Page 105 of Rune

Trig ran his hands through his hair. “Are you a goddess or not?”

I let out a deep sigh. “Not. But they made a convincing case for it.”

“How are we going to get home?” Tova asked the more important question, and a fire burned within me.

“I don’t know.” My voice came out louder than I intended, and I worked to lower it. “I don’t know. I have no friends here anymore, and no idea how to get back to Danmark.” The image of Ve’s face seared into my mind, forever imprinting it with a look of betrayal as he learned I was mortal. He’d thought I was like him. He’d thought I was special. When he learned there was nothing important to me, he turned his back.

That hurt worse than any battle wound, and it was all I could doto keep my head up.

Beside me, Trig wasn’t trying to keep his head up. He’d huddled in the corner with a dagger in each hand, eyelids already closing. Tova noticed and lifted a brow. “What are you doing?”

“His body needs time to recover after Ve healed it,” I told her. “He can’t help it.”

“If I’m going to die, it won’t be in my sleep,” she muttered.

That wasn’t a tender line to fall asleep to, but Trig paid her no mind as his eyes shut completely and chest fell into a rhythmic lull. Memories flashed through my mind of when Ve had healed me after the wolf, and how I’d fallen asleep too. Memories of when I woke. Memories of the kiss.

I drove my feet into the ground to stand. “I’m going to find some sort of food, while you need to hide.”

“Hide?” Tova grabbed my arm. “How long are we staying here?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But until we find a way home, hiding is our only option.”

She opened her mouth like she might say something, then shut it. I wandered one direction, my sword in hand, while she took the axe to stand guard at the mouth of the cave, all while Trig slept and our world came down around us, one piece after another, like a shield splintering before it shattered.

My future had shattered. I’d be lucky to live another week. I was a trespasser in Asgard, and more than one god had reason to want me dead. I could only hope to take a few down before I fell. When I did, I doubted Valhalla waited for me.

ThirtY-Four

I RETURNED AN hour later with a pouch full of pine needles and acorns, both of which Tova turned her nose up at.

“Where is the meat?”

“I won’t risk venturing further to hunt game,” I said. Not when I felt as if I were the game being hunted. I peeked into the cave where Trig still slept. “Has he stirred?”

“Not even when we heard shouts.”

“Shouts?” I cast a worried eye up the hill, where all lay still. The midday sun poured through the branches, creating a heat that pounded against my skin.

“They passed quickly. No one has come this way.”

The odds were unlikely. We were either very lucky, or someone was shielding us. Perhaps my time around the gods had made me wary, but my mind went to Balder and if he might be the one responsible.

Ve would be the one most likely to find me here. The fact that he hadn’t come meant he didn’t want to see me.

I dumped the food onto the ground and began the work of digging through the trinkets around the cave, searching for something I could use as a bowl to fetch water. I found a golden goblet with rubies that shone in the light, still pristine as if it hadn’t been sitting here for seventeen years. My fingers curled around the stem of the cup, and I made quick work of dipping it in the river to fill it with water. I buried the pine needles in, and swirled it around to make a simple tea. The water would help soften the needles so we could eat them, and the water would help us all.

Tova remained on her knees, grinding something black into a powder.

I offered her the cup. “Drink.”

“I will,” she took the cup, “if you paint.”

She passed me the tiny bowl of black powder. “I found kohl amongst the arsenal of items, and figured it was time to look Viking again. You’ve been a goddess for too long.”

Something about her words delivered a blow to my emotions, sending a wave of nausea over me. She was right—I’d been a goddess for too long. But shredding that identity felt like stripping away a part of myself I wasn’t ready to lose. I dipped my fingers into the powder to smear it against my fingers. I’d found a life here, a family, a love. A home.

With a slow motion, I dragged the kohl down my brow and onto my cheek.

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