‘Of course, these things aren’t made to last,’ Heidi went on in a dreamy voice. ‘Order and Chaos have their tides. It’s futile to resist them.’ She looked at me. ‘I know who you are. You’re Loki, the Trickster.’

I nodded. ‘Right. And you’re Heid, otherwise known as Gullveig. The Sorceress. The mistress of runes. Cunning, greedy, vengeful. Big fan, by the way – those are my favourite qualities.’

She gave me a mischievous smile. Behind the little-girl Aspect she was complex; troubling. And, let’s admit it, alluring; alluring as only a demon can be.

‘I’ve heard a lot about you, too,’ she said. ‘You’re clever, ruthless, self-obsessed, narcissistic, disloyal . . .’

I shrugged. She had me there, I thought.

‘I’ve always wanted to meet you,’ I said. ‘But you’re not an easy woman to find.’

Gullveig smiled. ‘I was waiting for the right time.’

Interesting. ‘Why?’ I said.

‘I want to offer you a deal.’

A deal. You’d have thought that by that time I would have learnt to read the small print. But after an unknowable time chained to a rock in World Below, I was hardly in a position to haggle. I thought of the Oracle’s prophecy and said:

‘This deal. Does it involve you freeing me from torment, putting me at the head of a fleet and doing to Asgard what the tide just did to your sandcastle?’

‘Kind of,’ said Gullveig.

I said: ‘I’m in.’

Book 4 Twilight

Lesson 1 Heidi

LESSON 1

Heidi

Seriously. That thing I told you in Book about never trusting anyone? That.

Lokabrenna

AND SO I TURNED MY COAT AGAIN. What choice did I have? The Old Man had abandoned me. The Worlds had unleashed their dogs on me. And here was the Sorceress, Gullveig-Heid, offering me a chance to strike back and to regain my place in Chaos . . .

I would have been a fool to refuse. Anyone would have taken the deal. Heidi was powerful, and she wanted revenge, especially on those Vanir who had betrayed her by allying themselves with Odin. Technically, I was the enemy, but I was counting on the fact that my desertion from Asgard would find favour in her eyes. And anyway, I was star-struck. This was the legendary Gullveig-Heid, first mistress of the runes, for whom I’d searched the Worlds in vain since Odin had first tricked me into taking corporeal Aspect.