“So, you’re going to let it go?”

“Hell no. You’ve lost your mind if you think I’m going to let you keep that sword to yourself and cross my fingers and hope you or your boyfriend won’t betray me when Helen names the right price.”

“There’s no guarantee we would survive a second Ragnarok. It’s in our best interest to prevent Helen from fulfilling her scheme.”

“Uh huh, and I should take your word for it.” I exhaled an irritated grunt. “Thorin won’t be satisfied with your guarantees, either.”

“But you don’t know where he is.”

“I’m not worried about that at this moment.”

Tori’s voice turned harsh. “Your bravado is false, Solina. I hear the fear in your voice.”

“I am terrified.” I hardened my tone to match hers. “Every day I have to fight against letting the fear paralyze me. But I’m not going to let others hold my fate in their hands. Not anymore.”

“You are not safe among the sisters. You should leave the Aerie as soon as possible.”

“And go where? I will always be running until Helen is stopped. That sword could go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.”

“And you will be the one to wield it? Ha!”

“Will Grim kill Helen? Will you?”

Tori did not answer, and her silence indicated reluctance.

“You’re content to sit on it, aren’t you?” I said.

“There’s no need for unnecessary risks. My vow is to the Aesir. It is to them that I must remain loyal.”

“What if the Aesir want you to keep me alive?”

“I’m sorry, Solina, but if you were their most important concern, Thorin wouldn’t have left you on your own.”

I stopped and swallowed back the sudden bitterness in my throat. “He didn’t leave me on my own. I have Skyla and Val with me, and I’m not helpless or defenseless, not like I was when you first met me. And what about everything you said before? You kidnapped me to keep me safe. Now you’re turning your back on me?”

“I’m sorry, Solina. But that was before… before everything went to hell at the Aerie, before I lost all my sisters. I have the sword. Keeping that safe is my primary concern.”

“You suck,” I said, which was lame and puerile, but I had depleted my supply of witty rejoinders.

“Get out of the Aerie,” Tori said. “Sooner than later.”

“Where do I go? Who do I trust?”

Tori sighed. Her breath carried over the phone. “Trust only yourself.”

Chapter Twenty

Trust was a small word bearing the weight of substantial significance. In a way, Tori was right: I could really only trust myself, but I wouldn’t last long on my own that way. I needed alliances. I needed friends. I needed Skoll dead and Helen returned to her underworld lair. My chances of realizing that goal increased in proportion to the number of people who signed on to help me achieve it.

I had Skyla and Thorin on my side, and in my count, Skyla equaled the force of at least three or four average people. Thorin, with his hammer, counted for ten or twenty or possibly more. But Skyla and Thorin had ties that bound them to other obligations: preserving the Valkyries’ integrity and protecting the Allfather.

Val, however, had once said he had totally dedicated himself to me. He had proved himself loyal, and whatever I asked of him, I suspected he would give. But at what price?

Shortly after I ended the conversation with Tori, Skyla found me packing my bags. She came into the room, clutching several photographs to her chest. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Packing.”

“I see that. And where do you think you’re going?”

“Away. The Aerie is compromised. I’m not safe here.”

Skyla scowled. “These women may question the Aesir’s rule, but that doesn’t mean they’ve turned on you.”

I stopped packing and stood up straight, hip jutted, arms crossed over my chest. “You think they’re going to stand between me and Skoll? Or do you think they’ll put the knife in my back first and cover their own asses? If I’m dead, Skoll can’t kill me, right? And if Skoll can’t kill me, Helen loses. End of story.”

Skyla opened her mouth to answer but stopped.

She knows I’m right. “I’ve got to stay off Helen’s radar until I can get in touch with Thorin again,” I said. “I think Tori has Surtr’s sword and she’s with Thorin’s brother. His last known whereabouts are in Corvallis, as Ariel said. I thought I’d head that way.”

“What did Tori say about the sword?”

“She isn’t going to give it up.” I rehashed the phone call for her.

At the end, Skyla’s shoulders drooped, and she sagged onto the bed. She looked exhausted.

I sat down beside her. “I won’t ask you to go with me, Skyla. A life on the run is no life at all.”

Skyla sucked her lip between her teeth and gnawed on it. “You can’t go on your own. It would be completely irresponsible of me to let you do it.”

“But you want to stay here,” I said.

“It’s a crucial time. The Valkyries are a balloon cut from its string. They have no direction. The right person could come along and lead them astray, or—”

“Or the right person could put them back on task, remind them of their purpose, rally them to help us on our way to victory, and there will be puppies, unicorns, and rainbows for all.”

Skyla huffed. “Let’s let me be the cynic. I like you better as an optimist.”

“Being a pragmatist is more likely to keep me alive. Which is why I’m not going to Oregon alone.”

“You’re not? But who…” A pained look passed over her face. “Val?”

“Better the devil you do know than one you don’t. I know Val. I don’t know Grim, and I don’t want to risk facing him alone.”

When I’d first gone to Alaska, I was a naive twit. I thought I’d pop across the country, ask some questions, look around a little, and go home. I was more scared of leaving my comfort zone than finding and facing a murderous psychopath. Maybe I had believed I would find nothing except some closure and convince myself to accept Mani’s death once and for all. But I knew the truth now: men were beasts, and gods were monsters. They were not windmills, yet I still tilted at them. I must be crazy. Utterly out of my mind.

Skyla pursed her lips. “I don’t like it, but I’m not going to be the one to tell you what to do. Just promise me you’ll keep your eyes open at all times. Be skeptical of everyone. Even Val.”

“I promise. I’ll wear eyes in the back of my head.”