A Midwinter Fantasy - Leanna Renee Hieber [83]
“They are. Hungry ones.” Vidar dug a jelly bean out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Hold it out on your flat palm. The dominant in the troop will take it.” She gave him an uncertain glance but did as instructed. A tiny pink woman landed on her hand, wings buzzing too fast to see. She curtsied, then grabbed the treat and flew back toward the Christmas trees with a cloud of colorful fairies in her wake.
Sonja laughed and held out her hand for another jelly bean.
“Let the flower fairy queen eat hers first or you’ll upset her.”
Sonja watched the tiny fairies, her blue eyes glowing with wonder as Vidar led her past the Christmas trees and into the entrance hall. The six female Valkyrie warriors on guard tensed visibly while their gazes tracked Sonja across the room.
A pine Yule log burned in the center of the palace’s cavernous main chamber, creating a puddle of meltwater on the ice floor. It produced a pleasant smell, and a golden glow that gave the illusion of warmth. The low murmur of conversation stopped as Vidar entered with Sonja on his arm; then the chatter of speculation rose. Everyone in the room knew why he’d brought her. Everyone except Sonja. Guilt burned through him again, and he pushed it away. He couldn’t allow Troy and Odin to fight as they had twenty-six years ago when Troy last visited Asgard. If there were a slim chance that Sonja’s presence might help keep the peace, he must use her.
“My god, Vidar.”
Sonja’s eyes rounded as she stared up at the eerie floating light globes illuminating the room. He followed her gaze, trying to see the scene as she did.
Her perusal of the room stopped on a group of tall silver-haired light elves. “Flipping heck. Who are they?”
“Light elves,” he growled.
Some of the male elves returned her appraisal, interest clear in their slanted turquoise eyes. Irritation flashed through Vidar as a couple of them broke away from the group and headed toward her. After a fleeting glance at Sonja to make sure she wasn’t watching, Vidar pushed aside the flap of his coat and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. The elves glared but returned to their friends.
“Watch out for them. They use fairy glamour to disguise themselves as human and then seduce the tourists.”
Sonja chuckled. “I’ll add that to the marketing blurb for your resort under unique attractions.”
Vidar stifled an angry breath. He’d come armed to prevent a confrontation between Troy and Odin, not to protect Sonja from sex-mad light elves.
She turned her attention to his father, who slouched on his dirty ice throne at the far end of the room, scowling down at the revelers with his one good eye. Vidar’s brother Thor sat on the ground at Odin’s side, his scruffy red head rested against the ice throne, already drunk by the look of him.
“There’s no need for me to introduce you to Odin and my brother Thor.”
“They look grumpy.”
Vidar gave a wry laugh. “You might say that.”
Sonja’s fingers suddenly dug into his arm. “That man’s my father, isn’t he?”
Vidar followed her gaze across the room. The Irish fairy queen had arrived late, but now Ciar stood in the center of a group of admirers. Fire flickered in her red hair while blue flames licked around her hands and dripped from her fingertips, leaving sooty pockmarks on the ice floor. Troy the Deathless stood behind her, pale and motionless as a marble statue. He still played at being her bodyguard when it suited him, even though he’d grown more powerful than she, centuries ago.
Troy’s blue gaze fixed on them, an arctic whip of accusation. Vidar placed his hand over Sonja’s grip on his arm, making sure her father understood the reason for her presence. Troy bent to whisper in Ciar’s ear; then he slipped through the crowd toward them.
Despite his flamboyant clothes, he moved with the controlled grace of a fighter. Vidar prayed that Troy behaved himself, because when he finally decided to take revenge on Odin for the past, nobody would be powerful enough to stop him.
Chapter Three