Page 41 of Valhalla is Full of Hunks
No, no, nononono…
“But you’re the keeper of the sword!” I cried, willing myself to stay until I got answers.
Sinmara made a noncommittal sound. “This isn’tmyvision. And I’m not the one who guides the souls of the dead.”
Before I coulddemandshe explain what the hell she was babbling about, my vision whited out again. As I was violently yanked into the ether, my last conscious thought was that I hoped I could find my way back without theVölva’sstaff grounding me.
Because how else will I find my way home?
15
SURTR
Ididn’t know why I bothered setting rules about what Iola and Jör could do together. The entire house—the entire island—smelled like her anyway, and I was slowly suffocating in a cloud of lust.
Taking out my frustrations on my plaything these past few nights had been a temporary salve. But the instant I was done with him, Jör’s attention was already back on the seer, and the way he followed her around during the daytime, like a stray mutt, was sickening.
What does she possibly offer that we don’t?
It had taken hundreds of years for me to truly trust Fen and Jör, despite having fought on the same side during Ragnarok. They were the only two creatures I cared about—in this realm or the eight others that existed—and I didn’t plan to wastemytime adding a half mortal to my shortlist of approved companions.
Even one with a supposedly magical cunt.
I knew sex was occasionally used as a divination tool in the ancient rituals involvingVölvas,but the last thing I needed was to get dragged into the chaos of Iola’s bed. She was distracting enough as it was—with her sharp edges and hint of danger, like a sword still in its sheath.
Our plan had been unchanged for centuries, and now more than ever, weallneeded to stay the course. The new Asgardians thought they could change our destiny and keep us out of Valhalla, but no one defied theNornswithout consequences.
And I cannot wait to be the reason for those consequences.
Iola was a means to an end. Despite how uneasy she made me, I would tolerate her presence for now—at least until Laevateinn was mine again.
Then I’ll probably kill her.
Maybe.
Because, for some godsforsaken reason, I was currently standing guard alongside Fen and Jör as they anxiously waited for Iola to return from wherever her soul had traveled.
Never mind that I’d come running the instant I realized something was wrong.
I told myself it was because I’d never heard such terror in Fen’s voice before, and assumed something had happened to our serpent. Jör was the only thing holding my sanity together most days, so I didn’t want to consider how the wolf would handle any harm coming to him.
By the time I reached Iola’s bedroom, they’d covered her naked body with an oddly familiar shawl, but I still couldn’t take my eyes off her. The others were frantically explaining the situation, but all I could see was Iola’s flushed cheeks and parted lips, and the way her breaths were occasionally stuttering drove fear into my heart.
She can’t die!
…not before she helps us.
Without a doubt, I fervently believed this seer was the key to us finally correcting our fates. I couldn’t explain how I knew, but when Vann offhandedly mentioned her existence,somethinghad sparked to life inside of me. It was a hunch—an inner knowing I hadn’t felt since leading my fellow giants into battle. And since I had nothing else to lose, I allowed myself to hope.
I can’t lose her now.
HOPE!
I can’t loseHOPEnow.
Before I could succumb to more bewitchery, Iola awoke with a rattling gasp. Fen was on her in an instant, and Jör was already wrapped around her like a clinging vine. I stayed right where I was, even though every particle of my being felt pulled to her, like a moth battering itself against a pane of glass, desperate to be let inside.
To die in the fire.
