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As we dismounted before the horse rail, I saw a faated by hihteen and a half hands tall, the white feathers at his huge feet shaking every time he moved A pale scar snaked its way up the horse’s left shoulder Hello, Magnus Where is your master?

The stallion stared inme crap

"Mind your manners," Ithat I was talking to a horse who couldn’t hear me would’ve totally cramped my boss style, so I nodded and walked up to the e gun hung on her right hip and a sed her We had run into each other in the Guild before She was good with both knife and sword and rarely lost her temper

"Kate" Her voice was quiet "The lion has to stay outside"

"He won’t like it"

The lion shook hishi to make trouble just to see if they can put his head on their wall I’ve got to do my job It’s your call"

I looked at Curran The lion htened He was completely nude Gloriously nude

Hrefna raised her eyebrows

Curran pulled jeans and a shirt fro

"Well," Hrefna said "I alondered why you went all shapeshifter Explains things"

The vampire next to me rolled his blood-red eyes

We walked inside the , and the lion reetedthe chas had tried to have the tables joined in two lines, but they couldn’t sweep under them, so they went to plan B, which made their mead hall resemble a barbarian cafeteria People mulled around the tables Some ate, some talked, some oiled their weapons The tables ran into a raised platform at the opposite end of the hall On the platfore chair carved from driftwood and lined with furs His shoulders stretched his blue woolen tunic His face, fralossy black mane of hair, was dark and carved with sharp precision A narrow gold band sat on his head

He glanced at us Dark eyes took ourhe didn’t see us Curran preferred to stay anonyhts knehat he looked like Ragnvald was trying to decide if the polite thing to do was to acknowledge Curran or pretend he wasn’t there

Before we left on this fun trip, we had discussed our strategy, and I volunteered to take the point If Curran came in his official Beast Lord capacity, there would be cereer than needed Besides, I knew the neo-Vikings better than he did, so it o as a redshirt Apparently it was some sort of disposable attendant term from some old TV show

"Is that the jarl?" Ascanio whispered behind me

"Yes"

"But he’s an Indian"

"Choctaw," I told his don’t care how you look They care hoell you swing your axe"

I headed down between the tables with my little parade at my back This would have been so much easier if I had convald decided he couldn’t ignore us any longer "Kate! Vestu heill! Long tinvald These are my associates" There I didn’t nvald pushed hiht he was over six feet tall He took a step off the platfor of you"

"It’s probably because you saalk through the door and then pretended I wasn’t here for the last couple of rin "I just couldn’t believein unannounced I’ to turn this into some sort of spectacle "I’nvald tapped his band "This never comes off Best to remember it now But co the nearby cups "Souests"

Why did everyone have to be so danvald nodded to a side table "Please"

He took a seat and I sat across from hie woe swept by and slanvald held his up I sainst his Beer splashed We raised the tankard and pretended to take ulps than we did

Curran drank his beer Apparentlywohboring table Judging by how hard her hips orking, she was open for business

"So, what brings you to our riot sonvald spread his ara about the runes"

I had a Talked to Dorte and old finn is our best lead for now"

A huge older h the shoulders and slabbed hat my adoptive father had called hard fat, he moved in that peculiar careful way drunks do when they have trouble putting one foot in front of the other and don’t want to pitch over His leather vest sat askew on his large frame, his face was ruddy fro down in two braids, tangling with a a Santa shows up

"I don’t knohat to tell you" Ragnvald drank a tiny s of his beer "He isn’t here We expelled hinvald insisted

The soused Saint Nick zeroed in on the va on the floor by the table where the shapeshifters were looking at their beer The drunk blinked his bleary eyes and sha soon," Ragnvald said

"That’s what I’ve been told," I said

The older Viking pointed at the vampire "What is this shit?"

Nobody answered