AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What news?” Eir asked, attempting to shift focus away from herself.
Mist eyed her knowingly, but decided to play along as she answered the question.
“Hildr, Herja, and Rota have picked up your slack. The recruitment remains on track. Valhalla’s halls are filling as expected.”
“My thanks,” Eir grunted.
Mist inclined her head.
“We have always covered for each other when one or more of us fell for a warrior and wanted more time with him. Is that what this is?”
“No,” Eir answered without thinking.
It was the truth. Whatever was between her and Kai…it wasn’t simple infatuation that came with a time limit. An itch she could scratch and be done with.
She hoped Mist would take her answer the other way, however. That, no, she wasn’t dawdling around needlessly for simple pleasures. Other Valkyries had fallen for men, however brief the affairs, but never Eir.
She didn’tdoaffairs.
“I didn’t think so,” Mist said, understanding in her eyes, seeing the truth Eir tried to hide.
They rode together for a while in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company, the serene, crystalline landscape hauntingly beautiful around them, enfolding them in white serenity.
After a time, Eir asked, “Do you know of the Frost Giant that dwells in these lands? Have you heard of the rampage he perpetrates on the nearby village every decade or so?”
Mist nodded slowly.
“Is his name Hrímþurs? I have heard of but never encountered him. These ice lands on the edge of worlds are not places I frequent. You know I love spring and summer best of all.”
“And yet, here you are,” Eir noted.
Mist quirked her petal-pink lips.
“My sister needs me. How can I not be?”
Eir grunted in acknowledgement, not denying the claim.
“If only she would tell me how I can help,” Mist continued. “If only she would share her burden.”
“It is mine alone to carry,” Eir said. “It is my own folly.”
Mist reached out and played with the end of Eir’s fishtail braid.
“I like this,” she noted, seemingly diverting the subject.
“The loose braid suits you. You’ve always woven it so tightly I wondered that you never suffered headaches the way your hair pulled on your scalp. Like this.”
She used her fingers to pull the skin back at her temples, slanting her brows and eyes absurdly.
“I don’t look like that,” Eir admonished.
“You do,” Mist insisted. “Your brows slant up as if you’re always in a fury, and your mouth turns down, or at best flat, as if your ass is plugged.”
Eir glared at her.
“And I happen to know, since you did tell me once, that you don’t like to have anything near your ass.”
Eir kneed her stallion to walk faster, trying to pull away from Mist’s ridiculous teasing.
