I didn’t like this. “Then I don’t want to be her daughter.”
“You can’t reject who you are. We should not mention anything about us to the goddess right away.”
This was not what I’d expected to hear after he mentioned taking things slowly. “Are you saying we should hide our relationship from them?”
“Yes, until we know how she’ll react.”
So he was more worried about Goddess Hel’s reaction than Baldur’s. “And if she disapproves?”
“We’ll decide our next move if that happens.”
“I can’t hide how I feel about you, Echo. We gravitate toward each other when we are in the same room. Only an idiot wouldn’t realize there’s something between us.”
He smiled. “I’m asking for time, Cora-mia. Time to assess the situation and study your parents. Time for you to get to know them without our relationship being thrown in the middle of things. I don’t want all the Grimnirs to suffer because I didn’t think through my next course of action.”
Think things through. I was beginning to hate that expression. I wanted my spontaneous Echo back. I understood his concern for his reaper friends, but what about me. Why was he putting them ahead of us? I didn’t know how to pretend I didn’t love him.
“How do I explain this?” I showed him the ring.
He swallowed. “That stays.” Did he realize how contradictory his behavior was?
“Okay.”
He smiled with approval.
“If I have to pretend I don’t love you, I’m not going.”
A scowl replaced his smile. “You are going.”
“You can’t make me.”
“You are being childish.”
“Childish? Really?” I glared at him. “Fine. Let’s go ahead and hide our feelings while you think things through, Echo. If you see me, pretend you don’t know me, and I’ll pretend I don’t know you.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“There’s no other way to pretend. We either come clean right off the bat or fake it. If they ask where I got the ring, I’ll tell them a friend gave it to me. A friend, not the man I love.” I slammed the door. He was beside me in a fraction of a second, but my front door opened at the same time and Eirik stepped out. He frowned at us. “Ooh, look! There’s my all powerful dragon brother now. Let’s use him as a guinea pig and see if we can pull off this pretend crap.”
I waved to Eirik and started toward him when a petite girl in ripped jeans, ankle boots, and a Boho top followed him outside. She had wavy brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and dimples that flashed on her cheeks when she smiled. A feeling of déjà vu washed over me. I knew her. Echo’s hand came to rest on my back, but my focus stayed on Eirik’s girlfriend. Where had I seen her?
“Celestia?” I asked.
“Yes, and you are Cora.” She gave me a hug.
Because I was on the steps and she was on the porch, we were at the same height level. She leaned back, still grinning. For a brief moment, everything faded. Then other images of her superimposed on her grinning face. I shook my head, and the images disappeared. What the hell?
“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Celestia said. “Sorry it took us forever to get back. Alfadir insisted on throwing us a going-away party, then Frigg and her court insisted on another. It’s ridiculous how often they party. When we came back to Helheim, one of the guards’ wives was having a difficult pregnancy and I went to stabilize it. I was still working on her when more sick arrived. Before I knew it, I had a roomful of people with ailments their healer couldn’t help. There’s only one healer in Eastern Gj?ll Pass, which is a village not far from the hall.”
Eirik chuckled, tucking her against his side. “She talks a lot, but eventually she’ll get to the point. What she’s trying to say is she spent the whole day treating the sick. Went back the next day to treat more. If I hadn’t dragged her away, she would still be there, but she’s done the impossible. She made the southern clans sit and talk without trying to kill each other. Now she wants to open a clinic in Chief Skevnir’s town and Eastern Gj?ll Pass.” Eirik kissed her.
“The healers must agree first, Eirik,” Celestia said.
The entire time they talked, I kept staring at her, trying to remember when I’d seen her. Her voice, face, and those dimples were all familiar.
“We’ve met,” I said.
The smile disappeared from her face.
“Don’t deny it, please. Either I’m going crazy or the Norns erased my memories. At first, your name sounded familiar. Hayden’s too. Then I had flashes of memories of the two of you at my school, yet I don’t remember anything beyond that. Oh, and there was a third girl. A redhead.”
Celestia looked at Eirik and then Echo. “You two are not saying anything?”
“Celestia,” Eirik said.
“No, Eirik. She needs to know. You”—Celestia pointed at him—“are telling her the truth.” A frown skidded across her face. “Echo, do not leave. You know what happened, too.”
“Celestia,” Eirik growled.
“If the Norns still want to flex their muscles, they’ll have to go through you, right?” She grabbed his sleeve, pulled him down, and planted a kiss on his lips. “Love you, my dragon.” Then she turned to me. “Echo said someone stole something from your room. Do you still want to know who did it?”
I nodded, but I was thoroughly confused. What did the images I was seeing have to do with Eirik and Echo? I shot them a questioning glance. Echo was grinning while Eirik shot Celestia a look that said he was resigned to doing whatever she’d asked.
“Come on, Cora. Let’s find out who dared to mess with you. Have they met Echo? He’s going to rip them apart.”
“Wow, you’re the first girl to make Eirik shut up,” I said. “You just barreled right through him. I wish Raine had seen that.”
“He’s used to getting his way, so whenever I get the upper hand, I milk it. We argued about you on our way here. You are his sister, so there’s no need for him to worry about the Norns messing with you. Between him, Echo, and the goddess, those hags wouldn’t stand a chance.”
My parents were in the living room and watched us head upstairs without batting an eyelid. It was nice to be able to have my friends over without worrying about one of them doing or saying something and giving themselves away.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Raine,” Celestia said. “I hope we’ll get together and get to know each other once her honeymoon is over.” She glanced over her shoulder at me, and she faded. Another image of her flashed right before my eyes then disappeared.
“I just saw another memory of you comforting me,” I said.
She stopped and turned. “Everything will all come back once Eirik explains. He wanted the two of you to be together, and typical of him, he made it happen. It’s one of the things I love about him. Nothing stops him.” She glanced behind me. “You will explain everything. Won’t you, guys?”
Echo and Eirik had caught up with us. They nodded. Celestia might be pint-sized, as Echo had called her, but she had a way of commanding attention. And she talked a lot.
“If Raine were here, she’d hear the story, too,” she added and gave Eirik a toothy grin.
“It’s almost midnight in England, Dimples,” Eirik said. “I’m not waking them up.”
“Oh. Too bad.” She continued to lead the way, then stopped outside my bedroom.
“How do you know that’s my bedroom?” I asked.
“We came here the day of your prom, but you were asleep up here after a possession. Eirik wanted to show your parents how your locator runes responded to his.” She stepped aside to let me enter first, but I shook my head.
“No, after you,” I insisted. “I don’t want to mess with your mojo.”
She entered the room and looked around. “I love your room. Are you attending Mystic Academy next year?”
“Yep. Are you?”