A Midwinter Fantasy - Leanna Renee Hieber [101]
“My light shield simply gives us privacy. No harm will come to him.”
Troy gestured her closer. She hesitated before moving toward him. Her father took her hand and stepped behind her, holding her close to his body.
“What’re you doing?”
“Relax,” he said, his silky tone draining her tension. “Time for your first lesson in survival.”
The room disappeared, and a startled gasp burst from Sonja’s lips. For an instant she was in limbo; then her feet touched the floor and the room reappeared—except they were now by the door facing the sofa.
“Flipping heck. What just happened?”
He smiled sadly, stroking wisps of hair behind her ear with gentle fingers. “I should have been there to teach you this when you were young. I persuaded Odin to release you from the Crystal Crib twenty-six years ago, but I thought you’d be safer from the dangers of my world if I stayed out of your life and you were raised as human. I was wrong.”
Sudden overwhelming sadness flooded Sonja at the thought of what her lonely younger self had missed. Her father pulled her into his embrace. She closed her eyes and pressed her face against his chest. With his heart beating beneath her ear, and his firm, comforting hands on her back, she could almost ignore the lace tickling her forehead and imagine he was a normal father.
“How did we transport across the room,” she asked softly.
“We call it walking unseen. Only air elementals like us have the power. I’ll help you master the skill.”
She looked up into the intense blue of his eyes. “Do I take after you in other ways?”
He kissed her forehead. “One step at a time. First we must solve your immediate problem.” He raised her left hand so Odin’s ring caught the light. “Have you suffered any ill effects from this abomination?”
Briefly she explained her unsuccessful attempt to fly out of Iceland, watched her father’s face tighten into a mask of fury. “Odin has pushed me too far this time. Dress warmly. We’re going to persuade Odin to take back his ring.” The repressed violence in his tone made her tremble.
Returning to Valhalla was right at the bottom of her to-do list, but if her father could persuade Odin to remove her ring, perhaps he could help Vidar as well. Sonja pulled out of her father’s arms and turned to wake him.
“No.” Her father’s hand landed on her shoulder.
“Can’t you help him get rid of his ring?”
“If Vidar stands with us, Odin will probably kill him.”
A crash and a blast of frigid air dragged Vidar from sleep. He opened his eyes to see Gleda standing in the doorway of his cabin, nose in the air. His snow cat only ever burst inside when she sensed trouble.
Warily pulling back the bedcovers, Vidar glanced over his shoulder to check on Sonja. She was gone.
“Sonja!”
He leaped out of bed and scanned the room. Her bag gaped open. The pantsuit and boots she’d been wearing were nowhere to be seen, and his fur coat had disappeared.
He strode into the kitchen and wrapped a hand around the mug of milk he found there. Still warm; she hadn’t been gone long. Vidar grabbed his spare fur out of the chest at the foot of his bed, shrugged it on, and followed Gleda to the icy ledge outside his retreat.
Wind whipped up the ravine, nearly blinding him. The pearly gray sky indicated that it was morning. Squinting, he scanned the steep white hill that angled up above the building. Only Gleda’s paw marks disturbed the pristine snow. Someone must have taken Sonja away, because she couldn’t have left on her own.
Gleda raised her nose to the air in the direction of Valhalla and roared, the sound echoing along the valley. The chill seeped into Vidar’s bones. Only Troy or Odin would take Sonja from his cabin. Either way, she was likely in danger.
Entering his cabin, Vidar dressed, strapped on his sword, jammed his feet into boots, and donned his fur. Then he returned to Gleda, who’d kept vigil outside, her golden gaze fixed on some distant point.
Vidar climbed on her back and leaned forward to speak into her ear. “Good girl, Gleda. Find Sonja.”
The snow cat tensed her muscles