Free Arctic Dawn (The Norse Chronicles Book 2) by Karissa Laurel

have to take it.”
    “Does Helen know we have Solina back?” Thorin asked.
    Baldur shook his head. “Not as far as I know.”
    “She does know,” I said and told Baldur about Rolf Lockhart and his intentions of taking me to Helen. “Unless he was lying about his connections to Helen, and why would he do that?”
    “I don’t know who he could be,” Baldur said. “Rolf is based on an old Germanic name, Hrolf, and the Old Norse Hrólfr. It’s a conjunction of Norse words meaning notorious wolf . But whether he means the name in a literal way or not…” He shrugged and held his hands out as if apologizing for not having any more information.
    I huffed. “I find it hard to believe there are so many of you still roaming around out there that you could have lost track of someone. Didn’t Ragnarok make the Aesir an endangered species?”
    Val sniggered but cut off his laugh when Baldur glared at him.
    “He may not be Aesir,” Baldur said. “Some of the other realms escaped Ragnarok’s destruction. This mystery man of yours could be any one of Helen’s dozens of bastard cousins and kin.”
    I blanched. “Sorry I asked.”
    “It’s important we know these things. We must consider all possibilities when conceiving a plan.”
    According to Baldur’s corrupt information source, Helen kept a woman held in secure locations and moved her on a regular basis to make her difficult to track. Helen had assigned Baldur’s informant to guard Nina during the next transfer, which explained how he knew any information worth selling. The possibility of it being a baited trap to bring in Baldur did not escape any of us.
    “They’re transferring her tonight,” Baldur said. “They’re driving her from a holding in Vegas to some of Helen’s warehouses in Mojave County, over the Arizona border.”
    The three amigos converged around the coffee table to study satellite images on Baldur’s laptop—what looked like warehouses, Helen’s, I presumed. I tiptoed out of the room and headed for the bathroom, intent on taking a lengthy and overdue shower.
    The hot spray washed away hours of delirious travel, soothed my nerves, and went a long way toward restoring my good mood. A day of rest and a night of solid sleep might rid me of any remaining complaints, but I suspected I wouldn’t be that fortunate. Miles to go before I sleep…
    I had just finished drying my hair when a knock rattled the bathroom door. Thorin’s deep voice carried through the thin barrier. “Let’s go, Sunshine.”
    I set down the hair dryer and opened the door. “Not that I want anyone to suffer the likely inhumane treatment of Helen Locke’s hospitality, but I can’t see how going along with you on this rescue attempt is anything but a very bad risk.”
    Thorin gestured, implying he wanted to come in. I moved aside, and he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.
    “Any other day, I’d leave you here,” he said, “but I’ve got no idea what’s going down tonight or if we’ll be able to come back here. We might have to run for it. We can’t take the risk of being separated.”
    “I don’t have a good feeling about this. It’s like walking into the middle of the enemy’s camp.”
    Thorin frowned. “Aren’t you the one who said we needed to be proactive? What if Helen’s there? Maybe this is our chance to end things.”
    “Proactive means gathering information and making a plan. That’s not what this is. This is running in blind.”
    Thorin’s eyes darkened, but not in anger. A muscle worked in his jaw. He scraped his fingers through his hair and cursed something under his breath, a word from his ancient tongue, if I had to guess. The tenseness in his shoulders and the way he pressed his lips thin indicated frustration and uncertainty. His promises to protect me and his loyalty to Baldur must have been tugging him in opposite directions, and I felt a little sorry for him. But only a little. An immortal being who possessed the power