Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) (39 page)

“I’ll be fine.” I stretched my arms above my
head. “Beautiful beach, clear skies, and did you say breakfast
bar?”

“I did.” Tyr leaned down to kiss the top of
my forehead. When he pulled back, he cradled my chin between his
thumb and forefinger. “Forse will take good care of you today, and
I’ll be home before you know it.”

“Go on.” I stretched to kiss his lips.
“Henrik and I will bake something fabulous for dessert.”

“Deal.” Tyr planted one more lingering kiss
on my mouth before I heard the knock downstairs. “That’s Freya. See
you tonight, babe.”

“See you.” I waved as he bolted from the
room. I didn’t want to ask why he grabbed his crossbow on the way
out.

The day stretched ahead of me, and somewhere
downstairs the God of Justice was eating his breakfast. Much as I
wanted to meet Forse, I didn’t want to make a first impression with
bedhead. I brushed my teeth and took my time fixing my hair,
putting on just enough makeup to look presentable.

My phone rang, and I grabbed it off the
nightstand, thinking it must be Tyr. Maybe he’d forgotten his Uzi,
or his AK-47, or his magic wand, and he needed me to run it out to
him. “Hello?”

“Howdy, Sis. How’s the big, bad world of
Arcata?” My brother sounded typically chipper for a Saturday
morning. It couldn’t have been much later than ten on the east
coast. The sleep-late gene had skipped him.

“Oh, hi, Jase. About that. I’m not exactly in
Arcata.”

“Where exactly are you then?”

I glanced around the beautifully decorated
bedroom, then to the ocean that sparkled outside the full-length
windows, and the coast that stretched all the way to the
tree-dusted mountain a few dozen miles off. It was definitely
living… if you forgot we were here to escape a dark magic-laced,
homicidal wolf who was working as the agent of my boyfriend’s crazy
giant birth father. “Just out of town for a little bit.”

“Don’t you have classes?” Jason asked. “It’s
not like you to play hooky.”

“Well, it’s the weekend,” I reminded him.
“And then, eh, fall break?” It wasn’t a total lie. We had a few
days off.

“You coming home for Thanksgiving, or are you
going to hang out with the tree huggers and that man of yours?”

“I’ll probably have to stay here. You know,
um, to study for exams,” I hedged. Who knew how long I’d be holed
up in this safe house?

“Then I need to pay you a visit. Maybe in a
couple of weeks? My exams aren’t until the week before Christmas,
so I have a little wiggle room in my study schedule. I want to see
you. And I want to meet the dude.”

“His name’s Tyr,” I reminded my brother with
a smile. “And I’d love for you to meet him.”
So long as we’re
not being hunted by monsters of the underworld. If that’s the case
I want you to stay far, far away
.

“Good. We need to have
the talk
. He
needs to understand that if he hurts my baby sister, I’ll crush his
kneecaps. You’ll notice I’m not asking if he’s on this little
vacation with you, or what the sleeping arrangements are. Because I
am not in a kneecap-crushing mood at the moment… but I could get
into one if I had to.”

I giggled. “I love you, Jase.”

“Love you too, Mees. Have fun out there. But
not too much fun.” He imitated Dad’s stern voice.

“Will do. Bye.” I turned off the phone and
put it in my pocket, grinning. When all of this was over, and I
finally got to see him, I was going to give my brother the biggest
hug ever. And warn him not to touch the God of War’s kneecaps.

With my brother convinced of my safety, I
padded downstairs. I wound my way around the floor-to-ceiling stone
fireplace, ran my fingertips across the smooth granite surface of
the kitchen island, and opened one of the glass-front cabinets to
pull out a coffee mug. While I filled it with my morning jolt of
energy, I admired the functional elegance of both the hanging pots,
and the second island that separated the dining table from the
cooking area. Tyr’s kitchens toed the line between practical and
beautiful
really
well.

When I caught sight of Forse, I nearly
spilled my coffee. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting the
justice god to look like—maybe old and weathered like a Hemingway
hero? But I sure wasn’t expecting the chiseled Adonis in an ivory
sweater and khakis, sitting at the second island and tucking into
an apple turnover. He was Hyannis Port chic, with just a touch of
naughty footballer in his twinkling eyes.

He was drop-dead gorgeous.

“Do you all look like you just stepped out of
a magazine?” My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my god. That was out
loud.”

The vision chuckled as he wiped crumbs from
his lips.

“What I meant to open with was, hi. I’m Mia.
Pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Forse.” He held out his hand, and we
shook. He had a firm grip, but surprisingly soft hands.

“So you’re babysitting me today?”

“You’re helping me, actually,” Forse
corrected. “Our crab supply is dangerously low, and I hear you’re a
solid fisherman. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all.” I set my coffee next to the
fruit bowl on the island, before climbing up next to Forse and
selecting a mango. I cut into it and took a bite. “This is
amazing—where’d you find these this time of year?”

Forse shrugged. “Freya handles the shopping
when she’s in the compound. She probably had one of the valkyries
fly them in from Australia. Mangoes are in season there right
now.”

“Oh.” I cradled my cup with both hands and
held on tight.

“Our world must seem strange to you.” Forse
lifted his coffee mug.

Oh, definitely not. A realm of gods is
overseeing the fate of mankind, which currently rests in the claws
of an evil magic dog controlled by my boyfriend’s giant father.
Totally not weird
. But I kept my words to myself and mirrored
Forse’s movement, taking a sip of the black coffee. It was hot and
strong, and it tasted absolutely heavenly.

“As much as I know of it,” I said truthfully.
“I know you guys have to be kind of secretive.”

Forse set down his cup. “We’re usually not
supposed to expose ourselves to mortals, but Tyr’s position gives
him discretion most of us don’t have—since he’s charged with
evaluating threats to the realm, Odin gives him free rein to mingle
with different races.”

“Oh. So he’s… mingled with a human before?” I
studied my fingernails while Forse chuckled.

“Nothing like that. You guys are definitely
one of the few inter-realm relationships we’ve seen. But Tyr’s
aligned forces with friendly factions before—light elf armies, the
occasional gnome battalion. His judgment is impeccable, and those
interactions have always resulted in increased security for
Asgard.”

“Got it. Well, I’m not going to bring more
security to Asgard. But I won’t do anything to hurt it, either. Not
on purpose, anyway.” I took another drink of coffee.

“I know you won’t. Like I said, Tyr’s an
impeccable judge of character. If he trusts you, so do I.” Forse
drained his mug and carried it to the sink. “Come on—finish your
fruit, and we’ll go set the crab nets. I have a feeling we’ll bring
in a big haul today.”

****

“What do we do now?” I watched as the net
sank into the water in the small cove. Forse tossed markers after
it, keeping an eye on the floating buoys.

“Now we wait.” Forse opened a small cooler he
kept on the dinghy, and offered me a bottle of water.

“I’m good, thanks.” I declined the beverage
with a head shake.

“There are plenty in here if you change your
mind.” Forse uncapped his own bottle and drank, draining its
contents before closing the cooler and returning his attention to
the ocean. While he stared at the surface, I looked around. Forse’
fishing boat was much smaller than Tyr’s. It had an open deck with
wooden benches lining the sides, and a small motor at the back.

“Is Brynn still with Elsa?” I asked

“She is. With everything that’s going on, we
figured an extra set of eyes on our girl couldn’t hurt.”

“How’s Elsa feeling?” I ventured.

“She’s doing well. Her vitals have been on a
steady rise since she got here last night.”

“Are you and Elsa close? I mean were you
friends? Before her… accident?”

“We were friends,” Forse said. He stared at
the horizon, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Oh my gosh. You like her! Are you
together?”

“What? No.” Forse shook his head. “I’m not
sure how Tyr would feel about that.”

“Hmm. Well, have you ever asked him?”

“No.”

“He might not be bothered by it,” I pointed
out. “If you guys are that close, he’d probably love you dating his
sister. He’d know you’d never hurt her.”

Forse kept his gaze on the water.

“I haven’t exactly met her awake, but she
seems pretty special,” I added.

“She’s
very
special,” Forse
corrected.

“How do you mean?” I studied the gentle waves
of the ocean, watching for signs of movement from the net.

“Elsa has an unprecedented gift. But she’s
only recently come into one of her, uh, talents.” Forse paused. I
sensed he was evaluating my trustworthiness. I kept an easy smile
on my face, which broadened when he gave a nod and continued
talking.
Whew. I passed
. “Elsa’s a hybrid. She always knew
she was a High Healer, and she’s been functional in that role for a
while. But recently she found out she also has Unifier tendencies.
She must have gotten a partial inheritance from her mother.”

“That sounds like a lot of responsibility,” I
said.

“Especially for someone so young. When she
found out she had the unifying gift, she asked me to help her learn
to use it. She was pretty scared—she’d just lost her parents, and
she didn’t have anyone to coach her. We started spending more time
together.”

“And you asked her out?” I nudged him with my
toe.

“I helped her hone her abilities.”

“But you
wanted
to ask her out.”

“You ask a lot of questions,” Forse
grumbled.

“She wanted you to ask her out too, didn’t
she?” I guessed.

“Let me check the fishing net.”

“Interesting.” I thought for a minute. “What
does Freya say about it?”

Forse stayed silent as he leaned over the
boat.

“I see. Well, you’re going to have to tell
Tyr eventually.”

Forse finally looked at me. “Relationships
make me… uncomfortable.”

“Why?”

“I had a bad experience.”

“Oh.” I wanted to ask more, but my companion
was back to staring at the water. Somebody had definitely done a
number on him. “Well, I hope it works out with Elsa. We don’t have
to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Forse nodded at the buoys. “Here they
come.”

I watched as he steered the boat around the
net, gathering the buoys on the deck.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Help me pull them in.”

Forse began gathering the net, and I followed
suit. We worked together to pull it in, Forse tying it tight before
setting the bundle of scurrying crabs in the boat.

“This is a decent catch,” he praised. “Let’s
get them back to the house.”

“Sounds good.” I watched the net while Forse
steered the boat toward the shore. The crabs scuttled on top of
each other, writhing against the ropes. “And maybe we can pay a
visit to Elsa.”

“Maybe.” Forse shook his head. He certainly
wasn’t a chatty one, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

For all of our sakes, I hoped Elsa woke up
soon.

****

“And that’s how you barbecue a steak. Boom.
Mic drop!” Henrik flipped the meat and threw down the spatula. He’d
ditched the fake eyeglasses and wore aviator shades in their place.
In his “Kiss The Cook” apron and backwards baseball cap, he looked
every bit the frat-boy he could have been… if he wasn’t biding his
time as an immortal bodyguard. He was relaxed and happy, grinning
at Brynn as she gazed adoringly at him from her seat across from me
at the picnic table.

“These look amazing, Henrik.” The valkyrie
looked up from under long lashes.

“Why do you think Tyr won’t let me move out?”
Henrik chuckled. “Just wait until you try my Mississippi Mud Pie
tonight.”

“
My
Mississippi Mud Pie,” I corrected.
“It’s my grandmother’s recipe. He just helped me make it.”

“I’m the one who suggested adding the vanilla
to the crust.” Henrik raised an eyebrow. “I trust you’ll find that
improves the recipe significantly.”

“You baggin’ on my Meemaw?” I crossed my arms
with feigned irritation. It was impossible to be upset with Henrik
over anything—upset with anyone, really. Things were finally
looking up. Tyr and Freya had returned unharmed and were changing
out of their travel clothes before dinner, and Henrik reported that
he’d put the final touches on Fred, and the arm was fully
functional. We could all feel that something good was coming—the
end of Fenrir, a break in the fighting—maybe a happy-ever-after for
us all.

“I’m sure your Meemaw is lovely. Just as I’m
sure she wishes she’d added a dash of vanilla to the butter when
she made her piecrust. Just sayin’.” Henrik shrugged.

“Don’t mess with her Meemaw, man.” A rough
voice came from behind me. We turned to see Tyr walk through the
French doors. He wore faded blue jeans, and a ribbed white Henley.
His feet were bare, and his hair was still damp from the shower. He
crossed the porch in four long strides and dropped to sit beside
me.

“
Hei
again,” he murmured. He put his
hands on my hips and pulled me onto his lap.

“Hi.” I nestled my head on his shoulder. “How
was the shower?”

“Lonely. Wish you’d have taken me up on my
offer to—”