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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Mist and I made good time to the treaty plains between the Summer and Winter Realms. With short breaks on sparse islands we found along the way, and not sparing any time to sleep for more than an hour, we travelled the distance in two and a half days.
Fog swirled at the edges of the plains, obscuring sight into either of the bright Summer or gloomy Winter Realms. The centre was clear, but only two people awaited us.
Circling to land, I was disappointed to not see Shannon. Only Kara and Roskva were there. Shifting back from the raven to myself, I reached them just as Mist touched down.
"You didn't find Shannon?" I asked, unable to understand how we could have beaten her here.
"No, but we haven't been able to look far," Kara answered.
"Why? Haven't you been here for days?" asked Mist.
"Aren't Thor and Thjalfi looking for her?" I asked, almost on top of Mist's question.
"They had to return to Asgard. Crom and Llew escaped the dungeons," Roskva said, scowling.
"What? How the hell did that happen?" I asked. The dungeons utilized highly advanced magic and numerous protections. And they were well guarded. No one escaped our dungeons.
"I don't—" Kara started, but stopped as the swirling light of the bifrost appeared. When it dissipated, Thor and Thjalfi were standing there.
Thor radiated fury. Rarely was his temper this close to being unleashed. Not only was lightning flashing in his eyes, but it snapped on his fingertips, with the occasional bolt coursing over his body to hit the nearby ground.
"What's happened, Brother?" I asked.
"Llew's wife, Badb, and Nemain got into Asgard somehow without Heimdall seeing them. Badb is a shapeshifter. We believe she killed a guard and imitated him to get inside the dungeons, then the pair of them slaughtered the rest of the guard shift once they were in without a single guard managing to raise the alarm." Thor's voice thundered with the sound of the sky being ripped apart.
He smashed Mjolnir on the ground, creating a crater and venting some of his fury before continuing. "They broke Llew and Crom Cruach out of the dungeon and somehow got out of Asgard. Ambassador Ogma is claiming complete ignorance, but we think they are back here on Alfheim."
"Fucking politicians!" Kara snarled.
Thor snorted. "There are no living witnesses, but we got the two names from one guard who lived long enough to tell us. He died before we could get the memory as proof."
This was bad. Epically, colossally bad.
That they'd gotten in and out of Asgard was unacceptable. That they'd done it and Heimdall hadn't seen them was even worse. We had a serious security problem.
"They killed the entire shift without an alarm being raised?" Mist's tone was incredulous.
Thjalfi scowled. "Badb and Nemain are Goddesses of War, Fear, Panic, and Death."
