“I was waiting for you to come clean on the way here.” Freyja’s suspicion raked over me in one long, judgmental sweep of her eyes. “I humored you by driving in circles. Humor me and tell me why you’re here, angel.”
The air seemed to tighten around us, turning heavy and charged, almost unbreathable. I sucked down a burning inhale with some effort. “What’s it to you?”
Her hand moved to her waist—to the blade sheathed there. Gunnar followed suit.
My body went rigid, and I pushed out the truth. “I saw myself here in a vision.”
That wasn’t enough. Apparently, the elves needed more to release their grips from their pommels.
“I need to talk to Gaia. We used to… communicate.” Wasn’t sure that was the right word, given that her voice used to infiltrate the sounds of my everyday life and I’d just had to listen and deal, but I went with it.
“Then you should know it’s locked,” Gunnar said. A warning lined his tongue.
“Kind of hard when she just up and disappeared. Did you know that?” I probably should have stood down, but the lack of sleep and my rising frustration did me no favors. “If I don’t find her, this entire realm is at risk of war. And if what I saw on the way here was the result of the last one, you don’t even want to know what this next one will bring.”
I moved to go around them. Before I could, Freyja held up a palm. Damp earth erupted out of the concrete, a wall of lawn and stone spewing up like a geyser.
My arms flew to cover my head, and I squinched my lids shut until the clods of dirt no longer rained down. When I opened my eyes, her expression had hardened, narrowed. It was all wrong.
“Was that a threat?” Freyja barked.
“What?”
“Who sent you?”
“No one.”
“Don’t lie to me.” In one smooth flick of her wrist, the dagger came between us.
Flinching as if she’d actually struck me, I said, “This feels a lot like an interrogation.”
Her teeth bared in a humorless smile. “It is.”
“Are you serious?” I curled my fingers into my palms, willing my body to stop trembling with unspent adrenaline. “If anything, I should be asking you two why you’re so protective of an Empyrean landmark. Who sent you? Who are you looking for? Who do you serve?”
The knife glinted, sharp as Freyja’s eyes. “Watch your tongue, Water Angel.” So they hadn’t missed my little stunt in the ocean. “You know nothing of us. We serve no one but our queen.”
“You’re on our land.” Gunnar’s lips stretched into what should have been a smile, but it held not even an ounce of his original charm. “And we protect it at all costs.”
Sun broke through the clouds, dancing off the sharp tip of her blade, still pointed at me.
A pang of hurt cleaved my chest. I hadn’t done anything to them. I didn’t deserve this.
Limbs tingling with rage and power, I stepped over the hole she’d blown in the concrete. In defiance. In opposition.
She rolled her neck. “Oh? Does someone have a statement to make?”
My body buzzed with nerves and something that felt a lot like magic. As I tightened my fists, a thick haze gathered overhead, eclipsing the sun.
The tide beat onto the crags below like a steady drum. Here, we were never far from the water, and the element seemed to surge through my body, a rush of strength that harmonized with my fear and anger. The ground trembled beneath our feet.
“That’s enough!” Gunnar shot between us, arms out as if they were shields. “It’s time for a field trip.”
“What?” I spat. “No.”
“Yes.” He sighed, a kiss of a breeze twining through his thick twists of hair, the clouds scattering. “An angel is sneaking around, trying to breach the realms? You need to pay the Elven Queen a visit.”
“Breach the realms?” I scoffed. “You’ve got the wrong girl.”
