy to see through my eyes while you’re walking?” I asked him, as I tried to adjust the straps of my dress that stretched over my chest.
“It does, but I’ll get used to it.”
We finished putting clothes on, and then Odin slid a wall to the side, revealing a staircase that led out of the cave. He walked behind me for stability, with a hand on my hip too as we moved.
Sevva was waiting outside when we emerged. She didn’t look angry, like I expected her too—instead, she looked scared.
Odin’s emotions were strong and conflicting when he saw her. I forced my mind to remain calm and unresponsive to his feelings, so we didn’t spiral together.
“Are you okay, Sevv?” He didn’t bother with a hello or a hug as he stepped up beside me, though it had been a few months since they’d seen each other.
“The cliffs are breaking down,” she blurted, covering the distance between her and her brother in two steps. I blinked in surprise as she grabbed him by the biceps. Her eyes were wild, and her voice full of fear. “There was a cave-in. The stone is too strong and stubborn—too heavy, too. Granite is holding the cliffs in place, but he doesn’t know how to heal the land. And Oli—she’s trapped, too. In the cave-in. You were right. It’s not safe, it was never safe. I need you to save her. To save everyone.”
I felt Odin’s mind quiet and his emotions go into a measure focus as he she spoke. He wasn’t a reactive person—he would breathe through whatever was happening, and then think through it too before he acted.
He gently removed her fingers from his biceps and gripped them in his own massive hands. “Start from the beginning, Sevva.”
She let out a long, shaky breath, and nodded. “Granite came to all of us yesterday. The representatives. He said that he could feel the cliffs shivering, and that he didn’t know how to fix it. He’s never felt a quake before—he didn’t know. I tried to feel it, but couldn’t. Dad and Oli wanted to evacuate anyway, but the rest of us thought it was safe. We refused to leave.”
Her breathing was picking up, her chest rising and falling faster. “We didn’t know. If we’d known, we would’ve… it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. We didn’t think it was really a quake. We thought he was just imagining it. He’s so young. But about an hour ago, everything shook. A huge vertical slab inside one of the cliffs cracked. I felt it—we all felt it. The land was screaming at us, cursing us. When the slab cracked, the cliff started to fall. Granite caught it, just barely, but not before it moved enough to separate us from everyone on the other side. Oli was visiting her mom, so she was there. I can’t reach her. None of us can reach any of them.”
Odin remained calm, holding her gaze and waiting while she sucked in a few breaths of air.
Finally, she continued. “He’s just a kid. He won’t be able to hold it much longer. And the earth is so furious, none of the rest of us can move it. Our magic is useless; we have no sway over it at all. Everyone who can evacuate is evacuating, but we can’t even convince the land to split for us so we can get out. We’re useless against it. We need you. If you don’t come… she won’t survive, Quake. None of them will. The people offered you your throne back—the other representatives swear that if you help them, you retake the throne, uncontested. No one will fight you. You were right; we all know you were right.”
Odin squeezed her hands lightly. “I didn’t want to be right, Sevv. And I can’t promise that I’ll be able to save any of them, but I’ll try.”
She nodded a few times, and then threw her arms around him and hugged him fiercely. His hand went out, latching onto mine and tugging me into the hug.
Odin’s quiet determination was really, really impressive to me. I sure as hell couldn’t stay that calm when everything went to shit—and I didn’t know anyone who could. At least, Ihadn’tknown anyone who could, before I came to Bluhm.
“You’re coming?”he asked, and I realized a heartbeat later than I should’ve that he was talking to me, speaking into my mind.
