Page 39 of Valkyrie Unknown

“It’stemplenotchurch,” I muttered as I scanned the original words.

Azzie tapped her fingers against the side of her drink to make a plasticplinksound over and over. “That’s semantics.”

“Most of the time.” Especially the way words evolved over time. “But you have to take the phrase in context.”

“What’s the context of the stone of the land when it comes to houses of worship?”

One of the issues I saw with people interpreting the prophecies was that they tended to take them a stanza at a time. The original was a story, andthe god felltold a different tale thanthe god fell into a mud puddle when he tripped over his own shoelaces. “I don’t think that’s the context we want, but without the surrounding paragraphs, I can only guess.”

Azzie twisted her mouth. This wasn’t the first time we’d had such a conversation, and it wouldn’t be the last. I had a friend working on getting us longer versions of the texts, but it took time. The gods had worked to hide what they saw as their imminent destruction.

“Fine. Then what are you guessing the context is?” she asked.

“Pull up a map of downtown Salt Lake.” I could be wrong. The answer could be any number of places, but this was the one in my head.

She grabbed her phone off the nightstand. “Hey, Xerxes, show me a map of downtown Salt Lake.” She showed me the screen. “And?”

I took the device from her and zoomed into the Mormon temple in the center of it all. The building that was boxed in by streets namedNorth Temple,West Temple, andSouth Temple. “A temple cradled by temples.”

“Ooh.” She huffed her amusement and scribbled fresh notes in the book. “That’s brilliant. You’re brilliant.” She rolled up onto her knees to reach across the book and give me a quick hug.

Heat roared through me.

Pink flooded her cheeks, as she quickly sat again.

She could hide her tension in a fight, but moments like now, the scent of arousal drifted from her.

The awkward silence made it too easy to image taking the moment further. To fantasize about tackling her. Pinning her to the bed?—

I turned my attention to the book again. “I also don’t believe this is about a seal. Not directly. It reads as if it has to do with a blade. Your sword, perhaps?” I wasn’t as certain about that guess.

“My katana can’t be broken.” Her hand fell to her hip, but the weapon didn’t appear.

In fact, I hadn’t seen it since Ulf’s, but I’d been trying to figure out a natural way to ask about it. This was a good opening. “Can I see it?”

“She can’t be out without drawing blood.”

Interesting. Before I could say anything, her phone vibrated against my hand, startling me, and I dropped it.

Azzie gave me an amused look and grabbed the device. “This is Abbey,” she answered in a sugary voice I’d never heard before.

She didn’t say much else, aside from a series of cheerful grunts, and then, “Sounds great. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She hung up and looked at me. “I’ve got a potential job. I’m going to meet with them in a little bit and talk through details.”

“I thought you weren’t going to do that anymore.” We’d talked about a lot of things on our drives, including that she earned money being a bodyguard disguised as a friend.

“Why would I stop working?”

“It’s a dangerous job.”

She wouldn’t like that answer.

“A literal god—probably more than one—is sending supernatural monsters after me. I can handle a few assholes hitting on drunk women.”

“I—” I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but it wasn’t my place to stop her, and she’d proven she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. “Be safe.”

She was. She came back from that job without an issue, and others she took after. I took jobs too, to keep myself busy.

When we weren’t working, we trained, we sifted through her journal with new eyes, and we continued to follow up on leads. A month turned to two, then three, and then it was six months later, and there was snow on the ground.

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