Page 35 of The Fanged One

"I know," he sang back without slowing down. "Myth nerd heaven. You may sob if you wish."

"I don't think I want to know the price tag on half of what's in there," Ciara said behind her.

"Best not to. Discussing numbers is a vulgar practice, and I make a point of never being gauche," Von replied.

A wide staircase curled up to a second floor where Linnea could just make out the edge of a painting in a frame so big it was hung on its own wall. The god in it was facing away from the viewer, looking out at a black sea, and the brushwork looked like nothing she had ever seen in any textbook.

Fenris had gone quiet behind her. She glanced back. His eyes moved over everything, as they had on the drive from Otta, taking it in and filing it away.

"You didn't steal all of this?" he asked Von.

"Of course not," Von replied in a tone that suggested he had only stolen some of it.

The kitchen at the back of the house was a bright room with a wall of windows opening onto a tiny walled garden where snow lay in thin drifts. There was a long oak table that looked like it had been salvaged from a mead hall and dressed up with eight modern chairs. A coffee pot sat steaming at the head of the table with two plates of pastries.

"You even got my raspberry danishes," Linnea said, charmed despite herself.

"I remember the important things." Von pulled the chair out at the head of the table with a flourish and turned to Fenris. "Head of the table for the god of the house."

Fenris sat, and Von dropped into the chair opposite him. He folded his long hands on the table. "Now that I'm as sober as an unfulfilled nun, I need to know everything you do about the Norns and where you think your father would be."

This was the sharp, highly intelligent side of Von that he showed only to people he was close to. Linnea took the chair on Fenris's right, and when his hand moved to settle on her knee, she didn't move it. She liked that he wanted to touch her, and it grounded her when everything about their situation was slightly surreal.

"The Norns saw it first," Fenris began while Von poured him coffee. "My father followed them when he was visiting Asgard. It hit Havi next before Freya, at her loom. They each saw the same thing, in slightly different ways, on the same night. A great devouring darkness was coming for the Nine Worlds. It would eat the sun, eat the moon, eat the stars, and last of all, eat the breath out of every living thing on Midgard. It's what your stories call Ragnarök, and its time is coming."

"But we don't know when, only soon?" Von guessed, and Fenris nodded.

"Havi went mad for a whole winter as he tried to unravel it, searching for a solution," Fenris went on. "He spent every waking hour looking for a path through, but he couldn't find one. Freya searched for a solution when the All-Father couldn't before they went to the Norns. They all saw thousands of futures and watched the dark eat them all."

Layla made a small sound. "Loki was the one who found the answer?"

Fenris's mouth twitched once, faintly. "Yes. My father has always been better at standing in the middle of a problem and following a crooked path through it. They went and asked for his help, just like they always did when they got stuck in a situation. He came back to them in a week with a plan."

"What was the plan?" Linnea asked when no one else did.

"In a word? Sacrifices," he said, folding his hands around his mug to warm them. "A willing sacrifice, from every god whose part the plan touched. None of it could work if any one of them gave the price under coercion. Loki and the Norns were strict on that. If everyone knew they wouldn't play the part they had to."

"My cousin Baldur was the best weapon they had. He's the god of light and of the sun. When he was alive, he was strong, but if he died and was resurrected, he would be even stronger. The plan needed him to choose to become a dying-and-rising god, so when the darkness came at its peak, he could be raised against it. He had to die and agreed to it, whatever the stories say."

Von held up a hand. "Wait, I need something." He disappeared from the kitchen for a moment before returning with a battered leather journal. He flipped through to a blank page and jotted down some quick dot points. "Okay, so Baldur agreed to be killed by the mistletoe."

"And his mother, Frigg, couldn't be told," Fenris continued when Von waved him on. "If she had known, the plan would have failed. Her grief was real, and she tore Asgard apart over it. She demanded my father's blood because the mistletoe arrow was his idea, and Havi had to take her demand and act on it. Frigg eventually walked into Niflheim looking for her son, and she didn't come out again."

"Gods," Layla whispered. "It must have been so hard for Havi and Freya not to tell her. Loki was imprisoned as punishment?"

"Yes. He was taken by Havi and Freya and locked up somewhere where he couldn't be found or released. He was the second sacrifice, and I was the third," Fenris replied, before having a sip of his coffee. Linnea wanted to put her hand over his, but he didn't look upset, only grim. "The story that spread was that I was a monster the gods feared, and they tricked me into Gleipnir to bind me. I went into it willingly. Havi worked the magic, and Týr came forward, offering his hand as the blood seal that would make it hold. He put his hand in my mouth, knowing I would have to bite it off when the binding closed. He's one of the bravest people I have ever known."

"And where does Vidar fit into this?" Layla asked.

"I'm not sure. Why?" Fenris replied, his head tilting.

"He was at the party the other day for Uncle Cosimo's mating."

Von made a choking sound. "What are you talking about Lay Lay?"

"Vidar, the dragon knight, he is like the real Vidar. As soon as I told them about Linnea's note, Taranis told him to go home to Havi because his exile is over or whatever. I wasn't sure if he was a part of this prophecy or not."

"Is everyone a god now? What the hell? Why didn't Vidar say something?" Von spluttered in outrage.