Free Truth's Heart (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 3): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance by Renee Jordan Page A

into the world of fire. I pictured it the opposite of Utgard. That had been a frozen version of Midgard, our world, covered in a blanket of snow. It had been a strange place, reflecting Midgard perfectly, but it would only update when we looked away.
    Magnus suspected it had to do with quantum physics and I didn't even begin to pretend that I understood his explanation.
    So Muspellheim would look exactly like the Steward Mineral Springs. Only the trees would probably be on fire, the ground red hot, and all the water melted away. Mount Shasta would have lava gushing from its summit instead of glaciers freezing its top.
    The shimmering barrier grew closer.
    “Weapons out,” Magnus snarled, his ax appearing in a flash of rainbow light.
    I summoned my sword and armor. The horrible sound of men screaming reverberated through the void. I hated the dark flames dancing on the blade. My fires had been polluted by death. Even more than before.
    With a growl, Magnus through himself through the barrier. My armor clinked as I broke into a run, my sword ready, and followed him into the light.

Chapter Nine
    Raven
    Right as I hit the barrier, Muspellheim appeared. Heat washed over me. The air rippled before me as I landed on the root of the Yggdrasil. It bent down and plunged into a pool of magma that boiled and bubbled.
    The pool wasn't as big as the hot spring we left behind in Midgard.
    I gasped as I landed, my armor clinking. Magnus was at the bend of the root, half crouched over, one hand clutching the root to keep his balance. My foot slipped. I dropped my sword, and it vanished in a scream of flames while I fought to keep my balance.
    It was a losing battle. I hadn't landed center of the root.
    My stomach clenched as my arms pinwheeled. My back toppled out of the edge. My stomach clenched. I doubted I could survive a plunge into molten lava. A piercing scream burst from my lip.
    My Einherjer lashed out. His strong hand caught my wrist, covered by my bracers, in a tight grip. My feet slipped off the root and I swung over the edge. Magnus's face twisted with exertion, his grip slipping on my armor.
    “Fuck,” he growled as his foot slid forward on the root.
    “Magnus, let me go,” I gasped. “Don't fall in with me.”
    The momentum of my fall swung me forward like a pendulum at the end of his arm. Magnus actually did what I told him. He let me go. I didn't believe he would do it. I let out a scream of fright that was cut off when I hit the red, dusty ground beside the magma pool.
    “What?” I gasped, rolling to a stop, the red dust dulling the gleam of my armor. He had used my swinging momentum to throw me clear.
    Magnus jumped a moment later, leaping off the side of the root before he fell. He cleared over the edge of the pool and landed in a crouch on the other side. He let out a pitiful moan of pain and clutched his side.
    “Goddamn,” he snarled, his face going absolutely red. “Mother fucking goddamn piece of shit ribs.”
    I had never heard Magnus burst out in such a string of foul, angry language. I blinked in shock. Then I remembered his broken ribs. I scrambled to my feet and rushed to him in a clink of metal. I knelt beside him.
    “Are you okay?”
    “I'm fine,” he spat. Blood stained his lips. “Fucking rib broke worse. I think it punctured into my lung.”
    “Then you are hardly okay,” I told him.
    He let out a wheezy, bubbly breath. Blood frothed to spittle on his lips. He pressed a hand on his side and let out a howl of pain. My eyes widened at the agony in his cry. His entire face contorted, turning almost purple as he kept pressing on his rib.
    Then he let out a gasp and staggered into me. My armor clattered as I caught him. “Magnus. What did you just do?”
    “Pushed the rib...out of my...lung...” he panted. He sucked in heaving breaths. “It's fine. I'll heal. Can't...stay here...doesn't look safe.”
    I looked around the hellish landscape. Muspellheim was not a fiery version of Northern