Thorin shook his head. “She’s never had trouble finding you before.”

“I am aware. I didn’t want her prolonged absence to mean anything. I wanted to go on concealed in solace like always. But then I received your communications, and I couldn’t deny the coincidences any longer.”

“What coincidences?” Val asked. “You think living high on that obscure mountain as a relative hermit hasn’t finally come to bite you in your ass? These days women don’t get divine notions and go on arduous quests searching for their long-lost loves. They post an ad with an online dating site.”

Skyla snorted. “You got that right. There’s no man worth that much trouble.”

I coughed to hide my laugh but still received two irritated glares from Val and Thorin. “I’ve never once tried online dating,” I said in my defense. “A quest sounds romantic to me.”

Skyla shoved her finger down her throat and stuck out her tongue in mock revulsion. Although, with her, the disgust was probably real.

Baldur pushed aside his empty mug and leaned back in his chair. “I’d rather be overly cautious and assume the things Magni reported to me are connected. Nina goes missing, Mani’s offspring is killed, and Sol’s many times great-granddaughter is threatened. The last time I was weakened like this, Chaos got its way. What happened in the past was necessary to bring cleansing and balance to the world. This time I cannot speak as to what is happening, but it’s all too uncanny for my taste.”

“So, Nina is your wife?” Skyla asked.

“Yes, my wife.” Baldur paused and took a deep, steadying breath. “She was Nanna in the early days, but she’s better about evolving with the times than I am.”

“And she is reincarnated?”

“I have the power to make her eternal, slow her aging, extend her life span. But I can’t make her immortal. She still succumbs to illness, accidents, violence. When that happens, we must… start over again. ” His voice broke, and I had to turn away from the pain in his eyes before my own tears betrayed me.

I doubted Mani would come back to me in any form, ever. There was no starting over for us. Was there? “Will that happen to me? Will I start over?” And, more importantly, will my brother?

Baldur shook his head. “I haven’t seen a fully realized incarnation of Sol in thousands of years. She’s more inclined to stasis, I’m afraid.”

“Stasis?” I said, and it came out as a squeak.

“What do you think has happened to Nina?” Thorin asked, taking charge of the conversation again. He seemed to sense when I needed a moment to process.

Baldur looked to Thorin and then to Val. They all three nodded, and Baldur said, “Helen.”

“Helen Locke?” I asked, glad to finally know at least one player in this drama.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Skyla said to me before anyone else had a chance to speak. “I tried to call you before you went to dinner, but you didn’t answer your phone.”

My gaze turned to Val. I had been afraid the caller was him instead of Skyla. As if reading my mind, Val glowered at me until I looked away.

“I think she’s related to, or is, Hela, the ruler of the underworld,” Skyla said. She waited, but when no one tried to correct her, she continued. “Hela had a thing for Baldur, kept him trapped in the underworld with her until Ragnarok forced her to let him go.”

“She’s wanted him back ever since,” Val said, his nose wrinkling in disgust.

“So, go to Helen and get Nina,” I said and immediately regretted it. Everyone stared at me as if I had sprouted a second head. “It’s not that simple, though, is it?” I slid down the wall and buried my face in my arms folded across my knees. “It’s never that simple.”

“So, what do we do?” Skyla asked.

“That’s the imperative question,” Baldur said. “We need to contact Helen.”

“I don’t think that will be too hard,” Thorin said. “I’ll bet she’s itching to get her hands on Solina after our last meeting.”

“No, no, I’m good,” I said, waving my hands as if shooing away an annoying fly. “I’m good with sitting here and pretending like everything is normal for as long as I can get away with it. I don’t want to play the role of bait anymore. Maybe Skyla can be my understudy. Did you guys know she was a marine? She might even be a Valkyrie. She’s way tougher than me. Let her go chasing after the ruler of the underworld.”

“Girlfriend,” Skyla said. Her face wore a pained look. “You’re babbling.”

“It’s late,” Val said, pushing back his chair. He rose to his feet. “Why don’t we all get some sleep and look at this from a fresh perspective in the morning.”

“Sleep,” I said. “Best idea I’ve heard today.” I rolled onto my feet and moved closer to my bedroom door, a gesture meant to inspire the others to leave.

While Thorin and Baldur arranged for his lodging, Skyla came over to me and squeezed my shoulders. “Don’t give up now, Solina. Things are starting to get interesting.”

“Interesting? I’m not sure you and I have the same perspective.”

“We’re finally starting to get some answers.”

I hacked a sharp laugh. “Answers that just keep raising more questions.”

Skyla pulled me in for a hug, and I slung my arms around her, thankful to have her holding me up, keeping me strong. “Be careful with Val,” she said. “I think he’s still looking to take revenge for your disappearance with Thorin.”

“You could spend the night. We’ll paint each other’s nails and watch John Hughes movies. Or we can sharpen knives and clean your gun while you tell war stories. Just don’t leave me to deal with his ego alone.”

“I’ll help you with your wolf problems, but I cut my assistance off at bullheaded boyfriends.” Skyla inhaled a huge, noisy yawn and stretched. “It’s getting past my bedtime. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.” Baldur and Thorin followed Skyla out the door without a word, and I didn’t stop them to ask where they were going. But everyone’s abrupt departure left me alone in the company of the Patron Saint of the Perpetual Erection.

I looked at Val and gulped. He smiled like a hungry vulture. Val didn’t worry me, but neither was he a witless, unassuming stranger who didn’t know better than to underestimate me. Confrontation was inevitable between us. Even if it was merely a clash of wit and personality, I dreaded the emotional hurt it would cause.

“You’re going to stay here, aren’t you?” Val said.

“Sure. It’s as safe as anywhere else I could go. Safer, maybe. My stuff is here. It doesn’t impose on anyone.”

“Are you going to make me leave?” Val asked, stepping closer.

“You have a place to stay.”

“But you aren’t there.”

“You got that right.”

Val’s smile drooped. “C’mon, Solina, why are you being this way?”

“Do you really have to ask me that? Like you don’t know that you’ve given me reason to doubt you?”

“Would you have believed me? If I had tried to explain it all to you from the beginning, can you honestly say you would you have believed me?” Val reached forward and cupped a hand to my jaw. A long time had passed since anyone had touched me without pity or grief. I never knew what a heady thing that could be. “Put yourself in my shoes. Knowing what I knew, the danger you were in, having no way to really tell you, but knowing you needed protection anyway… what would you have done in my place?”

I looked down, unable to meet Val’s gaze as I processed his question. I understood his reasoning, and he presented a solid argument. I still wanted Val to be the man I thought he was before I came here, the guy who was there for me when my brother no longer could be. Did the past week – his reticence to tell me the truth, his deceitfulness – erase all of that? These waters between Val and me were unfamiliar and murky, and I didn’t know how to proceed.

“You would have pushed me away,” Val said. “You would think I was crazy. You would have gone back home where you would have been easy to pick off, and I couldn’t let that happen. Not again.” Val’s breath brushed over my face as he leaned in closer. His nearness was intoxicating. I wanted to believe him. So very badly, I wanted to believe him, and I wanted to stop feeling so damned lonely all the time. “I am here for you.” Val’s mouth laid a humid path along my jaw to my ear. “Nothing about my dedication to you and Mani has changed.”

My eyes slid shut, and I let my head loll. Val caught it, knotting his fingers into my hair. “Solina?” Val rubbed his lips over mine as he said my name.

“Hmm?”