When his worst fear comes true, Asgard's Dark Prince will stop at nothing to rescue his pregnant consort. Yet, not even the threat of Asgard's forces looming in the skies over Alfheim can force the Unseelie Winter Realm Elves to produce Shannon when...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Mist and I had spent the past four and a half months on Midgard, searching the oceans to find Manannan Mac Lir. You never really appreciated how much of Midgard was covered with water until you tried to find one sea god in the vastness of Earth's oceans. We'd started with the Great Barrier Reef and oceans around Australia where Shannon and I had last seen him.
The dolphins were happy to see us. I'd changed shapes to converse with them, but they hadn't seen the sea god recently. With each new pod we encountered, we left the message that if they saw Poseidon, to let him know we searched for him on Shannon's behalf. If I wasn't convinced that he could search vast areas of Alfheim faster than the current searchers, I'd have given up trying to locate him so I could return to search myself. Yet I knew he was one of our best hopes to find her before our son was due.
Nightmares of her alone, struggling, in danger, and labouring with our son haunted me whenever I closed my eyes. I did my best to not think about it. Worse were the nightmares where my memories of Sigyn's ravaged body blended into Shannon's, leaving me to wake screaming, sweat-soaked, with terror a thick coat on my tongue. When I let myself dwell on it, I couldn't function. Hunting for Manannan gave me a goal to get through each minute, each hour, each day as the weeks dragged on.
Mist kept me on target and from losing my mind.
At least the time difference between realms worked for us. Every five or six days on Midgard, we'd head back to Asgard for a daily update. Ambassador Ogma claimed there was still no sign of Shannon despite four weeks of searching thus far. Unfortunately, our Einherjar and Valkyrie embedded with the searching Sidhe confirmed their lack of progress. They were searching methodically, but it was a big planet.
When there were no new leads, I tried to not be discouraged. Barely functioning now, I couldn't afford to let the lack of progress get to me. If I was paralyzed by anxiety, I wouldn't be able to help find Shannon.
With judicious use of hypnosis, I'd cleaned up my mess on the set of "Loki". Being able to clone myself allowed me to finish filming. Every bit of energy the acting gave me, I used to continue my search for Manannan and stave off sleep.
I'd even convinced Ben and Sophie that Shannon was now fine, back in Vancouver, working, but would be out to visit soon.
If only the truth was that simple.
Shoving it from my mind, I focused on today's destination. Mist and I were heading to the ocean surrounding the Isle of Man today. Heimdall set us down on a patch of unoccupied beach. After changing shape, I dove my dolphin body into the dark waters, sending out clicks to find a local pod. Mist tracked me by running above the waves.
Speeding through the depths, I searched. When I heard a response, I swerved in that direction. We were making good speed when the soul-deep ache that had plagued me for the past four and a half months disappeared.
Shocked, I stopped swimming.
Shannon's alive! I actually feel she's alive! Oh thank the Norns! If I hadn't been in the water, the relief would have dropped me to my knees. Although I didn't yet know where she was, at least I knew that much.
