“I don’t know why you were sweating,” said Hal. “It’s not like you actually did anything.”

“I worked my ass off,” said Wheeler.

Hal just looked at him.

“Compared to regular me I was digging my ass off,” said Wheeler.

“I’m going back now,” said Danny. “Thanks. You saved me a couple of hours of solo digging.”

“Not to mention how we got to see all the sights of Egypt,” said Hal.

“I’ll take you back there someday,” said Danny. “In daylight.”

“No way,” said Hal. “It’s just a desert. I’ll look at pictures on Google Images. Give me a break.”

Danny gated back to Egypt and sat down in front of the hermit’s cave and let Loki’s memories flow back through Loki’s gates.

Frostinch

16

FROSTINCH

Anonoei had never been in Gray, though the shadow of that kingdom had darkened her entire life. Or perhaps brightened it. If Gray had not defeated her homeland of Iceway and imposed harsh terms upon it, including the loveless marriage of Bexoi, the sister of the Jarl of Gray, to Prayard, the heir to the throne of Iceway, would she ever have become Prayard’s mistress and mother of his sons?

No. She would have become his wife.

Once she understood that her power over men was far greater than the ordinary allure of women, she knew she could pick any man in the world to be her husband and win his undying devotion. Prayard—handsome, kind, intelligent, powerful in magery, and heir to the throne of the only kingdom she knew—would have been her choice.

But he was already tied to Bexoi when Anonoei came to understand her power. So yes, it was due to Gray that she became Prayard’s mistress instead of his wife.

Prayard’s former love for her might have been achieved through her illegal, immoral, indecent manmagery; but her love for him was genuine, and still was. Anonoei wanted her vengeance on Bexoi, of course—enough that she would use the power of her cruel captor Wad to achieve it. But she also truly wanted what was best for Prayard, despite the fact that once he was torn away from her influence, he fell in love with the Gray bitch.

And Anonoei had learned enough about men in general and Prayard in particular to understand that his true happiness did not depend on which women inhabited his bed and bore his children. For him, happiness would be the liberation of Iceway from Gray.

And since that would also happily coincide with Anonoei’s vengeance on Bexoi, she was content.