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AS SOON AS THE breaking news ended, Reyfyre stood and started to gather his things, piling them on the kitchen table as if he were planning to leave.
“What are you doing?” I turned to him with every muscle aching from our sparring in the woods.
“We’re too close to that cave.” He pointed out the window.
I had no idea how far we were from the cave that had kept me in chains for millenniums. But from the way Reyfyre moved, it was not far enough away to keep trouble at bay.
I glanced out the window at the wilderness surrounding us. There wasn’t even a town within a hundred miles of where we were. At least, that was what he kept telling me since we arrived. “You’re being overly dramatic.”
He stopped and sent me one of his searing glares. Anyone else receiving that sharp stare would wither away, but I just rolled my eyes. The low growl of disdain that came from him wasn’t unusual when dealing with me. We tolerated each other for our common goal, despite his hand on my leg to calm me during the press conference. That was his sanity check for me. It was part of his nurturing me back to life.
“When my gut tells me to move, we move.” His hard gaze bore into me as if willing me to get moving, too. “Gather your things.”
“And what if I do not want to?” I crossed my arms, aware that I was being obstinate, but I had grown comfortable here in our hideaway in the wilderness. And going out into the unknown world had me digging my heels in.
“Then I will leave you and when they come to collect you, I probably will see your execution on the television.”
His tone already condemned me.
My stomach dropped. He’d leave me to die?
Of course he would.
Reyfyre wouldn’t put his life on the line for a Valkyrie.
“Even if Thor and Odin find me here, they will not recognize this form. I have no wings. You’ve changed my hair. I am wearing sweatpants and T-shirts now, not armor. They would never suspect.”
He stopped packing and marched to stand in front of me. His chest heaved with aggravation. “Do not underestimate your enemy.” He repeated my own words back at me and then waved at the surrounding house. “We live off the grid. That’s enough to make them suspicious. Never mind the magical signature here to make that thing work.” He pointed at the television and backed away, returning to his packing regimen.
I knew I was being irrationally stubborn because I was leery of this world. “Where will we go?”
He glanced over his shoulder at me but this time his gaze didn’t carry the sureness he had a moment ago. “The most populated area in this hemisphere. New York City. Far enough away from the capital where they now reside, but close enough to get there within a day when we figure out a viable plan to take them down.”
“And with that many people around, where will we train?” My hands slammed into my hips with attitude as I dug in harder.
“We will find a place. Maybe not for sword fighting, but there are several self-defense studios that we can join. It’s the city where I learned of you, and it is big enough to get lost in.” He continued building the pile on the table, silently moving his lips.
He was either cataloging what we would need or cursing me.
“Do we have a place to stay?”
The way he sucked in his lower lip and scanned this place told me enough, but he shook his head to confirm my suspicions. “We’ll have to figure that out when we get there.” He took a breath. “And in order to stay together, we have to pretend to be a couple. Otherwise, we won’t be able to stay in the same shelter.”
I raised my eyebrow at him. In this rustic cabin, we each had our own room, so the idea of sharing space bristled the hair on my neck. My lips pressed together to keep my mouth from running off at the idea.
“I’d sleep on the floor,” he said. “Assuming we are given a private room. If not, well then, we’ll just have to spoon on a cot for a night or two until I can find us an inconspicuous place.”
“Spoon on a cot?” My voice cracked.
“Yes. So, make sure you bring pajamas. They don’t take kindly to vagrants sleeping in the nude.”
“And how do you know that?” I challenged with the narrowing of my eyes.
“Because I’ve lived in Manhattan. When you’re a poor outcast, you have to learn to accept handouts. You have to learn to survive, even if it means letting go of your ego and accepting help.” He eyed me. “You learn to be humble.”
I smirked. Reyfyre humble? Ha. In some ways, he was more self-righteous than Thor. But at least Reyfyre had walked in poverty and done something to warrant his pompous behavior.
Reyfyre glared at me and then crossed to the closet and grabbed two heavy-duty backpacks—the kind you would see on those survivalist shows where the people were out in the wilderness for days. He tossed one to me and I caught it, but nearly fell over from the weight. “Make sure to wear your good hiking boots. We have a long walk to civilization.”
I had no frame of reference of this realm, with the exception of the distance in days from the cave. I had been awake for some of the trek, and it had taken Reyfyre a little over two weeks to get here from there. And we were in an area that actually had sunrises and sunsets, which was welcomed after extended periods without one or the other. I could at least experience the passage of time again in a more normal sense.
“Will there be sunrises and sunsets?” I asked, hesitant to give up that unique experience.
Reyfyre stopped what he was doing and cocked his head. The creases on his forehead deepened as he studied me. When his gaze softened and he took a breath, I knew he read my hesitation for what it truly was. I was purposely stalling because everything outside our little cabin and training grounds was the great unknown. “On most of this planet, you have sunrise and sunset every day. Did you not have that on Asgard?”
“We did, and it was glorious when the suns passed each other in the sky. But in the cave, there wasn’t lighting changes as there had been in Greece or here.”
He kind of smirked, as if this conversation finally made sense to him. “The regions in the extreme north and south have extended days and nights that last for half the year. The cave where you were imprisoned was in the extreme north.”
“I do not wish to go to those areas.”
“Neither do I. They are frigid. Much colder than this remote Canadian landscape.” He nodded toward the window and the spring in full bloom outside our windows. “But where we are going has none of this quiet. It’s noisy and smells like garbage and body odor.”
My eyebrows rose at the disgusting sensory imagery. “Then why are we going there?”
“Because we need to blend in. We need to hide in plain sight. Here, we are exposed now that they know you’ve been freed.” He began to pack again. “We will be leaving before nightfall, so you need to get moving.”
“Isn’t this your home?” I knew I was stalling, but I couldn’t help it. His description had me uneasy at the very least—as did leaving this place, and my obvious sense of comfort here.
“No. This isn’t my home. This is the place I built after my parents were murdered. It’s just a building, which will be destroyed as soon as we leave.” He jammed more clothing than I thought possible in the bag. “I’ve never had a home.” His gaze flicked to mine and then back to his task.
A bloom of pity worked its way into my stomach. “I’m sorry.”
“Do not be sorry. Just get your damn things packed before our luck fails.”
I stared at him for a moment and then nodded, heading to my room to sort through the small number of things that I called mine. Although I didn’t want to leave this place, I was also not ready to face either Odin or Thor. I could easily be overtaken and locked back up in that hellish cave for another three thousand years. A cold sweat that nearly seized my muscles swept through me at the thought, but I shook it off.
I focused on rummaging through my drawers, pulling out all the clean clothing that I wanted to take with me. I also grabbed two pairs of comfortable shoes and brought them to Reyfyre to put in the backpack. I headed back into my room because the pile of dirty laundry needed my attention. Tomorrow was our normal laundry day, so my basket was almost full and there were things in there that I didn’t want to go without. I sorted out the clothes I could leave behind and folded those I wanted with me. I grabbed my knives that Reyfyre had given me over the last few months and then scanned the barren room. My comb and brush and hair ties on the bureau caught my eye, and I swiped them onto the pile. My comfortable boots and jacket were the only things left.
When we finished stuffing all my things into my backpack, I headed into my room and pulled on my boots before I grabbed my coat off the bed. I gave the room a once-over, pulling open drawers and such before I glanced back at the bed. I grabbed the soft blanket folded at the foot of the bed and brought that out as well. It was something Reyfyre had conjured for me, and I slept snuggled in it every night. I could go without the pillow, but this gave me a sense of peace, as if he had charmed it in some fashion.
I folded it as I crossed to my bag and shoved it inside. There was still plenty of room in the pack. It was almost as if these things were enchanted to hold everything needed but not feel like they were a hundred pounds.
Reyfyre gave me a nod as he stuffed canned and preserved goods into the bags along with the dried jerky he’d made over the last few months. It was enough for me to dread trying on the pack. I was sure I’d just keel over backward from the weight.
When he waved me over, I put on my coat and prepared myself for the weight. He slipped it over my arms and when he appeared in front of me to secure the pack, my eyebrows rose. It felt no heavier than a blanket thrown over my shoulders.
“They’re charmed, aren’t they?” I asked.
He smirked and put his on his back, clasping it without so much as a word. The last thing he attached to the packs were our swords and sabers. He grabbed his hunting rifle by the door as he headed outside.
“You have the bullets, right?” I pointed at the gun as we crossed the threshold.
“Yes. I have everything we will need on our trek across country, along with papers to cross into what used to be the United States.” He strapped on snowshoes, despite the fact there was little snow in our glen. He handed me a pair as well.
I didn’t second-guess him because that usually was when he schooled me on something. Instead, I slid my shoes into the webbed feet and tightened the bindings.
We clomped across the forest floor, and he took my hand when we reached the magical barrier surrounding the land the cottage resided on. Once he pulled me through the magic that had been protecting us for the last nine months, I understood the need for snowshoes. Although our haven seemed to be in full spring bloom, the rest of the world outside was layered in winter snow deep enough that if I was just in my boots, I would probably be buried waist high and unable to move.
When we stepped out of the woods into the open air, it was as if we had crossed into a different world from where he’d kept me for the last nine months. Mountains towered around us, and although I had seen ghosts of them at the cabin, here they were in stark relief to the bright sky.
“Canadian Rockies,” he said in a soft voice, as if he almost revered these hills of rock and snow. Then he turned back toward the cottage and magic spilled out of his hands, racing toward the barrier like a mass of bullets.
A thundering bang echoed, and I spun around on ground that shook underneath me. A bright plume of light burst through the woods and rolled up at the point where Reyfyre’s magical wall stood. The trees trembled from the blast, and then dust rose above the woods in a billow that was swept away from us by the wind.
“There’s no going back now.” Reyfyre smiled at me and continued to trek toward the towering mountains as if this were just a small hike and not one that would test our alliance.
I zipped up my jacket and pulled the hat and mittens from my pockets, donning them as we moved forward. The fact Reyfyre destroyed our home settled in my bones, along with a dread as to what was to become of us.