“Well, no, not yet,” Alva said and forced her shoulders back. If she was going to inherit her mother’s kingdom, she needed to stop hiding in the background like a wallflower. “I won’t move from this sofa until I’ve discovered what that moment was.”
Lilyann reached over and wrapped her fingers around Alva’s tightly clasped hands in her lap. “We will sit here together and look for the pivotal event. I’m sure Freyja would agree. Two sets of eyes are better than one when it comes to scanning events.”
“Lilyann’s right,” Freyja said. “Midgard’s war shouldn’t have affected you or the elves, so why are you here, Freyr? What else has happened?”
“I don’t think any one of us realized what effect Midgard’s war had on the other worlds. In fact, quite a few elves have disappeared from Alfheimr, and I can’t seem to find them anywhere. Émilien has even requested Hel’s help, thinking they somehow may have ended up in Helheimr.”
“Hel answered him?” Freyja’s eyebrows rose. “Did an ice storm happen?” Alva and Lilyann shared a confused look before turning back to Freyja.
Alva cleared her throat. “Why would you want to know about an ice storm?”
One side of Freyr’s mustache rose as a crooked grin appeared on his handsome face. “Ever heard the phrase ‘When hell freezes over’? After one of the nastiest breakups in the history of our people, although technically, Hel is a daughter of Loki, she is equal parts giant and goddess. But the latter could be fictitious since no one knows who Loki’s mother is. Evidently, giants don’t talk about their love lives.”
Freyja scoffed in disgust. “As it should be. Hearing the Aesir and Venir brag about who they’ve taken to bed is too much information for me.”
“I agree,” Lilyann shuddered. “Who wants to hear stuff like that?”
“We’re getting off course...again. This isn’t helping us figure out who’s behind the problems or how to fix them.” Alva said. “My lord, when did you notice the disappearances—in relation to the war, if you can pinpoint it to a specific time?”
Freyr stared at her. “If I were to guess, and I would be, I’d said it was about the time that Rommel retreated from Cyrenaica to a position near Ajdabiya in Africa. I sent Ailuin and Cyran to boost the English and ended up having to remove the commander of the Eighth Army, General Alan Cunningham. I replaced him with Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie, who was able to rally the troops and get the Germans pushed back.” He turned to his sister and cocked his head to one side, then straightened with a nod. “Yes, that would be my best guess.”
Alva met Freyja’s narrowed gaze. “Pearl Harbor,” the Huldra said in a soft voice. “It’s like I said when we stood on the beach. My lady, you need to take me back to the day Japan should have bombed the harbor. I saw something on the beach but didn’t mention it.”
A swirl of color surrounded them, but instead of traveling through the multiverse toward Midgard, Freyja had used her powers to transport them directly, an act that was forbidden, although why, Alva didn’t know. For her, it was no different from traveling along the Bifröst.It was also an important tell. It told her just how concerned Freyja was about the war.
Staring down the beach, she waited for the family to reappear. “Freyja, why is it forbidden for the gods to travel among worlds by magic?”
“Control. Óðinn’smagic controls the Bifröst, so each time one of us travels somewhere, he can keep track of everyone. Heimdall’s magic, however, can mask those he doesn’t want Óðinn to know about. Staying on the guardian’s good side has been helpful,” Freyr answered.
Alva frowned, seeing a movement in the far distance. “Isn’t Heimdall your friend?”
“He is,” the goddess said.
With a quick sideways glance, Alva watched the ever-so-subtle pursing of her lips. “I think the guardian is more than just a friend, is he not? I’ve always felt a certain energy when the two of you are together. He cares a great deal for you, too, so why not give him a chance? You deserve to love and be loved.”
Freyja closed her eyes for a moment before turning to Alva. Cupping the Huldra’s cheek, she smiled. Her amethyst gaze held an expression Alva had not seen before. “You are a treasure, my dear, and I care about you much like I would my own daughter. You will also make a very fine queen one day.”
Alva grinned, ignoring Lilyann’s smirk from her position behind the goddess. “While I’m not quite certain you are correct on that last judgment, it means a great deal to me to know how you feel. You have shown me what a mother-daughter relationship could be like. In all truth, my lady, you have been a mother to me over the years, and I have treasured your guidance, but, most of all, your compassion toward me. I thank you for that. I came to you a very young and confused girl. With your tutelage, I’ve overcome so much, both physically and mentally.”
Freyja smiled. “It was an honor, my dear. You know you can come to me with anything? I will always make time for you, Alva.”
“I know, my lady. I hope and pray my mother will live for a very long time, giving you and me more time together. But if the fates have other plans...”
Freyja’s thumb caressed Alva’s cheekbone one last time before she pulled away her hand. “If I have my way, the person responsible for her current illness will pay dearly.”
Alva squinted, watching as the figures in the distance drew nearer. She could now see the man’s familiar features as he held the woman to his side. Alva pressed her fist against the sharp ache in her chest. “You’re talking about Anders, aren’t you?”
“I am, although I don’t believe that is his real name. Before I say more, though, I must do a little spy work of my own. Now, why did you ask to return here at this specific time?”
“Is that...?” Lilyann gave Alva a sharp glance, then snapped her jaws together.
Alva wrapped her hand around the goddess’s arm and pulled her back toward the tree line, pushing Freyja behind the trunk of a tall palm as Lilyann and Freyr followed. Turning, she positioned her own body close to several large bushes so that anyone looking at them would only see vague shadows.
As the couple passed in front of them, the two children walking with them laughed and, with a burst of speed, ran ahead. “Bernard,” the woman whispered as her partner, his already handsome face made even more so as he stared gazed at the woman with such love.
The surrounding air thickened, and Alva felt rather than saw Freyja stiffen. The goddess muttered in the ancient language of the Vanir and pulled the shadows around her like a cloak. Bernard’s head rose, his brown gaze unerringly meeting Alva’s before dropping back to the woman as she called for the children to slow down and wait for them to catch up.
With a single wave, the family’s movements stopped. The boy’s small form hung in the air in mid-leap beside his sister, whose head was thrown back in laughter at his antics. In mid-stride, the beautiful woman under Bernard’s arm was tucking a long strand of her soft-brown hair behind one ear while Bernard stared down at her.