“But Grim had the sword. It’s a horrible weapon.”

“Magni has Mjölnir—it should not be underestimated.” Baldur’s assertions didn’t mollify me, but he couldn’t have cared less about my concerns. His attention shifted to Nina again, his eyes soft and unfocused.

Intent on her book, Nina behaved as though no one else existed in the room.

“Tell me about it.” I motioned in her direction. “How did you find her?”

Baldur huffed, almost a laugh, but an ironic one. “The doctors had put her in a medically induced coma, and it was like she was dead all over again.” She had survived an inexplicable single-car wreck on a stretch of rural desert highway outside Farmington, New Mexico, and the hospital staff had registered her as a Jane Doe. The car was a rental registered under an alias. She had no identifying papers with her, no driver’s license, and no cell phone. Her prints matched nothing in the national registry.

When the local police put out an APB about her on state and federal circuits, however, she showed up on Baldur’s radar, which he had built by meticulously begging, bribing, and threatening anyone who had the means to keep him and his private detectives appraised of any developments. Baldur had created a massive web that almost guaranteed Nina’s eventual discovery.

“I personally followed or paid someone to follow any lead,” Baldur said.

“How did you know she would show up in the US?”

Baldur snorted. “I didn’t.”

My mouth fell open. “You’ve been watching for her internationally?”

“Globally.”

“And you’re sure it’s her?”

Baldur nodded, and his face showed no uncertainty. “She’s been hurt, though. More than just the car wreck. I think Helen must have broken her before she put her in that hospital.”

“Why would Helen try to kill her?”

“I don’t think Helen wanted her dead. She set it up so I would find her. One of Helen’s shell companies was paying Nina’s medical bills.”

“How long had she been like that?”

“A few weeks. The doctors were bringing her out of the coma when Magni and I arrived. She didn’t know anyone or anything about what had happened to her, but I had already made arrangements to bring her home with me.”

“Why would Helen do that to her?”

“Helen never relinquishes her grasp on anyone without putting them through hell first. I should know.”

“Why would she let her go after all this time?”

“To distract me. To hurt me. To keep me busy with Nina’s rehabilitation instead of focused on guarding you. There are many reasons.”

“But you have her back. That’s got to be a great relief.”

Baldur smiled and ran a hand over his face, rubbing away the bleary look in his eyes. I’d never seen a god look tired before, but the white lines around his eyes and mouth showed the effects of his strains and injuries. “I have her, and I won’t let her go.”

Baldur made a simple supper of eggs, bacon, and toast. Nina ate without speaking unless spoken to and without meeting anyone’s eye. She tried her best to ignore Baldur altogether. I understood what Skyla meant about Nina being “not quite right.” After I cleaned my plate twice, Skyla helped me hobble back to bed.

“I’m going back to the Aerie in the morning.” Skyla leaned in my doorway and watched me settle into bed. “I’m not doing anyone any good sitting around here. I’m about to go stir crazy.”

“You’re doing me tons of good,” I said through a yawn. “Every time you leave me, bad stuff happens.”

Skyla sighed. “I know. Believe me, I know. I feel torn in two all the time.”

“Take it as a compliment. To be needed so badly, it means you’re doing something right.”

“If you want me to stay, I will.”

She meant it, and for that reason, I knew I had to let her go. “Go to the Aerie. Fix the Valkyries. Bring them over to our side. Make up a theme song and a costume while you’re at it. You’re my own personal hero, straight out of the comics.”

“Don’t give me all the credit.” Skyla smiled. “I was wrong to say the things I said about you. You are a fighter, Solina. I expected to find you half dead when we got there, but there you were at the end, fighting Tori in a blaze of glory.”

I nodded. “You were wrong, but it’s okay. We all have our moments of weakness. I’ve questioned your loyalty once. Now we’re even.”

“I won’t doubt you again.”

“Thank you for coming for me.”

Skyla shrugged and looked away. “I couldn’t have done it without Thorin. He was like this raging beast, flattening mountains, laying down forests. When I called him after you disappeared, he had already gone to Corvallis to look for you. He knew something bad was going to happen with his brother. He left Baldur and came for you. He would have gone to the ninth gate of hell to get you, Solina.”

“He feels responsible for me.”

“If Grim had killed you instead of Skoll, it would have ended all the Aesir’s problems very neatly. Thorin didn’t have to rescue you.”

“You talked him into it.”

“I didn’t have to say anything to him, Solina. I called him and had him meet us at Grim’s house at the lake. One look at my face, and Thorin was ready to go up the mountain that very moment. I had to convince him to hang out long enough to make a reasonable plan.” Skyla gave me a doleful look. “When we met up outside that cave, he barely spoke a word—just ground his teeth until Baldur and I were in place. I’ve known Thorin for three years. He’s always been so cool and collected.”

“Pssshaw,” I said. “As if.”

“You get under his skin, Mundy. I’ve never seen him so furious and so… so scared in all the time I’ve known him. I’ve climbed ice floes with him. We once outran an avalanche by the skin of our teeth. We faced down an angry bull moose on a hunting trip, and Thorin didn’t even flinch. In fact, he laughed at the moose and killed it with a freaking longbow while he was still chuckling. But this time, he was scared. He was afraid of losing you.”

I shook my head and yawned again. “It’s hard to see him as the sort who cares for anything other than his own hide.” Or maybe that’s just how you want to see him. Because it’s safer and easier.

Skyla reached for my light switch and flicked it off. The room went dark, and before she left me, she said, “I think it’s safe to say he cares for your hide, too.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

I seemed to return to the apple orchard only moments after I closed my eyes. Thorin had called it the house of Idun, but I had spent so much time there restoring the grounds and renewing the trees that I felt the right to claim some sort of ownership. The moment I stepped foot into the grassy yard, however, I saw I wouldn’t have it to myself.

“I wondered if you would show up,” Thorin said. His wore his hair tied back in a long tail, and he was soot smudged, sweaty, and… shirtless. The torc that Baldur had made from Thor’s belt circled his neck, a braided iron ring that contrasted with Thorin’s supple skin. My mouth went dry at so much beauty on such grand display. He remained intent on his work, stacking stones from a large pile at his feet onto a wall on one side of the crumbled house. Elegant muscles flexed beneath golden skin, and my fingers itched to touch him. He was a god, the strongest among them, and his frame and form epitomized extreme might and power.

I swallowed and, with a mostly steady voice, asked, “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like?” Thorin heaved a boulder into place beside the remnants of a door frame.

“You’re rebuilding. But why?”

“Needed a place to hang out for a while. Things have gone bad.”