Truth's Heart (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 3): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

competent. He's intelligence, thoughtful, but also honorable. He keeps his word. And he vowed to bring justice, not your deaths.”
    “We shroud get going,” Magnus said.
    I nodded. “Thank you again. Maybe when this is over, you'll need a barista.”
    “Maybe,” Freddy said. “But I imagine you'll find it difficult to settle down in one spot.”
    I followed Magnus to his bike, the leather seat damp from the rain. I stowed the Eldhrimnir in the saddlebag and climbed on the bike behind him. I pressed against his back as he started the engine. It rumbled beneath us.
    My hair flew behind us Magnus roared down the mountain road. Pine trees flew past as we descended, the pressure building in my ears. I glanced at Mount Shasta's white peak looming over us. We were east of the peak.
    “Do you have any idea how to get to the springs?” I shouted in his ear.
    “Nope,” he answered. “But I'll find it. She said north. I bet there'll be signs. They always are to those sort of places.”
    ~   ~   ~
    Magnus
    I was not a fan of Freddy and Gerdie's plan. Traveling to Muspellheim, meeting with dwarves, and building an artifact seemed such a detour. But I had no idea how to stop Loki. If they were correct, we really had little choice.
    If they were correct.
    Was I being paranoid? Raven trusted Freddy and Gerdie. They seemed nice and reasonable. But they were Aesir. Were they really helping us? What if they were leading us into a trap. Muspellheim was a land of fire, a place of extremes. Few stories ever took place there. No heroes ever trod Muspellheim.
    And dealing with dwarves always carried hidden dangers. They were crafty, bitter creatures. Secretive, cunning, and as dangerous as Loki. If a dwarf felt wronged, they would seek vengeance, often with disastrous results for their enemies.
    And we were heading to deal with them.
    Raven hugged me tight as we rode north. The grief that had gripped her lessened. I had failed to get through to her, to make her understand that she wasn't responsible for Odin's death. The onus fell squarely on Loki for the tricks he perpetrated.
    Gerdie said all the same words to Raven that I did, and yet the giantess had gotten through to her. Maybe Raven assumed I was placating her, trying to assuage her guilt not because I believed she was innocent, but because I was her lover and wanted her to be happy. Or maybe it was the more motherly vibe Gerdie gave off.
    Either way I was happy. It didn't bother me that Raven had listened to Gerdie over me. She was hurting, in pain, and seeing the ache ease even a little heartened me. No man enjoyed witnessing his woman suffering. We all wanted to fix the problem.
    How the problem was fixed was immaterial.
    As we headed north, signs appeared pointing us towards Steward Mineral Spring Retreat, promising hot springs, bathhouses, dining, and lodging. The sun sank to the west, vanishing behind the pine covered hills and the ridge of the Cascade Mountains.
    “I don't understand how you found this place without GPS,” Raven marveled as I pulled into the parking lot before the log cabin style lodge that sprawled before us. “I have trouble finding places in Seattle without GPS.”
    “The same way people found places twenty years ago,” I answered, “I paid attention and used my brain.”
    “That's so hard,” giggled Raven. “You need to join modern times. Cell phones can do all that hard thinking for you.”
    “And then what happens to your brain?” I glanced at her. “A tool not honed by the whetstone will be dull and useless when work is needed.”
    “Are you quoting something?” Her eyes narrowed.
    “I'm paraphrasing more than a hundred wise sayings. Your mind needs to be exercised just like your body.”
    “I think my mind is plenty sharp,” Raven said, her eyebrow arching. “Unless you're saying my cell phone has turned me into an idiot.”
    I opened my mouth then closed it. She had trapped me. What were my escape options? Concede that my point