Page 66 of Rune

“What are you doing? Where is Odin?” I held back, watching as he slipped into the room and took in every inch of it. His defenses were down, and the sharp tone he’d taken with Odin melted into caution before me, but my defenses were up. Very, very up.

“Your grandfather,” he accented the word as he rolled up his sleeves, “gave me permission to come. He thought it would help clear your head. He offered detailed threats, should I try to escape.”

It would take much more than talking with Trig to clear my head.

But there were things I wanted to say to Trig. A lot of things. Some of them nice, but most of them were not, and those overpowered the kind ones. Even so, I held my tongue. I’d had my time of anger when I fought with Tova and it’d done no good there. It would do less here. He couldn’t change time. He couldn’t promise me he loved me when it was nothing compared to what I saw between him and Tova. And the urge to fight him had gone away until there was only an ache left.

Reconciliation wouldn’t be found here. I wouldn’t try.

“Tova will win,” I told him. That was what he wanted to hear. I knew because that was what I wanted to hear. “I will make sure of it.”

“I know,” he answered, and I couldn’t tell if he meant he knew Tova was strong enough to win, or if he knew I would do anything for my sister. “You haven’t told me what you’re doing here though.”

I gave a dry laugh as I settled onto the sofa, curling my legs beneath me. “I wish someone would answer for me. The truth is I don’t know why I’m here. They think I’m someone I’m not, or perhaps I am. Whatever the case, they’ve given me refuge here.”

Trig came to sit beside me, and his eyes landed on mine. It was odd being close to him again, and even odder to not have my heart beat faster at his presence. “And you believe you are safe? Rune, when they find out you are a mortal—”

I cut him off. “I’ve never believed I’m safe. No matter where I am.”

He stilled. The torchlight ignited the sparks of blue in his eyes. He squeezed my hand gently before letting it drop. “I won’t say you were safe with me, because I broke your heart into pieces.”

I laid my hands flat on my lap, palms up, remembering how they’d tightened into fists when Trig came near that night after asking Tova to marry him. How they’d squeezed the branches, willing him to fight me. How I’d cursed his name.

“We were never meant to be.” I lifted my gaze to check his and found it thoughtful.

“I don’t believe our destinies are fated. I think they are like a river, forging its path as years go by, changing its course when it desires.”

He was forgetting something about rivers—that they were creatures of habit, not likely to change their trails. That was what I feared most, that my destiny was not one I could change. That I was doomed to always be the weak runt of the clan, either on Earth or here in Asgard, and nothingI did would fix that. No matter how hard I fought, things would always end up like Trig and I had—doomed.

“Whatever our fate was meant to be,” Trig started. He reached beneath his neckline to pull out the necklace of the bear tooth I’d given him. “I’m glad for my time with you.”

His hand found mine again, and this time, I squeezed back.

He stood. “I was going to ask you to marry me, you know? Next week in the clearing, as the autumn trees were losing their leaves, I was going to ask you to be my wife.” He gave a long look at me. “But I guess things worked out.”

It was an odd feeling to know that at some point in time I might have gotten what my heart had desired but to realize that I desired it no longer. As Trig walked away, I asked one final question. “You love her?”

He looked back. “I can’t explain how it happened so quickly. But I do.” He took the bear tooth necklace off and tossed it to me.

I caught it. “Then yes, things worked out for the best.”

Over Trig’s shoulder, Ve came up the stairs of Hitta Haven only to stop in the doorway when his eye found Trig. His gaze cut to me.

Trig cleared his throat. “I was just leaving.”

Thankfully, Ve didn’t say anything as Trig stepped by him, giving him a wide berth. Their eyes met briefly before both falling away, leaving behind stale air that only stiffened as Trig headed down the path and into the trees toward Odin’s home. As he did, one of Odin’s guards, clad in armor resembling a wolf, stepped from the shadows to accompany him.

I had a feeling Ve would move faster if Trig tried anything.

Ve checked over his shoulder to be sure Trig was gone. “What did he want?” From his tone, he didn’t think Trig wanted anything good.

“Answers,” I replied, looking over the necklace in my hand. I dropped it on the sofa. “And to share concern over Tova.”

Ve shook his head. “He should be groveling for forgiveness after what he did to you.”

“He was only obeying hisfaðir,” I replied, though unsure why. The excuse had been weak when it came from Trig two weeks ago.

From Ve’s expression, it was weak now. “Faðirdoesn’t like me seeing you, yet I don’t obey him.”

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