Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Another shard of ice comes at us, and this time it hits me square between the eyes. Pain lances out everywhere, and the last thing I think before I lose consciousness is…
We’re not going to make it.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Aric
I cough and shove a pile of ice away from my face. My eyes burn as I stare straight ahead. Rey’s in my arms, unconscious. The cave collapsed around us, but in front of me is pure light. I reach out to touch it, but a wave of nausea hits me and I feel my eyes roll to the back of my head.
“You’re not worthy!” the man standing in front of me shouts. “You’ll destroy the world and bring about Ragnarök! It was never yours!”
I’m holding a hammer straight above my head as lightning streaks through the sky and splits into the hammer—and into me.
“Do you really think you deserve to live?” I growl as a second man appears. “After everyone you’ve killed? Either of you?”
“We are Gods!” The sound rains down on my ears like thunder, like truth, but I reject it, I reject them as Mjölnir groans in my icy hands.
“You are weak!” I roar, sending the lightning directly at the Gods.
“You’ll end us all!” The man with a broken hammer etched into his golden armor and a helmet sliced half off his head takes a step closer. His eyes are blazing white as he points at me and collapses to the ground, silver blood spewing from his mouth.
I turn to a woman standing next to me, bloodied, bruised—it’s Rey.
What the hell is she doing here?
She reaches for me only to pitch forward, eyes open wide, like she’s just been hit by something. It’s too dark to see. Dammit, why can’t I see?
A knife sticks out of her stomach. “Aric!”
“With the perfect sacrifice,” a rough voice whispers, “Ragnarök…has already begun.”
My body buzzes with an electrified rush, and I can feel the power gathering in the hammer. The sky lights up with another flash of lightning, and suddenly I can see we’re on a battlefield. It’s bloody, everyone is fighting—we’re losing the war even with the hammer on our side.
We can’t lose.
We can’t.
We need it, the hammer needs it.
Frost. It needs frost.
What?
It’s a hushed whisper, but from where? The wind? The hammer?
“Do it now!” someone shouts.
Do what?
What am I supposed to be doing?
“No!” the man with the hammer on his armor shouts. “Don’t do it, you fucking abomination!”
I stare him down while another voice whispers behind me. “You know exactly who you are.”
I let out a roar and jolt awake.
I’m alive. I’m in the cave.
And my entire back burns as if the fires of hell are licking at it. My skin has a pulse, my blood rushes, and even though I see Rey next to me, all I hear in my head for a few brief seconds is…
“Frost.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Rey
I’m covered in ice and snow. The only warmth I feel is coming from Aric’s chest and the blood that’s actively running down my temple. Is it mine? But oddly, I feel no pain. Could it be his?
I lift my hand and wipe it away.
“Aric?” I scramble off him and look up. He’s in a weird daze. The collapse of the melted ice didn’t just take us out—it took out part of the floor of the cave. Thankfully, it looks like we only fell a few feet, so we should be able to get out.
Aric sits up and touches his right shoulder blade. When he brings his hand back around to look at it, I can see it’s covered with specks of red blood and spots of silver.
Does he see it? The silvery blood of a Giant? I’m Odin’s child, and I’ve bled many times before, but I don’t have that in my veins.
He quickly shoves his hand into the muddy ice water next to us and stands. Ah, so he’s seen the silver before, has probably learned to hide it before people ask questions. If he’s ever asked those same questions, I wonder what sort of answers Sigurd’s had for him.
“Are you okay?” he asks, and I’m surprised by how steady his voice sounds, like we didn’t almost just plummet to our deaths.
I nod and slowly get to my feet. “I’ve survived worse. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“I’m not your father, Rey. I don’t just stand by and watch people die—even if they deserve it.” He shoves past me and heaves himself up like it’s nothing, then offers me his hand.
I see something shining out of the corner of my eye.
“Wait.” I kneel down on top of the pile of ice that fell through with us. “I see something.”
Aric lets out a groan. “Another rune?” It’s a simple rock slab with Dalgaz carved into it.
“A rune. Here?”
Aric shrugs. “This region is littered with old runes. Every time someone discovers one, they’ll bring it to the campus for identification. The Anthropology Department has a whole collection.”