Page 27 of Coven Relics
Freya was waiting for us when we got there. I knew she wanted us to call her Minerva and would thoroughly fuck up my life if I outed her. It was definitely going to take some getting used to. But then again, it was probably some kind of cosmic payback for all the times she had to call me by a fake name when I shapeshifted to fuck with people.
Ravyn and Killian were getting used to calling me by my real name instead of the fake one I gave them when I arrived here. Maybe I shouldn’t lie about my name so much. It got pretty complicated later. Then again, shapeshifting was tons of fun, and people didn’t react to my real name the way they would to Freya’s. Probably because of the shapeshifting and lying thing.
Still wasn’t going to stop doing it.
We needed a plan, and we needed it fast. Even with Sleipnir’s speed, my ability to shapeshift, and Killian’s access to his bat, there were just too many areas to search. We needed to narrow it down.
Ravyn and Killian were raving about Sleipnir’s fritters. Iknewthey were good, and I was so grateful they talked him up. I had my fling and children with Angrboda before I married Sigyn, so there was no cheating there on my part, but she never really accepted Sleipnir after we rescued him. She was never ugly to him, but she mostly ignored him no matter what he tried to win her over.
I tried to make up for that at the time, but it meant so much to me that Ravyn and Killian had been so kind to him. I noticed Bjorn wasn’t talking much. He’d always been friends with Sleipnir, and I already knew he’d slept off the effects of the tea. He should be well rested and ready to work now. He looked deep in thought.
“Didn’t you say Death owed you money?” Killian asked.
“Oh, yeah. Death loved playing Mia, but he was terrible at throwing dice. He was good at paying for his losses when it involved livestock, but he perfected ghosting people before cellphones when it came to paying back anything else. IloveDeath. He’s smart as fuck and a ton of fun. Death and Chaos are the only primordials I like. Getting in touch with him is hard, even when he doesn’t owe you money. He’s quite busy.”
“I would imagine he’s got some opinions about necromancy. Thorunn and her followers killed alotof people before their time. She’s going to do it again. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough information to track Valentine. Does Death have the resources to track a ghost?”
That wasn’t a half-bad idea, but no one found Death unless he wanted to be found. Most people did stupid shit to avoid him, but I was immortal, so I got to see how utterly brilliant he was. Except at dice. He was terrible at that.
Minerva cleared her throat. I knew that look, even if she was wearing a different face. She had a secret. I hoped it was Death finally getting a cellphone and them exchanging filthy messages. Not only would it mean we could contact him, but Freya was justnotmeant to be a spinster witch. She had more sex than I did back in our day, and I was super proud of her for that.
“Okay, please don’t get mad at me for not telling you this sooner. Odin was furious and swore us all to secrecy. I would have told you anyway, but Death came to me and made me promise to wait because of how you’d probably react. I think enough time has passed for you not to do something stupid.”
“I still might if it involves something Odin did back then.”
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but you’ll probably forget about the money Death owes you. The stories of Hel and her ruling a realm weren’t propaganda Odin started to save face. He was pretty pissed when he found out. One of Death’s reapers didn’t respond to that call when they tried to kill Hel. Death went himself out of respect for you.
“When he got there, she was severely hurt, but not dead. She was just clinging to life. He didn’t have time to do anything but get her to safety before someone realized she wasn’t dead. Death has his own realm. It’s why no one can reach him unless he wants to be found. All of his reapers live there.
“He brought Hel there and had his reapers bring the bodies and essence of your other two children to his realm. Death can do what he wants with someone’s essence. He put them back into Fenrir and Jormungand and brought them back to life. Death and his reapers nursed Hel back to health.
“Death did you a solid and saved your children. Odin was terrified of them because he thought they were monsters. He would never have stopped. None of them would try to take on a primordial, especially Death. No one knows if he canreallydo this, but he’s said he has power over our essences, too. He’s threatened to stick a few gods in the Aether as a form of time out.
“Death is happy to let people think Hel is the goddess of death. They aren’t in any kind of relationship, but she has her fun with his reapers and so do your sons. All the stories about your sons causing the end of the world were made up later.”
My throat felt dry. Literally, all of this could have been prevented if I knew my children were safe. I would have gotten revenge on Odin for hurting them, but I wouldn’t have killed his golden child for murdering my children first. I probably wouldn’t have created the hybrids that betrayed me. They wouldn’t have slaughtered my sons right in front of me before they tortured me with snake venom.
That one act of revenge lost me so fucking much, and Odin lost his son. And all because everyone decided to let me think my children were really dead. So, whatever theythoughtI was going to do couldn’t be any worse than what actually happened.
Killian and Ravyn got out of their seats to surround me in this massive hug. I appreciated it, but what the fuck? Freya and Death were my friends. Theyshouldhave told me the truth.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because even after everything that happened, it would have been worse if you knew. You had Odin and his entire family, and then you had Death and his entire realm of reapers. You and your children were the one thing that ever made Odin uneasy. Look at the Ragnarok myths they told. What do you think they would have done if they thought you’d made an alliance with a primordial with that many resources and your three children with Angrboda in tow? Angrboda was mad about her children, too.”
Oh, fuck. It would have been a hot mess. It would have been way more fuckery than I usually enjoyed. Even Reyson wouldn’t have liked it. Odin’s ravens would have been working overtime trying to talk him out of starting something he couldn’t finish. Thor was a meathead who enjoyed smashing things with his hammer. He’d be whispering in Odin’s other ear that he could totally take on a primordial god with control over everyone’s essence.
This would spill over to the mortal realm, and many people would end up dying. There would be fighting in Death’s realm, Earth, and Asgard. The other primordials would take offense Odin was coming for Death, and every god who made Earth their home would have big opinions on their creations getting killed.
“That’s totally fair,” I said, nodding. “Can you contact him? Killian’s idea is good, and I want to see them.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t. The only time anyone has a conversation with him is when he randomly appears here. He stays a bit, tells wonderful stories, then he just disappears. I haven’t seen him in a very long time, and I don’t know how to contact him. We need to try something else.”
I was never short on inspiration when I needed to fuck something up, and right now, I didn’t have a damned clue on how to find my next target because Itaughtthem how to hide from me.
Chapter21
Ravyn
