“Then what possessed you to leave the safety of your home, child?”

“I am no child! And I’ve been safe enough.” Except for the bloodthirsty foes I had to face to reach this side of the conflict. “I’ve slain vampires.” But it’d been close. I lost my sword early in that skirmish, too.

He waved away her words as if they were mere fables. “Reginleit, answer me.”

Though she suspected she should be secretive and cautious with a stranger like this, she’d never learned to be either. And she needed his help. Out spilled the truth: “I followed my favorite sister when she followed a man. He promised to wed Lucia, yet I am uneasy. She is everything to me, and I believe she is in danger.” Regin couldn’t explain how she knew, but she felt as if time was running out for her sister.

“You left heaven for her? Though you can never go back?”

“’Tis forbidden for a Valkyrie to return.”

“Then I applaud your loyalty.”

“She would do the same for me.” As exasperated as Regin made her—indeed, all her sisters—she knew Lucia loved her.

“You sought me this night,” he said. “What would you have me do?”

“I need assistance to find Lucia.”

“Done,” he said with a shrug. “I will do everything possible to reunite her with you.”

Regin blinked up at him. “Because you serve Wóden?”

“Nay.” He rose to pace, running his hand over his mouth. “I do this because we will serve each other.”

“I do not take your meaning.”

“There is no easy way to say this. Reginleit, when you are grown, you will become my wife.”

“Are you mad, mortal?” she cried, her skin glowing brighter. “Like my sister Nïx?”

“Nïx the Ever-Knowing, the soothsayer?”