Page 23 of Odin

And if he could not protect her, then he did not deserve to share her bed. No matter how much he longed to.

For if he lost her the way he'd lost Frigg, Vali and Vidarr, he could not live with himself.

He had to tell her. He'd promised to protect her, and if he failed to keep that promise...he needed to ask her to release him from his obligation, so that she might find a modern man, from her own time, who could protect her as she deserved, and love her as she deserved. Not just the latter.

Odin took a deep breath and marched into the feasting hall where Freyja usually was at this time of day, eating a salty-sweet flatbread topped with something pink and yellow.

"Would you like a slice of pizza?" she asked, pushing the platter toward him.

Odin shook his head. "I am not hungry." He almost wished it were not so, so that he might share a meal with her, or share every meal with her, but this was part of the curse Erik's witch had cast on him. A spell that should have made him strong enough to protect the woman he loved from anything...except a future no one could have foreseen.

Freyja smiled sadly. "You're just being polite, aren't you? No one else likes pineapple on their pizza, either. There's still plenty of other kinds in the freezer. Pepperoni, supreme, and maybe even a couple of the Moroccan lamb ones that are way too spicy for me. I might switch it up a bit and try something else tomorrow, though. Having the same pizza every day, even when it's my favourite, can be a bit much. Then again, I'm sure I'll miss it next week, when I'm not here any more."

If Odin's heart had still been beating, it would have stood still in his chest. "You are leaving?"

"Not willingly. But when the police arrive on Monday morning and they discover the body's missing, they'll arrest me for sure."

As her story spilled out, some of it the same things she'd said the other night, and some of it entirely new, he began to understand more of it.

These police would bring her to face justice, for the loss of the body in the cold storage chamber. His body, and his fault it was missing. Not hers.

She would be exiled – maybe for a short time, but most likely for much longer – and not allowed to return to her work here.

He'd placed her life and her livelihood at stake, simply by answering her call for help.

If he'd only had the sense to ignore her call, to acknowledge that he was such a poor protector that another man would be better suited to help her, she would not be in this predicament. This was his fault, yet she would be the one to suffer for it. Just like Frigg.

He had to fix this. Find a way to set things right. Before the police came to take her away.

If he only had the courage to do it.

He stared at her, allowing himself to feel all the longing he'd pushed down deep inside over the last few days. He would do anything for Freyja.

But he would wait until she fell asleep. He'd steal one more evening of her time, before he gave her up forever.

"What are your plans for this evening?" Freyja asked.

He swallowed. Oh, he was such a coward. "I'd hoped I might spend this evening with you."

Her eyes lit up. "Wonderful! You see, I have this list, and there are a couple of things on it I'd like your help with."

Odin inclined his head. "Whatever you wish, I am yours to command." For one last night.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Whatever she wished. Freyja couldn't suppress a little shiver of anticipation at those words. She couldn't remember anyone saying them to her before. Not even when she'd gotten top marks in her final exams at high school, giving her a university entry rank that would allow her to choose any university course she wanted...as long as it was medical, like the rest of her family.

After her brother had chosen dentistry instead of medicine, saying it had better hours and better money, World War III had still raged in their household for weeks, followed by a Cold War that still erupted every Christmas. She hadn't expected to be home for Christmas this year, but now...

Freyja sighed. Before she could really let her imagination run wild and start wishing, she had to know the truth. She took a deep breath.

"First, I need to ask you one question, and I need you to be completely honest with me. There's no chance you sort of accidentally took a body from the necropsy fridge and maybe just buried it in the snow outside, and then sort of forgot where you put it, right? Because if you did, and you happened to find it again while you're clearing out the courtyard, and put the body back in the fridge, no one else would ever know." Her voice got a bit squeaky at the end, as desperation crept in. If the body came back, she wouldn't need her pre-prison bucket list, and everything could go back to normal. Sure, she wouldn't be able to sleep with Olaf again, but...

Olaf's huge hands clasped her shoulders. Firm and reassuring, but still gentle. "Doctor Freyja, you are absolutely right. There are no bodies buried outside in the snow, forgotten or otherwise. But I promise you, I will do everything in my power to help you find the one you are looking for, so that, as you say, no one will ever know it was missing." Sincerity beamed out of his one blue eye, almost electric in its intensity.

She'd known he wasn't a thief, but that he believed he could find the body, when she'd all but given up...maybe that was why he was the one person she'd miss most about this place. Because if she could choose to be snowed in or trapped on a deserted island with anyone again, she'd choose Olaf in a heartbeat.

Which was why she was determined to seduce him into her bed one more time before the police dragged her away from Icelab. She'd never seduced a man in her life, and was pretty certain she'd do a pretty clumsy job of it, but if she had only one wish...

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