“As much as I’d love to spend this time talking about Soren’s vanity,” Diaval said, earning a glare from Soren. “What?” She shrugged. “It’s true. Don’t worry, Soren. If you were my type, I’d absolutely ravish you.”

Seppo raised an eyebrow. “You have a type?”

Diaval didn’t blink. “I’m fond of the nonexistent variety of partners.”

Ivar sighed in a purposefully overdramatic way. “Anyway, Satu is right. Dealing with Hel and dealing with Skadi are two different things. Janneke, especially, will be in danger as she’ll have to be the one to make the deal, being the most powerful of the group. We don’t know what Hel will demand, or if she’ll attack outright. And Janneke being the stag and you being the Erlking”—he gave Soren a pointed look—“will not save you if she decides she wants you gone.”

I wanted to rub my temples because pressure was beginning to build underneath my eyes. We definitely weren’t dealing with Hel until I got rid of this oncoming headache. “I can do whatever task she asks of me, and I know she’ll make me do something terrible, but I’ve survived worse than Hel. We can win Lydian’s shade back.”

“Then there’s traveling to the liminal realm with Lydian’s shade,” Ivar continued. “Is Diaval able to open a portal for you all to get there, even if she can’t fully lead you into it?”

“Diaval can definitely open a portal anywhere she wants even if she’s going in blind,” Diaval said. “She can also understand the common tongue, and dislikes when old men talk about her like she’s not sitting literally right next to them.” The she-goblin crossed her arms and glared at the elder goblin sitting directly to her right.

I tried my hardest to hold back a snicker, but obviously the others weren’t even trying as small chuckles erupted from everyone at the table. Even steely-eyed Satu was hiding her smile.

“So, Diaval can get us where we need to go and then what … we trust Lydian to lead us?” Soren brought up. “I know we don’t have a lot of options, but does anyone here really trust Lydian to not, you know, try to kill us?”

“We don’t have ‘not a lot of options,’” I said. “We have one option, and that’s Lydian. And I have to believe that stopping the destruction of what he showed me means more to him than killing us because he’s feeling a tad murderous. The original reason for wanting to kill us doesn’t exist anymore, and while I won’t ever trust him, I think the five of us can take him if he tries anything.”