“The hell with that,” Skyla said. “You listen to me, Aleksander Thorin, I don’t care—”

Thorin cut her off. “End of discussion, Skyla. Solina will call you back to update you soon. Bye-bye, now.” He swiped his thumb over the screen and dropped the phone into the console between us.

I stared at him, mouth agape, not quite believing what had happened.

“Have you lost your mind, too?” I said. “I will not risk my life on another wild-goose chase for Baldur. We’re done with that. You said so yourself. Baldur released you from your vow. He’s a god. He has to bear the consequences of his actions. He can take care of himself.”

“No, he can’t,” Thorin said. “He’s out of his mind. He has to be protected from himself.”

The mercury of my internal rage thermometer crept higher. By the way he kept a death grip on the steering wheel, I gathered Thorin was feeling something similar. In another minute, one of us would probably explode. I hoped it wouldn’t be me as my flare-ups tended to be messy.

“To what end?” I asked. “What does going after him do for us in the grand scheme of things? It puts everything in danger. You curse me for taking stupid risks, but when the shoe is on the other foot, it’s perfectly justifiable.”

Thorin pounded his fist on the dashboard. “You don’t understand.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned in. “Then explain it to me.”

Thorin turned toward me, and where I expected to see rage, I found panic and desperation. “There are thousands of years between us, Baldur and me. That doesn’t get wiped away with a few words. It has always been my duty, the God of Thunder’s duty, to protect the Allfather. It’s hardwired in us and not something easily overcome.

“When Baldur came out of Helen’s underworld after Ragnarok, he was shattered. He was wasted and mostly out of his mind. He was supposed to be the next Allfather, but he was a raving, mad ghost of what he used to be. He was—” Thorin choked, coughed to clear his throat, and continued. “He was covered in scars and half-healed wounds from the hundreds of times he tried to kill himself. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t do it, that Helen could keep him alive no matter what he did to himself or what tortures she exacted on him. He kept trying anyway.”

I covered my mouth after it fell open. “Oh my God,” I said through my fingers. “I didn’t know.”

“How would you? But maybe now you understand why I have to help him. I have to find him before Helen takes him again. He won’t survive it this time. She’ll keep him alive, but he’ll be dead inside.”

The intensity of Thorin’s feelings ignited the air between us. I wanted to reach out and touch him, reassure him, but I refrained. Touching him might have brought forth a vision, and I didn’t want to invade the sanctity of Thorin’s thoughts or share in the horror of his memories.

“Of course, you have to go. I’ll go to Skyla by myself. Like you said, Skoll’s off somewhere licking his wounds. I’ll be safe for a little while. I’ll go to the Aerie and learn what I can about what happened, then I’ll come back to Vegas and—”

“No.” Despite my efforts to avoid him, Thorin reached across and grabbed my wrist. I braced myself against the avalanche of images his touch evoked: a scarred and broken Baldur, recently emerged from Helen’s domain as Thorin had seen him so many years before. He was pale and so weak that Thorin had to carry him. Knots and snarls tangled his hair and beard, and he was muttering a litany of senseless words, every one in three being “Nanna,” as Nina was known back then.

I swallowed the sob forming in my throat and jerked away. Thorin scowled and opened his mouth, probably to say something harsh, but he stopped, having noticed my distress. He studied my face. His gaze fell first to his hand and then to mine, and the sternness in his face eased. “You saw it? You saw Baldur, how he was?”

I nodded and bit my lip, afraid to say anything because I was pretty sure the only thing that would come out was a sob.

“So you see? You understand why I have to protect him.”

I nodded again and blinked back tears.

“But I told you I wasn’t going to let you out of my sight again.”

“I can’t leave Skyla.” My voice was low, raspy, broken. “What if this is our chance to track down Surtalogi? We can’t waste this opportunity.”

Thorin turned and stared at the road and ground his teeth together. “Dammit.” He pounded the steering wheel. Three more times he brought down his fist, accentuating his words: “Damn, damn, dammit.” I marveled that the steering wheel hadn’t crumpled under his assault.

I reached to pat his shoulder but drew back. No touching him for a while if I could help it. I didn’t need to see any more of his horrible memories. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Chapter Sixteen

The moment Thorin and I walked through the door of Baldur’s Bellestrella villa, Val swept me up in a bone-crunching hug. Though it obviously pained him to do so, Thorin agreed to our separation, and he all but ordered Val to go to the Aerie with me. Usually, Val would have balked at Thorin’s officiousness, but Thorin’s edict probably mirrored what Val would have done anyway.

“Don’t you need Val to help you?” I asked.

Val scowled at me, but I ignored him. Having Val at my back, a second pair of eyes watching for treachery among the Valkyries, was probably a good idea. If he could do that without expecting anything from me in return, I would have had fewer reservations about pairing up with him.

Thorin shook his head. “By keeping you safe, Val will be helping us all. I don’t like it, but sending him with you is the lesser of two evils.”

Val huffed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I’m confident you’ll serve your purpose if you can keep your focus on the job at hand, rather than trying to get in Solina’s pants.”

Val threw back his shoulders and smirked at Thorin. “How does it feel, going to bed every night with nothing but your self-righteousness?”

“Oh, good God almighty,” I said. “You two are worse than a couple of tomcats whenever you get together.”

Val turned his smirk to me. “Meow, baby.”

I threw out a hand, like a cop trying to stop traffic. “Save it, Val. We’ve got to hit the road. I want to get to the Aerie before the trail gets cold. Skyla’s about to flip out.”

“How’s that different from any other day?”

“Call me as soon as you get there.” Thorin pointed, not quite shaking his finger at me. “I want a play-by-play report. You call me and tell me what you had for breakfast if there’s a chance it has a bearing on the fire sword or Helen.”

Thorin pressed his pointer finger against my sternum. “So help me, if you withhold anything or downright lie, no matter your good intentions, I’ll come for you with chains and an armored truck.”

Thorin likely expected a sharp retort from me, and I really wanted to give him one, but for Skyla’s sake, I sucked down my pride and flashed Thorin a toothy smile. “Sure thing, sugar.”

Val snorted. Thorin frowned.

I rolled my eyes and tugged at Val’s arm. “C’mon, tomcat. Let’s hit the road.”

Val hurried to open the door for me, but I backtracked when I remembered another issue requiring resolution before we all went our separate ways.

“I forgot something,” I said. “I’ll meet you out front, okay?”

Val gave me a sour look but did as I asked.

I turned to Thorin, who watched me, brows drawn down, a frown tugging at his mouth. I reached behind my neck and unfastened the chain supporting Mjölnir. “I think you’ll be needing this.”

Without taking his eyes from mine, Thorin held out his hand. I pooled the necklace into his palm, and he closed his fist around the warm gold. He stepped closer and put his free hand to my jaw. His fingertips rested like a breath on the pulse point in my neck. Surprise and uncertainty rooted my feet to the floor.

“Solina.” Thorin could undo me so easily, saying my name like that—like a prayer. He was possibly nothing more than a manipulator like his cousin, except he had a subtlety Val lacked.

No, I don’t believe that. He’s not devious. Just driven and resolute.

“Please,” Thorin said.

Hearing him implore me, his tone soft and needful rather than demanding and harsh—I might have given him my soul when he talked to me that way. Instead, I steeled myself against his allure.