Perfekt Balance (The Ære Saga Book 3) (2 page)

“Are you sticking your tongue out at me?”
Forse asked.

Oops!
I hadn’t realized I was licking my lips. Thank Odin Forse
was as dense as a forest. “Erm, just giving you a hard time. I
promise I won’t make those mistakes again. But you’d think with all
the research we’ve done, all the books we’ve read and the subjects
we’ve interviewed, we’d be closer to understanding
how
my mom did what she
did. She made it look so easy. And it’s just…not.”

“That’s the thing about this particular job.”
Forse shrugged. “Unifying’s an intuitive skill. It’s not like Tyr’s
job, where he can look at old war strategies to assess an enemy’s
weakness, or my job, where I can study the legal systems of the
realms to get a handle on how they operate. What you’re trying to
do is a mystery. All of the subjects we interviewed had no idea how
your mom helped them; they just knew that she did. We really don’t
have much of a choice—it’s trial and error or bust here.”

“
Fair
enough. So today we’re going to…” I blew air out of my lips in a
frustrated stream. “Odin’s beard, what haven’t we tried? We’ve been
at this for ages.”

Forse
smiled, pale pink lips curving up to reveal a glimpse at two rows
of blinding
white teeth.
Everything about him was
perfekt
. “Why don’t we stick with what you know? You’re
an epic High Healer; try scanning my energy centers for blocks like
you would with a regular healing, and if you find something pull it
out. A removed block should make me more open to befriending thine
enemy,
ja
?”

“Something like that.” I smiled back, trying
not to get lost in the beautiful green vortexes of his eyes. “And
if that doesn’t work, I’ll just bang my head against your chest and
cry.”

Ooh, if I cry, maybe he’ll comfort me. Wrap
his arms around me and pull me close so I can—

Not helping!

Forse chuckled, oblivious to my inner
turmoil. “My chest can take the head-butt,” he pointed out. “You
crying, on the other hand, might just break me.”

My cheeks
flamed again. “Okay, here we go. Unifying 101, take nine hundred.”
I was going to learn how to bring spirits together if it was the
last thing I did. Not only was it my Odin-given destiny, at least
until I could pass the torch to my brother’s mortal girlfriend,
Mia, but it was a key function of Asgardian security, therefore
vital to the survival of our race and the realms as we knew them.
Plus, there was a smidgeon of a chance my using Forse as a practice
buddy might just
open
his heart to the possibility of
finally
dating me. Which, of course, would just be
a pleasant side effect of my education, and not at all the reason I
was working so hard.

I
wasn’t
totally
selfish, after all.

“Let’s do this,” Forse said. He closed his
eyes, and I followed suit, drawing a deep breath. I exhaled and
pressed my palms toward the ground, expelling all foreign energy
from my body. Calling my energy back to me was second nature, and
as I expanded my energetic bubble to nudge against Forse’s space, I
sent a prayer of thanks to my mom for passing on this extremely
useful, albeit highly confusing, gift.

“You’re in now, aren’t you?” Forse sounded
uncomfortable.

“What’s the matter, Justice? Don’t trust
me?”

“
I trust
you. It’s just
…”

“It’s okay; I know it’s weird. You can push
me out at any time. You know the drill, just intend to eject my
energy from your space. Your energy will follow your
intention.”

“I’m not going to push you out,” Forse said.
“We’ve got to be getting close to cracking this.”

“
It would
have been a lot easier if we’d known I got Mom’s unifying gene,” I
whispered. “She could have explained everything to me before
Fenrir…well, before.”

Forse’s energy flickered, and an air of
remorse passed through his aura, dimming it a notch. “I’m so sorry
we lost your parents.”

“
It’s not
your fault. You didn’t sic Fenrir on them.” I sent a wave of love
at him—just enough to be the equivalent of an energetic hug,
definitely
not
enough to send him off trying to kiss the first girl who
walked by. Again.
Lucky Brynn
.

“Yeah, but—”

“
But
nothing. They’re gone; it’s nobody’s fault but Fenrir’s…well,
Fenrir’s and
hers
.” I forced the image of Fenrir’s accomplice out of my
head. “And that devil woman fled Asgard the day of the attack, so
let’s move forward and give Mom a legacy to be proud
of.”

Forse nodded. I knew it was hard for him to
put his worry aside, but he stayed very still and his energy
started to calm. “I’m all yours.”

Gods, I wish.

“I’m going back in,” I declared. “Let’s see
if I can get it right this time.”

Forse
nodded again. With the path to his energy centers clear, I began my
assessment.
Analyze each location. Identify any blocks.
Isolate and remove the barrier.
It seemed simple enough. Odin willing, this approach
worked. Between Fenrir’s attacks, Hel’s abduction of our love
goddess, Freya, and this bizarre cold spell in a realm plagued by
global warming, I sensed the
perfekt
balance of our realms was starting to tip
toward the dark side. If I could just hold it together until my
brother got around to marrying his girlfriend, Mia, then under
Asgardian law she’d assume the role of Unifier. I had every
confidence she’d be brilliant at the job. She had an innate knack
for smoothing out emotionally charged situations, and she somehow
managed to make my normally uptight brother calm enough to see the
big picture. Once Mia could take over as Asgard’s Unifier, I’d get
to go back to my
other
full-time job, High Healer—a calling I was considerably
less bad at.

For all our sakes, I hoped Tyr proposed soon.
Like, yesterday, soon.

“Elsa? Are we still doing this?” Forse
interrupted my derailed train of thought.

“Yes. Sorry. I’m really distracted
today.”

Forse chuckled. “Am I that boring on the
inside?”

“
Quite
the opposite. You’re positively brilliant on the inside.” He was.
His entire being was filled with a striking golden light. It was a
testament to a life lived with
ære
—honor.

“
You
flatter me,
hjärtat
. Now get to work.”

“Yes, sir.” I zeroed in on the glowing light
at the base of Forse’s spine. Mortals called the pulsing markers
along the spine chakras, but Asgardians knew them as energy
centers. These tiny orbs contained a blueprint of Forse’s past, and
predicted the choices of his future. Each represented a different
function—for example, Forse’s first center, the one at the base of
his spine, permeated a clear white light. It made sense that the
center reflecting his family of origin would be so pure—Forse’s
dad, Balder, was the God of Light, and his mom, Nanna, was the
Goddess of Warmth—the immortal embodiment of maternal love. Forse’s
childhood had been uncharacteristically secure for an Asgardian,
and he’d maintained a close relationship with his parents and his
brother once he took his own title.

“Your first center’s clear—no blocks there.
How are your parents?” I asked.

“They’re good. Mom wants you to come for
dinner the next time we’re in Asgard. She looked at those pictures
I sent her of you with Mia—she’s convinced you’re not eating
enough, and she wants to fatten you up.” I could hear Forse’s
smile, even with my eyes closed.

“I love your mom.” I grinned back, then
furrowed my brow as I analyzed the next two orbs. “Your second
center’s clear, and your third center is gorgeous—you really know
where you fit in the world, don’t you?”

Forse sighed. “It’s the blessing and the
curse of being of Asgard—when Odin gifts you a title, you kind of
have to stick with it.”

“
Tell me
about it,” I murmured. “Fourth center is…hmm.”

“What?” Forse asked.

“There’s something in your love center—a
little speck that’s popping against the gold. Would you mind if I
went in deeper?” Asking permission was a requisite of healing; I
assumed the rules were the same for unifying. A god’s spirit was
uniquely theirs, after all.

“
You do
what you have to do,” Forse agreed. But the speck grew bigger as he
spoke.
Interesting
.

“
Okay.” I
took a breath and pushed my energy against Forse’s, making my way
through the waves of gold surrounding his heart until I neared the
speck. This close to the core of the love center, the energy was a
muddied brown.
That’s strange.
I pressed closer, and for the first time I felt a
resistance. With another breath, I ploughed forward. Forse’s energy
pushed back, rejecting my advances. I squared my shoulders and
tried again, and this time the energy parted to let me though. The
moment I caught sight of the iron wall surrounding the center’s
core, the brown energy closed ranks and pushed me back, forcibly
ejecting me from the justice god’s energy field.

“Elsa? Are you all right?” Forse’s hand
reached out to steady me. My eyes flew open. The sudden transition
had thrown me off balance. Forse’s fingers squeezed my shoulder,
and I fixated on the way the thick muscles of his forearms flexed
as he pulled me back up. “Why don’t you lie down for a bit?”

“I’m fine.” I tore my eyes away from Forse’s
arms and studied his face. “What happened? You pushed me out.”

“
I…uh…”

Forse’s
body language spoke volumes. His shoulders were tense, his fists
clenched. Everything about him screamed
run
.

“Hey.” I reached up and placed my hand over
his heart. It pounded against my palm in a frenetic rhythm, its
anxious beat a stark contrast to the soothing snowfall outside the
window. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pressured you. You don’t have
to talk about it, whatever it is.”

“I want to help, Elsa, it’s just—”

A whirl of violet-blue eyes and vanilla
perfume interrupted Forse’s explanation. My brother’s girlfriend
threw open the front door and burst into my living room, her
normally sleek hair frizzing beneath a light layer of
snowflakes.

“
Hei
,
Mia. Is everything okay?” My hand fell from
Forse’s heart as I moved to her side.

“Not exactly.” She finger-combed her hair
into submission.

“What’s going on?” Forse asked.

“Well, first of all, it’s snowing again. We
live in Arcata, for Pete’s sake. If I’d wanted to walk to class in
the snow, I would have stayed on the East Coast for college.” Mia
shook her head. “But more importantly, Tyr wants to see Forse back
at his place right away. I figured I’d find him here.”

“Am I that predictable?” Forse asked.

“Yes.” Mia nodded. “Elsa, you’d better come,
too. Tyr was doing the jaw-clench thing. Whatever it is that’s got
his boxer-briefs in a twist, it’s probably not good.”

Forse raised an eyebrow at me, and I
shrugged. We’d had a string of calm months since we got Freya back
from Helheim. We were about due for a crisis.

“Let’s go.” Forse crossed to the hooks by the
entry and helped me into my jacket. He tugged his sweater over his
head and opened the front door. Mia filed through, and I followed
suit. As we walked across the forest to my brother’s house, I snuck
a glance at the god clenching his fists beside me.

Something told me it wasn’t Tyr’s summons
that had him on edge. What was Forse Styrke hiding behind that iron
wall?

“
TYR’S IN THE MAN
cave. He told me to send you up.” Mia closed the front door
of my brother’s cabin and hung her keys on the hook. Back in Asgard
we left our houses unlocked, but Midgard was so crazy these days,
we’d agreed the extra security was necessary.

“Elsa, will you be okay if I go upstairs?”
Forse turned to Mia before I could answer. “She was working with me
back at her place, and I think it took a lot out of her.”

Mia wrung her hands. “Are you all right,
Elsa? I made lasagna for dinner, and my lasagna usually makes
people feel better. Do you want to stick around?”

I shook
my head. “I told you, Forse, I’m
fine
. Wait, did you say lasagna?”

“I did indeed.” Mia nodded.

“
We
wouldn’t want to impose…” Mia’s lasagna was amazing. But she and my
brother hadn’t had a lot of alone time lately, and I did
not
want to incur the
wrath of the crankiest god in the cosmos. Maybe Forse and I could
take dinner to go…

“Hush your mouth, you’re not imposing. Brynn
and Henrik will be home any minute, and you know how much they eat.
I made enough to feed a small army.”

“Well, if you insist.” I grinned. “Can I help
you make a salad?”

“All done.” Mia took my hand and pulled me
toward the kitchen. “You can keep me company while we wait for the
guys.”

I felt
Forse’s concerned gaze as I followed Mia down the hall. Before I
got to the doorway, I released Mia’s hand. “I’ll be right there,” I
said. Mia nodded, heading into the kitchen as I turned to study
Forse. He stood at the foot of the stairs, a deep
V
between his brows.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he
asked.

“I’m fine. You know you’re never going to get
anything done if you spend this much time worrying about me.”