Page 27 of Elf Shot

Bayn would come and help her sort everything out. She really loved having overprotective brothers.

Tor took five minutes to change his clothes and grab his bag. He left whatever he didn't need in Arne's room, and they headed downstairs and out of the hotel.

Layla stared up at the clear sky where only hours before she had watched bright colors dance. Her lips tingled with the memory of her kiss with Arne, and the cold rage in her chest ached and ached.

"How pissed is he going to be?" Tor asked as a patch of ice started to freeze the ground beside him.

"Not nearly as pissed as Ciara is going to be," Layla replied.

"Ciara! But we are meant…" he began, but Bayn took that second to appear. He took one look at Layla, and his sapphire eyes went wide.

"Infernal gods, that asshole didn't half mark you," he growled. He shook off his surprise and gathered her up into a hug. "You okay?"

"Bit shit, but I'll get there. I need to get to Oslo."

"I know. Ciara texted Freya to tell her because she figured you wouldn't. She's on her way, driving from Karlstad, so she'll be a few hours." Bayn looked over at Torsten and held out his hand. They clasped each other's forearms. "Rough night, wolf?"

"And it's about to get rougher," Torsten grumbled. "Layla saved the queen's life and threw a dagger at Varg."

"Varg was here too? Fucking hell, this keeps getting better." Bayn pulled Layla tighter to him. "Good job on all accounts, sis. Okay, both of you hold on tight."

Layla took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and let the ice pull her under.

10

Layla relaxed a little once she was sitting at the counter in Freya's kitchen and amongst familiar surroundings. Bayn was on the phone with Kian, updating him in a low murmur that she couldn't make out. They needed to get a representative to the summit, and Kian was the best and most diplomatic choice.

Torsten had left to get weapons and other gear, leaving Layla under Bayn's overprotective watch.

Layla held Arne's swords in her lap, unable to put them down for some unfathomable reason.

Wherever you are, Arne, you better be okay, or I really will kill you, she thought. She didn't know of any elvish gods she could petition on his behalf.

She thought of the Norns and their cryptic words that she was the one to help against Vili. She snorted at the ridiculousness of it. No one willingly chose Layla to do the important shit. She was the backup, the researcher, the babysitter. It's why she had always chosen herself. No one else did.

Layla stared at the steam curling up from her tea, and her grip on Arne's swords tightened.

"Did you get a chance to eat anything tonight before shit went down? I can make you something if you like," Bayn said, coming back into the kitchen.

Layla shook her head. "I don't really feel like eating."

"You better because I just had to wait behind two drunk guys for fifteen minutes to get you hot chips," Ciara said, stomping up the stairs. She was in jeans and a black sweater, her blue-black hair in a tight braid and boots still mud splattered from wherever she had been when she got Layla's message.

Layla started crying again when her cousin dropped a bag of Kentucky Fried Chicken in front of her. It was her emotional comfort food, and Ciara knew it. She pulled Ciara into a hug, her dark hair smelling of the cold and apple blossom shampoo.

"You better start talking, Lay Lay, or I'm going to start hunting down whoever is making you cry," Ciara said, sitting down at the counter beside her. "I haven't seen you cry this much since the first time you saw Return of the King. What the hell is going on?"

Bayn made coffees, and Layla nibbled on chips as she spilled everything that had happened. She showed them the portal crystal and the small wooden stave that would take them to the heart of Yggdrasil and onto Svartalfheim.

"I didn't know there was an actual heart," Bayn said, studying it. "Magic like this is more Kian's expertise. I didn't tell him about the mating thing, only that Arne was taken and that you need to go after him because of what the Norns said. I don't think he or Killian would act really well to Arne marking you, and they wouldn't be able to hide it from Elise and Bron. We aren't even going to tell Kill you're in Svartalfheim until you're gone because he'll lose his shit."

"You better tell Freya. I don't want to cause any trouble between you two," Layla said.

"Freya can keep a secret, though she's going to bombard you with questions about the mark on you," Bayn said with a fond grin. "I know Kill would try and prevent you, physically if he has to, from going anywhere near Vili."

Layla's hand gripped Arne's swords. "But you won't?"

"As much as we don't like the idea, Kian and I aren't going to even attempt to stop you. Arne is your mate. There's no fucking with that. And I'm not about to fuck with the Norns or the elves. Or Torsten for that matter."

---