CHAPTERFORTY-SIX
Muni wasted no time rushing up to Hugin where he stood. So excited to finally see him after years of missing him, Muni didn’t notice the fog that surrounded her to block off the rest of the view. She didn’t notice much at all except for the bright crystalline eyes of her brother.
“Hugin!” she cried, launching herself at him.
His arms wrapped around her immediately, returning the hug, spinning her around as if she weighed no more than a feather. The hug was strange, a little looser than Muni remembered, but she didn’t fault Hugin. It had been so long, and they were in Valhalla. At least, if she had to die, she was here with her brother.
Pulling back to give him space, Muni stood before him and grinned. She was covered in oil and grime, her wings felt heavy in their glamour on her back, but she didn’t pay any attention to that. Hugin was here, and he was looking at her as if she were everything he needed. Before she’d been reincarnated, Hug and she had been inseparable. They were two sides of the same coin, one not existing without the other. Now, Muni had needed to learn how to do just that, exist alone.
But I’m not alone, a thought flickered through her mind. I have—
“Munin, it’s been so long,” Hug said, his head tilting to the side in the way it always had, but the angle was off.
Muni’s smile fell just a little. “You never call me Munin.” She took another step back. “What’s wrong with you?”
Something shifted in Hug’s eyes, in his entire demeanor. It wasn’t something physical that Muni could put her finger on, but a shift at a spiritual level. Hug’s expression pulled tight.
“You know you’re the reason I died. Right, Munin?” Hug asked, his eyes narrowing. “I’m dead because of you.”
“What?” Muni’s brows furrowed. “I had nothing to do with your death. I’m simply trying to—”
“And now, here you are,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “In Valhalla, dead the same way as I am. How does it feel to be a coward and a failure?”
Muni clenched her jaw. In the distance, it sounded as if someone was calling her name, but the sounds were muted. When she focused on them, they faded away completely.
“Hug,” she tried. “I don’t understand. You died in the race—”
“And you did nothing to save me,” he spat. “I died in an inferno so hot, my skin melted from my bones!” Muni winced at the picture. “I died in violence!”
“I know, but if you’ll just listen to me—”
Flames erupted between them, forcing both Muni and Hugin back away from them, separating them further apart. Muni watched in complete confusion as Hug panicked at the flames, scrambling back, but Muni wasn’t as afraid. In fact, the moment she saw the face form there in the flames, she forgot her fear entirely.
Her mouth fell open. “Theo?”
The High Wizard’s face looked just as it always had, fabulous and attractive, as it danced in the flames. “Now, you know, Lady Munin, that this isn’t your brother. Snap out of it. Your men need you.”
The fog in her mind cleared and she could hear them. Brin, Vidar, and Eirik were shouting for her, panic in their voices as they searched, but the fog around her must have been obscuring her from view.
Muni looked back at Hug, at the image before her, and she saw it then. His eyes were flashing the wrong color. His hair was more disheveled than Muni had ever seen it. His body posture was the complete opposite of her brother, but she’d been so excited, so blinded by seeing him again, she hadn’t even noticed. Foolish. She’d been utterly foolish.
“You dare mimic my brother?” she snarled, holding her battle axe aloft. She didn’t even remember grabbing it.
The flames that held Theo’s face showed him nodding his head in satisfaction before they dissolved into nothing, leaving empty space between her and the imposter wearing her brother’s face.
Hug smiled but it wasn’t a nice smile, not any type of expression her brother would make. It changed his face and she saw, as clear as day, that he wasn’t her brother. She didn’t understand how she ever mistook him.
“It was worth a try,” he said, and the voice was just as familiar as her brother’s. It wasn’t Hug’s, but someone else. Why was it familiar, though? Who did it belong to?
He began to laugh at her study of him. “Silly little bird on a big grand adventure. You’ll die. Every last one of you who come for us will die.”
Muni perked up, her eyes narrowing. Then, she repeated the one word in that sentence that meant something to her. “Us.”
His expression changed when he realized what he’d said, what he’d given away. “You know nothing,” he tried, a poor attempt.
“Just like a god,” Muni laughed. “Always boastful and proud.” Without waiting for anymore words from the imposter’s mouth, Muni swung her axe, breaking through the illusion like butter. It shattered around the metal, leaving nothing behind but air in a make-shift Valhalla. “That’ll be your downfall,” she added, knowing whoever it was would hear.
The fire was gone, Theo with it, but still, she thanked him mentally anyways. He’d been the one to break through the overwhelming feeling she’d had when she’d seen Hugin. If not for him, she might have stood there for hours arguing with him.
Turning without any time to waste, Muni began to run in the direction of the McLaren. The closer she got, the more the fog cleared.
She ran faster.