Page 28 of Valhalla is Full of Hunks
Just until I get my bearings.
“A bird?” Surt’s voice broke through my mental fog and I peered around Fen’s broad shoulders to find the giant man eyeing me with concern. As soon as he noticed my gaze on him, Surt darkened his expression into more recognizable annoyance, but I’d seen enough.
He was worried about meeeee!
“Yeah…” I cleared my throat and awkwardly untangled myself from Fen’s arms before sliding off his lap and onto the bed. “No. It was a rooster! Agoldenrooster at the top of an enormous tree.”
Both men were staring at me with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. “You saw… Vídópnir, at the top of Yggdrasil?” Surt scoffed, but there was another emotion on his face—one he was trying to hide.
Hope.
“I-I’m not sure who or what that is…” I weakly replied as the rest of my vision abruptly vanished like water running down the drain.
“Yggdrasilis the World Tree,” Fen calmly explained, reaching forward to smooth my no doubt crazy hair and tuck some wayward strands behind my ear. “AndVídópniris the rooster who sits atop and signals the arrival of Ragnarok.”
“Ragnarok…” I frowned, feelingsomethingattempt to poke at my consciousness.
“Yes,” Surt confirmed before shifting his focus to Fen. “It’s a good sign, no? Especially if she saw him crowing.”
Did I?
“Fuck, you’re bleeding!” Fen hissed, and we all snapped our attention to my tightly clenched fist.It wasmyturn for amazement and disbelief, because, sure enough, I was bleeding all over the bedspread.
This can’t be good.
I’d never sustained an injury from a vision before. In fact, I’d always believed I was nothing but a passive bystander—only there to collect information and pass along what I could.
“Who did this?!” Surt growled, grabbing my wrist to yank my hand closer for inspection.
I gasped as a shock of electricity raced through me at the contact, reflexively unclenching my fist and releasing a handful of…
Feathers.
Both men stared at the pile like they’d seen a ghost, and I was right there with them. I’d also never brought back a vision quest souvenir before, and nervously wondered why I was starting this party trick now.
I have a bad feeling about this.
“Are those…?” Fen whispered.
“Yesssss…” Surt breathed, his grip on my wrist tightening to the point of discomfort as he wildly grinned at Fen. “And you know what that means.”
Fen slowly nodded, an awestruck smile spreading over his handsome face. “I do.”
“What does it mean?” I cautiously asked, although something told me I wouldn’t like the answer.
Surt chuckled darkly, and I almost wished I could return to my vision, to escape the pure evil in his expression. “It means the chest holding Loki’s sword can be unlocked, and Laevateinnwill be mine to wield again.”
11
IOLA
The dynamic changed in the days that followed. No one was offering me a ride off the island, but I also no longer felt like an expendable prisoner. I was now being treated like a part of theteam,actively involved in… whatever still mysterious scheme these maniacs were scheming.
Hera forbid I be givenallthe info at once.
“Soooo…” I fidgeted on my stool at the kitchen island, wondering why we weren’t holding our daily meetings on the comfortable-looking couch and chairs across the room. “You want me to somehow bring the rooster feathersbackinto a vision, so I can use them to unlock a giant chest for… reasons?”
Yet-to-be-explained reasons.
