“His son,” I reply. “Don’t worry about him.”
I’d like to say Thor is harmless, but he’s just as ruthless as his father. The only difference I see between the two apart from their age and build is that the son is decidedly less dour.
Thor’s features split into a grin I want to punch off his face.
“Well, well, you sure know how to work your way through the seven stages of grief.” He rocks forward on his tiptoes as though that will give him a better look at Phoenix. “Isn’t that my cousin’s girl?”
She grabs handfuls of fabric at the back of my hoodie. “I already told Odin where to stick his marriage.”
Thor raises both palms. “Easy. I just came to get yourprofessor.”
“And I told you to wait for me in the car,” I snarl.
The smirk on his features fades to something more serious. “Crius is making his move. We’ve got to reach the morgue before him.”
“What’s going on?” Phoenix asks in a small voice.
I turn around and gaze into her wide gray eyes. Her pupils are still dilated, despite the brightness of the day. Sunlight bounces off the stray hairs framing her face, coloring them a rich copper. I’ve never seen her look so vibrant.
There’s a smattering of faint freckles across her nose that I hadn’t fully appreciated until now that melts away the last shard of ice in my heart. Her lips are so red and swollen that I want to spend the rest of the day losing myself in her kiss.
“Marius?” she whispers, pulling me out of my reverie.
“The Bestlassons and I have formed a temporary truce.” My gaze slides in the direction of Thor, who keeps a respectful distance.
“You’re going to kill your father,” she whispers.
A knot forms in my gut. I want to tell her that Crius has it coming to him, but I also don’t want Phoenix implicated in what I hope to be a brutal murder.
“When you get back to the university, I want you to stay away from that boy,” I say, avoiding the subject.
“Alright.” She lowers her lashes, her lips tightening. “And I’m sorry.”
“It’s me who should apologize for getting you entangled in this mess.” I cup the side of her face and lean in to press a kiss on her swollen lips.
The mingled scents of citrus and vanilla fill my nostrils. It takes every effort to tear myself away from Phoenix, but if I want a future with her, then I need to complete this one task.
Thor clears his throat.
He’s surprisingly amiable for a man rumored to have executed every high-ranking employee of Casino Asgard.
I shoot him a glare over my shoulder. “We’re driving Miss Stahl back to the university.”
“What’s wrong with ordering her an Uber?” Thor asks.
“If you want the rest of today to go smoothly, you’ll help me escort this young lady back to safety.”
Less than an hour later, after making sure Phoenix is securely behind the gates of the university, I stand within the antechamber of an examination room in the City Mortuary.
Cold air seeps in through the door I’m hiding behind, which has a window overlooking the corpses.
Mother’s body lies beneath a white sheet on a metal table and beside her is the charred corpse of the man Thor burned in the fire. He was one of Crius’s minions, sent with a smartphone to deliver a message.
There was no point in listening to it when we needed the fire to flush Crius out from his hideout. Crius won’t be able to resist coming down to gloat if he thinks the Bestlassons murdered me and set the villa alight.
Thor and his men are hiding in some of the rooms lining the hallway. I’m not naive enough to think they’ll allow me to live once I’ve executed Crius. It’s why I took the back up burner phone, brought extra guns, and asked Quinn to organize a getaway vehicle.
Quinn is still in survival mode. I can’t blame her.