A Familiar Foe - Book 5

Too Easy (Modi)

I landed on Asgard with a chill spreading from my face through the rest of me, so I dragged my right vambrace across my lips as fast as possible to clear away the frigid sensation of her disgusting skin.

Tyr and Gunnar ran the Bifrost for my quick visit to Narvlheim and greeted me with anxious eyes. "Did it work?" Tyr asked, always half a step behind any of my plans. "Did you meet with the girl?"

"Indeed I did," I said, grinning like I couldn't when in her presence. "A few more visits like that, and Lokisdottir will do anything I tell her to. It's too easy; she's awfully predictable. After all, what girl her age doesn't want to escape her parent's house? Sneak away to go rogue and rebel? She actually believed the birds of Narvlheim could speak with me here." I shook my head and chuckled. "I read her cold like the ice in her veins. She took the bait. If I cement a strong foundation between us, she'll never refuse me...give her anything she wants and force her submission later. It's only a matter of time before she reveals every weakness of our enemy."

Gunnar beamed and chuckled after I finished, though he laughed from both agreement and anxiety. His rounded face almost swallowed his smile, and he had no clever quips to add. He was daft but loyal. It would suffice for now. Humans were just as naïve as Hela was.

Tyr came away from the Bifrost controls and flipped his dark hair from his face. "What's next?"

"Right now? We wait. Tomorrow Vali and his father will be here for the announcement of ranks, and I'll return to Narvlheim as I did today." I strolled to the back of the Bifrost and headed for the palace without asking for Gunnar and Tyr to follow. They would. That was certain. "I've done the hard part and planted a seed—something to make her doubt what she knows. With time, it will grow. I'll feed it with flattery and charm. She'll be mine."

"Yeah, so long as she doesn't tell Lokison what you said," Gunnar quipped.

"Don't be such a coward," I hissed over my shoulder. "He's blinded by his own cares here. Father has some great job for him. Even if she says something, I doubt he'd care. He's empty-headed like all of them. Void of thought and warmth and...a soul, really. But this is a game until he's under my foot. I'll spill Vali's blood one way or another; and just think of it—how delicious will it be if I convince his sister to do it for me?"

Gunnar and Tyr cackled with me as fantasies ran through my mind. Victory was in sight. Time was now on my side. I'd been patient enough, and my reign drew near. I was more dangerous than Vali's famed wolf; from above, I could see everything. Swoop in and take out the strongest opponents to leave only wandering minions behind. He had no idea the allies I'd gathered from the outer reaches of our broken universe, simply waiting for a new leader to summon their strength.

My time had come.