Dead Silence (23 page)

"But I do not understand. Why would Vanya and Nita betray Asgard when they have always pledged their fealty to my father?" asked Vidarr. His father? I wanted to laugh at his assertion, but knew he was just reminding me the he didn't consider me worthy, either as a sister or as a warrior.

I tilted my head and examined his face. "Because, for most people, family comes first." My eyes were cool as I spoke, making it clear that I didn't appreciate his refusal to support me. "Nita and her mother will do anything to ensure the safety of the boy, even betray Odin."

"And how can you be so sure of this?" he asked, his tone making a mockery of my words, his expression clear that my attitude didn't affect him in the least. Vidarr was much more than just frustrating.

Raising my eyebrows, I said, "Because that's exactly what I would do."

There was a long silence in which the three gods processed the enormity of my words.

And then Thor shifted forward on the ridiculously small seat. "Who did he take?" he asked, his voice gentle as his eyes studied my face.

I blinked back the heat of tears that seemed harder to fight the more I spoke. "My mothers. Both my foster mother and my biological mother. He has them both in Craven in my foster mother's house. His instruction to me was to stay out of the battle, to not get involved. And to be honest I'm not sure what to do."

"Oh, Bryn," said Frigga as she rose and came to me. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug, then she leaned away and stroked my hair. "I am so sorry this happened, my dear. And I can assure you we will do whatever we can to get your family to safety." Frigga glanced over her shoulder at Thor and Vidarr.

Thor looked frozen in shock while Vidarr's expression revealed a tiny bit of intrigue but a clear lack of concern. I gave a weak nod and steeled myself against revealing my emotions, even though I just wanted to find a corner to lie down in and have a good cry. My stomach hurt and it felt a little hard to breathe. And I couldn't help but sink down beside Frigga.

"What do I do now?" I asked softly. "Loki will know if I act in any way against him. I wish there was a way we could do things around here without letting anyone know about it."

"There is," said Thor, his voice rumbling as if his anger was filtering out into the air around him.

My gaze snapped to his face. "How?"

"By ensuring nobody knows what you are doing." The piecing blue look he gave me told me everything. I had to do whatever I needed to, without tipping off the person who was feeding Loki information about our tactics.

"There is a chance that we don't have a mole and that its been Loki all along, lurking around here and eavesdropping on our discussions," I said, even as I realized that everything I did from here on out would have to be under the assumption that the trickster still has a mole within our midst.

"Not a chance I would take, if I were you," said Vidarr, his expression a confusing mix of understanding and indifference, as if he was convincing himself not to care.

I nodded at Vidarr. "I won't." Then I turned to Frigga. "While the team is home we should say goodbye to Aidan."

Frigga smiled sadly. "It is probably a good idea not to wait too much longer. Best for his family too. And we had best get the preparations made. There have been a number of ceremonies held over the last day for the warriors who perished in the quake."

A sense of sadness filled me as I remembered the dead I'd brought back to the surface from within the chasm. Worse knowing they'd added to the dead found beneath the rubble that had been Valhalla. So many funerals.

I got to my feet abruptly but Frigga and Thor seemed to understand my discomfort. I didn't waste time considering what Vidarr thought.

"I'll speak to Aidan's mother," I said turning toward the door.

"Make sure you let us know." Frigga's tone was stern, more of an instruction than a request.

Hiding a smile, I nodded. "I'll send word." Then I left, with the memory of Frigga's sad expression and Thor's frustrated one on my mind.

Loki seemed to be a never-ending problem for us, and like Thor I was becoming very frustrated. I reached Mrs Lee's apartment before I realized it, the time walking spent wondering how I could thwart Loki's plans.

I knocked and within seconds the door opened.

"Hello, Bryn," she said holding the door wider. She looked tired and a little less sad from the last time I'd seen her.

When I entered, I turned to her, not wanting to wait to get to the point. "The warriors will be in Asgard for a short time. Would you like to begin preparations for the funeral?"

Aidan's mother nodded, her expression serene and accepting. "All the arrangements have been made and we've decided on a simple warrior burial at the lake, not unlike those of the other warriors who died in the quake. Just not a big ceremony."

"Who do you wish to be there?" I asked, hoping she didn't exclude the gods from the invitation.

"You, of course. Maybe a few members of the team that he was with when he was killed. The gods who wish to attend. And his father." Her face whitened at the mention of her husband and it saddened me what a large reach Dr Lee's vicious personality possessed.

Thoughts of the doctor made me wonder if the truth about his father may have changed him at all. I kept my emotions off my face and gave his wife a smile. "Would tomorrow midday work for you?"

Selfishly, I hoped she'd say yes so I could get some rest before the ceremony. She nodded with half a smile, and folded her arms around her waist. The action made her look incredibly thin and fragile. I hoped that she'd be able to put Aidan to rest and move on with life, as hard as it may be.

Then she took a deep breath. "I'll let everyone know."

"Would you like me to send the message to Dr Lee?"

She waved me off. "No, my dear. I think you have enough on your mind. I'll have him brought up for the ceremony."

Giving her a small hug, I left her to her sad plans.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

As I headed back to Fen's hall a fatigue begin to weigh me down, weaving its heaviness into my limbs. I tried to shake it off, thinking it was merely tiredness from running around so much. When I peeked into the room, a pair of warriors looked up from the table.

"Where is everyone?" I asked

"Dinner," they both said together. One of them I recognized as Jeff leaned forward and said, "You have orders to meet them in the dining hall. And Fen said, 'no' is not an option."

He raised his eyebrows in emphasis and I laughed saying, "Okay then," before heading to the dining hall.

When I reached the doorway the signs of damage were everywhere. One of the doors hung off its hinges and I understood why they would take time to have it fixed. You'd need a couple of Surts to fix them because only a being as large as a fire giant would be able to mend the broken hinges and reset the door. And Surts loyal to Odin were sadly scarce.

Once inside, I stared up at the high-beamed ceiling to see several bare patches where the logs had come loose and fallen. No sign of the beams or the damaged furniture remained, and though that was a good sign, it didn't make me forget what we'd been through.

I saw my team and headed for their table, nodding at the various warriors who called out greetings to me. When I finally reached the seat and sank down on it, I heaved a sigh of relief and oddly, felt like I'd just run a marathon, my limbs heavy and numb as the same time. I shook my head trying to shake off the strange tiredness that suddenly seemed to be dogging my every step.

"Bryn? Are you okay?" asked Joshua as he placed a trencher in front of me.

He'd disappeared from the table the moment I'd seen the group from the door and now I saw he'd been fetching my meal. I glanced up at him but even that small movement made me feel exhausted.

"I don't know. I just feel so tired all of a sudden.

"You've probably been running yourself ragged," snapped Suri, clearly annoyed at me, Brody sat beside her, nodding his dark head in complete agreement. "Once you finish that, you need to go straight back to your room and rest." She was glaring, her golden-eyed expression clearly one I didn't plan on messing with.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I don't think I'm going to be very useful until I rest." Suri's expression lightened a little and I felt strangely loved. Being bossed around by the people you are in charge of was oddly gratifying.

I fell upon my food, but found that I wasn't as hungry as I'd thought. My stomach pinched, and my mouth felt funny, signs that I was starving, but despite the slices of fresh roast beef and steamed veg, and the fresh, straight-from-the-oven buns, I could not summon up the urge to eat.

"Am I going to have to feed you," asked Joshua in my ear.

My vision blurred as I turned my head to look at him. "I think I'll try to feed myself, thanks," I said giving him a tired grin.

I settled in and tried to eat as much as possible, and with the inane chatting and ribbing from the team I managed to polish off quite a bit until nausea began to dog my every swallow.

Pushing the plate away, I said, "One more bite and I'm going to toss more than cookies." I managed to utter the words while swallowing the urge to hurl.

Looking at the people at the table, all who were like family to me, I knew I had to take a chance on them, to trust them. I leaned toward Joshua. "Get Fen, Suri and Aimee and bring them to my quarters, and don't let anyone know you're coming," I whispered. And I left Brody out of the group deliberately. He'd grown up in Ms Custer's care and I wondered if his emotions would get in the way of his mission if I included him. A large part of me didn't want to hurt him, and I felt like keeping it from him, even for a little while, would keep him from hurting.

Even as I made the request, I wondered if having Fen, a child of Loki, included in my clandestine meeting, was a good idea, but at this point I had to take a bet on who to trust. That I was risking the lived of two important woman with that bet, weighed heavily on my soul.

Then I said my goodbyes and headed to my quarters. The room was empty and I stared around it wondering if there were any listening devices either magical or tech, secreted somewhere that I'd never be able to find.

Sinking onto the furs, I considered other possible locations for the meeting. Somewhere out in the open would be hard to bug.

I was rubbing my forehead and straining hard to keep my eyes from closing when a knock on the door got me to my feet. I opened it to see Joshua and the rest of the team looking at me anxiously. I felt stupid making them worried, but the last thing I needed was to get the word out about this meeting.

Stepping outside, I closed the door. "Anyone know a place, preferably outside and in the open that definitely won't be bugged?" I kept my voice soft.

Aimee's eyes went wide. Footsteps drew closer to us from the hall and before we could scurry inside to avoid our meeting being discovered, Fen turned the corner.

I sighed, relieved, then asked the same question of him. He gave a short nod. "It's-" when I held up my finger to my lips he nodded. "Come, let me take you there."

We followed in silence as Fen led us out of the palace and across the training fields. It was quite a trek and by the time we reached the rocky outcropping overlooking the palace, I was exhausted.

We were on the other side of the valley, directly opposite the palace and far enough away from the hustle and bustle of people. With the chilly weather, a random bird or animal would alert us to a possible Loki in disguise, so the mountainside appeared to be a perfect meeting place.

Now, I had to hope that none of the people I'd chosen was the mole.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Fen reached the ledge first, with Suri and Aimee close on his heels, leaving Joshua and me, trying to keep up. I took the opportunity to slow down and turn to Joshua, deciding to tell him most of the details before I spilled half the beans to the rest of the team.

"Loki visited me, he's got Ms Custer and my mom, says he won't hurt them as long as I stay out of it. He's got Nita's kid too, so Vanya and Nita are both compromised. I don't know who to trust so I need your help."

Joshua's dark eyebrows hit his hairline but before he could answer we reached the ledge, to see Aimee watching us intently.

"What's going on," she asked, her eyes narrowed and focused on my face.

"Nothing. I'm just feeling a little sick. "Aimee gave me a pointed glare, making it clear she knew I was hiding something. But then she turned to face Fen and Suri.

Fen tilted his head and looked at me. "What do you need us to do?" he asked. "And why all the secrecy?"

I registered the strange ache as I cleared my throat. "Okay, here's the thing." I turned away and began to slowly pace the stone floor of the cliff-top. Despite my lack of energy I felt like I desperately needed to be doing something as I talked. "I can't be involved in anything related to our fight with Loki. I'm taking a huge chance here and I've elected to tell only you four about what's going on. In total the five of us will be the only ones who know I'm still involved. I'll still coordinate things, but from a distance. I need you all to be my eyes and ears."