be on our way, and you can return to your plans.”
Hel flicked her eyes to me, then to Annabel, where they lingered long enough that my muscles strained with the desire to step between them.
The queen’s lips twitched up into a surprised smile before she looked back to me. “You wish to return the human to the living? Did you not kill her yourself, my sweet brother?”
I clenched my teeth against the wave of shame at her words. Regret would not help me now. “It was a mistake. A horrible mistake. And now she must be returned to where she belongs—to the world of the living.”
Hel tutted and shifted her focus back to Annabel. A look of mild disdain crossed her harrowed features. “Mistake or no, the girl is dead. No mortal leaves my realm once they have set foot here. No exception was made for Frigg’s son, and none will be made for your mate.”
“Well... the girl is not entirely dead,” Mimir said. “Her physical body was not killed before she came through to this plane, and as it happens, she has eaten of Idunn’s tree. It is possible to return her to the living world without encountering any, ah, unpleasant side-effects.”
Hel tilted her head as she looked more intently at Annabel. Slowly, her lip curved up in another half-smile. “I see,” she said at length. “More lives than a cat, hmm? No wonder he was so adamant she die.”
Cold dread closed around my lungs. He had allied with her too. Of course he had.
“He?” Modi demanded. “You know the identity of he who has brought Ragnarök to our doorstep?”
“Naturally,” Hel said as she gave me a meaningful smirk. “Our goals do align, after all. He gets his revenge, and I… I finally get to leave.”
Bjarni blinked. “What do you mean you get to leave? You’re the queen of this damned place. Leave whenever you bloody want.”
Hel pursed her lips. “Why do you think I never stopped by for family dinners, baby brother? I am bound here until Naglfar sets sail on Ragnarök’s winds. Unnumbered years I have resided here, trapped just as tragically as the souls I rule over. Waiting. So no, I am afraid that I will not be helping the woman prophesized to prevent Ragnarök’s arrival escape her tomb.”
“We could help you change your mind,” Magni growled as he grabbed the pommel of his sword. “I suspect you would quickly come to appreciate your current position if you were to experience the funnel of souls for yourself.”
I gritted my teeth and gave a sharp yank through my connection to Annabel to get the redheaded moron to shut up. All five of them cringed at the brutal jerk on their innermost.
In front of us, Hel’s smile turned sharp and dangerous. She leaned forward to rest an elbow on the arm of her throne and her chin against a couple of fingers. “Do you think, Thorsson? Who knows—perhaps a warrior godling waving a sword around is enough to send the Queen of Death to her own grave. Care to step closer and quench my curiosity?”
I stepped forward quick enough to yank Magni back by his shoulder. The absolute idiot was bristling and ready to prove himself—against the Goddess of Death. I’d always taken him for the slightly smarter of Thor’s sons. Apparently, I’d been wrong.
I gave him a withering stare before I stepped forward in his place. “I am the one who caused my mate’s untimely death. I am the one who will pay any price for her release. If it is a bargain you require, sister, I will give you my life in exchange for hers.”
Annabel’s blind panic at my offer hit me like a cold punch to the gut, but she didn’t speak, didn’t beg me to recant. She only stood there, silent.
Good.
Hel eyed me, an evaluating look, as if she were weighing up the worth of my soul compared to Annabel’s. “An interesting proposal, my brother of Mist and Shadows. How thoroughly a spell Fate must have woven for you to switch your allegiance yet again. I was told you were most eager to betray your brethren and murder the woman destined to be yours. I trust that they know the full extent of your deception, hmm?”
“We do. Your barbs will find no purchase here,” Annabel said, sharp and clear and uncowed. I turned around in horror just in time to see her place Mimir’s head in Bjarni’s arms and step forward. Spine straight and