I left Valaskjálf as if I were making for my room, then doubled back through darkened corridors and empty halls. I kept quiet as I could as I slipped through the front door and through Asgard’s gates.

Evidently, it was easier to get out than it was to get in.

Anya had figured out as much.

The others were waiting among Yggdrasil’s roots beside the Bilröst when we arrived—the Asgard boys, plus Cobie and Lang. The moon washed their faces pale and serious.

I wanted to talk to Torden. But I owed our captain some words.

“What did you do?” I demanded, stalking toward Lang. My words echoed off the water. “‘Treason and spies’?”

I had trusted him. I had accepted the terms of his ceasefire and let him keep his secrets. If only I’d known what a mistake that would be.

“Selah,” Lang said. “This isn’t the t—”

“It is the time,” I fired back.

Aleksei put a hand on my arm. “Selah,” he said flatly, “you have to run.”

I flinched away from his ghostly face, his eyes like pits.

I was not inclined to trust him.

He’d betrayed Anya and Skop just days ago, and tried to humiliate me the same night. He’d delivered a horrible truth with the sole intent of horrifying me. But Aleksei was as sincere as I’d ever seen him.

And in the dark, with Asgard looming overhead, it was hard not to listen.

I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “But I didn’t do it. I don’t know where Anya is.”

Torden stepped to my side, and I gripped his hand.

“Are you certain?” Lang asked. His face was composed, but anger swelled in me at the skepticism in his tone.

“What do you mean, am I certain?” I spat. “I either know or I don’t, and I told you I didn’t. You’re the one who ruined absolutely everything!”

Cobie put a lean hand on my shoulder. “I just think everyone needs to calm down.”

“Selah, I’m on your side,” Lang began.

“Try acting like it,” I snarled.

“We’re dawdling,” Hermódr said softly. “If Anya isn’t found, you’ll be punished, Selah.”

“Leave tonight.” Fredrik’s voice was urgent. “Go. We’ll cover for you. Get your people and get out of here.”

“Tonight?” Cobie exclaimed.

Hermódr and I both jumped. But Cobie was watching Lang.

“Yes, tonight,” Aleksei retorted. He ran a hand through his hair, standing its dark strands wildly on end. “What did you think he meant by ‘three hours’? If you can’t produce Anya, tonight is all you’ve got.”

Could it have been just this afternoon that Torden had asked my godmother’s permission to marry me?

I buried my face in my hands, near tears.