One
Annabel
“What do they mean, pay with the same blood? Are they going to kill them? They can’t do that!”
Trud cut my panicked tirade short, grabbing me gently by my shoulders and halting my pacing in the upturned kitchen.
“We’re not going to let anyone hurt Magni,” she said.
“That’s great, but what about Saga and his brothers?” I bit, shooting Modi a glare. I realized it wasn’t the siblings’ fault that their mother betrayed my mates, but right then, I needed an outlet. “Your brother’s made it plenty clear he’s more than happy to see them dead!”
Modi turned toward me, his blue eyes flashing, but when he opened his mouth—undoubtedly to retaliate—Trud shook her head at him before refocusing on me.
“Loki’s sons are scum, it’s true, but you’re mated to one of them. If he dies, you die. And if you die, so does our brother.”
She seemed to be speaking as much to me as she was Modi, judging from his dark look in her direction.
“I’ll find Dad," she continued. "The Valkyries will be taking them to Valhalla to stand trial in front of Odin. Without Thor’s presence, I fear it will be too easy for the other gods to turn against our half-blooded brother and the traitor’s spawn.”
“I’m sure Dad would be the first to roast those three trolls next to Sæhrímnir,” Modi muttered.
“Perhaps, but not at Magni's expense,” Trud said, giving him a hard stare. “I’m going to go look for Dad. I’ll meet you at Valhalla. I don’t have to tell you to take care of your brother’s omega while I’m gone, do I?”
Modi pursed his lips, and I got the distinct impression she’d insulted his honor somehow. “No, sister. You don’t have to remind me to fulfill my obligations to my blood; I know my duties to my brother’s mate. She will be under my care and protection. Now go.”
Ah, there it was. For a moment, I’d forgotten I was a commodity in alphas’ eyes, not a sentient being with my own agency.
I shot him an annoyed look, but decided against making a fuss—this time. There were more important things at stake than my need to assert myself, and I did need someone to guide me to Valhalla. Somehow I doubted a human would be left to wander on her own in the realm of the gods.
Trud gave me what was probably meant to be a reassuring smile. Then she walked out the door, leaving me with her brother.
The redheaded god shook his head, and I was pretty sure I heard him mutter, “Fucking Magni,” under his breath. Then he looked at me and heaved a deep sigh.
“All right then, omega. Let us prepare for Valhalla.”
“My name’s Annabel,” I said. “How do we prepare for Valhalla? Is there a ritual, or—”
“Of course there’s not a ritual—I’m the son of Thor. I come and go in all of Asgard as I please,” he said, giving me a look as if he suspected I was slow. “Do they teach you nothing in Midgard? But one does not waltz into the house of Odin without a shirt, hmm?”
He indicated his very broad, very naked torso, and I flushed despite myself. Thor’s legitimate son was a bit of a dick, but he was also extremely well-built.
“Well… get dressed, then,” I said, looking away to avoid giving the impression I might have been ogling him. “I have two mates to save, and I’m not about to wait around while you try on pretty shirts.”
Modi barked a laugh, slapping me on the back hard enough to make me stumble a step before I caught myself.
“I see my brother likes them feisty. All right, little omega. Wait here—I’ll try not to take all day.”
Modi did, in fact, not take very long to get dressed. He came down after maybe five minutes, wearing a linen tunic and animal hide leggings with his sword hanging off a plain leather belt. Yet despite the simple outfit, he still emanated a near-regal presence with his arrow-straight posture and smooth strides.
He exuded all the confidence of a god—which kind of made sense, I supposed. He was a god. But so was Magni.
My thoughts turned to my redheaded mate’s anger at Sif’s reaction to our presence, and the old wounds I’d felt in our bond from his life in this house. Magni was formidable, a god among alphas in his own right—but he didn’t carry himself the same way his brother did.
They may have looked alike, may have carried the same divine blood in their veins, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that even gods were affected by how much love they’d known.
I thought about what Bjarni had said on our trip to Udgaard—how Magni’d betrayed his mother’s kin to gain access to Asgard, only to be seen as a second-class citizen due to his Jotunn lineage. Had he ever known love?
“We won’t let anything happen to your mate,” Modi rumbled, the way he glanced at my face making me aware my emotions were showing in my features. “Either of them,” he reluctantly added.
“I don’t understand why they were taken in the first place,” I said, grateful for the distraction. “Even if Loki betrayed Asgard, why take it out on his sons?”
Modi snorted, placing a hand on my spine as he led me out the door of Trudheim. The once-busy yard seemed devoid of life now.
“Has Magni truly allowed that scum to twist your mind, omega? They’re not innocents, whatever they may have tried to portray to make you agree to this insane arrangement.”
“Wasn’t a whole lot of agreement from my side,” I muttered. “What do you mean, they’re not innocent?”
Modi sighed, free hand twitching on the pommel of his sword as if the mere mention of the Lokissons made him itch for battle. “I mean that they’ve taken up swords against the gods more than once. They align with the Jotunn whores who birthed them, not the Aesir. I myself have met them in battle. They’d see Asgard burned to the ground, if they had their way.”
“Seems to me they’d rather hide out in the human world and wait for Ragnarök to do its thing than fight gods—or Jotunns,” I said, reminded of how they’d tried to squirrel me away on their farm in Iceland.
“Perhaps—it’s not a shock that Loki’s spawn would turn cowards in the end,” Modi said. “But cowardice does not absolve them of the crimes of their past.”
“I mean…” The rush of offense his words stirred in me surprised me. The Lokissons were definitely still on my shit-list for how they’d gone about kidnapping me, but… “Is what you’re doing so much better?”
“Beg your pardon?” Modi turned to face me, both russet eyebrows meeting his hairline.
“You’re, what, planning to go off and fight that prick Surtr and his army? What good’s that going to do? As far as I understand from all the prophecies floating around these days, the gods are destined to die. You’re literally just going off to fight for no reason when you could be trying to save not only your own family, but the humans too. I don’t think what the Lokisson brothers are doing is any less noble.”
Heat colored Modi’s cheeks in bright red splotches, his eyes narrowing as he glared down at me. Grabbing my shoulder, he pulled me to a hard stop.