Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) (17 page)

Cheese and crackers. CHEESE AND
CRACKERS.

“Stand up and don’t turn around.” The guard
dragged me to my feet. He jabbed something cold against my neck. I
didn’t have to look to know what it was.

So much for not panicking.

“Um…” My legs wobbled. I’d never been held at
gunpoint before, but breaking down wasn’t going to be an option. It
wasn’t like I didn’t know how to defend myself—bringing that
martial arts coach into the dry-land training mix suddenly seemed
like the best life choice I’d ever made. Whoever my captors were,
they probably wouldn’t expect me to struggle—one did have a
gun
trained on me. But complying wasn’t a survival strategy.
I did
not
want to go wherever these guys would take me next.
Fighting back would be terrifying… but whatever they had in store
would be far worse.

Here goes nothing.

I whipped my leg in a low circle and struck
the guard holding me. He dropped his weapon, and I toed it out of
his reach before turning to plant a solid heel to his face.

“Arugh!” he cried out as blood spurted from
his nose.

I tugged at my handcuffs and discovered the
chain was just long enough. I tucked each knee to my chest and
climbed back over my hands. With my fists in front of me, I turned
to assess the second guard. He stood five feet away, with his hand
on his holster and his mouth slightly open.

“You little—” He drew his gun and my stomach
dropped.

“Enough! Everybody stand down,” a deep voice
thundered from the porch. I whipped around to assess my next
assailant. When I caught sight of his face, I froze.

The man stormed across the porch, down the
steps, and over the dusty earth. He grabbed my upper arm. “What do
you think you’re doing?” His voice was low… and unbelievably
angry.

“Tyr?” I gasped.

Tyr’s eyes blazed. The hand that wasn’t
gripping my arm balled into a fist. Every muscle was tensed, and he
positively radiated fury. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m—I was taking a walk and I heard—well,
there was this deer and—ouch!” I twisted my arm out of his grasp
and stared at my bicep. “That hurts!”

“You need to leave. Now.” He marched me
toward the Hummer.

“No.” I dug my heels into the dirt. “Not
until you tell me what’s going on. Who is that girl? You’re not
holding her against her will, are you? Because so help me, I’ll go
to the police and—stop pulling me! I’m not getting in that thing.
Whose car is it anyway?”

“Any more questions?” Tyr glowered down at
me, still holding my arm.

“Are you hurting that girl?” I spun free of
his grip.

“No.” Tyr’s fists were so tight, the veins in
his forearms pulsed.

“Well then, what is she doing in there?” I
wanted to put my hands on my hips, but the handcuffs were
completely inconvenient. “And for the love of all that is holy,
will you please take these things off me?”

Tyr fished around in his pocket and pulled
out a keyring. He undid the cuffs and I rubbed my wrists.

“You need to get out of here in case he comes
back.” Tyr moved toward me, but I stepped out of his reach.

“In case who comes back? What is going on in
that house? Why did that guard pull a gun on me?” My pitch climbed
as I spoke. “He pulled a gun on me! I deserve some answers.”

“Mia,” he pleaded. “I have to get you out of
this clearing. Now.”

We locked eyes in a silent power struggle.
Tyr was so angry, tremors of rage radiated off his chest. I squared
my jaw, squinting into midnight blue orbs that practically spewed
daggers. I should have run away screaming—I barely knew Tyr, and
here he was in the middle of what looked like a military operation,
holding an unconscious teenager in a cabin protected by lethal
force. But I wasn’t about to blink. If there was one value I was
taught, it was to look out for people who were weaker than you. If
the girl in that house needed help, then I would figure out a way
to help her.

“I’m not backing down,” I pointed out.

“Obviously,” Tyr muttered.

We stood toe to toe for another ten seconds.
Finally, Tyr’s shoulders dropped. “Why do you have to be so
stubborn? We can talk. But you
have
to get in my car. I
don’t want you exposed.”

“That’s your car? What happened to the
motorcycle?”

“Get
in
, Mia,” he pleaded.

“Okay.” I stomped to the Hummer, and waited
while Tyr unlocked the door. Before I could reach for the handle, a
hand shot out from behind and opened it for me.

“Get in,” he repeated. He whipped his head
from left to right as he lifted me into the cab.
What is he
looking for?

“I’m going,” I complained. The door slammed
behind me and Tyr appeared in the driver’s seat before I could turn
around. I glanced out my window. The forest looked darker through
the shaded glass. What did Tyr need with tinted windows, anyway?
“Tell me about the girl.”

Tyr dropped his head against the steering
wheel. “Your life will be a whole lot easier if you just let me
drive you home.”

“Is she being held against her will? Because
I should probably warn you, I’m not going without her if she is.” I
crossed my arms.

Tyr raised his head a fraction of an inch. A
hint of a smile played at the corners of his eyes. “I can see
that.”

“So what are you doing to her?” I pushed.

“I’m trying to keep her alive.” Well that
explained the white robed women—they must have been nurses.

“If that’s true, then why isn’t she in a
hospital? She looks sick. She should be in an ICU.”

“That
is
an ICU. At least it’s our
version of an ICU. Western medicine isn’t going to help her.” Tyr
kept his eyes closed.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because she’s not like you. She’s…
special.”

“Ignoring that dig, that girl looks
sick
, Tyr. Whatever your ICU is doing isn’t enough. She
needs a real hospital. I’m calling nine-one-one.” I pulled out my
cell phone before I realized this corner of the woods was a
reception-free zone. Frustration clouded my vision.

Tyr snatched the phone out of my hands and
threw it in the backseat. “I told you. They. Can’t. Help. Her.”

“Oh, and you can?” I reached for my phone but
Tyr grabbed my hands. He held tight.

“I don’t know if I can. But the best team of
healers in the realms is working on her. And I have security making
sure nobody gets anywhere near her. Well, apparently anybody but
the world’s nosiest co-ed.”

“And why would you do that? Who is she?” I
tried to pull my hands away, but Tyr held on tight. “Oh my gosh—is
she your girlfriend? Your girlfriend’s dying and you asked me out.
That’s so… so… common.”

“Common? That’s the meanest word you could
come up with?”

“It’s the meanest word I want to say out
loud. But I’m thinking a much worse one about you right now.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be. The girl in that
house isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Then who is she?”

Tyr met my eyes. “She’s my sister.”

“
SAY SOMETHING,” TYR GROWLED.

“You have a sister?” The words tumbled out.
“And she’s in a coma in a secret cabin in the woods behind your
house? Surrounded by armed guards?”

“More or less.”

“Do your parents know she’s here?” I
asked.

“Our parents are dead.”

“I… I am so sorry.” Mortification settled
over me like wet wool. “I had no idea.”

Tyr’s shoulder lifted, as if shoving off my
sympathy.

My world turned on its head. Things like that
didn’t happen in real life. And they certainly didn’t happen to
people I knew. In that moment, everything I thought I’d known about
Tyr flew straight out the window. “What happened to them?” I asked
softly.

“I was young when they were killed. I don’t
wallow.” Tyr gripped the steering wheel.

“I—I’m sorry.” I reached out to touch his
hand.

“The same monster tried to kill my baby
sister, Elsa, a few weeks ago.” Tyr’s knuckles were white.

“Why would he go after your sister?”

“It’s complicated.” Tyr rubbed his palms on
his jeans. “Listen, Mia, if you’re going to be in my life, you’re
going to have to fly blind in some areas. Can you handle that?”

“Probably not, but it’s moot. Do you even
want me in your life?” He’d been so hot and cold since we met, I
honestly didn’t know the answer.

One corner of Tyr’s mouth turned up in his
signature half-smile. “Yes.”

“Oh.”
Oh!

“But letting you into my life means putting
you in the middle of a living nightmare. And I mean it when I say
there are things I am not going to be able to explain to you.”

“You said last night you wanted me to trust
you,” I reminded him. “And trust is founded on honesty. How do you
expect me to trust you if you’re not going to tell me the
truth?”

“I’ll always tell you the truth,” Tyr
corrected. “I just won’t be able to answer everything you want to
know. Does that sound fair?”

“Fair, yes. Doable for me? Not so much.”

Tyr chuckled. “Henrik told me you had one of
those
minds.”

“Excuse me?” Indignation colored my tone.

“The inquisitive ones. It’s why you chose
engineering,
ja
? So you could make order in a chaotic
world?”

My fingers played with my grandmother’s ring.
“That’s actually really perceptive. I’d never thought about it that
way, but yes. That makes sense.”

“Well
prinsessa
, there’s nothing
orderly about my life.”

“Besides your kitchen cabinets.”

“Right.” Tyr sighed. “Mia, you have to
understand. I wake up every morning and wonder what kind of
skit
I’m going to deal with that day. I’m not complaining; I
signed on to this life. But I’m not sure you’re going to want
to.”

“How do you expect me to make an informed
decision if you’re not going to answer my questions?”

Tyr closed his eyes. “How about a compromise?
You can ask
one
question now, and you have to hold the rest
until tonight. I’ll answer as much as I can, but you have to accept
there are some things about me you might never understand.”

My mind spun, trying to compartmentalize the
list of things I suddenly wanted to know about Tyr—who he was, how
he’d dealt with losing his parents so young, how he wasn’t losing
his mind worrying about his sister, how Henrik and Brynn fit into
all of this? How I fit into all of this…

“Is Elsa going to be okay?” I wrung my
fingers in my lap.

Tyr’s eyes dropped. “I hope so. I’ve got the
best medical team in the cosmos working around the clock. When I
found her, he’d left her for dead—maimed within an inch of her
life, and barely breathing.”

Bile swirled in my gut as my brain fought
against that image. “Did you call the police? Do they have any
leads?”

“It’s not that easy. Things don’t really work
like that where I’m from.”

“Police don’t go after murderers in Sweden?”
There was no way that was true.

“You already asked your one question,” Tyr
pointed out.

“But this is a relevant follow-up. And more
than that, a totally legitimate response to your statement.”

“The less you know about all of this, the
better. If the killer thinks you’re involved, he’ll come after you,
too.”

“Why?” Icicles traced a pattern along my
vertebrae.

“He picks off people who are important to me.
My parents and sister weren’t his only victims, though Elsa was the
first target he left alive.”

I squeezed my fingers so hard a knuckle
popped. “Why would he do that?”

“It’s who he is. I used to think I could
change him—if I showed him there was another way that he’d choose a
different path. But I should have known I wasn’t that powerful. And
now he’s become what he was born to be.”

“You know him?” I asked softly.

“He was practically family.”

“Oh, Tyr.” This time I took his hands in
mine. He’d lived a horror I couldn’t begin to imagine. “I am so
sorry.”

“I can’t change what he’s done. But I can
protect the people I care about moving forward.” Tyr raised an
eyebrow. “So you need to stay away from all this before he comes
after you. I’m not sure I could handle you getting hurt, on top of
everything else.”

The icicles burst, spreading a chill across
my back that left me shaking. What would happen if the killer
tracked me down? Would I end up like Tyr’s sister… or worse?

“Told you it was some messed up
skit
.”
Tyr squeezed my hands. “Are you okay?”

“Not even a little bit,” I answered honestly.
“But I’m here. I’m sorry you’ve been going through this.”
Embarrassment flooded my face. All this time I’d thought he didn’t
call because he was into Freya, but as his best friend, she’d
probably been his lifeline while he’d been trying to keep his
sister alive and fighting off some crazed killer.

“Can I meet her?” I asked tentatively.
“Elsa?”

Tyr ran his hand through his hair. “That’d be
nice. But go straight in the house. And when we’re done, I’m taking
you home immediately. If it was him I saw in the woods earlier, I
want to make sure he doesn’t see you again.”

“Again?” When had he seen me before?

But Tyr just stared straight ahead, so I
opened the car door. Tyr was at my side before my feet hit the
ground. “How do you
do
that?”

“Let’s move, Mia. I don’t want you out in the
open longer than necessary.” Tyr scooped me in his arms and raced
toward the house. The guards stared as we moved—one still dabbed at
his bloodied nose.
Ouch.
By the time Tyr closed the front
door behind him, I was breathless, and more than a little flushed.
Thankfully, the entry was empty—the nurses must have been with
their charge in the other room.