Once the gold ring was on her finger, Odin beckoned his two creepy henchmen back to him and left through a door in the wall behind his throne. The two massive wolves trotted out at his heels, leaving Annika and Tyr alone in the huge echoing ice chamber.
Tyr remained on his knees, head bowed, breath ragged. His naturally tanned skin had lost its usual golden hue. He looked pale and defeated.
Tugging the fur coat tighter around her body, Annika crouched before him, trying to control her chattering teeth long enough to speak. "Can you get up?"
His gaze rose to her face. "Why didn't you escape?"
All her life, Tyr's loving presence in her mind had given her the strength to cope when times were tough. How could he believe she would run away and leave him now that he was in trouble?
She reached for his limp hand and pressed it against her cheek. "We can both go now."
With her support, Tyr scrambled to his feet and they headed to the door. The two female warriors standing guard eyed them as they passed through the entrance hall, but made no move to stop them leaving.
Annika clutched Tyr's arm, her feet frozen in nothing but the pink fluffy socks she'd worn to bed. "Will you take me back to the resort? I can still make my flight if I hurry." She didn't want to be parted from Tyr. She had always loved her spirit guide so that meant she loved Tyr, but this whole situation was too weird. She needed time back in her normal world to get her head around it.
Tyr stopped at the door. His breath heaved in and out on a sigh. "Now you wear Odin's ring, you can't leave."
She stared at the ring on the third finger of her left hand and frowned. The band had been loose when Odin's lackeys put it on her. She tugged but it wouldn't budge. "Don't tell me this is supposed to be a wedding ring." The sting of bile burned the back of her throat at the thought.
Tyr laughed, bitterly. "More like a manacle. It ties you to Iceland."
"How? It's just a ring." But even as the words left her mouth, she conceded it was no ordinary ring. She'd watched in disbelief while Odin's ring spawned the band that now hugged her finger like a leech.
"We'll talk when we get back to the resort."
They exited into the swirling snowstorm. "Helga," Tyr called. His huge snow cat approached out of the whiteness.
Tyr swept Annika into his arms, deposited her on the cat's back, and then climbed up behind her. "Hang on tight." He reached an arm on either side of her to grasp handfuls of the cat's mane, then he shouted a command against the wind.
The cat trotted to the edge of the ice platform and jumped into the abyss. Annika hung on to the beast's fur for dear life as her stomach somersaulted. She clamped her thighs against the creature's sides until her muscles ached. The bite of the wind stole her breath, so she closed her eyes and buried her face in the cat's fur, praying they reached the ground in one piece.
Wind whistled past her ears, whipping at her hair. Just as she wondered if they would ever stop falling, the cat jolted beneath her. Powerful muscles flexed as the creature bounded along a trail between the pine trees surrounding the resort. Lights sparkled in the distance, and she heard the reassuring sound of corny Christmas tunes.
The creature halted just inside the tree line, its sides heaving. Tyr jumped off and pulled her into his arms. Annika rested her head against his shoulder, exhausted. The security guard opened the small gate for Tyr with a friendly greeting as if it were normal for him to arrive out of the forest in the early hours of the morning carrying a woman in her pajamas.
Once they were inside her cabin, Annika went to the bathroom to clean up, then changed into dry clothes and wrapped herself in the bed quilt. Now that the ordeal was over, she had started to wonder if she'd been confused about Tyr being her spirit guide. If he'd had a mental link with her all her life, surely he'd have mentioned it by now?
Tyr put on his coat and turned up the heat to maximum. "I hate the damn cold," he said, rubbing his hands together.
"Then why run a theme park in Iceland?"
Leaning back in his chair, he gave her a weary smile. "My father's such a sweet old guy that I can't bear to leave him."
She snorted and pressed the quilt over her mouth. He held up a hand and flashed the ring on his little finger.
A chill swept through her that had nothing to do with temperature. "You said something about it being a manacle, but a ring can't stop you leaving, surely."
Even as her comment fell into the silence, she realized anything was possible. After all, she'd just been rescued from an ice palace in the sky and ridden a flying cat. She fingered the ring on her own hand nervously. "Okay, explain."
"My father's ring is called Draupnir. It's a magical artifact forged by dwarves thousands of years ago. You saw how the ring multiplies. Through the parent ring he controls anyone who wears one of the child rings."
"Why did he make you wear one? Surely he trusts his own son."
"He trusted me just fine until I defied him and did something to help Vali."
"To make you stay here against your will is unfair!"
Tyr gave a hollow laugh. "His world is a dictatorship, not a democracy. Fair doesn't come into it."
"Have you tried to leave?"
He cast her a what-do-you-think glance.
"You're the son of a god. Don't you have any power to fight back?"
"Only what I inherited from my mother. She was queen of the Folletti—they're a type of Italian fairy." Tyr spread his hand and a small golden flame flared from his palm.
Annika's heart raced. "Is that real fire?"
"I'm a fire elemental, but my power's pathetic. My mother was a walking furnace. Even Odin didn't try to keep her prisoner. She'd have melted his empire. She's the one who helped your father escape."
"My father was Odin's prisoner?"
"It's a long story, Annika."
She wanted to know more about the feud between their families, but not as much as she wanted to get out of Iceland and leave all the madness behind. She checked her watch before rising to her feet. Her cab was due any minute. She packed the last few things in her overnight bag, slipped on her coat, and zipped up her boots.
Tyr frowned. "What're you doing?"
"Leaving."
"Didn't you understand what I said about the ring?"
Annika glanced at the gold band gleaming on her finger. She'd soaped her hand and tried to pull the ring off when they reached the cabin, but all she'd done was aggravate her chapped skin.
Tears gathered in her eyes, and she blinked them away. "What am I supposed to do, spend the rest of my life in a cabin at a theme park?" Living with her aunt in London wasn't much fun, but all her possessions were there.
She felt raw and vulnerable at the thought of leaving Tyr and losing any chance of seeing her father again. But her father had already made it clear he didn't want to see her. She needed time to think about her relationship with Tyr.
Tyr stood and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Odin won't let you leave, Annika."
"He doesn't want you to leave because you're his son. That doesn't mean he'll stop me from leaving." She tried to blank out what Odin had said about keeping her as insurance.
"He'll hurt you if you try to leave."
She clutched her hairbrush to her chest. The scary things that had happened over the last few hours felt surreal now. A stupid ring couldn't possibly stop her leaving Iceland.
A knock on the door banished her doubts. She jammed her hairbrush in her bag before zipping it up.
"Annika…" Tyr pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to her temple. He leaned back and stroked the long strands of hair away from her face. "I'm glad I met you. But I wish I'd never summoned you here."
A terrible thought hit her. "How does my aunt fit into this?"
His hands dropped from her face, and he turned away. "Don't go there, Annika."
Fine. Una's obsession with fitness and martial arts started to make sense if she was muddled up with Tyr's world. Annika would get answers from Una when she arrived home.
A shuttle cart collected them from the cabin and took them to meet the cab waiting at the main building. Tyr opened the door for her, then circled the car and joined her in the back.
"You don't have to come—"
"Yes. I do."
On the drive to Keflavik airport, she stared out the side window, unsuccessfully trying to ignore the gold ring that seemed to grow tighter with every mile they travelled. "Tyr…what does it feel like…when the ring punishes you?"
His jaw clenched, his golden eyes gleaming as if lit from within. She wondered if that was his fiery nature showing. "It feels as if your joints are ripping apart and your muscles stretching to tearing point. It's said the old dwarves captured the screams of prisoners tortured on the rack and added that to the gold."
Nausea burned her throat and she pressed a hand over her mouth. She refused to believe a ring could do such a horrible thing, especially to her.
"I'll stay with you until you board the plane. If you feel even a hint of pain, come straight back."
"You don't think I'll get away, do you?"
He gripped her hand so tightly it hurt. "I hope you can, but you're welcome to come back to my place, elskan mín."
Her spirit guide's presence caressed her mind, loving and persuasive. She closed her eyes, sinking into the feeling. She had loved him in her head for as long as she could remember. Now the sensation had subtly changed to include a zing of sexual awareness. She was certain the feeling came from Tyr. But why hadn't he spoken to her about their connection? Didn't he want her to know?
She didn't want to leave him, but she wouldn't confine herself to Iceland like a caged animal. "I know you've got the resort to think about and that's obviously a huge consideration, but if I get out, will you try to follow? I've only just found you. I don't want to lose you."
Tyr flopped back against the seat. "Believe me, I'd leave the resort in a heartbeat if I thought I could be free of my father."
The international airport was busy with tourists arriving for Christmas, many of them with red and white stickers on their bags proclaiming LIVE YOUR DREAMS THIS CHRISTMAS. Annika saw one of the resort buttons on the ground with the same slogan. She kicked it out of her way, but Tyr bent to retrieve it and dropped it in his pocket.
Tyr accompanied her in silence as she checked in and headed to security. She expected him to say good-bye at the security point, but he breezed through with nothing more than a few words to one of the officers.
"How did you do that?" she whispered when she caught up with him by a cafe.
"Fairy glamour. I made them think that I'm dressed in a security uniform."
"You're wearing your fur."
"You see through my glamour. We have an…an affinity."
"I know we have an affinity. I sense you in my mind." She glanced up to gauge his reaction to her words.
His eyes widened in surprise. "You know it's me?"
"I realized when you were rescuing me."
"Annika, ástin mín." Tyr halted, ignoring the people walking past them, and pulled her close. He curved a hand around her cheek. "I pledged to protect you when you were a baby, and I'll always be there for you in spirit. Even if we never meet again."
His sadness whispered through her and suddenly she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. Her job and the few possessions she had in London didn't matter. Her aunt had never cared for her much, and Annika had started to wonder if Una really was her aunt. What did she have to go back for?
She gripped the front of his coat. "Tyr…" She closed her eyes and pressed her face against his neck. Tyr had always been the most important person in her life, even when she had only known him as her spirit guide. But would she be in danger from Odin if she stayed?
Tyr kissed her hair, pressed his lips to her ear. "Although I want you to stay, if you are able to leave, you must go. Be free of my father."
The announcer called her flight. Desperation tore through Annika. She didn't want to leave Tyr, but she didn't want to stay either. This was so unfair.
"Annika." Tyr eased away from her. "Time to go." He kissed her hard, and she kissed him back angry with fate for letting her find her love while making it impossible for her to stay with him. She infused the kiss with all the passion and emotions in her heart to show him what she couldn't put into words.
He pulled away. "Remember, at the first hint of pain, you come back to me."
Her heart thudded as she lined up to present her boarding pass. She did a mental audit of the health of her body. Apart from the hollow ache in her chest, she felt no discomfort. She glanced back at Tyr when she passed through the gate.
"I'll be right here if you need me," he shouted.
Annika's breath faltered as she followed the line through the boarding tunnel. She felt light-headed and part of her longed for pain, for any reason to stop her boarding. When she reached the plane door, an air steward smiled at her and checked her boarding pass, directing her to her seat. Then she stepped over the threshold.
A burning shaft of agony ran up her arm, arrowed along her limbs, burrowed into her chest and belly. The bag dropped from her fingers and she stumbled, collapsed. Someone shouted. Hands gripped beneath her arms. The heels of her boots bumped over the metal threshold as she was pulled back into the tunnel.
The reassuring sense of Tyr's presence flooded her mind and blocked the pain. Strong arms surrounded her. Then everything went blissfully dark.