Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,89

in Oslo, she had forced her way into my innermost, and yet she thought for even a second that Loki’s words might be anything other than poison spewed to sow suspicion between us?

“You dare question my father’s loyalties? You dare question my loyalties? You?”

“Calm down.” Bjarni moved fluidly, his shoulders widening as he stepped between Annabel and me, though he kept his pose nonthreatening. “No one’s taking his word for anything. But you’ve got to admit—it’s odd that Thor didn’t come for us when you called on him, no?”

“Thor has served Asgard for eternity. You will not smear his name in my presence,” I hissed, leveling my glare at him.

When Annabel came to stand by his side, her hand on his bicep as she looked at me with her brows locked in a matching frown to his, I narrowed my eyes further. Just look at them! They were so completely in sync. The picture-perfect pairing. They looked so at ease together, so… right. If it was not for Fate, Annabel would likely still have let him claim her and to Hel with the rest of us.

To Hel with me.

She thought I was sired by a man capable of bringing around the end of the worlds. She thought I was capable of betraying her.

I turned around before my temper got the better of me, stomping into the fog. This time, the chilly dampness of it clinging to my skin was a blessing against the pounding of blood in my temples.

“Modi!” Annabel called after me.

I ignored her, lengthening my strides as I disappeared into the mist.

They let me cool off for the better part of an hour before they came for me.

I knew they had found me before I heard their steps. That aching in my chest from my bond to Annabel eased incrementally the closer she came, and through her, I sensed Bjarni’s presence.

“Not smart to leave Loki unattended in the midst of Niflheim,” I said, not bothering to rise from the fallen log of tree I had been sitting on for the past half hour.

“Not smart to storm off into the fog on your own,” Annabel countered.

I looked over my shoulder at her just in time to see the outline of Bjarni’s hulking figure retreating back into the mist, leaving her in my care.

“I am a god. I can take care of myself."

“I know.” She hesitated for a moment, then stepped closer, stopping just a few feet from me.

I turned back to stare into the nothingness.

“Modi…” Her hesitation was present in her voice too. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Neither of us did.”

I closed my eyes as the throbbing in my blood threatened to return. “You did not mean to upset me, human? Did you not hear me? I am a god.”

I got to my feet and strode past the tree trunk, invading her personal space. She was small, an omega of stature if not of temperament, and I loomed over her. It felt good.

“Fate or no, you do not possess the ability to upset me.”

She rolled her eyes. Rolled. Her. Eyes. “Yeah. Sure. You’re a fountain of Zen—the embodiment of divine calm. Can we cut the bullshit for just a moment? Please? This is important. Can you think of any plausible reason for Thor to ignore your call?”

This again. I bared my teeth at her. “I am warning you, omega, do not repeat Loki’s poison again.”

Annabel huffed, frustration playing across her pretty features. “Modi… I know it’s going to be tough to consider, but… we know there’s a traitor in Asgard.”

“Yes. It is Loki,” I said, eyes narrowed to slits. “Which is why we have got him trussed up and are dragging him all the way back to Asgard.”

“No,” she said. “The traitor is in Asgard, and Loki hasn’t been for a very long time. I’m not saying he’s a saint, but he isn’t the traitor we’re looking for. I think it’s someone else.”

“Someone like my father?”

Annabel grimaced. “I don’t know. But I saw you when he didn’t respond to your call. You know something’s not right about it. I’m not saying we charge in and accuse the god of thunder of anything, but Modi… you gotta be prepared to at least consider the possibility. And… and if he is… the traitor… I need you to tell me you won’t turn on us.”

And there it was. She thought I was capable of turning on her. She had no concept of how profoundly she had changed my very DNA,