Free Struck: (Phoebe Meadows Book 1) by Amanda Carlson Page B

you unmistakably as a Valkyrie.”
    Could that be right?
    My brain wasn’t comprehending this conversation right now. Too much had happened, and I needed time to recover before I could figure everything out. Things were changing too quickly. “Once I take a shower, I’m sure I’ll smell human again.”
    Fen chuckled as he stood up. “It seems you have a lot to learn. Why they sent an innocent into my den is still unclear, but you will do well to consider yourself lucky to be alive. It was within my rights to leave you to suffer in agony with ettin poison running through your veins. I do not take kindly to violations of my lair.”
    “I didn’t violate anything,” I huffed, hugging myself. “Honestly, I just want to go home.” My eyes landed below. My blood had fully coated the rock and was dripping slowly onto the dirt floor. My head spun, my brain feeling light and funny. “Fen, I’m going to—”
    I slid off the rock, and everything went black.

    * * *

    I coughed, spitting putrid water out of my mouth. “ Gah !” I gagged. “Why… why am I in the water?” I shook my head to clear the liquid out of my eyes, only to have more flow over my head.
    Calling this water was a stretch. It was more like sewage.
    “I have no bandages, and these waters are healing. It’s all this wretched place has to offer, so that’s why I took them over for myself.” Fen stood chest-deep in the small pool we’d been sitting next to, his arms supporting me, holding me afloat.
    My jacket, blouse, tights, and one lone boot were gone, and I was pressed up against his chest in only my skirt, panties, bra, and the white camisole I’d worn under my work shirt. At least he’d left some of my clothes on.
    “What do you mean ‘taken them over for yourself’?” I brought my hand up and wiped the smelly liquid off my face. “This water is gross.” I spit out more. “It’s burning my throat.” But as I moved my toes, testing my ankle and my leg, they actually felt good. It must be working. It wasn’t nearly as warm as I’d thought it would be either.
    It was hot, but not melt-your-skin-off hot.
    “These caverns are the most valued in all of Muspelheim, as they contain ninety-five percent of the water found in this realm. But these pools, in this particular cave, are the only waters that contain solay , a sacred healing element, so they are revered.”
    “ Solay smells like fishy-mud mixed with rotten eggs topped with stinky garbage.” Vapors from the steam burned my eyes. The water was like a seltzer bath giving off a putrid effervescence.
    “Yes, the smell is very potent. The healing elements are a combination of crystal salt and other compounds found only in these caves. One long soak can heal serious injuries. The salt finds its way into the body and fuses to your internal cells, mending you. Your neck wound is already healed.”
    I brought my hand up to where Verdandi had slashed me with her nails. He was right. The skin was perfectly smooth. “And they—the people here—just allow you to live here in their sacred place?”
    “No, they don’t allow me anything.” He chuckled, causing my body to shake and the pool to ripple. I lifted my head up a bit so the water didn’t splash in my face. “When I was banished here, it didn’t take me long to find these caves. I needed water to survive.” He shrugged. “So I commandeered them.”
    “Huh,” I replied. “So I take it they’re not too happy about that.”
    “No.” He laughed. It was a rich, dark sound. It was the first time he sounded completely relaxed. “They are not. They attack quite often, in fact.”
    “How many?”
    “Fifty to sixty.”
    I’d just lowered my head, and I jerked it up. “Did you say fifty? As in five-oh?” I immediately envisioned a legion of ettinlike creatures swarming into the tunnels. My arms snaked around Fen’s shoulders without my permission. “Can they get in here right now? And by the way, what are they