Page 58 of Rune

I had mourned him for the past week, but my desperate heart hadn’t fully let go. Now it could. My next breath drew in sharply, as if reaching inside to snatch up all the lingering feelings for him. With my exhale, I felt them being drawn out. Slowly untangling the pieces of us until I was freed.

Odin’s cold laugh bit the air. My attention snapped back to him. “You want to fight me?”

The fear in Trig’s eyes said no, but his lips said differently. “For Tova? Anything.”

Odin didn’t laugh this time, but he studied Trig with a watchful eye. He stepped closer until he had to drop his head to look down at Trig. “No,” Odin replied. Trig wavered at the word. “I will not fight you.”

Odin brushed by, and Trig bravely grabbed his sleeve. Both Frigg and I took in a sharp breath. As if knowing I was about to move, Frigg held my arm.

When Odin turned to look at Trig, his gaze traveled to the side. Right to us. He held my eye for a few moments before dropping it.

“You should let go.” His voice was a lethal growl.

Thankfully, Trig did. But he didn’t move. From the side, Balder’s hand was braced on his sword, and his weight was shifted forward as if ready to move at the drop of a pin.

“I cannot leave without her,” Trig pleaded. “Please Odin, I need my wife.”

Odin set his tone low. “If you fight me, you will die. And I will not do that to her.”

“To her?” Trig’s brow lowered, and he took a step back. “Why do you care about Tova?”

Odin was already retreating. “It is not Tova I speak of, but my granddaughter. I will not hurt Ruin.”

“Ruin?”

Odin was still walking away, but Balder had spotted us, and it was his eye that led Trig’s to mine. He froze, then crumpled to his knees. “Rune, please. Save Tova.”

I was a statue under his eye, but my thoughts swirled. There was no ‘what are you doing here?’ Or ‘why does Odin call you his granddaughter?’ Both the obvious questions. Followed by many more. But he had one thought on his mind and it swallowed all others. Save Tova.

It was a thought I knew well. That was why I was here.

I found the strength to move, following after Odin. “I’ll do what I can,” I said. And I left before he could say anything else.

TwEnty

ODIN WAITED FOR me when I pushed through the doors. He extended an arm. “Walk with me.” He said it kindly like I had a choice. When Odin asks you to walk with him, you don’t say no.

I draped my hand over his forearm, and let him lead me to a grand stairwell built of silver stone, where my shoes slapped against each slab. It filled the silence. Every part of me wanted to start talking, or to fall on my knees before Odin and beg for my sister’s life. But I held my tongue until Odin pushed though double doors leading to a balcony. It overlooked the north side of the mountain where the city lay, now coated in the blue hue of night.

He released my arm, moved to the balustrade, and sucked in a large breath. It came back out through his teeth. “I cannot do what you are about to ask.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “Will you fight me too?” There was a trickle of humor in his voice, one mixed with sadness.

If he knew how much this hurt me, then why hadn’t he stopped it?

I took small steps to his side. “No. I’m not stupid enough to believe I’d win.”

Silence fell again, growing into a tension that thickened the air. I couldn’t lose my sister. It was the only thing I knew. I couldn’t lose her.

Finally, I broke the quiet. “There has to be something I can do.”

Odin smiled. “The mortals have given you a kind heart.”

Funny, because I didn’t think they had. Vikings weren’t known for their jolly dinners and happy neighbors. Though, as I was thinking that, Odin amended himself. “Perhaps that was from yourmóðir.”

A dim pain struck me, but I counted it as just another drop in the sea of hurt. When they spoke of my mother earlier—my Asgardmóðir—I’d paid no attention. Why would I, when Rava didn’t belong to me? But as the suspicion crept in that Astrid and I were the same person, my curiosity about my heritage grew.

“I’m sorry I never got to know her,” I whispered. “Maybe someday she will return just like I did.”

Odin slipped a hand over mine and squeezed. “I’ve suspected for a long time my daughter is dead. Rava won’t be coming home to us.”

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