Read Online Dark Deceit by Lauren Dawes - Free Book Online Page B

opened his eyes in
his room once more. Rolling his head to one side, he looked at the little neon
numbers staring back at him patiently from the bedside table. It was almost
five in the morning. With a groan, he flipped over onto his other side and went
to sleep.

Chapter Seven
    O din paced his
house in Beacon Hill, the slap of his Tom Ford loafers hitting the dark marble like
a hammer against his skull. The news he’d just received had left him in a
damned cold sweat.
    Only two of the three Norns had answered his summons. Odin had been
taking their council since the beginning of time. They knew all that has been,
all that is and all that will be.
    ‘You’re sure?’ He had directed his question to Skuld, one of the
females that continued to remind him of his limitations as an immortal.
    ‘Be in no doubt about what we saw, All-Father,’ she replied meekly.
‘Loki has broken free of his bonds.’ Skuld fingered the ash tree pendant at her
throat as she spoke, the nervous gesture not going unnoticed. Her hair shone
like burnished copper, falling down her back in glossy sheets while her green
eyes glowed softly from beneath her heavy mahogany fringe.
    ‘That’s impossible,’ he snarled back, dragging a hand through his
hair then loosening his tie when that wasn’t enough to still his nerves. Unbuttoning
the top button of his jacket, he added, ‘The only way he could have broken free
was if someone set him free. Those bonds were unbreakable, and that snake...’ He
had breathed his own immortality into that snake. ‘That snake...’ he faltered
again. He hadn’t been able to see through the snake’s eyes—to know its
thoughts—in about a week. He hadn’t wanted to consider what it had meant at the
time, but now...now there was no doubt in his mind.
    Skuld’s sister touched her arm and sat forward, poised to add her
two cents to the conversation. ‘It would be advisable—’ Odin shot Verdandi a
dark look. Her choice of words was no accident. She sighed. ‘You may need to
take some measures to protect yourself, Odin.’ Where her sister had fiery
auburn hair, Verdandi’s was pale. It was bound tightly to the back of her
skull, stretching the skin across her forehead tight.
    ‘You think I don’t know that?’ he replied. ‘If you’re going to advise me, at least give me something more helpful than that.’ The savagery in his
voice was beginning to surface, to morph into all-out rage. Taking a few
moments, he let the rage melt and drip away. The woman’s eyes darted between
his real green eye and the obsidian glass sitting in his right socket. Her eyes
caught on the black orb, her throat working past the lump that had caught
there.
    Odin paced a tight line, cutting backwards and forwards along his
oriental. His immediate thoughts were he might have the advantage given it
would take Loki a while to find him, but presumptions were dangerous things.
    At the height of his power, Odin wouldn’t have cowered at the threat
of anyone, but times had changed. Since the Fall, the gods and goddesses of the
Nine Worlds had spread far and wide. The gods didn’t wield the same powers
anymore—the Aesir weren’t as feared as they had once been, and since losing his
Valkyries, Odin knew he had become somewhat of a joke.
    He had to find Loki before he could find him. Yes, Loki would be
lost in this new world—friendless, knowledgeless, powerless. It shouldn’t be
too difficult to locate him.
    ‘That would take time, Odin. Time you don’t have.’
    He ignored the woman’s warning. ‘I could send out
    my spies,’ he
announced, thinking out loud.
    Verdandi cleared her throat delicately. ‘There is no one who would
stand by you now.’
    The truth of her words stung, wounding him. ‘Don’t presume
anything,’ he replied, letting her see his real rage for the first time.
    ‘Perhaps there is a better way?’ Skuld said softly, drawing Odin’s
attention away from her sister. Odin looked over at the woman and cocked