When his worst fear comes true, Asgard's Dark Prince will stop at nothing to rescue his pregnant consort. Yet, not even the threat of Asgard's forces looming in the skies over Alfheim can force the Unseelie Winter Realm Elves to produce Shannon when...
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After a restless attempt to sleep when Thor took over the watch, I eventually gave up and prepared breakfast. Fortunately, the poultices Healer Moja had supplied seemed to work for Roskva. Already the wounds were filling in, and although disgusted by Mist's descriptions of the worms, Ros was recovering well. Still, she wasn't moving with her usual fluidity but could at least walk on her own. No one complained when I rushed them through the meal and back onto the trail as the sun was rising, seemingly as anxious as I to continue.
Every day, hour, minute, and second brought Shannon closer to her due date. The ticking clock pressed on me like a mammoth sitting on my chest. By the time we'd get back to Asgard, it'd be more than a month Shannon had been missing. Assuming she was on either Alfheim or Jotunheim, she had less than six weeks remaining. But if she had somehow made it back to Midgard, our son would already be born.
Assuming he wasn't born early from all the stress she had to be under.
As often as I tried to push those thoughts away, they remained, like a Hirudo worm eating my brain in relentless efficiency. Angry and vengeful emotions I could deal with. But this helplessness kept me from conversing with the others as we walked.
Shannon would be increasingly vulnerable as her due date approached. It terrified me, and I didn't know what to do with that fear. It roiled in my gut like a poisonous brew. There was too much time to think as we walked. Too much time to feel.
When Thjalfi came back from scouting ahead to let us know we'd reached a valley with a farm and cottage that fit the description we were looking for, I was relieved. Finally, a chance for information, a clue, a way forward.
Changing to a raven, I flew ahead to examine the location and entrance to the mountain home. Wheeling on the updrafts, I circled over the stone house built into the mountain. Smoke wafting up from the chimney suggested someone was inside. The fields further down the valley were empty, but well tended.
Flying back to the others, I changed and relayed what I'd seen.
"We need a plan of attack," Kara said.
"Thor knocks down the door, then he and Kara hold the giant in place, and I'll take the information from his mind. Assuming it's Suttung, I don't plan to be nice. Nor am I in any mood to be patient. Diplomacy be damned. We've wasted enough time here just finding him. While we question him, Thjalfi and Mist can deal with the daughter and get the mead. Given you aren't back to full mobility yet, keep watch from outside, Roz. If anyone tries to escape from a door we don't know about, you can trap them in rock."
Thor chuckled, slapping me on the shoulder. "That sounds more like one of my plans than your usual finesse, Brother. I approve!"
Moving quickly, we made our way to within a few hundred metres of the home.
At my nod, Thor threw Mjolnir.
With a crash, it knocked the door off its hinges and the deafening boom echoed off the stony mountains.
