Morgan's Fate

signs that something more than exhaustion was going on with the horse. He had run him hard, after all, refusing him sleep until they’d returned home.

Sleipnir froze, only his tail swishing. His dark eyes rolled, but he stood stock-still, held tightly in Grimm’s grasp.

“Sir?”

“Yes?” he answered the groom, but kept his eye on Sleipnir.

“Are you angry? Sleipnir’s reacting as if he senses that you’re upset.”

Could that be it? Sleipnir hadn’t tried to rear, but the horse had always been intelligent. The one time he’d done so, Grimm had beaten him bloody for being defiant. The young horse had naturally reacted with fear, desperately trying to get away, but Grimm had kept him chained and helpless for hours, wielding the crop with a ruthlessness that had lost him a favored groom when the man had tried to step between him and the horse. But Grimm had known Sleipnir would survive the beating.

He had his father’s ability to heal, after all, something that Grimm had utilized more than once over centuries of battle.

The beating had been lengthy and brutal, but in the end, Grimm had won. The young horse never defied him again, no matter what Grimm asked of him. He’d broken him, made him obedient in every way.

Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. “I think we’ll be cutting back on his feed for a bit.” Let Sleipnir go hungry. Grimm would feed him before the next time he needed him, and in the meantime the hunger would weaken him, keep him pliant. It was a tactic he’d used multiple times to keep the creature in line.

Of course, he’d had the apples to add to what little feed he did give the horse. Now, he’d have to rely solely on his own power to keep the creature in line. With that thought in mind, he yanked viciously on the reins, dragging Sleipnir’s head down until they were eye to eye. “Listen, and listen well. If I find out that you’ve done anything to aid your father, I will strip the hide from your bones and hang you from the Bifrost Bridge.”

Sleipnir’s eyes went so wide Grimm could see the whites.

“I know you understand me at least a little bit.” Grimm had never been certain, but he feared the horse understood him far too well. If so, he might be forced to take more drastic measures. For all the creature couldn’t speak, he could still find ways to ruin Grimm’s plans. All it would take was one act of free will, and all that Grimm was trying to build would come tumbling down. “Defy me, and I will kill you. I don’t need you that badly, and the pain it would cause your father would be more than sufficient payment for your loss.”

Grimm handed the reins back to the groom and took a step back. “Stable him, but keep an eye on him. Quarter rations until I say otherwise.”

“Aye, sir.”

Grimm turned his back on them and winked at Rina. “Oh, and Sleipnir?”

The horse snorted.

“I’ll be watching you.”

The caw of his ravens, Hugin and Munin, sounded from the rafters. Thought and Memory would watch Sleipnir closely. If he set a hoof out of line, Grimm would know it in a heartbeat.

“Have a good night.” He stepped out of the stable and wrapped his arm around Rina’s waist. “It’s a beautiful evening, isn’t it? Loki will be dead soon, and Heimdall will be the one to do it. I’m not sure it gets any better than this.”

She snuggled close, and he could feel the hilt of her favorite dagger against his hip. As always, she was careful not to cling too closely without an invitation. “It does. Eventually you’ll kill Baldur as well.”

“I know.” Her faith in him was admirable.

She sighed deeply as she glanced back toward the stable. “As much as I hate to waste an asset, it might be better just to kill him.”

Grimm nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“If you wish, I will do it for you.” Rina stroked his chest, her fingers sliding under the buttons of his shirt. Her nails scratched lightly in a pattern she’d learned would set his body on fire. “I would destroy the world to keep you safe.”

He took a deep breath at the seriousness of her tone. Of all the people who’d been with him for all those centuries, only Rina had stood by him. Therefore, only she had earned his loyalty…and, surprisingly, his love. He snuggled her close, grinning at the thought of what he had planned for them once they were snug in their bed. “I know, my love. And when we win this war, you’ll be at my side for eternity.”

She stopped and glided in front of him, smiling when he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Queen or concubine, I am yours.”

He gripped her hair and pulled back until she arched under his hand. The moan she gave him had his cock rock hard within seconds. Oh, he’d never had anyone as willing to play with him as Rina. “Yes, you are.”

He was, as always, trapped in hell with no way out. His only hope lay with the father who’d abandoned him and a brother who’d never looked at him twice. A father who would soon die. He snorted, ignoring the meager feed the groom placed in his bucket. His only hope lay in warning his father to beware of Heimdall. He’d have to trust that Skuld would warn him, keep him away from the Guardian. It had taken him weeks to get her number. The others were far too well guarded for him to find anything that he could use to contact them.

If his father died before he rescued Sleipnir…

Sleipnir eyed the ravens above him and shivered. They would sit, watching him, until Odin called them back.

I’m so screwed.

“You. What are you doing here?”

Morgan blinked in shock at the sight of Frigg standing in the doorway of Jeanne and Fred Grimm’s home. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be in her rambling, ostentatious mansion, plotting whatever revenge she was going to take against Jeanne for taking Thor’s corpse from her.

Or maybe this was the revenge. Maybe she was in Jeanne’s home because she knew it was the best way to wait for her, like a spider sitting in someone else’s web. Frigg hadn’t even let Thor’s corpse get cold before she’d snuck into Jeanne and Fred’s house and begun removing things. He wondered if, had they not come looking for Mjolnir, she would have taken Jeanne’s underwear.

She must have come straight from the funeral with a group of people to get all this done in such a few short days. “That would be my question, Frederica.” Morgan crossed his arms over his chest. He wouldn’t hesitate to throw her ass out if it saved Jeanne Grimm any further grief.

“This was my son’s home, and you aren’t welcome.” Her sneer was wiped away when Magnus pushed past her into the house, shoving her into the wall. “You can’t come in here!”

“Oh yes we can. Jeanne gave us permission, as did Jeff, Jamie and Jordan.” And now Morgan was glad they’d talked Jeanne into remaining behind. His stepmother did not need yet another confrontation with his grandmonster. Now they’d have even more ammunition to convince her to stay safe in the condo complex rather than return here.

Morgan entered the house behind his twin, giving Frigg his own sneer. He deliberately blocked her view of Skye, who hovered on the top step with an uncomfortable expression. “You’re the one who isn’t welcome here.”

“Frigg, where should we—oh.” Thor’s ex-wife, Sif, stepped back into Jeanne’s living room with a startled expression. She glanced between the three of them with a concerned look that marred the perfection of her face. Her golden hair was pinned up, neat and gleaming in the lamplight. She was the most beautiful goddess in the pantheon, and Thor had dropped her like a hot rock for the vivacious, loving Jeanne. “Is there a problem?”

Still, she’d never been rude to Morgan and Magnus, and for that Morgan could be polite to her. “Not if you leave, Sylvia.” The front door was still open. Mortals might hear them arguing, so he called Sif by her mortal name, Sylvia.

“Leave this to me, Sif. I’ll have these…people out of here within moments.” Frigg’s sneer was going to become permanent if she didn’t remember to use some other expression. Disdain, maybe?

“Frigg, they have the right to be here.” Sif’s soft voice was trembling. She’d had no problems screeching at Thor when they’d been married, but since the divorce she’d lost the spark that had been her true beauty. Now,