Page 73 of Rune

“Don’t die,” I whispered back.

She laughed as she pulled away. “I’ll do my best.”

“So will I,” I promised. Then I was out the door.

I didn’t make my way to Hitta Haven. Instead, I planted myself outside the entrance to the arena and watched as the gods left, waiting for one. If Ve had returned to them, he left before it ended, for I did not see him leave. I did see Liv and Leif, who both assured me Tova had fought well yesterday, and no one they watched today could beat her. But their lips were stretched tight as they said that, and disbelief hung in their eyes. She was well matched on her own. But with Ve and me helping her, I was starting to believe we could pull it off.

Which led to my next move.

There he was. After almost all the gods had left, Balder came out the doors, bedecked in a silver breastplate and gold cuffs around his arms, his head bent as he spoke with a woman as beautiful as the dawn with dark hair and slender hands that she kept close to her stomach as she walked, each step graceful enough she could be on a cloud.

I stepped onto the path. Balder’s gaze snapped up to mine, followed by a moment of hesitation as he searched my face.

“May I speak with you?” I asked.

He gave the woman at his side a quick look. She wasn’t watching him though—her eye was firmly on me. Taking in every detail like the gods had when I’d first arrived, and it made me shift. I cleared my throat. “It’s important.”

“Of course,” Balder replied. “How can I help?”

The woman didn’t leave his side. That was fine. My message was a quick one, and it wasn’t even for Balder. I slipped a hand into my pocket to remove the letter I’d penned this morning and passed the furled parchment to Balder. “This is for Trig.”

Balder examined it as if he might loosen the ribbon and read inside. I’d intentionally left it without a seal so one could easily do so. If he did, he’d find nothing but good intentions. Something along the lines of how sorry I was for how things ended, and how I wished Trig and Tova the best in their future, and more pleasantries as such. But then I signed my name with a rune inscription, instead of my name.

It was our sign. When he saw it, he’d know the letter was coded. Inside were two requests, and the first was simple:

Find the way out of Asgard.

He might know it already, since he’d found a way in. But when this was over and Tova won, I wasn’t trusting the gods to deliver her and Trig safely. When she finished the battle, she would not be returning to the gods. Trig and Tova would be leaving, and leaving alive.

That led me to the second request.

More than that, if it looked like things weren’t going favorably, I was instructing Trig to take Tova and escape Asgard early. I’d finish up the battle for her.

I held Balder’s gaze unabashed, until he tucked the letter away. “I’ll deliver ittoday.”

“Thank you,” I said even-keeled. I fully expected that ribbon to come off as soon as I left, but it wouldn’t matter. He’d never decipher the code.

I bowed my head to take my leave, but Balder turned to the woman at his side. “I’ll give you two a moment.” He slipped away first, while I stood with my head half bent—trying to figure out who this woman was that he was leaving me with, and why she was looking at me as if trying to see into my future.

She kept her mouth shut while I didn’t know what to say anyway. Before speaking, she offered an arm. “Walk with me.”

I frowned after Balder but took the woman’s arm.

She carried the sweet scent of cherry blossoms, and an air of dignity lived in how she held herself tall. It contrasted with me. There was an unmistakable feeling I didn’t belong beside her, like my very being was aware we were unmatched. I could fake it amongst the other gods, but something about her set me on edge.

I tried to inspect her from the corner of my eye as we walked. She adorned herself in a gown woven from twilight itself, deep sapphire and shimmering silver, cascading like a waterfall of stardust. The fabric shifted with the light, catching the golden glow of Asgard’s sun. A cloak of raven feathers, black as the void with hints of violet and midnight blue, draped over her shoulders, fastened with a brooch shaped like a crescent moon. Her arms were wrapped in golden arm rings, etched with the stories of the gods, and at her wrists, silver bangles chimed like the wind.

When we’d gone a grueling fifty-seven paces (I wasn’t counting), she finally stopped.

“I’m Ase. Ve’smóðir.”

The announcement dropped like a rock in my belly and didnothingto ease my nerves. I’d prefer returning to when I didn’t know who she was, because now I was nervous about what to say, how to act, and if I looked put together. I wascertain I did not.

Ase’s smile deepened, but it wasn’t necessarily pleasant. “And you are my best friend’s daughter, the one who is to marry my youngest child.”

My mind raced. ‘I am’ sounded too dull. Thank you for this opportunity was too stiff. Thankfully, my mind scraped something coherent together. “I enjoy spending time with Ve.”

A single brow raised. “I should think so, if you wish to marry him. Yet,” she looked back the way we came, “you still carry on correspondence with your old love.”

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