“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s the truth.” Nate nodded to his chest and the seeping blood. “Your Valkyries have ensured it, haven’t they? I have no knowledge that can help you.”

“Tell me where we can find Helen,” I said.

Nate’s eyes flickered to me. He shook his head. “You want some useful information, Solina? Nobody is who they seem. Trust no one.”

Like I don’t already know that. “Did you issue the order that killed my brother?” My flames crackled and popped beneath my skin’s surface, begging me to let them out. “Were you there when Hati murdered him?”

Nate threw his head back and laughed. “Yes! Of course. You didn’t have to carve a truth sigil in me to get that answer. I would have told you for the fun of it. I was there. My order set the wolf to action. I watched Hati’s teeth tear through your brother’s flesh. I listened to Mani beg for you, Solina. Did you know your name was the last word on his lips?”

His head jerked forward, his neck fully extended, and he bared his teeth at me in a maniacal grin. “I saw the blood drain from his body and the light die in his eyes. My only regret is that I won’t be around to watch Skoll devour you.”

My fire roared and shoved against my mental restraints like a rain-swollen river thrusting against a dam. This was not the time for self-immolation, though. An angry conflagration would burn down the building and destroy the possibility of answers, a transmutation that would steal my sanity. No, this was not the time, not the time.

I hunched over and struggled to contain the flames, but rage and frustration fueled my heat and sapped my self-control. I gritted my teeth. Control, Solina. Control. Firelight oozed from every pore. I fell to my knees and hugged my arms tighter around my waist, as if I could physically restrain my fire.

“No, no, no...” I muttered. But then an explosion of thunder rattled... and another.

A raging wind ripped aside the plastic sheeting over the windows. Rain from nowhere and everywhere poured in and flooded the room. I stumbled to my feet and staggered to the window. The storm raged, my fire diminished, and a steamy fog enveloped me. When the last of my light died away, I eased to the floor in a puddle of embarrassment, anger, and rain.

“Holy shit,” someone whispered. Naomi maybe.

Thorin took me by my shoulders and raised me to my feet. He tried lifting me into his arms, but I pushed against him. “No, I can stand. Just let me stand.”

Concern swirled in his eyes. He frowned but nodded and held me until I regained my balance. Rain had plastered my hair to my face. I raked it back and plucked my sodden and scorched T-shirt away from my chest. At least I hadn’t completely burned through my clothes.

He shifted, using his massive frame to shield me from the others. “Let me take you back to the hotel.”

I almost accepted his offer, but no. Once I started giving in to weaknesses, when would I stop? “No. I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”

“Sunshine...”

I put my hand over his mouth to stop him. “No.”

Thorin’s eyes twinkled, and the blackness in them faded to brown. He pulled away and nodded. I stepped around him and faced the others. Skyla, Embla, Naomi, Amala, and Nate all stared, eyes wide. Yet, throughout the confrontation, Amala had not moved her knife from Nate’s throat. Now, that’s a soldier. They waited for me to say something, do something.

I held my splayed hands out at my sides. Nothing to see here, folks. “Can we pretend like nothing happened?”

The women glanced at each other. Naomi shrugged. “I didn’t see anything.”

My embarrassment drained away, and my shoulders slumped. I turned my attention to Nate. “So, you want to be a god again? That’s your reason for doing all this?”

He shook damp hair from his eyes and leered at me. “I was never a god, Solina. Merely a legend.”

“You love Helen and want to see her throne restored?”

He jutted his jaw. “She never lost her throne. She still commands the dead in her realm.” His focus shifted to Embla. “Nothing can take that from her.”

“Then what does she want?” I asked.

“What we all want. Justice.”

“I don’t understand.”

Nate turned his attention to Thorin, and hatred burned in his green eyes. His cool composure receded, and he clenched his teeth while he spoke in a low and menacing tone. “The Aesir, their kind must be eradicated. Once and for all. They are a poison, tainting everything they touch.”

Before I could ask for further explanation, Thorin stepped in. “We’re a poison? Your grandfather killed Baldur, the most innocent and pure of us all. Loki murdered Baldur for his own amusement, for another of his self-indulgent, meaningless pranks. He killed him to prove he could.”

“But my father was innocent,” Nate said. “So was his brother. So was I.”

Nate’s father had been Narfi, who was also Val’s brother. Therefore, Val was Nate’s uncle. Throw Grandpa Loki into the mix and what do you get? One big tragic family.

“You just said yourself that no one was innocent,” Embla said. “And you brought judgment upon yourself when you killed Mani and Khalani and Inyoni. Whatever mercy or justice you might have deserved, you have squandered. If you don’t have anything useful to tell us, we won’t waste any more time on you.” Embla motioned to Amala. She raised her knife.

“Wait!” I shouted. “It can’t be for nothing. Nate, don’t die for nothing. Helen used you. Don’t you know that?”

Anger drained from his eyes. His face softened. “This is not for nothing, Solina. I remained true to myself. I chose this. And when Skoll finally destroys you, we will all have our justice.” His gaze flashed to Thorin. “Enjoy her while you can, God of Thunder. The wolf will kill her. She will die, in the end.”

“No more,” Embla said. “Finish him, Amala, before he can cause any more damage.”

“No!” I screeched and lunged forward. “There has to be another way to make him talk.”

“I’ll talk.” Nate grinned. “I’ll leave you with one single truth. Helen is not your worst enemy—” Amala bent and dragged her blade across his throat. Blood welled up from the wound and cascaded down his throat.

“What?” Still on my knees, I lurched forward and clasped Nate’s hand to my chest, over my heart so he could feel my desperation. “What do you mean? Nate?”

“It’s too late,” Embla said.

Amala stepped back and wiped her blade on her pant leg. Nate’s stare fell on me. He smiled, a horrible rictus, as blood drained from his neck and cascaded into his lap. My stomach churned, and bile rose in the throat, acidic and bitter.

I fell to my knees at Nate’s feet and peered up into the dying light in his eyes. “P-Please, Nate,” I choked. “What did you mean?”

He gargled a terrible wet laugh. He stopped and wheezed, and pink air bubbles burst from his neck wound. I gagged and turned away but remained kneeling until he bled out. My mortal enemy—and I kept him company until the end. What’s wrong with me?

While Amala and Naomi gathered plastic sheeting from the windows, Thorin eased me away from Nate’s corpse. Then he collected the limp, bloodstained body and laid it prostrate on the plastic. A numbing coldness washed over me. Stomach acid burned in my throat, and yet my gaze remained glued on Nate, so pale, so... dead.

“Wha—” I coughed and cleared my throat. “Was that thing you carved in his chest?”

“Ansuz?” Amala said. “It is a master rune, the main symbol denoting the Aesir. It stands for wisdom, truth, and knowledge. It forced Nate to speak truth. Didn’t mean he couldn’t evade and avoid, though. Everything he said was true, but he never gave us the answers we really wanted. What a waste.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

“Dispose of him,” Embla said. “The same way we always have.”

I stared up at Thorin, who stood back from the group, his expression dark, his gaze distant. “What was Nate talking about? Another enemy. Did he mean Val?”

He looked at me, but his expression did not change. His eyes remained unfocused.