Chapter 53
Iscoff at the half-naked man before me.
“Jotnar?”
“Jotnar.”
“You think I’m stupid?”
“I said you wouldn’t believe me.”
I’m ripping flowers from their stems and dropping them to the floor as I pace around his barren house.
“Jotnar are gone, Ari,” I say. “Myths from the olden days.”
“You know better than that.”
“How so?”
“You perform magic you didn’t know existed just a week ago.”
I shake my head. He makes a good point. But seriously. This man. A Jotnar? Has he gone crazy? Has he always been crazy? Maybe he likes to suck on rocks after he has talked to them too.
His steely gaze rests on my face. He is calm as a windless night. I felt the flash of frost beneath my hand. It was definitely magic. A magic older than the very mountains we walk on. That feeling reached my bones. I keep his gaze, refusing to buckle and break eye contact.
“What the fuck are you staring at?” I shout.
“Sorry, I… Listen…” He strokes a finger along the scar tissue. “I’ve only told two other people.”
“Oh, that makes it better? It’s your little secret?” I snort, like I’m being funny. “You’re not right in the head, making this shit up.”
“I’m not making it up.”
“Your mama was a giant then?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe your papa was fucking giants?”
“Kilda…” he rolls his eyes with a smile. “I don’t know.”
“This is funny to you?”
“No, I’m very serious.” His grin stays on his face.
“So, what do you know?”
“Very little, I’m afraid.”
“Well shit.” I hold my chin in my fingers. “Jotnar. Doesn’t know. Father is a giant fucker.”
“Relax, please. Sit.”
He taps the bed next to him. What does he think? That I’m just going to sit down and continue our little game of intimacy? A Jotnar and a thrall, just having a good time? He really must be crazy.
My flower picking intensifies as I continue walking from wall to wall.
“Am I safe with a Jotnar? I should leave,” I say, moving to take my basket.
“Please don’t.”
“Why not? If you truly are a Jotnar, how do I know you won’t eat my flesh and suck the marrow out of my bones?”
He laughs, but I’m serious. Many stories tell of violent, hungry Jotnar. Others are described as friendly and beautiful, true, but—
“I won’t eat or suck anything,” he says, seeing that I am not amused. “Thor is a Jotnar, Odin too, many more gods are—”
“Freya isn’t.”
“No, she isn’t, but she’s married to one.”
I huff. It’s too intense to look at the man, so I focus my attention on the flower I am molesting. I feel safe around Ari. He has been soft on several occasions. He is also hard when needed. Protecting Eidunn was an honorable deed. Selfless.
I felt the magic. That is not selfless. It’s a selfish hunger. Mindless cold. A craving pit of darkness.
“Your magic felt like the hammer,” I say, keeping my eyes on the flower.
“What hammer?”
“The one from Sigurd’s hall, of course.”
“It did?”
“That’s what I fucking said.” I look at him with a frown.
He looks surprised.
“Interesting,” he mutters.
“Interesting?” I shout, throwing the flower stems at him. He dodges them easily. “It’s a cursed hammer, Ari!”
“I… it’s just… It’s so hard to find information about us Jotnar.”
“There’s more of you?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Odin knows.”
“So who have you told about your, uh… condition?”
He laughs.
“It’s my ancestry, Kilda, not a disease.”
“Fuck what it is. Tell me who you’ve told.”
“Elof and Ylvin.”
I draw a surprised breath.
“You told Ylvin?”
He nods.
I turn away from him. Ylvin is aware of this? Why didn’t she tell me? That woman and her secrets. Slimy bitch.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“Indeed.”
“So what? You just told them? Out of the blue?”
“They both knew. Elof… knows things.”
“Elof? Muscle man fuck monster Elof? He knows things?”
Ari raises an amused eyebrow.
“Fuck monster?”
“Forget it.” I wave the question away.
Ari stands, holding up the cloth that barely covers him.
Sure enough, his leg is fine. He can walk like normal.
He stretches it out properly with a light groan.
I turn before I catch a rude glimpse under the cloth.
Ari may call me short-tempered. He may accuse me of having a filthy mouth, but wanton? Nope.
I can’t keep the anger and confusion from my face.
“So why are you here then?”
“Here with you or?”
“Don’t act stupid. In Opdal, you’ve been here what, two years? Why?”
“It’s a valley high in the mountains, very scenic and—”
“Cut the shit!”
“Look, it’s hard to explain.”
“I bet it is. Jotnar business, healing frost—too much for a thrall to understand maybe?”
A smile grows on Ari’s face as he sits again.
“You’re not a thrall,” he says.
Tears press behind my eyes. It’s all too much.
“What the fuck am I then?”
“You’re Kilda. Or as you would say, fucking Kilda.”
He laughs at his own joke.
“Ha-ha-ha!” I fake laugh. “So funny.”
I rest my face in my palm. What to do? What to think? Releasing a long breath helps calm my nerves. This all feels like a joke. A big joke.
“I need sleep,” I whisper, more to myself.
“Same here. First a duel, then this. Tiring day.”
“I… well… Thanks for the duel. You’ve saved Eidunn.”
As I bend over to grab my basket, Ari holds my arm with a firm tenderness. I look into his eyes. He seems earnest. Our faces are close, like earlier. Even with all of this, I feel drawn to him. My eyes flicker to his lips.
“I would do it again,” he whispers.
Raising myself abruptly, I force a laugh to dispel the pull that connects us.
“Yes, well, thank you. I have to go.”
I walk briskly toward the door.
“Thanks for the healing, Kilda,” he calls after me.
“It’s not like you needed it,” I say, bearing a stupid smile I can’t erase.
A thought strikes before I reach the door. He evaded my question, the sneaky bastard. Sneaky bastard crow.
“So,” I say as I turn to him, “why are you in Opdal?”
He throws his head back in laughter. A genuine, naked laugh. It’s the first time I’ve heard him laugh like that.
“You’re so inquisitive,” he says.
“So, why?”
“I can trust you, right?” he asks.
“Trust me? You’re the fucking troll giant Jotnar!”
“Promise me not to tell anyone?”
“Fine, Ari, fucking yes.”
“Swear it.”
“I swear on my grave and honor,” I say, remembering how he had sworn that time up the mountain.
“Very good.” He grins. “Swear you won’t ask any more questions about it tonight?”
“I’m exhausted, Ari. I swear. Odin’s ass, just tell me.”
“I’m here to steal something.”
“Steal?” I’m shocked, I hadn’t expected that. “What? From who?”
He stands and stretches his arms, forcing me to turn and cover my eyes. I giggle at his stupid theatrics.
“Just fucking tell me,” I groan as I jump up and down.
“To steal a ring. From the jarl.”