He was also the only one I’d expected unwavering loyalty from, having assumed he’d been locked away in Tartarus with the others.
“There’s something wrong with him. So much pain,” Lexi said, drawing my attention back down to her. Rain streaked down her face, nearly masking the tears. Her vibrant aura had been entirely swallowed up by that deep, alarming purple that sparked with unknown magic.
I lifted my head to look at Leviathan again, towering over the streets of Boston. His aura shone in bright shades of purple and red, betraying his fear and anger, but there was a cloud around his head, differing from Lexi’s in its discordance. An outside interference. Someone was controlling him, and my initial sting of betrayal morphed into a fierce protectiveness for the scarred, withdrawn kid I’d sheltered so long ago.
So the three of us stood there silently as my mind raced across the challenge before us. We needed to stop him and break the hold on his mind without killing him or causing more damage.
“How do we do this?” Lexi asked. She turned her gaze to me, her normally amber-brown eyes disconcertingly dark.
“Carefully,” another voice answered. We all turned to find Loki standing behind us, devastation painted across every inch of his face. But he wasn’t the one who spoke. At his side, a young girl with straight black hair and deeply tanned skin folded her arms across her stomach. “My brother isn’t himself.”
Lexi blinked rapidly, eyebrows lifting. “Hela?”
Her sister’s appearance was nothing like when they’d first met, but I hadn’t realized until then that Lexi had never seen her human form. None of the siblings looked the same, though I had yet to meet Fenrir personally. They’d chosen powerful forms, but Odin’s curse not only kept them from coming together in Asgard, it also forced them to spend equal time between their two forms to limit the threat they posed. If they went without for too long, the transformation forced itself on them like a werewolf under a full moon.
“Lexi,” she replied with a nod. “I regret that we’re always meeting under such… strained circumstances.”
Thor stepped forward, grasping Loki’s shoulder to get his attention. “Can he be reasoned with?”
I stared at Thor, wondering if he was seeing the same thing I was, but my mind was pulling away, becoming oddly detached. Fighting the sensation, I focused on Loki as he lifted his glowing viridescent gaze above my head, lips pursed in concentration.
“There’s nothing there,” Loki said, voice strained. “Like his consciousness has been pulled from his body, or buried deep beyond my reach, and all that’s left is a mindless beast.”
With a heavy sigh, Thor hung his head. “Is fate truly so cruel?”
“Your prophecy doesn’t have to happen today. Neither of you need to die.” Lexi had wandered back to lean against the railing, her tone hard and almost unrecognizable as she stared up at Leviathan’s writhing form. The wind picked up, pulling at her clothes and blowing the frigid rain into her face, but she didn’t flinch. “Fight carefully, Thunderer.”
Loki tilted his head, brow drawn down with the same confusion I felt. Maybe he truly had no clue what other powers lay within her. Powers that had apparently been dormant until she walked into my life and all the chaos I brought with me. The four of us glanced uneasily at each other before Thor nodded, hefting his hammer.
“Be careful, brother,” Loki warned again. “Anything that Jörmungandr swallows is lost forever, as you well know.”
Sorrow filled his gaze and tightened his jaw, and he pulled Loki into a hug. “I know, and Odin will pay the price for his cruelty soon, I promise you. We will teach him together.”
Hela took Loki’s hand in one of hers and placed the other on Thor’s arm, shooting a quick glance at where Lexi stood nearby. “All of us. I believe it’s long past due, for our past… and her future.”
I felt like an intruder on this family moment, but I agreed with the sentiment. Lexi would never know peace if Odin ever discovered her existence. But I’d be damned—again—if he ever got his hands on her as long as I lived. God or not, I would fight tooth and claw to protect the woman I loved, especially knowing she’d be fighting right alongside me.
As long as she didn’t freeze up like she did with Thor, anyway.
“Then get to safety, and I’ll do my best,” the god of thunder said, turning away. “And mind the demons incoming.”
He launched into the air toward Leviathan just as a large group of demons came into view. Lexi remained unmoving except for her eyes, which followed her brother’s movements. I pushed forward, calling a sword to each hand.
“No need.” Hela placed a hand on my arm and stepped in front of me. Her power snapped out like a whip and cracked over the group. Horrible screeching sounded over Leviathan’s roars and every one of them turned and ran. Then she turned to me with a smirk.
“How did you do that?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She shrugged, the movement deliberately casual. “I’ve fended off enough incursions into my territory that they’ve learned well enough to fear me. A lesson they won’t forget anytime soon.”
Incursions? I had questions, but hers could wait a while longer. Stepping up to Loki’s side, I asked him one instead. “What happened to him back then?”
His lips thinned, eyes hardened, and his power fluctuated dangerously before he reined it back in. “I suppose if you’re to be a part of the family, it’s only fair you know.”
“Yeah, sure,” I agreed lightly. “Nevermind the fact that I took him in and still have no idea what I was saving him from, other than the fucking king of Asgard.”
“It was a private matter, Luce,” Hela said on my other side. “A family matter. I asked and you agreed. You didn’t ask for the details, and didn’t need them after that.”
Loki finally tore his gaze away from the scene as lightning struck and Leviathan roared. “You know of my second marriage, what Odin did to my children. Much of it is common lore, but the worst of it was left out. Gods forbid anyone know the depths of Odin’s cruelty,” he spat. “I was bound by my own sons’ entrails and forced to endure the drip of venom on my skin from a snake. Sigyn stayed by my side for a long time, protecting me from most of it.”
