AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’ll be lucky if they’re not closer,” Skarde sighed. “You can only catch what’s on the ground with clarity, correct?”
She nodded.
“Some could be hiding in the trees and those will wait until our guard is down before making their presence known.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s what I would do.” Skarde’s eyes had always seemed sad, but there was an emptiness in his gaze now that made me uneasy. It was as if he thought his life had no purpose. I urgently hoped such wasn’t the case.
I held my hand out to Skarde. It wasn’t much, but it was more than we had been capable of in the past. He said nothing as he grasped my hand. A moment later, he pulled me into a brotherly hug, clapping me on the back affectionately before he released me.
“If we die, we die like warriors,” he said with a smile.
“Of course.”
“Let’s not and say we did,” Jovi said. “That whole dying thing is very overrated, if you ask me. No offense, Skarde.”
He grunted in lieu of reply. That was my brother. Articulate to a fault.
Jovi looked up at me with a tinge of embarrassment that colored her cheeks. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what thoughts had prompted it.
“What do I do?” she asked. “I’m not exactly a whiz with weapons, you know.”
“Let us deal with the draugrs,” I said. “But when we’re clear, we’ll find a weapon that suits you and start training. It would be good if you knew how to fight.”
“I know a bit of self-defense, but again, I don’t know how effective I’m going to be against a dead man. It’s not like a broken nose will mean much to them.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever learned how to fend off shifters or draugr.” A faint chuckle left my lips, and I leaned against the truck. “But some of what you know might come in handy. You did okay in Muspelheim.”
“I did save your ass, didn’t I?” Jovi cocked her hip and smirked at me. I wanted to reach out and grab her and pull her into my arms and never let go, but the uncertainty that warred within me quelled those urges. Jovi must have seen the change in my demeanor, because she shifted awkwardly on her feet. “If I’m this Eir person that Skarde keeps hinting at, wouldn’t I know how to fight?”
“Not exactly,” I replied. “Both Loki and Frigg have been known to alter memories or erase them entirely. If Frigg knew Eir was the product of Odin’s affair with Freya, then it would make sense that she might erase the new Eir’s memories and banish her to Midgard.”
“Frigg was the one who gave you to your human parents, wasn’t she?” Jovi asked as we continued to make our way, following Fyrcat’s lead.
I replied with a simple nod.
Jovi looked over at me as the wheels began to turn in her mind. She snapped her fingers and then looked at Skarde. “Frigg separated you from your world and placed you with the humans. She then kept Eir out of the afterlife to spite her unfaithful husband and his mistress. What about Skarde? Why would Frigg have sent him here to find you if…”
“What?” I asked.
“That’s it!” she said, her eyes going wide.
“Jovi,” I urged. “What are you talking about?”
“Skarde had it all wrong! He wasn’t sent here to find you or to kill me! Frigg just wanted him out of Valhalla so the berserkers wouldn’t be able to help Odin once the war started,” she exclaimed. Her eyes urged me to agree.
“Everyone strong enough to turn the tides of the war is trapped in Midgard,” I said in realization. “At this rate, Frigg could take over Asgard and no one would be able to stop her.”
“What about Odin?”
“He has betrayed many of his fellow Aesir several times.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “But we can never know what the gods are thinking. Let’s just stop the war before it even starts and make sure the Bifrost fragments are safe.”
“Which is why we have to help Freya. She’s the only one who can beat Frigg,” Jovi said as she bit her lip nervously. “I want to help, but I don’t know how.”
“Just stay back,” I answered. “You being safe helps us.”
“Staying back sucks,” she said with a small pout. I wanted to kiss her, to taste that pout.
