Sara was twenty years old, in her last year at college, and darker skinned with straight black hair.

She could almost have been, well, me. Me if I was a normal person. Me if things had gone only the slightest bit different.

And I left her with a desire to get out. I hoped I hadn’t killed her. It was possible, depending on how much she knew.

So, I left with regrets, that angle not having truly come to me until it was too late. Now I might need to stage a rescue.

I wasn’t going to let her be killed because I’d messed up. What I needed, I thought, was some kind of surveillance thing. Something to keep an eye on all of these various people.

I heard a caw and glanced up. “I didn’t mean you.”

Hunin fluttered down onto a tree branch. “I’d offer, but I’m busy.”

I grinned. “But not too busy to show up for random conversation.” Maybe the raven would have some ideas.

“You’re keeping yourself busy.” He dropped onto the fence, tilting his head at me.

“I’m being kept busy.”

“You could have ignored this one.”

I shrugged. “I suppose I could have, but I think I’ve got a better chance of doing something about a succubus who’s scared of me than a fire giant who definitely isn’t.”

A cawing laugh. “Good point.”

“Got any bright ideas in that corvid brain of yours? Or any suggestions from the boss?”

“Follow that kid.”
“The one I just talked to? She’s not a kid. She’s…”

“A kid. It isn’t about age and you know it. She’s younger than Kanesha.”

Put that way, it made sense. And I did have one way to follow her without doing it myself. I called the fyrhund. Invisibly, he padded after her.

“Good idea,” Hunin critiqued, preening his wing primaries into something resembling order.

“I’m worried I killed her.”

“Then keep her safe.”

“I didn’t manage that with Mike, did I.”

Hunin turned to inspect his other wing. “Mike made his own choices.”

“I know, but…”

One beady eye fixed on me. “A man who accepts the love of a valkryie is always doomed. Which he knew. She made sure he knew.”

I let out a breath. “And what about a woman who accepts the love of Loki’s daughter?”

“Her doom is quite different.”

Then, damn the bird, he flew off before I could say anything else.

Ravens. Always had to have the last word.