Chapter 26 Dörr
D?RR
My queen. So courageous despite her initial fear. I stood at her back, arms shifted into brutal swords, wings cocked and ready to leap into her defense, but there was no need.
She forced the god of mischief from her home with her very own power.
As soon as he disappeared, she lifted her bleeding wrist to me.
I quickly licked the wounds closed and cleaned her skin of any trace of blood.
I couldn’t resist allowing a low rumble of hunger and pleasure to roll from my chest. “He lies, my queen. In your darkest hour of need, I will be at your back, just like I am now. Nothing will ever force me from your side.”
“And I will always hear you,” Heimdallr added. “You won’t even have to be able to speak my name aloud. I will hear your thoughts and attend to you at once, from anywhere the Bifrost can reach.”
Still holding Clara’s hand, Helayna leaned back against me, allowing tension to bleed away. She sagged for just a moment, her body shaking. “Did it work? Or will he be able to reappear inside the blood circle?”
“With Loki, who can say?” Heimdallr replied.
“It certainly drove him away now, so count it as a win. Your magic is a formidable obstacle he must heed. But also don’t assume he will never pop back inside the blood circle when you least expect it, because no one’s better than him at finding a way to weasel through a loophole. ”
“Great.” She straightened, shaking her head ruefully. “I sent a mental warning to Eivind in case Loki decides to approach him, but I don’t know my brother will take it seriously.”
Clara gave her a concerned frown. “I don’t know if you’re aware of Narve’s lineage, but he’s descended from Loki as well through Fenrir.
I admit, I always worried Loki would use Eivind to try and start Ragnarok.
Perhaps that’s why he’s always feared being chained so much.
He doesn’t want to end up trapped like Fenrir. ”
“He runs to avoid his fear.” Heimdallr shook his head. “Which only brings his greatest fears to fruition.”
“Now he burns with sunfires,” Helayna said softly. “He’s a danger to Karmen. The wolf who swallowed the sun. I wish I could warn her.”
“I’ll reach out to the Isador consiliarius so they can get word to her,” Clara promised. “I’m sure she’s well protected by her Blood, but it won’t hurt to warn them.”
“There might be other hints in Loki’s words,” Heimdallr said.
“The trickster loves to play games, after all. So there’s a reason he mentioned Mjolnir by name, whether he intends to help or harm, I can’t say.
I can see everything on the rainbow bridges in all the Nine Worlds, but even I don’t know where Thor’s Hammer is. ”
Myrk landed beside us. “Then perhaps we should find him.”
“Where do we start?” Helayna asked.
“We start by getting you inside and comfortable,” Clara said firmly. “Your staff is eager to meet you, and it’s already been a long, eventful day.”
She introduced several new wide-eyed humans to our queen.
I feared our winged appearance might be the cause of alarm, but I’d rather be dark alfar if the god returned.
Helayna didn’t mind our appearance—and her safety and comfort were paramount.
Clara evidently agreed, for she insisted we get Helayna inside the house.
To my dark alfar eyes, this house was certainly grander than the one we’d left.
Soaring ceilings of creamy stone and polished metals.
Large, formal rooms. A table long enough for thirty or more guests, laden with enough food to keep even Gunnarr satisfied for hours.
Though personally I didn’t like being among so many humans.
At least the home was on the sea at the very edge of the bustling city, but my ears picked up the constant clamor of cars, planes, ships, and people nearby.
Hopefully we hadn’t brought any undue attention to the house, especially Myrk and Svar flying overhead.
The new Blood might be a god, but he made no extravagant demands on our queen, pretending to be just another Blood like the rest of us.
He made no objection to not sitting at her right hand—my seat—or her left—Clara’s.
Even when the human stepped away for a few minutes.
He didn’t proclaim himself a god to the other humans.
Yet I had seen him in action. Without any hesitation, he’d attacked while allowing me to shield our queen, as if we’d rehearsed for just such a threat.
If Loki had been physically present, he would’ve been hard pressed to escape Heimdallr’s golden sword.
As if he sensed me thinking about him, he met my gaze.
“You did well coordinating our queen’s defense,” he said. “It’s handy to have several Blood capable of flight.”
Myrk grunted. “Though we’d be fucked if it was daylight.”
“What I’m hearing is if we’re going to be moving from house to house, it’d be best to travel at night,” Helayna said.
“Which is easy in the winter months.” Clara returned to her seat with a smile.
“We may need to re-think your travel during the midnight sun. I just talked to Kevin Isador, and he promised to pass along a word of warning to Karmen’s consiliarius, though I now have Dagny’s number and can communicate with House Sunna.
He also reminded me of the phone he gave us in Minnesota and confirmed Karmen’s phone does work where she is if you want to talk to her directly.
Though of course it’s always polite to go through a queen’s consiliarius first.”
“Oh good!” Helayna replied. “I’m glad House Isador was able to put Karmen in touch with her consiliarius. I’m sure Dagny will be as instrumental in helping her as you’ve been for me.”
Clara blushed. “It’s my greatest honor to help you in any way possible, my queen. Speaking of which, Franz confirmed Grimley’s team sent over several racks of clothing before they returned to London. Everything’s ready for you to examine in the queen’s suite.”
“My mother’s rooms?”
“No, your grandmother’s former suite. Helle had her own suite here. Would you rather switch suites? I’ll have Franz—”
“No,” Helayna said quickly. “There’s no need to trouble anyone to move us. I was just curious. I would like to see my mother’s former rooms, but it can wait until tomorrow. I’m hopeful she may have left a diary or something for me.”
Clara turned to the human waiting at the door. “Please ask Franz to join us for a moment.”
“At once, ma’am.” The man disappeared.
“I don’t want anyone to go to any trouble…” Helayna began.
Clara patted her hand. “As I’ve said many times, your requests, wants, or wishes are never any trouble.
I merely want to ask him if he’s aware of anything your mother might have left for you.
Besides, he’s eager to make himself useful in any way.
In fact, I’m sure he and Pàtair are likely in a friendly competition to see whose house will win out and claim your heart. ”
Helayna laughed softly. “There’s no competition in that regard. I feel much more at home in Vík than here. This house is beautiful but it’s not… mine. If that makes sense.”
Clara smiled, her eyes glimmering with tears. “That warms my heart, my queen, for I had it built with you in mind. I hoped you would love the house enough to make it your home.”
“My tree is there. I flew over the ocean there.” She tipped her head against my shoulder. “I nearly lost Dorr on the beach. Our blood mingles in the earth and makes it ours.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I could fall from outer space to the deepest trench in the ocean in seconds and still put myself back together. I will find you, even if I must crawl to your side. You will never lose me, my queen.”
HELAYNA
Franz was a short round man with curly blond hair, mustache, and beard immaculately groomed into sweeping curves and waves. He wore an old-fashioned wool suit coat with tails, a starched white, frothy neckcloth, gleaming black boots to his knees, with a gold watch chain tucked into his waistcoat.
He took my hand and bowed like a courtier from a previous century. “Your Majesty, it’s such an honor to have you ensconced under our roof in Reykjavík. It’s been so long since an Ironheart queen graced us with her presence. How may I assist you?”
“Thank you for the warm welcome, Franz. I was curious if my mother, Helle, had any personal papers or journals that I might look through?”
He frowned—as if devastated he couldn’t pull said journal out of his own pocket to lay on the table before me.
“Not that I’m aware of, Your Majesty. Her room is exactly as she left it, other than normal cleaning, of course.
There is a desk in her suite. It’s possible she may have tucked something into the drawers to save for you, but she gave me no notice of any such offering to pass to her daughter.
Would you like to search the suite tonight? ”
“No, thank you. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”
He nodded. “I’ll unlock the suite personally to ensure it’s ready whenever you care to examine it. When you retire for the evening, I’ll show you where the rooms are.”
“Perfect.”
Glancing at my plate—which I’d barely touched—he wrung his hands.
“I hope you find this evening’s dining selection satisfactory.
I told that fool we had dinner well in hand without his so-called expertise.
I’ll be ever so devastated if we must admit defeat and hand the kitchen over to him entirely. ”
“I heard that,” Pàtair retorted, poking his head into the room. “You’d be a fool not to use my expertise when I’ve had the pleasure of feeding our queen several times already.”
I glanced over at Clara to gauge whether this was a serious disagreement, and she winked at me before adding, “You’re both fools and deserve each other.”
More at ease, I picked up my spoon. “My apologies to the kitchen, Franz. I’m afraid I… snacked… on the ride over from Vík. My appetite isn’t quite what it usually is, but everything is lovely. I’ll be sure to sample a little of everything.”
“Can’t fucking wait,” Myrk muttered, drawing an elbow from Lokken.
Heimdallr laughed, his golden eyes glowing like warm burnished coins. “I’m looking forward to the next course, but of course we must save room for dessert.”
“At once.” Franz bowed and rushed over to where Pàtair hovered. They whispered low but furiously and then disappeared into the kitchen.
I sipped some of the soup, savoring the rich broth and tender root vegetables.
“It’s called kjotsúpa,” Clara said. “We thought you might like to try some traditional Icelandic and Scandinavian dishes while we’re here.”
“It’s delicious.”
Franz brought in the next course and personally set my plate before me with a slender plank of tender white meat and creamy yellow sauce. “Fresh grilled langoustine with fermented honey and pickled plums. Enjoy, Your Majesty.”
The delicate white fish was flaky and sweet with a hint of charred taste making each bite exquisite. The next course was braised lamb, so tender and succulent the meat simply fell off the bones. Then fresh, hot tea with a round, dense brown bread served warm with whipped butter and honey.
“Rúgbraue,” Franz said. “Baked as traditionally as possible in the ground. Sometimes called thunder or hot-spring bread.”
The scent of BlóDberg tea brought tears to my eyes. Franz began to wring his hands again, so I quickly reassured him. “These are happy tears. It smells like home to me. Thank you so much, Franz. Everything has been lovely.”
“There’s still dessert if you’d like.” Franz glanced down at Gunnarr. “I hear your Blood particularly enjoy chocolate cake, and we make an incredible dessert to be sure.”
“This delicious bread is plenty for me.” I couldn’t resist meeting Heimdallr’s gaze again, checking to see if his eyes were still as warm as they were before. No. They were hotter and brighter like solar flares. “Though I’m sure my Blood would love dessert.”
He licked his lips. “I will indeed.”
Franz looked extremely confused as I took a long drink of the tea and then set my napkin aside.
As I started to stand, Heimdallr leaped to his feet and moved around the table.
Dorr immediately stood with me, and I tucked my arm into his.
“I’d like to retire for the evening, Franz.
Though please, everyone, enjoy your dessert.
Dorr will give you your orders as usual. Good night, Clara.”
She might be human but from the sparkle in her eyes and the pink in her cheeks, she knew exactly what kind of dessert was on my mind. “Good night, Your Majesty.”