Gears of Mischief (The Valhalla Mechanism Book 1) Read online

  I knew it was dangerous to like him, especially since they had me, but I couldn’t help being drawn to the mischief in his eyes and the challenge in his soul. The other, Thor, didn’t outwardly challenge me like the magician, but his challenge was in his soul, a challenge to see deeper inside him than he appeared.

  “Her wrists are free,” Thor pointed out.

  Loki grinned. “I know.”

  I flicked out one of the knives from my thigh and had it underneath Loki’s chin before he could move, not that he tried. The point of the blade tipped his chin up as I stood, but he didn’t stand with me. He stayed kneeling, looking up at me with desire in his eyes even as I held a blade to his throat. “You’re going to let me walk out of here.”

  His grin widened. “As you wish, little spy.”

  He was far too uninterested in the knife at his throat, at the threat of me killing him. I gently scraped the knife against his skin, my eyes flicking to the pointed ears that were revealed when he tipped his head back to look up at me, and back to his eyes. The weird ears didn’t even remotely curb my attraction.

  I glanced over at Thor where he stood with amusement on his face, his arms crossed over his expanse of a chest. “If you’re wondering if I’ll stop you,” he said, smiling, “I won’t.”

  “You’re letting me go?”

  “You’re escaping,” Loki clarified, as if I had no idea what I was doing.

  I flicked my knife away and watched as Loki stood, his stature hands above me. I kept my eyes on him and Thor, considering that this could have been a trap of some kind, but neither of them moved towards me. Neither of them tried to stop me.

  “What’s your name?” Thor asked, watching as I backed away towards the door. I had picked it out the moment I woke up, had determined it was the best way to escape. If they chased me and burst onto the street, it would draw too much attention. Even though it was night, two men chasing a lady would be misconstrued, investigated.

  I didn’t answer Thor’s question. Instead, I turned and sprinted towards the door, had it thrown open and was outside before either threatened to give chase.

  No one ever followed, but I checked behind me often just in case, wondering if I would have ever known if they were.

  What a way to spend my night.

  Chapter Eight

  I stood in the Director’s office, a scowl on my face. He held the report I had written up in his hands, and Calvin was floundering beside him. Both men were acting as if I was nothing more than a hysterical woman spouting nonsense even if I was clearly the calmer one in the room.

  When I had left Thor and Loki, I had immediately set out for the art district, prepared to give my report and go home. That was my mission, after all, to record what I saw and leave it at that. I ran into a problem once I handed it in because pigeon mission reports were always read.

  They didn’t believe me.

  Sure, the report was far-fetched, especially written down on paper. A man with lightning that sprang from a hammer, another that worked with alchemy, and a woman who fought with wolves sounded ridiculous even to my own ears. Still, I was no liar, had never lied to the Guild, and that should have been all they needed to know. No one could have made up such a story.

  “There’s no way what this says is real,” Calvin argued, pointing to the descriptions. “A man with lightning?”

  “Tesla has started making weapons, and he’s well-known for his penchant for electricity. Why could it not be true?”

  “Wolves in London?”

  I shrugged. “It’s not unheard of for people to have exotic pets.”

  “This has to be a trick of some sort.”

  Curling my lip up, I took a step towards the man I had once imagined something more with, but now, I was glad he had ruined those chances. He was speaking to me as if I was not his equal, let alone his better. He was speaking to me as if I was some timid maid that would cower before him. I would not heel to a man. “I know what I saw,” I growled, and Calvin’s eyes flashed with worry. “It was real, and while I have no idea how it all disappeared, I watched as it all happened.”

  “You said they caught you?” the Director asked, and I turned my attention to him. I had considered leaving that part out, but truthfully, I wasn’t ashamed of it. I had estimated the two men as humans, and I should have known better. It was a lesson, nothing more, and something that I thought would prove my story.

  “Yes. They moved faster than I anticipated, and one of them used a powder to knock me out.”

  “Probably didn’t even get a hit in,” Calvin grumbled.

  I didn’t think. I had my knife out and at his throat before he could blink. He didn’t look at me with desire in his eyes like Loki had. Instead, he looked like he was about to piss himself, fear heavy in his eyes. I wrinkled my nose up at him and put the blade away, stepping back again. “Next time you question my skills, be prepared to battle them.”

  The Director shook his head but didn’t intervene. The way of the Raven Wing Guild was for members to settle disputes however they saw fit. As long as no one died by another member’s hand, it was all fine.

  “She’s been compromised,” Calvin argues, and I sneered at him, promising retribution if he ruined something else for me. His constant questioning of my skill and truth when he had never done so quite as vehemently before made me angry enough to throw a knife at him. I refrained, only because he was too slow to avoid it, but I was sorely tempted. Normally, it didn’t bother me to follow protocol, and in normal circumstances, I might have been compromised, but Loki and Thor had not harmed me even if they had knocked me out. I was certain the enemies had been the ones they called elves. They didn’t even know my name, and I assumed they weren’t from London, not dressed as different classes and standing together.

  “You’re one of our best, Kingsford, that much I know,” the Director began, flipping through the report, his eyes catching on the words Ragnarök and elves. I had left off Thor and Loki’s names for some reason, something telling me to avoid it. “If you were discovered, it was by no fault of your own, I’m certain.” Calvin scoffed and the Director glanced at him, immediately silencing whatever rebuttal the idiot was going to offer. “However, it is difficult to believe your report.” When I opened my mouth to argue, he held up his hand. “You have no reason to lie. I understand that, but if a powder was used on you to put you to sleep, it’s mandatory to relinquish your clothing for testing. Perhaps, the powder remnants will tell us more, whether it holds more than a sleeping concoction.”

  Or whether it held any hallucinogens, I thought in annoyance. They thought me stupid, imagining the entire thing, but I had not been sprayed with the powder until after I had witnessed the battle. Normally, I was fully confident in following protocol. Giving up my clothing was standing when coming into contact with an unknown substance, except—

  “This is my favorite corset.” The Director narrowed his eyes. “Fine,” I grumbled, grinding my teeth. I didn’t argue further, not at the risk of being taken off rotation.

  I turned to leave, prepared to change into whatever the science department supplied me in place of my clothing, but the Director’s voice interrupted me.

  “You said when you woke up, there were only the two men. That the woman had gone.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at the man in charge of the Raven Wing. “What about them, sir?”

  “Do you think they pose a problem?”

  Not certain why I did it, I shook my head. “Just a couple of lunatics, sir. Nothing more, really. I doubt they will be much of a problem again. The real threat was the swarm of what they called elves.”

  The Director nodded. “Of course.” But I sensed his disbelief.

  As I closed the door behind me, I didn’t miss the immediate argument from Calvin, and his call to have me suspended until they figured it all out. I didn’t turn around and give him a piece of my mind, but I did pull out a small knife and start flicking it through my fingers to calm my mind.
r />   When the science department took my favorite corset, I nearly embedded the knife into the wall with my anger, but I restrained myself. A woman who controlled her emotions was dangerous. Thod’s first words to me repeated in my head often, mostly when I was angry enough to do something that I might regret.

  Besides, it would have been unlady-like to leave a hole behind in the wall.

  Chapter Nine

  The trek home was done so in the shadows of buildings and broken street lamps. I was properly chaffed that I had been forced to give up my clothing to the science department—and my favorite corset to boot! Sure, I had plenty more corsets at home, but that one had the steel-boning and lacing broken in just right. It never pinched, never suffocated, and now it was lost to the arseholes in the science department. The science prick had leered at me as he took the clothing from my hand, his eyes travelling down the extremely loose clothing I had been given instead.

  Of course, there had been no spare women’s clothing.

  I was given a pair of loose trousers and an even larger button-down shirt. Both hung off me like parachutes, and for that reason, I was forced to keep to the shadows even as sunrise neared. If I were seen in such a state, it would ruin my reputation among the high society. While I didn’t care much for such things, it was crucial for my cover. A lady had far more opportunities than a working girl did.

  I knew my mother had waited up for me the moment I stepped inside the large house. When the front door squeaked, she poked her head from the kitchen and gestured for me to come inside.

  “Did you sleep at all?” I chided her. She knew better than to wait up for me, especially when I received a call by pigeon. I never knew what time I would return or what I was getting into when I left.

  “You know how I get,” she replied, waving away my words. She never listened, and when I had finally asked her what the true reason was, she had admitted she worried one night I would not return at all. For that reason, I tried not to give her too hard of a time, but it was still unhealthy to stay up until the early hours of the morning. Lady Kingsford had retired from the service long ago, had opted to let me take her place instead, but though she had once been a force to be reckoned with, still was to some extent, it was no longer productive to allow herself to grow exhausted.

  I sighed and ran a hand through my loose hair. I’d lost my hair tie to the science department, too, and there had been no spares. I hadn’t felt like bothering with searching the entire office, so I had left it alone. At least they had let me keep my weapons. I would have fought hard to keep my axe and short sword if they took it.

  “Difficult night?” Her eyes scanned me from head to toe, taking in the loose clothing and the lack of proper shoes.

  “The worst.” She pushed across a cup of steaming tea and I gladly took it. “My clothing was commandeered for testing.”

  She hummed. “Were you not wearing your favorite corset?”

  “I was.” I pouted out my lip a little at the loss before lifting the teacup in my hands. “I can tell you all about the insanity I witnessed tomorrow, Mother, if you don’t mind. I’m rather tired.”

  “Of course, dear. The tea should help you sleep better.”

  With my feet practically dragging on the floor, I made my way to the stairs and up them, balancing the teacup in my hands carefully so as not to spill the liquid. It was a difficult task with how unsteady I felt on my feet after such a long day. I had been woken earlier than normal, had suffered lessons, had been sent on an impossible mission, captured, and interrogated by my own people. Tired didn’t begin to cover what I felt.

  I pushed open the door to my room and closed it behind me, my eyes on the tea in the cup. I was so focused on not spilling it, I noticed the man standing in my room almost too late.

  Nearly dropping the tea at my surprise, I managed to clench my fingers around it at the last second. If it crashed to the floor, it would alert my mother that something was wrong, and I wouldn’t have her coming up to my room with a stranger. Only a small amount of the tea sloshed out and splashed across my hand, searing it, but I didn’t pay attention to the pain. Instead, I had one of my knives free and thrown before I realized exactly who it was that stood against my window at ease.

  Loki plucked the dagger from the air as if it were nothing more than a toothpick, a slight glow sparking from the movement, as if he had used some of his magic to do it. He grinned and started flicking the knife along his fingers, unconcerned with the fact that I drew another knife, prepared to follow the first.

  “Hello, little spy,” he purred, and I was tempted to throw the knife on principal.

  “What in the bloody hell are you doing in my room, you lunatic?” I growled. My eyes flicked towards the door, the door that kept Loki away from my mother and her away from harm. Loki had powers. If he went for my mother—

  “Don’t worry,” he murmured. “I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

  “Why should I believe the promise of a trickster?” He had called himself that before, had been called that by others, so it must be true. Did anyone trust the man standing in front of me?

  He grinned. “You’re correct in your assessment of me, but I give you my word that I will not harm either you, nor your mother, nor anyone else in this home, without your express permission.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Are you expecting me to give you permission to hurt someone?”

  Shrugging, Loki stood there in my bedroom as relaxed as a cat, my dagger still flicking between his fingers as if it was second nature. “You can never be sure, and now that you’ve witnessed our world, well, you can’t be too careful.”

  “Your world?” I thought back to the conversations I’d had with him and Thor, the words I had overheard in other moments. “Midgard?” The word felt foreign on my tongue. I relaxed my posture, as if I couldn’t have another knife out and thrown in a quarter of a second if Loki moved to attack. Taking a delicate sip of my tea, the flavor bursting on my tongue, I waited for his answer.

  Loki watched my movements carefully, as if he were the one expecting me to attack. “Midgard is your world, this world. Not mine.” His eyes danced around the room, taking in the pink drapes and the delicate white iron post bed. Most of the room was done in shades of pink. I didn’t care much for the color, but it was only a place to sleep. “This room doesn’t fit you,” he said suddenly, surprising me, but I kept her face neutral.

  “And why do you say that? Maybe I like pink.” I set the teacup down on the tableau beside me and crossed my arms. I couldn’t help the tension when it felt like I was being studied under a microscope. I had a feeling Loki noticed a lot more than other people, could read them as if it was second nature. I didn’t want to be figured out.

  “I’m good at reading people,” he admitted what I already assumed, flicking bright eyes back to her. Even with the near darkness, his eyes seemed to glow the same color of his magic. It was intriguing. “I think everything about this room, and you, is an illusion.”

  Correct, but I didn’t say that out loud. Instead, I said, “You’re wrong.”

  He hummed. “I know all about illusions, little spy.”

  Gritting my teeth, I squinted my eyes at the man watching me. “If you call me ‘little spy’ one more time, I’ll show you just how little I am when I slam a knife in your throat.”

  Loki chuckled and started to move closer, his steps lazy, unconcerned, as the tension straightened my spine. “Isn’t there anything you want to ask me?”

  “There are a great many things I’d like to ask you, but information is not freely given and I’m still trying to figure out what it is that you want from me and why you’re in my room.”

  He drew closer, far too close for etiquette, but then etiquette said no man should be in my room unsupervised at all. Good thing I didn’t care for decorum in the privacy of my own home. He was close enough when he stopped that I could easily press one of my knives into his stomach with barely a twitch of my hand. I refrained for the moment
, but Loki did not seem so worried about the vulnerability, didn’t seem to think me a threat at all. I fought the urge to prove I was.

  “You intrigue me,” he murmured, studying my face. I had to look up to meet his eyes, his height making him feel intimidating so close. I refused to allow myself to cower, however. “But you’re correct,” he admitted. “Information is not free, and I wish to make a trade for it.”

  Curiosity had me leaning forward. “A trade of what?”

  “I will give you all the information you desire, if you can help Thor and I with a bit of a situation we’ve stumbled upon.”

  My mind went back to the scene of the elves they had fought, of how three people and two wolves held off swarms of creatures not from our world. What could I possibly hope to offer or help with something such as that?

  “What kind of situation?” I breathed.

  “The apocalyptic kind. Ragnarök.” The word I heard them speak during the battle echoed inside my head, ringing with some sort of truth that didn’t actually fall from Loki’s lips. It felt like the world knew, as if it was already common knowledge. “I did warn you we are not of your world, little spy.”

  I didn’t hesitate. I flicked out the knife at my hip and pressed it into his stomach, his very sturdy stomach. The knife didn’t seem to make a difference to him.

  “I told you not to call me ‘little spy’,” I growled. I focused on the slight glow of his eyes, on the pretty emerald color they held in their depths. I was annoyed with the term, because it felt like something the men at Raven Wing would call me to tease. Though I didn’t think Loki used it with the same conviction, it still rattled my nerves.

  “Your weapons cannot harm me,” he whispered, pushing harder against my blade. It never broke his skin and I wondered at the enchantment of it as he smirked. “And I like the fire that ignites in your eyes when I call you the name.”

  His hand reached up towards my face so suddenly, it caught me off guard. Just as his cool finger touched my heated cheek, I jerked backwards, the wall behind me stopping my trajectory. A loud thump echoed through the house.