[This post is from Thordin’s point of view.]
It was cool inside the forge, the fire long burned out in the firebox. Thordin sighed softly, not relishing the prospect of getting it going again. There was a reason they’d always banked the fire instead of letting it burn out completely. Thordin took a few breaths and nodded to himself—he had his work cut out for him, that was for certain.
Have to start somewhere, though.
He propped the door open and started to clean out the firebox, grimacing as a mostly healed spot tugged uncomfortably.
“I should have dragged Phelan up here to help me,” he muttered, scraping the ashes out of the firebox.
A shadow crossed the doorway, and Thordin’s heart made an abortive leap—abortive because he heard a distinctly feminine tread instead of Matt’s hoped-for steps.
Not Sif’s, either.
He was about to turn when she spoke.
“I’m going to deal with her once and for all, Thordin,” Aoife said softly. “You won’t have to run his forge for long.”
He sat back on his heels, looking at her, silhouetted in the doorway. “You’re going to deal with her,” he echoed quietly, far more calmly than he thought he should have sounded. “You say that as if you’ll just kill her and there won’t be repercussions. Like killing her will be easy in the first place. Like the only thing that will matter is that she’s gone and won’t be able to come after your brother or your cousins again.”
“I want you with me.”
Thordin turned back to the firebox and scraped some more ashes out into the dustpan in his hand. “Bad idea.”
“You’re good in a fight, and this might be one. I want you with me. You can do it.”
“Of course I could,” Thordin said, continuing his work. “But I won’t.”
“What?” Aoife stepped fully into the forge now, her eyes narrowed as she stepped around the anvil so she could at least try to catch his eye. “She’s a danger to all of us. She could kill us all. You know that the only predictable thing about her is that she’ll always come after my family somehow, at some point. The only way to make sure anyone’s safe is to eliminate her as a threat once and for all.”
“You don’t think Matt’s already doing that?”
“She took him against his will. She’s probably holding him against his will! Don’t you think he’d be back here if he could be?”
“I’m sure he’s had ample opportunity to escape,” Thordin murmured. “And he’s chosen his path. He doesn’t do anything without a reason.” He glanced up at her. “Besides, doing what you’re thinking about doing puts him in danger, now doesn’t it?”
Aoife just stared at him. “You’re not going to stop me.”
“No,” Thordin said quietly. “I can’t stop you. That’s up to someone else. But I’m not going to help you, either.” He straightened. “Now either make youself useful or get out of my way.”
“I can’t believe you won’t help me.”
“Think about it,” he said softly, then emptied the ashes into a bucket in the corner. “You’ll figure it out.”
