to preserve his legacy and future. He had to destroy his opposition so completely whatever survived the apocalypse would immortalize it in hushed tales and epic song.
And to do that, he had to make an example out of Annabel.
“I have given much to get where I am,” he mused as she struggled to summon another fount of magic. “You’ve heard the stories, no doubt—how I learned magic; how I plucked out my own eye. None of this was handed to me. That’s the trouble with you younglings. You want it all just as badly as those who came before you…”
My heart shuddered so hard it nearly stopped. Odin was standing over Magni, gazing down into the young god’s face not with anger, nor disappointment, nor contempt—but with complete and utter apathy writ upon his face.
“…but what are you willing to sacrifice to get it?”
“No!” I shouted, intending to lunge at the god-king’s exposed back, but my muscles failed me. I dropped to my hands and knees, clutching at my chest as if I could somehow reach the void within where my magic ought to be. Annabel had drawn from me so much, the well was all but dry. I could barely stand, let alone wield my daggers against the All-Father, even as a slow and terrible smile began to spread across his face.
“What are you doing?” Annabel demanded. Her mounting panic sizzled through our bond, compounding my own and joining with cacophony of fear and fury emanating from the rest of her mates. “Stop!”
“I am teaching this brave new world a lesson,” Odin replied as she frantically tried to siphon just a little more magic from me. But I was tapped; if I gave her any more of myself, it would have to come from my very soul.
Odin turned his head from Magni then, regarding his ravens. “Bear witness—the goddess of love is dead, and so too shall be the last vestiges of her power.” And then to me, he added, “Your matebond has doomed you. It has become a weapon in my hand. Were it not for your foolish attachments, I would have to stand against all of you, but now… well, why kill all of you when just one will do?”
Annabel paled. My brothers roared, cursing and spitting as they tried in vain to out-muscle the magic holding them to the ground. Modi cried out, doing his best to reach for his sibling, but even his terror could not overpower Odin’s will.
“Brother…!” he gritted, straining against his bonds with all he had.
It wasn’t enough.
Magni seethed, teeth bared, and he hissed through them at his grandfather, “You’re… a coward… killing me… on my back…”
Odin only smiled. “Oh, my boy. All your days, I’ve tried to teach you the benefit of working smarter, not harder. But you never did heed a word I said.”
He raised his staff higher, a cold white light spiraling around it, creeping along its length where it culminated near Odin’s clenched fist. There it blazed, casting out the shadows from the room, replacing them with a luminescence so blinding that to behold it was to stare into the sun.
Annabel shielded her eyes, voice trembling when she said, “I can’t let him do this, Grim. I’m sorry. Please understand…”
And all at once, I did. I understood completely. For the first time, without doubt, or fear, or shame, I knew what I had to do.
She began to rise just as Odin aimed one last barb at me: “I told you it was a weakness.”
Without warning I grabbed Annabel’s cloak, using it to pull myself up at the same time I pushed her down, back to the floor and some semblance of safety. She grabbed for me, screaming my name, but it was too late. I’d made my choice.
I wished I could tell her it would all be okay, but there was no time, and no way for me to know for sure. This half-baked plan that had struck me sure as lightning was little more than a desperate gamble, but it was all we had—all I had left to give.
A leap of faith; all I could do was hope I wouldn’t crash and burn, or I’d leave Annabel and the others in the same dire straits Magni’s death would bring about.
But if I didn’t intervene, that fate was assured. And so I rolled the dice, slammed shut my connection to my mate, and drew upon the remnants of magic in the wellspring of my soul.
It was just enough