FLOOD

The Water Jotun

When we walked inside I was startled to see that the place was relatively tidy. I’d never been in one of the safehouses before, but I knew a lot of the guards were slobs. They were used to servants in the palace picking up after them. But this place looked almost homey. Granted, the furniture was nothing special, just basic wooden chairs and a table, and a few couches that looked like they’d seen better days, but there were flower patterned curtains, and there wasn’t a speck of dust on either of the end tables as we walked through the living room.

We found the rest of the guards in the kitchen. Some of them were sitting at the table, cards spread out in front of them, others were leaning against the counter or raiding the fridge. When we walked in they all looked up, and most of them looked shocked to see me and Eli.

“This is…” Bifky stopped in the middle of the introduction. “Oh, uh, we didn’t ask your names.”

Behind us, Bolthur scoffed. “That’s right, you big lummox. You just bought their bullshit story, you didn’t even asked them where they actually came from or what their names are.”

“I told you I’m Valka,” I said crossly. “And this is Eli.”

Eli nodded around the kitchen, his expression surprisingly neutral. I think he was probably trying to remain calm, since the Jotun guards were eyeing him like an eagle might stare down a mouse. He was too obviously a mixed-blood human, not even really half Jotun.

My fingers curled into fists, nails biting into the palms of my hands as I stared around at the guards in the kitchen. There were five of them.  Two at the table and two at the refrigerator, one leaning against the counter, all of them staring at Eli and I suspiciously. There was only one female Jotun, and her gaze switched from Eli to me. She pushed long brown hair over one shoulder and said,

“So, what’s your story? You’ve obviously managed piss Bolthur off.”

“Not that it’s hard,” the Jotun leaning against the counter said. He crossed his arms over his narrow chest and gave me an even stare. He was as pale as the woman was dark. In fact, they were evenly divided, for the most part. A mixture of fire and frost Jotun. But they all looked standoffish, and they were all warriors. It was obvious from the way they held themselves, and I swallowed hard, knowing that any one of them could trounce me if I so much as looked at them wrong.

“She has a message for the queen.” Bolthur’s voice was laced with scorn. “Thinks she’s going to waltz up and get an audience with Loki and Megan.”

“And you’re on first name basis with them, right?” The woman scoffed back at him, then turned to look at me again. “Ignore him, he’s got a stick up his backside the size of an oak tree. If Bifky let you in, he must have seen you were telling the truth.” She gestured at the table where the poker game had been going on. “You both look exhausted, at least have a seat while they try to interrogate you.”

I gave her a grateful nod. “Thank you.”

Eli followed me, and he sat down reluctantly after a moment or two, darting another look around the kitchen, as if he were looking for a way out should this all go terribly wrong. It occurred to me that it might, and that we might have to escape and run to the palace on our own. In the middle of the night.

“She was the missing girl I was telling you about,” Bifky said quickly, before anyone else could interrupt. “Remember?”

“The servant girl?” The pale Jotun’s brows shot up.

“Rumours,” Bolthur growled. “All just rumours over some dumb runaway.”

“Two dumb runaways?” the dark woman protested.