She smiled at the venom in her brother’s gravelly voice.I would feel better if you were here with me. I can’t bear the thought of the gods chaining you up again. I even made a replica cave in the lowest level of the castle, just for you.
“I hear the fear in your voice, sister.”
She turned and held out her arms, wrapping them around her brother’s thickly fur-covered neck. Breathing in his distinctive wolf scent, she smelled the wood smoke that heated his caverns, their dampness, and the forest all wrapped up in his black fur. Laying her head against his, for the first time since returning home, the tension eased from her tight muscles. His heavy paw covered her back, from her neck to her low back, reminding her just how massive he was.
She wouldn’t have him any other way, though. He was her fierce protector and had been from the moment she freed him after Émilien and Shalendra left. He had kept her sane during those long, lonely years, and she would do anything to protect him.
Leaning back, she tried to smile. His slight frown told her she had failed. “I’m discombobulated and have no idea which way to turn or what to do next. This helplessness isn’t sitting well with me.”
He sat back on his haunches, reminding her of Émilien. Forcing the memories of her lost life away, she straightened her shoulders. “We need to figure out what’s going on before it gets worse. The dead are disappearing. They should be outside, shopping, baking, or whatever they do on a daily basis. No one down there ever seems to stay home, so why now?”
“You know, sister, your past would be less painful if you would forgive yourself for sending them away.”
She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her waist. Moving back to the picture window, she stared outside but didn’t see anything in front of her. In her mind, she pictured her daughter that day. She had braided her long, black hair that morning, securing the ends at the top to make two thick loops on either side of her head. Tall and lanky, the long filmy dress gave her a truly Fae appearance.
Shalendra turned her head, smiling at her before skipping through the door and down the long hall toward the front door. Her daughter was only five, but sometimes she had the soul of an ancient, knowing things that were beyond her young mind’s comprehension.
“I will never forgive myself, brother, for sending away my family. I should have tried harder to find something that would help Shalendra cope in this world. To see her so happy that morning and near death that night... And to see such venom in Émilien’s gaze each time he looked at me. At first, I held only hatred for him and what he represented. I was even glad when he became cursed. I know,” she exhaled. “I transferred my pain to him, something he never deserved. Now, though, the pain from losing him is overwhelming.”
Turning to face her brother, a single tear slid down her face as she reached up and laid her hand on his furry cheek. “I will never forgive myself but thank you for taking such good care of me all these years. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it.”
“You give yourself too little credit, Hel. Strength flows through your veins. You will find a solution for your family as well as whatever is happening outside.”
She smiled and, standing on her tiptoes, kissed his silky nose. “Thank you. You always make me feel as if there is real hope when I know there is no such thing. As the children of Loki, you and I will always be doomed.”
5
“Well, that was positive,” Baldr said as he stepped into the room. Hel glanced at him in time to see his exasperated expression disappear to be replaced by an unreadable one. Baldr turned and gave her brother a nod. “Good to see you, Fenrir. You haven’t been around in a while.”
The giant wolf tilted his head in deference. “It has been a while. The last thing I need is for one of the gods, Freyja comes to mind, to open a transmission portal and see me, so I stay out of sight. Remember, I’m supposed to be tied up with a fetter of chain forged by the dwarves, magically trapping me in Asgard. Had it not been for my sister’s amazing intellect, I would still be bound in Gleipnir’s strong grasp.”
Baldr sent Hel an appraising gaze. “And how did you figure out what would make Gleipnir release him before Ragnarök?”
Hel smirked. “Womanly intuition?” She turned back to the expansive window, her thoughts already returning to the dead below. Staring at the village, she realized something had changed. Focusing on what it might be, she almost missed Baldr’s question. “What did you ask me?”
“I’m not buying your answer. What would woman’s intuition have to do with a magical, dwarf binding? There has to be something more.”
“Of course, there was. What would your first reaction be if you were bound?”
He shrugged. “To free myself.”
“And what would you do to achieve that?” Hel glanced at him over one shoulder.
He met Fenrir’s gaze, his heavy brows pulled together as he thought. “Well, I guess I’d try to pull it apart or see if I could break the chains somehow.”
Hel’s smirk deepened. “And there’s your answer. In order to escape something unbreakable, you use tenderness. I simply coaxed and coddled Gleipnir until she let go of my brother. Now, we are good friends, the three of us.”
Baldr scoffed, his gaze moving between them. “You expect me to believe that? The bindings are an inanimate object, without feelings. How did you really get it off?”
Hel exhaled and turned around, raising her arms in front of her with her elbows bent at her waist. A second later, a beautiful ribbon appeared, long and glistening across the palms of her hands. She smiled down at the golden strand. “Hello, my sweet friend. How are you? I’m sorry I didn’t see you this morning. I had something I needed to take care of.”
An opalescence shimmered over the ribbon’s golden surface, and Gleipnir’s soft voice flowed through the room like a gentle stream of water, smooth and fluid. Different words sounded like a bubbling brook as the water moved over rocks in the bed of a river. Hel loved listening to her magical voice.
“I know, and I am very sorry for missing our special breakfast. You will not make me feel too terrible, though, because I know Fenrir would never leave you alone on this day.”
Baldr’s brows perched high on his forehead as he stared at the ribbon. “What makes this day so special?” He raised his gaze to Hel’s. “She really is talking, isn’t she? I have never heard a sound more beautiful.”
Hel smiled, listening to something Gleipnir murmured before nodding. “She thanks you for such a wonderful compliment. Today is the anniversary of Fenrir’s release and the beginning of our friendship.” She feathered the pad of her finger over the soft material. “A friendship my brother and I both treasure as much as the love we have for each other.”