Page 60 of Rune

The woman replied in an equally loud tone, “You were never supposed to lose Astrid. But the mark somehow went to Tova instead, and when she wasn’t Astrid, we moved on with our search.”

My breathing quickened, and I abandoned the attempt to act as lookout in favor of pressing my entire ear against the door to listen, but all I got was heated mumbling. That was, right until the very end as footsteps drew near to the door.

“And the mortals who took her?” Odin asked.

“They’d lost a child. Rune was the replacement. She was shielded from our sight before, but the shield grows thin, and answers are coming to light.”

The voices were dangerously close now, and I had to flee so I wouldn’t be caught eavesdropping. I barely made it around the corner when the door opened. My feet moved as swiftly as I could manage untilI’d thrust open a well-oiled wooden door and stumbled outside. The fresh air filled my lungs, and I sank to my knees.

Ruin was the child I meant to mark as my own.

They’d lost a child.

The shield grows thin.

Questions were arising, but some answers were sliding into place. One thing was certain—I couldn’t leave Asgard with Ve until I had the truth of what happened to me as a childand the truth of where I belonged.

TwEnty-OnE

THE MORNING ARRIVED without fanfare, but it was one that could change my life forever. I was well aware of that as I dragged myself from the bed—today, Tova could die. For her sake, the conversation I’d overheard last night was shoved to the back of my mind where it stayed like a prowling wolf that took all my energy to ignore.

I didn’t dress as a mortal this morning, but as a goddess. I slid into a fitting, dark gray slip tied into a knot at my waist that left a gap at my thigh before stretching to my heels, and clapped gold bands of laurel to my arms. They hugged tightly, almost feeling like chains. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I grabbed hold of it and twisted it until it changed. These were not chains. They were deliberately chosen for their golden hues—Odin’s color—to remind everyone who had his protection right now in case I threw myself into thearena.

Which brought me to the weapons.

I picked up two daggers and strapped them to both my arms, letting their blades draw a line from my shoulder to the back of my elbow. The straps melded beneath the laurel perfectly so from the front I appeared harmless, but from the back I was lethal. It was up to me which side showed up today.

Since I’d not been given a chariot, I had to wait at the steps for Ve, who appeared just as the sun reached the tops of the pines. Looking glum as ever, I might add.

My words from yesterday came back to me.

For my sister, I would burn Asgard down.

Even if you burned me with it?

He quietly offered an arm, not stepping off the chariot as I took my place beside him. “Good morning.” The words were clipped, and it was all I got before he clicked for his horses to move and I had to grab hold of the rails.

I wasn’t used to a silent Ve, but the quietness of him filled the space between us until it felt like a chasm. I was highly aware when his arm brushed mine, and how he shifted so it wouldn’t happen again. That tiny movement pained me. Yet I didn’t know what to say.

“You’re upset,” I noted plainly.

He fidgeted with the reins, not letting his gaze meet mine. “I’m thinking.”

“You look very mad when you are thinking.”

He didn’t smile. So he was mad.

“Is it because I didn’t offer to let you burn down Asgard with me?” I asked. “You don’t want to be left out?”

“Left out?” He looked at me like I’d said something ridiculous. “When have I been let in? I’ve been left out with you from the momentyou held a dagger to my throat. I don’t know what being let in looks like with you.”

For the record, a dagger to the throat was what being let in usually looked like. Tova and I held daggers to each other’s throats almost daily in training, and she was my best friend. It wasn’t a dagger, but I put a very pointy stick to Trig’s chest and dared him to fight me, and I’d loved him at the time. At this point, it should be taken as a sign of affection.

The confusing part was, I didn’t think Ve wanted to be let in. Nothing he’d said indicated otherwise. I was a fake fiancée he was only using to have some grand adventure on Earth. Nothing more. As far as I knew, we’d get to Danmark and he’d say goodbye—never to see me again. Never to think of me again. While I’d be left holding onto our memories like precious stones in a fragile bottle.

Because time with him meant something to me. It meant more and more to me by the day. I found myself thinking of him in the moments between activities, in the still of the night and in the heat of the day, thinking of ways to make him laugh and how to get him to look my way. But the feelings were still small, and every inch of them coated in the knowledge that he wouldn’t want me the same way.

“Do you want to be let in?” I tried to read his expression, but his hair was let down today and the dark locks hid some of his features. Though I caught when his dark eyes cut my way. There was a loaded expression inside them, like that might be exactly what he wanted.

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