A Midwinter Fantasy - Leanna Renee Hieber [92]
“My father’s ring’s called Draupnir, a magical artifact forged by dwarves thousands of years ago. You saw how the ring multiplies. Through the parent ring he controls anyone who wears one of the others.”
“Why did he make you wear one? Surely he trusts his own son.”
“He trusted me just fine until I defied him and did something to help Troy.”
“But to make you stay here against your will is primitive!”
“Primitive’s his middle name, Sonja. Words like freedom and democracy aren’t in his vocabulary.”
“Have you tried to leave?”
He cast her a what-do-you-think glance.
“Don’t you have any power to fight back?”
“Only what I inherited from my mother. She was queen of the Folletti—they’re a type of Italian fairy.” Vidar spread his hand, and a small golden flame flared from his palm.
Sonja’s heart rate shot from calm to manic in a second. “How . . . ? Is that real fire?”
“I’m a fire elemental, but my power’s pathetic. Did you see Ciar, the Irish fairy queen who was with your father?” He whistled through his teeth. “She’s a walking furnace. Even Odin gives her a wide berth. She’s the reason your father escaped . . .” His words trailed away and he stared down at his hands.
“The reason my father escaped what?”
“That was a long time ago, Sonja. No need to rake up the past.”
She wanted to know more about the feud between their families, but not as much as she wanted to get out of Iceland and leave all the madness behind. She checked her watch before rising to her feet. Her cab was due any minute. She packed the last few things in her overnight bag, slipped on her coat, and zipped up her boots.
Vidar frowned. “What’re you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“Didn’t you understand what I said about the ring?”
Sonja glanced at the gold band gleaming on her finger. She’d soaped her hand and tried to pull the ring off when they arrived, but all she’d done was aggravate her chapped skin.
Tears gathered in her eyes, and she blinked them away. She felt raw and vulnerable at the thought of leaving Vidar and losing any chance of seeing her father again. But her father had already made it clear he didn’t want to see her, and Vidar had wanted her to leave before this last incident. How could she stay here? “What am I supposed to do, spend the rest of my life in a cabin at a theme park?” Living with her aunt wasn’t much fun, but everything she knew was in London.
Vidar stood and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Odin won’t let you leave, Sonja.”
“He doesn’t want you to leave because you’re his son. That doesn’t mean he’ll stop me from leaving.” She tried to blank out what Odin had said about keeping her as insurance.
“He’ll hurt you if you try to leave.”
She clutched her hairbrush to her chest. The scary things that had happened over the last few hours felt surreal now. A stupid ring couldn’t possibly stop her from leaving Iceland.
A knock on the door banished her doubts. She jammed her hairbrush in her bag before zipping it up.
“Sonja . . .” Vidar pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to her temple. He leaned back and stroked the long strands of hair away from her face. “If I hadn’t written to Una, you’d still be safe in London. But then I would never have met you.”
A terrible thought hit her. “What does my aunt have to do with this?”
His hands dropped from her face, and he turned away. “Don’t go there, Sonja.”
Fine. Una’s obsession with fitness and martial arts started to make sense if she was muddled up with Vidar’s world. She’d get answers from Una when she arrived home. A shuttle cart collected them from the cabin and took them to meet the cab waiting at the main building. Vidar opened the door for her, then circled the car and joined her in the back.
“You don’t have to come—”
“Yes. I do.”
On the drive to Keflavik Airport, she stared out the side window, unsuccessfully trying to ignore the gold ring pinching her finger. “Vidar . . . what does it feel like . . . when the ring constrains you?”
He stared at her, his jaw clenched, his golden eyes gleaming as if lit from