sensed the noise behind us dying down, the rowdy Vikings turning their attention to the Allfather.
“We found these fugitives in Trudheim,” the head Valkyrie said, nudging Bjarni with her boot. He growled, but stayed on his knees.
Shimmering ropes were wrapped around his and the others’ wrists, I noticed when we finally made it to the top of the platform. I moved to rush to them, but Modi kept a grip on my shoulder, restraining.
“Wait,” he murmured, bending so his lips brushed against my ear. “You won’t help them by causing a scene.”
“Thor’s halfblooded son gave them passage into Valhalla, breaking our sacred laws,” the Valkyrie continued. “We have brought them to you, Allfather, so that you may judge them for their crimes.”
“Crimes?” Magni growled. “It is my right as an Asa to grant guests of my home safe passage.”
Odin looked at the kneeling alphas. He only had one eye, the other socket covered by a leather patch, and I remembered how Magni had said he’d given one to Mimir.
“Guests, young grandson?” the Allfather asked, fixing his stare on Magni. “Every citizen of Asgard knows Loki’s sons are not welcome here, yet you grant them safe passage? Into my kingdom?”
Magni grimaced, a fleeting look he quickly wiped from his features in favor of stoicism. “I had to pass through Jotunheim and was gravely injured. The Lokissons came to my aid, and in return, I promised them my protection while they remained in Asgard.”
“It was foolish of you to make promises that are not yours to keep,” Odin replied as his one-eyed gaze swept from Magni to the three brothers. “Loki betrayed us all, and as a result, Ragnarök is upon us. The traitor hides behind his foul magic while the worlds are coming to an end, and you sneak his Jotunn bastards in behind our walls?
"I was not pleased when your father insisted we open Asgard for you—the winds advised me that one day your allegiance may return to the Jotunns who bore you. And here you are, on the cusp of Ragnarök itself, showing your true colors at last.”
“I will never align myself with the Jotunns,” Magni growled. “I passed the test you set for me, earning my spot in Asgard. And I have not betrayed you.”
“Yet here you are, harboring three of our enemies. You killed your own family for a place among the gods."
This time, Odin's voice didn’t project through the great hall. It only resonated among the gathered Valkyries and halfgods on the dais.
“You brought the traitor’s sons into our midst, breaking your sacred vow to always protect Asgard. I sentence the four of you to death for treason.”
Three
Magni
“No!”
Annabel’s scream cut through my stupor and I jerked my head to the left. She was fighting tooth and nail in Modi’s bulky arms—whether to get to me and Saga or to claw Odin’s face off, I didn’t know, because her expression was caught somewhere between anguish and murderous rage.
“Don’t you dare put your hands on them, you senile piece of shi—”
Modi clamped a big hand across her mouth, shock plain on his face that the human omega had dared speak to the Allfather so crassly. He was growling orders to hush into her ear, but she was having exactly none of it.
I caught Saga’s eye and saw the fierce look of pride and the curve of his lip as our mate tossed her head back, catching Modi in the nose in her desperate attempt to come to our aid. We’d both expected our fated omega to be meek and subservient, but she was wild as a thunderstorm over an open sea.
“What’s this about?” Odin turned his eye to Modi and his bucking captive, head tilting to one side. “What is the meaning of bringing an untamed pet to Valhalla, grandson? If you can’t keep your servants quiet, they have no place here.”
“She’s not a fucking pet, she’s my mate!” Saga growled, jerking on the chain looped around his torso, but the Valkyrie holding on to the other end didn’t give.
“And mine!” I snapped, the instinct to assert my claim rearing up before I could think better of it.
A murmur rose from the fallen warriors behind us and Odin’s eye widened in shock, but before anyone could speak, a clap of thunder rolled through the great hall.
“Where’s my son?”
Thor had come.
He didn’t take long to arrive on the dais, hurtling into view like a bad-tempered bolt of lightning. Nostrils flared and cracks of energy practically sparking off his skin,