Page 58 of A Dawn Of Blood

“What?” Nuala demands sharply.

“I never did say I’d only need the metal.”

What the… There’s a moment of tense silence during which everyone leans a little forward, frowning. Then Nuala asks, obviously suppressing annoyance. “What else will you need?”

“The material for the hilt,” Nimueh replies. She opens her mouth to keep talking, but Nuala interrupts her.

“Let me guess,” she drawls, sounding even more annoyed, “we can’t just chop some random tree down? It needs to be bathed in virginal blood or taken from the moon or something?”

“No,” Nimueh says with a shake of her head, sounding a little hesitant, “the hilt needs to be made from the bones of Baldur’s ancestors, and, well, the iron imbued with a piece of his shadows.”

For a split second, everyone stays silent, then start yelling over each other.

“Everyone,” Nuala yells out, “calm the fuck down.” She stares everyone down before she collects herself, leans back in her chair and says, “Let’s see. It’s best to think about this one thing at a time. What do you want to start with?”

Everyone seems at a loss. I strain my mind to stay on task, but I’m struggling.

“As for the piece of his shadows, there’s the shadow torch,” Dryden offers, albeit joylessly.

“Ah,” de Groot cuts in, “the thing he uses to show off, wasting so much magic to keep it burning regardless of where he is. How ironic it would be, for his own arrogance to be part of his downfall?”

Raising my eyebrows, I give a slow nod.

“But it’s in the capital’s cathedral that he keeps it, right?” Nuala asks.

Dryden nods.

“It will probably be easier for us to get the bones first,” she concludes. No one objects. “So… What do we know about these ancestors?”

I remain silent, my mind buzzing.

“Their names are Odin and Frigg,” Raven starts.

“They’re the gods who were celebrated by the Old Norse,” Dryden offers.

“And despite giving us the gift of Baldur,” de Groot drawls, “we have no proof they ever really existed.”

Nuala huffs out a frustrated breath. “Alright, what do we know about Baldur himself?”

“He exists,” de Groot says.

Nuala rolls her eyes.

“He’s a god,” Raven says.

“He’s been around for at least eleven centuries,” Dryden adds.

“He’s in possession of all the powers a vampire can master,” Nuala herself starts listing, “and is one of only two people in this world who wield Shadow Magic. He’s also the only one who can possess people. At some point in the tenth century, he waged a war against the Aurora, got himself dismembered and only managed to put himself back together thirty five years ago, with the help of a fae by the name of Serra Naehorn.”

There’s a moment of dead silence.

“Anna?” Nuala calls out. “Help us out here, please.”

I blink at her. “I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s not like I’m in control of accessing memories from my past life, so there’s nothing other than what you’ve already said that I can tell you about him. But…” I find myself failing to keep it in any longer. “The general…”

“What about him?”

“He’s my mate,” I tell them all in a near whisper.

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