Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) (38 page)

“You wish you were as cool as me.” Freya
threw a pillow at him. “Or that you had half my skills.”

“What’s it like being Goddess of Love?” I
rested my head lightly on Tyr’s chest as he stroked my hair.

“It has its ups and downs,” Freya admitted.
“It’s fun to find the perfect partner for someone and gently nudge
them together.”

“Shove them forcefully together, more like
it,” Tyr muttered.

“That was just you. And then you nearly blew
it with Mia by being your charming self.” Freya stuck out her
tongue.

“He’s definitely an acquired taste.” I
squeezed Tyr’s arm.

He chuckled. “Oh. Like you could stay away
from me.”

Freya smiled. “I’m so the best matchmaker
ever.”

“Except according to Brynn, there were four
other girls you lined up in case things with us didn’t work out.”
Tyr stroked the inside of my wrist. “Not so confident in your
skills a few months ago, were you?”

“You know how this works, Tyr. I see
compatibility, not soul mates. I brought the five most compatible
girls to you, but it was your agency that determined who was the
best fit for you. Fenrir’s a monster, but he did one thing right—he
brought out your inner caveman at exactly the right moment. You
wanted to club Mia over the head and drag her back to your man cave
the minute you saw her in danger.” Freya looked inordinately happy.
“Don’t you glare at me, Tyr Fredriksen. I saw how you looked at her
that day, and I see how you look at her now. You’re welcome.”

Tyr rested his cheek on my head. “Except
we’re hiding in a safe house, running from Fenrir. Did you ever
think there was a reason I didn’t want you to set me up? Maybe I
didn’t want to risk Mia’s life.”

“It’s not my life I’m worried about.” I
lifted my head so I could look at Tyr. “It’s my grades.”

“Huh?” Tyr stared at me.

“I don’t know if you guys have a plan for how
long we’re going to be on lockdown, but I’ve only got Monday and
Tuesday off school for that whole Spirit of the Redwoods deal.” God
bless our friendly neighborhood tree huggers, and their insistence
the University observe their holiday. “So unless we can wrap things
up here by Tuesday evening, latest, I’m going to need a hall pass
to go to class.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Tyr
blinked.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible,”
Freya spoke gently. “We can’t port out of the compound with our
enemies looking for it; it would compromise our location. And
Fenrir and Hymir are going to be watching Midgard pretty closely.
Activating a portal or the Bifrost would catch their attention
right away.”

“So maybe we don’t magic our way out of
here.” I paused. “By the looks of the trees, we’re somewhere in the
Pacific northwest, right? That’s driving distance from Arcata.
Could be a long drive, depending on where we are, but it’s
doable.”

“You want me to drive you to school?” Tyr
sounded incredulous. “And what am I going to do with you when I get
you there? I’m not letting you just walk around unprotected. And
the cloak isn’t enough to protect you from Fenrir anymore—you saw
him shrug off the shot from your particle accelerator; he’s been
laced with enough dark magic to debilitate our weapons.”

“Well then, we need to come up with another
idea. I realize we’re all in danger, and it probably seems silly
for me to worry about my grades when I should be worrying about
staying alive, but up until now, school has been my life. I’ve
never failed anything, and I have no intention of starting now.” I
alternated my stare between Freya and Tyr. They exchanged a
glance.

“We do have internet,” Freya offered after a
long pause. “Any chance your professors would let you attend class
virtually?”

“You mean like FaceTime a lecture?” I glanced
at the high ceiling, trying to recall the RSU handbook. Of course,
I’d read it cover to cover when I’d sent my enrollment papers. “I’d
need a doctor’s note explaining why I’m physically incapable of
attending class, but the university allows it.”

“No problem.” Tyr made a small circle with
his finger and a piece of paper fluttered into my lap. “Sorry about
your pneumonia.”

Really?
I picked up the paper he’d
magicked out of nowhere, and read aloud. “Due to an acute case of
pneumonia, Amelia Ahlström is unable to attend her classes at
Redwood State University. Please provide an acceptable course of
home study so that she may continue to keep up with her coursework,
despite her illness. Sincerely, Dr. Fredriksen.” I turned it over.
“It’s on hospital letterhead.”

“I am nothing if not thorough.” Tyr winked.
“Freya will send it to the school when we’re done here. I’m sure
they’ll be happy to allow the accommodation. And Charlotte can
FaceTime your Art History class with you in case they don’t get
back to you until Wednesday afternoon.”

“Impressively resourceful, and meticulously
thorough.” Freya smiled. “Just like somebody else in this room. Am
I a world-class matchmaker or what?”

I sighed. My college love story was about as
far from my parents’ considerably less complicated tale as it could
get.
My parents
. “Hold on. Are my parents okay? And Jason?
And Meemaw? If Fenrir’s so hell-bent on hurting Tyr through me,
he’d know to go after my family, wouldn’t he?”

“They’re fine,” Freya assured me. “I put
cloaking spells on your parents, your brother, and your
grandparents just before I came here. And unlike Henrik’s
technology-based lighter, my spells were created using
älva
dust. So they’re infallible.”

“
Älva
?” I asked.

“Fairies,” Freya explained.

“Shut the front door. Y’all have fairies?” My
jaw opened so wide it clicked.

“We do.
Älva
are a particularly
magical breed of light elves, found in northernmost Alfheim. Not
even the heaviest dark magic can break their spells. I had Henrik
incorporate some of the
älva
dust in the protection for this
compound, too.”

Well, I’ll be.

“So Fenrir can’t find them? But you still
can.” I chewed my fingernail.

“Exactly. I also put an aura trace on them,
so if they’re in any kind of danger, it’ll set off a sort of
internal alarm with Tyr. He’ll know right away if anything’s going
on with them.”

“Thanks.” I exhaled. “You really thought of
everything.”

“I most certainly did.” Freya beamed.

A fierce whoosh came from outside. My throat
tightened.
Not again
. We jumped to our feet, racing for the
back door.

“Stay behind me, Mia.” Tyr threw his body in
front of mine.

He didn’t need to worry. When I peeked around
his shoulder I saw a muscular figure walking across the lawn,
toting two suitcases.

“Henrik!” I darted around Tyr to hug my
friend.

“This is for you.” Henrik set the larger
suitcase inside the French doors, and left the smaller one on the
porch steps. “And this is mine. I’m staying at Elsa’s right?”

“Correct. Unless you want to stay at my
place.” Freya waggled her eyebrows. “Brynn’s monitoring Elsa at the
moment or she’d have come to greet Mia, but she’s going to be
bunking with me. So long as you can behave yourself, you can have
the second guest room.”

“Stop it, Freya.” Henrik ducked his head with
a smile. He
so
liked Brynn back. “Fenrir’s still in Arcata.
He took off after you guys when you escaped, so I summoned the
taser from the weapons closet and followed him outside. When he
realized he couldn’t get to you, he turned on me. I got in one good
shot before a portal opened up. He got away, but he was limping
pretty badly—he’ll need some time to regroup, for sure.”

“You debilitated the wolf with a
taser
?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Well, it was the only weapon I enhanced with
the powder leftover from the security beef-up on this place. Freya
told me to make sure I enchanted at least one teched-up device with
älva
dust
.
Good thing, too. Guess I’m starting from
scratch on the guns, eh?” Henrik scratched his jaw. “I know the
Norns want us to tie him up, and I get that Fenrir’s more useful to
us alive than dead. But
skit
, I wish I could have just ended
him there. Or at least got in a few shots with the crossbow before
he fell through the portal. To further delay his healing, of
course.”

“Of course,” Freya agreed.

“Well done,” Tyr praised.

“Any time. Have you seen Elsa yet?” Henrik
asked.

“No. I don’t want to disturb her team any
more than we already have tonight, so I’ll wait for morning.” Tyr
checked his watch. “Only a few more hours, by my clock. But you
need to debrief Brynn, so you can head over there now, Henrik.”

“
Takk.
Oh, before I forget, your
laptop and your phone are in there, Mia.” Henrik pointed to the
bigger suitcase. “You left them back at our place when you, eh,
took off.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “I’d have
missed those a lot.”

Freya stifled a yawn. “If you will excuse me,
I think I’ll go catch a few hours of sleep too. Busy day tomorrow,
ja
?”

“Very. Are you going to visit the dwarves
with me?” Tyr asked her. “Last I heard from Odin, he’d managed to
get us an appointment in the morning.”

“You need me to go with you?” Freya
asked.

“They do have a weakness for pretty girls,”
Tyr pointed out. “And there’s no way in Helheim I’m taking Mia.
She’s staying here with Forse.”

That was news to me.

“Fine. What time do you want to leave?” Freya
covered her mouth as another yawn escaped.

“First light?”

“Make it eight,” Freya countered. “And throw
in a cup of coffee.”

“Deal. Go to bed. Henrik, you good getting
over to Elsa’s?”

“Yep. Mia, you okay?” Henrik touched my
arm.

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for looking out for
me.”

“Any time. You’re one of us now.” He
shrugged. “We take care of each other.”

“Call if you need anything. Both of you.” Tyr
nodded as Freya and Henrik made their way down the porch and to
their respective houses. When they were both safely inside, Tyr
shut the French doors and scooped me in his arms.

“Upstairs,
prinsessa
. I need to get at
least a few hours of sleep before I hit up the dwarves.” He carried
me up the stairs and set me on the massive bed. He tugged off his
jeans and T-shirt, and climbed in after me in his boxer-briefs,
pulling the downy comforter up to our chins and tucking me safely
under an arm. “You doing all right with all of this?”

“We’re safe here? You’re sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure,” Tyr promised.

“And these dwarves—you won’t be in any
danger?” I ran my thumb along his chest.

“I’ll be fine. I promise. Especially with
Freya. They’ve seen her before; they’ll do anything she tells them
to.”

“Okay.” I bit the inside of my cheek,
grateful he couldn’t see me in the moonlight. My face had to be
positively etched with concern.

“The only thing I want you focusing on is
taking care of my girl.” Tyr’s lips grazed my earlobe, and I inched
closer to him. “You’re not allowed to worry about me. I’ll be fine.
I promise.”

“All right,” I agreed, relishing his
heartbeat against mine. The pulse, coupled with the rhythmic
pounding of the waves outside, should have soothed my level-nine
anxiety.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that
something awful was coming. Soon.

THE MINUTE I OPENED
my eyes, I fought
the urge to squeeze them shut again. Sunlight streamed through the
big windows, bathing the cream-colored room in a brilliant light.
While I snuggled deeper into the soft pillows, I heard the shower
shut off. I turned just in time to see Tyr emerging, wrapped from
the waist down in a plush white towel.

My head may have been foggy with sleep, but
my nerves were suddenly on high alert.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” Tyr ran a hand
through his wet hair and shot me a grin that spiked my heart rate
more than coffee ever could.

“Morning,” I murmured.

“Sorry to dash out on you, but Freya will be
here any minute.” He crossed to the bed and gave me a very thorough
kiss. My breathing came in ragged gasps as he walked away.

Tyr picked up his toothbrush and quickly
brushed his teeth, then opened a drawer in the bureau and pulled
out some clothes. When he dropped his towel, I had to force myself
to look away. His bare backside was even more glorious than I’d
imagined.

At the sound of a zipper, I figured it was
safe to look up. Tyr stood in front of the dresser, looking every
bit the warrior in black cargo pants and a fitted black tee. He
crossed to the edge of the bed to lace his combat boots.

“I’ll be back for dinner. Steaks are
marinating in the fridge, and Forse promised to catch some kind of
fish this afternoon. Henrik’s gonna man the grill.”

“Yum,” I mumbled. The gorgeous god and the
spectacular suite had me rendered speechless.

“Brynn’s next door with Henrik and Elsa, but
she’s been instructed to shadow you if you feel at all
uncomfortable.” Tyr finished tying his boots and stood up.

“Wait, shouldn’t Brynn and Henrik be going
with you? They’re your bodyguards.”

“Yeah. But like I said, we don’t anticipate
any hostilities. And nobody’s stupid enough to mess with me
and
Freya.” Tyr smoothed the front of his shirt. “Forse is
downstairs at the breakfast bar. He’ll take you out fishing if you
want. I know you were disappointed you didn’t get to bait the hook
last time.”

Tyr ducked when I chucked a pillow at
him.

“Go.” I laughed. “Save the world. Say hi to
Freya. And tell the dwarves I said ‘Heigh-Ho.’”

“I wish they were that kind of dwarf.” Tyr
shook his head. “You okay here all day?”