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Chapters (46)
  1. Contents
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyrights
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-one
  26. Chapter Twenty-two
  27. Chapter Twenty-three
  28. Chapter Twenty-four
  29. Chapter Twenty-five
  30. Chapter Twenty-six
  31. Chapter Twenty-seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-one
  36. Chapter Thirty-two
  37. Chapter Thirty-three
  38. Chapter Thirty-four
  39. Chapter Thirty-five
  40. Chapter Thirty-six
  41. Chapter Thirty-seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-one
  46. Chapter Forty-two

I dropped to one knee, bowing my head. “Thank you, my lady. I’ll do my best.”

Chapter Sixteen

Sixteen

Mikill the frost giant drove me home, dripping all the way.

I was quiet, holding dauda-dagr awkwardly in my lap, thinking about what had transpired. For the first time since I’d become an agent of Hel, I felt the full weight of the responsibility vested in me, coupled with the realization that I had a lot to learn. Also, I was really, really tired. It was kind of overwhelming holding a conversation with a goddess who could casually reference having her own freaking cosmology. How did that even work, anyway? Trying to wrap my head around it just made my brain hurt.

By the time Mikill dropped me off in the alley, I was yawning. I thanked him and gave him back his fur coat.

Mrs. Browne was hard at work in the bakery, and her presence and the warm glow of light spilling into the alley from her windows was comforting. She spotted me and gave me a cheery little wave as I skulked past to check behind the Dumpster, where I found nothing. Yay.

That left the stairs to my apartment.

Opening the door gave me a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. Feeling only a little silly, I clutched the leather-wrapped hilt of dauda-dagr tight in my right hand, and used the left to turn the doorknob, jumping back as the door swung open.

Also nothing.

I heaved a sigh of relief.

Upstairs, I hurried into my apartment and locked the door behind me. A scrabbling sound from the screened porch made me jump again, my tail lashing with nerves, but it was only Mogwai, forcing himself through the torn screen and complaining vociferously about his empty food bowl.

“Hey, big guy,” I said fondly, filling his bowl. “You scared me.”

Ignoring me, he chomped at his kibble.

“Long day.” I sank onto my futon couch and kicked off my sandals, fishing my phone out of my purse and checking it. No messages. No wonder. It was late. Having eaten, Mogwai deigned to come over to settle onto my lap and purr. “Hey, Mog?” I showed him dauda-dagr, runes shimmering the length of its blade. “Hel gave me a magic dagger. What do you think of that?”

Unimpressed, he kneaded my thighs with his paws, claws pricking a bit.

I thought about displacing him and going to bed.

Instead, I fell asleep.

I awoke to the sound of my phone chiming insistently and bright sunlight streaming through the windows, a sure indicator that I’d overslept. At least after the past twenty-four hours, I figured I got a pass on worrying about sloth. Glancing at my phone, I saw that the call was coming from the main desk at the station. “Hello?”

“Daisy, where are you?” Patty Rogan sounded harried. “The chief’s having conniptions.”