“Wait here,” Jens ordered, stomping toward the door.
“Jens, calm down. We’re never going to get through me telling you what you missed if you fly off the handle every time you hear something upsetting.”
He turned, incredulous. “He molested you! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go collect that Olaf guy’s hands. Let him try that again.” His jaw was tense, along with every other muscle. He was wound up like a spring and ready for a fight. “And Foss kissing you? I understand the stuff you have to do for show, but I think I have a right to black his other eye for the stuff he did in private.”
I sighed, wondering if telling Jens the truth had been the best route. “Look, it was both of us. I was drunk on accident, and Foss was all mixed up because of the fiddle music. You can’t black his eye for that. Otherwise you’ll have to black mine, too, because I’m just as much responsible.”
He stood in the middle of the room, and I could feel his internal debate at wanting to go after Foss. Finally, he exhaled a portion of his anger. “Fine. Fiddles and Gar can make you crazy. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a ton of regrets from both those things. It didn’t go any farther?”
“Of course not. And I told you about it first thing. I’m not trying to hide anything. We weren’t ourselves.”
“Yeah, okay. I’m actually impressed all you did was kiss. This one time a while back, I was helping Foss out with a few thieves and accidentally…” He shook his head. “Never mind. You don’t need to hear that.” He postured again, the urge to fight returning. “But Olaf? He signed his death warrant assaulting you.”
I shook my head. “I appreciate the thought, but you’re supposed to be flying under the radar so you’re not suspect when yet another portal gets destroyed.”
His frustration turned on me, and despite his childishness, I grinned. It was just so great to fight with him again. His fists clenched at his sides as he fumed. “I can do it without being seen, you know. You can’t tell me things like that and expect me to do nothing. You know that’s not me.”
“I have to be able to talk to you without waking the beast. Newsflash, it’s been a downhill mudslide the entire time. Pace your murderous tendencies and pick your favorite bad guy when the story’s over.” I moved over to him and held his hand, leading him back to the bed. I sat down, but he stood in front of me.
“I hate seeing his ring on your neck. I know it’s fake, and I get why he did it, but I hate seeing you parade around as someone else’s wife. I wish I could give you something that was more than that. Something that meant more.”
“It’s not a competition. Foss and I hate each other. He kept me alive and safe. Be grateful. And for the record, he hates seeing his ring on my neck, too. I hate that it’s here. We’re all pretty miserable.”
“Well, that helps a little. And he hasn’t kept you safe. I saw what that girl did to you.” He looked away, as if the charcoal was still marking my face.
“You can thank Jamie for that, if you’re passing blame around. He got stone drunk. If I hadn’t passed out, it wouldn’t have happened. That wasn’t Foss. He can’t babysit me all the time. He was trying to figure out the portal thing, which is more important than my hair.”
Jens cracked a smile. “It is a sexy haircut, I’ll admit. Loved it long, but this? It’s grabbable hair. Very sexy.”
“Grabbable?”
“Yeah. You know, like this.” He kissed me, leaning me back on the bed so he could hover over my body. His fingers wound in the tresses, clenched into a fist and gently pulled. My back arched of its own volition, and his other arm slid to the small of my back. “Absolutely grabbable,” he confirmed against my lips. I could feel him trying to kiss the Foss out of me.
“Anything that gets you to kiss me like that,” I sighed dreamily.
He glanced down at my neck and frowned. “I still hate his ring on you.”
“How can you be thinking about that right now? I’m all aflutter, and you’re pissed about meaningless jewelry.”
“Aflutter, huh?” He rolled off me onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, his hand resting on his belly. “It’s not meaningless. It’s like he peed all over you. Do you even know what he went through to get that thing? It’s not like he gave you an engagement ring. It’s like he gave you a fourth of a country.” Then he mumbled under his breath, “And his dick.”
I picked up the ring on the string and frowned at it, wondering if I’d see something more than just dollar worth on a leash this time. “Well, I’ll give it back as soon as we leave Fossegrim. Honestly, Jens, it’s like one of the few nice things he did, and he really didn’t want to do it. He said he was doing it for you because he owed you for killing more of the trolls than he did or something.”
Jens rolled his eyes. “Oh, brother. And I hate that you’re sticking up for him. Makes me almost feel bad I blacked his eye.”
I gasped. “Jens! Officially, I’m indignant you struck him, but secretly, I’m fine with it. He needed to be taken down a peg. Macho jerk.” I fingered the ring. “But if he asks, tell him I gave you one of these.” I mimed throwing a fit with my fists in the air and plenty of head-shaking.
“Will do. Too bad Britta and I are going invisible here. The less people put together, the more chance we have at taking the other portals down.” He rolled onto his side and kissed my lips just once, as if to remind himself I was real. I needed the reminder, too. Beneath the bravado, I could tell he had been more worried than he let on. He sighed when he pulled back, twining my fingers through his and placing our hands on his stomach. “Jamie’s kind of a mess. I knew he loved Britt, obviously, but I didn’t know he’d go down like that.”
“We thought you were dead and the others were probably imprisoned. It’s been pretty bleak. Jamie was holed up in his room until last night. Kinda my fault. I didn’t eat, so no matter how much he ate, he kept getting weaker. Though, on the upside, him eating kept me alive. Bonus, I guess.”
“Jamie told me that Foss pushed you around. I notice you kept that out of your little half-story. Skirting around the facts in a dress. Nothing but scandal from you.”
“Jamie has a fat mouth. And Foss is who he is. You can’t really be that surprised. Maybe he’ll come around. Maybe not. After the mission, thankfully I won’t be around him to see how it all turns out.”
Jens stroked the slope of my cheek, sending tiny pinpricks of tenderness through me. “Foss told me about Olaf’s bedslave.”
I swallowed. “You know, I could go the rest of my life never again hearing that precious little term. It’s disgusting. The best word and the worst one mashed together.”
“I can’t believe she tried to poison him. You did a good thing.” He cleared his throat. “Saw her body posted on the property on my way in. You doing okay?”
“‘Okay’ is a generous assessment.”
“Kinda brilliant, you making her drink the poison. But I know you’re probably beating yourself up about that, so I won’t high-five you.”
“Probably best to hold off on that.” I sat up suddenly. “You have the rake, right? What happened down there?”
Jens touched the pouch tied around his neck and ran his hand over his face. “Nik had a plan he didn’t clue us in on. That’s what happened.” He sniffed and rolled onto his back to examine the ceiling again. “I mean, we got into the water without being seen. I took the weed so I could stay underwater longer. Everything’s going according to plan. A few guards swam closer when we got to the portal, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. Nik turns around, shakes his head and pushes me away. He took down the portal before they got to him. No one was right on the portal, but they were close enough to grab him after he destroyed it. He dropped the rake when they nabbed him, and I kifed it. Tried to take out a few Nøkken, but when it was clear Nik was dead and they were going to start searching for the rake, I got out of there. I was on the opposite side of the pond from you guys, but I couldn’t get there without being heard. Pesta’s Mouthpiece is like a friggin’ bloodhound, so I didn’t want to risk it. By the time I met up with Britt, you guys were already gone. Took a while for them to open the docks again, but as soon as they did, we ganked the first boat over.”
“Everyone’s okay? Everyone’s here?”
“No, babe. Nik’s dead.”
I felt so stupid and insensitive. My favorite Nøkken would never again entertain me with his amazing tales of daring feats. “Yeah. I saw his body.”
“He knew what he was doing, too. Saved my life and got himself found out. Good news is they think they captured the guy who’s been tearing down the portals, so they won’t be expecting us at the next stop. I think that was his plan. Bad news is that he’s dead. I think he planned on not making it out alive. And now his name’s ruined. And all those stories he made up so people would believe he was amazing are wasted.” Jens rolled onto his side and stared at my messy curls, deep in thought. “He’s not Nik the Man of Valor. He’s John Wilkes Booth.”