Page 11 of Loki

He's dead, you crazy bitch. He can't answer your stupid call, Loki wanted to scream, but Kun's spell still lingered, not letting him make a sound.

Thor's eyes flew open. "I will answer your call, and fight at your command, mistress."

Thor, turning traitor? Loki would not believe it. Could not believe it. Yet Thor needed no spell on him to make sure every word he uttered was the truth. Then why...how...?

"Will you protect me?" the girl continued.

"I am yours to command, mistress," Thor said.

It had to be a spell of some sort.

He watched, helpless, as Erik's men lifted Thor and lowered him into a grave. Loki glimpsed runes daubed across Thor's chest before he disappeared from sight.

He glanced down. He, too, had the same runes daubed across his chest in sticky, red ink that he knew had to be blood. He turned his head, trying to read them.

Oh, gods, that one said obey, didn't it? And serve... That's what had turned Thor into a thrall. Loki scrubbed desperately at the runes, trying to smear them before the girl could finish the spell. Was this what Kun had talked about – turning Odin's men into ensorcelled stone protectors, like the ones who'd destroyed his village?

Loki would rather die than kill at Erik's command...or the command of this slip of a girl he should have killed the moment he met her...

"That one next." When the girl pointed at him, Loki quickly lay back down and closed his eyes, trying to cover the smudged runes with his arm so she didn't notice.

Hands held him down, pressing him against the icy ground.

"That's up to Odin, daughter. What do you say, Odin? The other one is a strong warrior, obedient and willing to serve. But this one...he's a traitor. He betrayed you, telling my men everything when they caught him, to preserve his own miserable life, for little more than a bag of gold and jewels." A clinking bag landed on Loki's belly, and it took all Loki's determination not to grab it and smash Erik's face with it. "He's the reason we were waiting when you emerged from the pass. He's my man, not yours. Would you trust him enough to command him in battle, or shall I just cut out his heart and leave it for the wolves?"

Loki opened his eyes, to meet Erik's. He could see the knife out of the corner of his eye, poised to stab into his runed chest, but Loki had the courage of Thor and the conviction of Odin in that moment. "Do it," he hissed. "I'm no traitor. I'd rather die than serve you."

The blade pierced Loki's chest, the pain so intense for a moment before everything went black.

TEN

Okay, maybe Jorunn shouldn't have drunk so much last night. She'd rarely had any alcohol in Australia – seeing as if she brought any home, her mother was sure to drink it before Jorunn could – but she'd probably had more to drink here in Norway than she had for the entirety of last year at home. Some pain pills went a long way to sorting her headache, though, and it wasn't like she'd drunk herself unconscious, like Mum. Even Sibyl, who looked seriously hungover this morning, hadn't had that much aquavit.

Maybe they should go easy on the stuff tonight, or avoid it altogether.

One thing Jorunn did know for certain: she had no patience for Nik, or his insults today, so she stuck to transects.

Until a gleam between the rocks caught her eye, and she knelt down for a closer look. Her breath caught in her throat.

This was no corroded coin – it was gold, as bright and new as the day it was first minted. Automatically, Jorunn pulled out her phone and GPS to document the find before picking it up and snapping a few more pictures from different angles as she examined it.

It was a brooch as big as her palm, made of golden amber set in heavy gold. The soft metal still showed signs of runes or some sort of design carved into it, almost polished smooth by the ice. Whoever had owned this had been someone important, for certain. Even now, it would be worth a fortune.

And if someone – mostly likely Nik – was stealing artefacts, they'd definitely drool over this one. It'd be gone before Jorunn could blink.

So she couldn't put it back on the ground, beside a marker. She'd have to sneak it into the artefact boxes in the mess tent, somehow, hidden under something else, so Nik or whoever the thief was didn't find it.

Jorunn rose to her feet, glancing around to make sure no one was watching, then set off along her transect path again, as though she'd found nothing of interest. After a moment, she slipped the brooch into her pocket.

She forgot about it until lunch, when she sat down on a rock and heard a clink as it slipped out of her pocket onto the ground.

"Shit." She scooped it up and tried to put it away again.

"I knew it was a mistake to let an Aussie girl like you come on such an important expedition," Nik hissed, appearing out of nowhere.

If the Norse gods, or any deity was listening, she needed their help now. If Nik noticed the brooch...

"I'll tell you what. You give that to me right now, and I won't tell Karl I saw you stealing it."

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