Page 92 of Winter Lost

“You didn’t realize that this is the year the spell needs to be renewed until just now. Or else you wouldn’t have unleashed this storm.”

“No,” he said. He let out a heavy breath.

“Someone stole the artifact to stop the wedding and begin the end of the world,” I said.

“It does seem likely,” he said.

“Did they goad you into creating this storm?” I asked.

“Possibly,” he allowed.

“How did they manage that?”

“I have spent the last few decades alone in the mountains here.” He sounded a little apologetic. “The winters are long and the wilderness appeals to my power. Those of us who work with the weather are more changeable than other Jötnar. It is why this shape I wear now is as much mine as the gryphon or the Jötunn you have already met. Your mate is a werewolf; you know about two-natured things. When he wears his wolf, he also wears the nature of the predator.”

“Yes,” I said. “He’s more violent and less wise.”

“Yes. That is it. When I am in my other form, as a Jötunn, I am more likely to react and less likely to think.” He paused. “It is easier to be that one. He does not feel the years go by.” He gave a huff of self-directed unhappy amusement. “He doesn’t feel the guilt of what I have done to my good dog, who has never done anything but what I asked of him.”

“Garmr,” I said.

He grunted a yes. “But there is danger in staying in that self. I do not see plots.” His voice became a growl. “I did not, for instance, notice that your brother became my friend in order to steal from me.”

“Someone is using you to prevent the Heddars’ marriage,” I said slowly. “I don’t think that’s my brother. If he has skin in that game, it’s from the other side. He’s probably not going to survive Ragnarok, either.” I sucked in a breath. “Someone used him, too.” I didn’t need to guess at who that might be.

Dear Father. What made him stick his paw into this mess? Curiosity? Love of disaster?

He grunted. Based on living with Adam, I recognized it as a masculine reluctant-agreement grunt.

“My brother Ymir,” Hrímnir said finally, “awaits Ragnarok with all the fervor of one who has never seen a battlefield, who has never seen gods lying dead in a sea of the blood of the innocent.” He said it with such neutrality that I was pretty sure he had. “Ymir lusts after the glory of the old days of war. When death came at the bite of blades instead of rockets and bombs.”

“I’ve met a few people like that,” I said.

He sighed. “I think too small, our father always said. I react. Always react. Because I would prefer to be left alone and never to act at all.”

“Is that just intuition?” I asked. “That Ymir is using you to free Garmr? Because I don’t see my brother believing a thing Ymir says.”

But he’d reacted to Ymir, hadn’t he? Had that just been because Gary’s senses had been scrambled? He’d attacked Adam earlier.

“Not intuition,” he said. “I have no idea what Gary’s motivation was or where his loyalty lies other than with himself.”

The silence grew chill—and long enough that I wondered if I’d misread him. His horse raised his head from the hay and snorted, making my horse’s jaws quit moving. Quiet fell, except for the breathing of the horses.

I’d thought we were working our way to becoming allies with a common goal. But maybe I’d underestimated the drawback of my being the sister of a man Hrímnir believed had betrayed him. Hurt him. I decided not to try to defend Gary. I didn’t know if there was a defense for him.

“When Ymir called to tell me he was sending you,” the frost giant said, “he told me you were coming to demand I release Gary. He said you were dangerous and dishonorable. That the world would be better off with you dead.” He paused. “Ymir could have removed the magic I bound your brother with.”

Ymir had lied. Of course he had.

“With that attitude, I’d rather not have him work magic on my brother,” I said with absolute truth.

“Ymir thought it might be a good idea if no one left Looking Glass Hot Springs with the artifact. That I had the means to prevent that if I chose.”

My horse started eating again, and Hrímnir’s horse put his head down and followed suit.

“So why didn’t you kill us?” I asked.

“I do know who your mate is,” Hrímnir said. “Gary and I were friends…since sometime near the summer solstice. He liked talking about you. I know what purpose your territory serves to maintain the peace between the humans and our kind. I understand the humans have weapons that could vie with Jötnar magics for destructive power, should they choose to use them.”

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