Page 134 of Veil of Blood and Bone

I prop my hip against the side of the couch and pray for stability. “Nothing matters unless Helene accepts her fate. It’s wrong to ask her to make a choice and stand with us without understanding the full truth.”

It’s wrong to make demands out loud when I don’t know the full truth, either. There are pieces missing, ones that will snap my fingers if I seek them out. They're close enough to fear.

What will I find when the picture is complete?

How damned will I actually be?

“There may not come a choice. We maneuver her into a better position, or we face the consequences. This might be our last shot.” Nicholas stares at the door as though yearning alone will twist the knob.

Wren sneers. “I’m as big a proponent of choice as anyone else, and you know it.”

“The ego on you...” I trail off.

He dismisses me. “You don’t remember anything. Take a backseat until it all comes roaring back. We’ll need those parts of you faster than you think.”

They recall thousands of years I’ve lost.

I recall almost nothing.

I rest my palm on the hilt of my ax. “If you agree with me, then what can we do about it? We have to make a plan preceding the completed weaving.”

Nicholas crosses arms over his chest, claws barely concealed and the whites of his eyes spread through with red veins. “Be realistic, Forest. Each time is worse than the last.”

Forest Ulfson.

My name, before the AllFather picked me, plucked me from mortality. Before he labeled me greater, stronger, more forceful. Before he made me into his beast.

My past will live in my soul, but the identity no longer fits.

“If she won’t accept it on blind faith, then perhaps she’ll change her mind if she sees it,” I say, knee bobbing. “I can show her a memory. Something to help her believe.”

“She’ll still insist you’re insane and loop the rest of us in with the madness.” Wren waves a finger in the air. “Our existence is one long joke. A mockery.”

“The only thing I can do to convince her, if Nicholas giving his blood to her sister or the Norn’s prophecy isn’t enough, is to let her experience it for herself. The memories are mine to share. She’ll be able to see herself through my eyes.”

So why does the thought fill me with dread?

I spread my hands. The power is also mine, and along with the vision, she’ll experience everything I felt in the moment. My senses and my emotions.

The overwhelm could⁠—

“I’ll wait for the right time to show her,” I continue in the strained silence.

Wren blows out a breath. “There's no such thing as the perfect time, is there? What do you suggest? When we aren’t being tracked and hunted by Odin’s hounds? When the sun decides to surface? Luck won’t hold off. The Norns. Are. Weaving.”

We may never get another shot at this.

“I won’t let you suck her into your memories until she agrees,” Nicholas argues. “She’s too worried about her sister to think clearly.”

“Then do you have a better idea?” I wait for him to do anything other than scowl and rub tight loops above my chest. The necklace of bone and metal clanks with the movement. “If I did, then I wouldn’t suggest the exchange in the first place. But something is pressing on me.”

“Go back to flying in circles.”

I growl at Wren. “At least I’m offering a solution. If our girl continues to fight against her fate then we’re doomed before we begin. Should she run⁠—”

“We’ll find her.” Nicholas shakes his head.

These war conversations around a table with a glass of something strong in our hands...