The Lost Gods Read Online Free PDF Page B

but I can certainly bring destruction to one hearth.’
    He looked around her sitting room.
    â€˜One charm from me and death and sickness will dwell here,’ said Woden.
    â€˜Then who would help you?’ asked Freya.She was taken aback by her own belligerence.
    â€˜If you don’t, you and everyone in Midgard will die when the frost giants arrive,’ said Woden. He looked at her fiercely. ‘And since you murdered the giant Thjazi, you will be the first.’
    Freya went rigid. ‘But I didn’t—’
    â€˜His death won’t go unavenged.’
    Freya’s mind flashed to the giant’s murderous claws, his hideous daughter, the fire and the blood.
    â€˜Skadi, icy with fury and burning for vengeance for her father’s death, will join the frost giants on the rampage,’ said Woden.
    â€˜Skadi?’ squeaked Freya. She’d hoped no one would ever mention that revolting giantess again. ‘Can’t you
do
something? You’re the Gods. I did it for you. You can’t just let them kill …’ Freya couldn’t finish the sentence.
    â€˜You are not important,’ said Woden. ‘The giants are rising to re-conquer their ancient kingdom. They must be stopped. If you don’t help us, the world ends … for us all.’
    Freya hung her head.
    Was there any way she could wriggle out of this?
    â€˜No,’ said Woden. ‘No one can defeat fate.’
    Freya started gnawing on her sleeve, the familiar hollow fear in her stomach starting to squeeze her guts. How could one girl have made so many enemies? Speaking of which …
    â€˜Where is Loki?’ whispered Freya. She didn’t even like speaking his name out loud.
    â€˜Keeping well out of sight,’ said Woden. ‘Beware. When Loki makes an enemy he never forgets.’
    Suddenly the Goddess let out a piercing scream. Freya jumped. Had Loki glared through the window? Was an iceberg ploughing down the road? Had the frost giants arrived?
    â€˜Look at me,’ gasped the Goddess, rushing over to the gilt mirror hanging over the mantelpiece. ‘I can
see
myself! What magic is this, I must have one of these, I—’ Freyja’s voice trailed off as she gazed in wonder at herreflection. ‘I look a
mess
. My hair! My face! My clothes!’ she wailed. ‘I bet I smell like a stray donkey. Tell your slaves to heat up the stones in the bathhouse immediately and fetch water.’
    â€˜We don’t have a bathhouse,’ said Freya. ‘But—’
    â€˜How did I guess?’ wailed the Golden One. ‘What is this filthy place you’ve brought me to?’ she snapped at Woden. ‘I want to go back to Asgard and my lovely palace.’
    â€˜There won’t
be
an Asgard to go back to unless we succeed here,’ said Thor.
    â€˜I can run a bath for you if you like,’ offered Freya. Anything to stop her whining.
    â€˜Run a bath?’
    â€˜Fill a tub with hot water,’ said Freya. She wished she dared to just put in cold.
    â€˜An indoor hot spring,’ said Freyja. She brightened. ‘Well, go on then,’ she added. ‘I’ve never seen such shocking hospitality. I keep waiting for you to bring me hot water and a towel. What dreadful times you live in.’
    Grimacing, Freya trudged upstairs to the bathroom and turned on the taps. The bathtub wasn’t the cleanest, she was pleased to see. Should she put in some bubble bath? What the Hel, she thought, squeezing in a few squirts of Body Shop Jasmine. Not that Freyja deserved any.
    She found a towel – why were all their towels so stiff and threadbare – and shouted down.
    â€˜Bath’s ready.’
    The Goddess flounced in and eyed the steamy white and grey tiled bathroom with the wood-panelled tub and the wallpaper peeling around the door.
    â€˜First good smell I’ve sniffed since I’ve been down here,’ she said, inhaling the jasmine.