Dragging my hand through my hair, I paced the stables, waiting for word that we were leaving for Alfheim. My stallion, Hulda, was saddled and ready, but I had too much energy to sit. Thor was outside on his stallion, Magni, talking to the Valkyrie with their winged steeds.

We'd given the Sidhe their day to get Shannon back to us. They were giving us excuses. Yeah, I was fucking done with excuses and done with waiting. By Yggdrasil's gnarliest bloody bark, I wanted Shannon back now. Politics be damned. My fists clenched. If I had to kill every single one of them myself, I'd get Shannon back. Losing her the way I'd lost Sigyn was not an option.

Kara entered the stables, a limp in her stride given away by the extra wobble of her red curls piled up into a top ponytail. She wasn't willing to wait the extra day the healers wanted, but I wouldn't order her to stay behind. As the Goddess of Unpredictability and Battle Strategy, she was a formidable warrior, even with a limp. Besides, her loyalty to Shannon meant she'd just follow if we tried to forbid her. I'd not deny her this.

"We are ready, my prince. The All-Father has given Thor the go-ahead to proceed," she called out.

"Finally!" I leapt up on Hulda and followed Kara out of the stable. She mounted her flying horse, a palomino she'd named Sigrun.

"To the bifrost!" boomed Thor, pointing Mjolnir towards the rainbow bridge.

We rode swiftly across, several legions of Einherjar behind us with the Valkyrie in the air above us.

When Heimdall activated a wide beam of the bifrost, the swirling light swept us to Alfheim. We appeared on the treaty plains that bordered the land between the eternally bright Summer Realm and the dark, gloomy Winter Realm. The angle and odd perpendicular spin of the planet meant only one side ever fully faced the star that provided its light to Alfheim, although the three moons reflected a small amount on to the Winter Realm.

Sigrdrífa and Thjalfi met us with the message that representatives of both Sidhe courts were on their way.

Ambassador Ogma appeared first out of the mists from the Summer Realm. Walking up to where Thor and I waited astride our steeds, he bowed deeply upon reaching us.

"Prince Thor, Prince Loki, King Nuada and Queen Aine of the Seelie Summer Realm bid you welcome. With the assistance and agreement of King Cernunnos and Queen Mene of the Unseelie Winter Realm, they have captured Llew and Crom and will turn the oath-breakers over to you for Asgardian justice."

Shifting in my seat, my hands tightened on the reins. "Where is Princess Shannon?" I ground out, unable to keep the violence of my anger from my tone.

The ambassador hesitated, swallowed, and then blurted. "Although there were several witnesses who agree Princess Shannon was brought to the Winter Realm, she seems to have gone missing. Despite sending out search parties, they can't find her. It is possible she escaped, but none have yet been able to locate her."

"You LOST my consort?" My rage caused Hulda to rear, his hooves flashing with lethal intent.

The ambassador paled, nodding as he stumbled out of the way.

"Did you send out the hellhounds of The Wild Hunt to track her?" Thor's tone was an ominous rumble with lightning crackling in the sky above, but he kept his temper in check.

Ogma swallowed audibly. "Yes, Prince Thor. We were unable to find her. They go to the chamber where she was held, but can find no trace of her beyond that. I, myself, have observed the hounds' difficulty."

"The Norns damn you all! I want to see for myself!" I roared. Clenching and unclenching my fists, it was everything I could do to not lash out with my power churning and surging inside me with hurricane intensity. Trickles of black seidhr swirled around my fingers.

The ambassador bowed, eyes fixed on my hands. "Yes, Prince Loki. I have been given leave to take you to see if you can find any sign of her."

"Hold up, Brother. Mist, Kara, and I will accompany you once we have secured the prisoners," Thor told me, waiting for my acknowledgment.

Those damn prisoners could fucking drop dead, frankly. I chafed at the additional delay. With a disgusted growl, I flicked a hand to let him know I'd wait. Norns, but I was tempted to just kill the bloody bastards with my telekinesis. Odin's treaty and his unwavering support were the only things that restrained me. They fucking deserved to die.

Six light elf warriors and six dark elf warriors surrounded Llew and Crom as they approached out of the mists. The two prisoners were bound in dwarven chain. The procession was led by Math Mathonwy of the Summer Court and Cailleach of the Winter Court.

Both representatives gave a brief nod of greeting.

"Prince Thor, Prince Loki, it has been some time. Truly, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances," said Math. His perennial smile was missing, replaced by a downward tilt to his lips at odds with the laugh lines creasing his cheeks and brown eyes.

In the past, Math and I had been friends that had spent many a pleasant hour comparing the differences between Sidhe and Asgardian seidhr. Amongst other things, but I had no desire to recollect our times together, given the current circumstances.

"Let's get this done," snarled Cailleach, her face twisted by its hag-like appearance. "We are turning these two over under protest, Princes. We expect them to be treated as befits nobles of the court."

A harsh breath escaped me, and Thor's hand reached out to grip my arm. 

Clenching my teeth, I pressed my lips together to still the biting remark I wanted to make to this arrogant elf. How dare she ask for anything when my Shannon is still not returned to me? 

My chaos strained to strike her down where she stood. 

They were lucky I was willing to abide by Asgardian justice. The fuckers should be dead. Obliterated. Just a small burst of my chaos. Not lounging around in our dungeons. 

The irony of Thor being the calm one in this situation was not lost on me, despite the violence of my thoughts and black fire within my soul fed by the yawning empty pit of my missing soulmate.

"They will be treated according to the guidelines of the treaty, despite their failure to uphold their oaths to it," Thor rumbled, warning in his tone. He turned to the Asgardians behind us. "Sigrdrífa, Thjalfi, take a legion each of Einherjar and Valkyrie to escort Crom and Llew to the dungeons. Please update the All-Father as to our status in finding Princess Shannon. Ros, Vidar, take charge of the remaining legions of Einherjar and Valkyrie and await our return. Mist, Kara, leave your mounts here and we will go locate Princess Shannon." 

Thor dismounted and handed his reins to Vidar.

Following him, I dismounted and handed my reins to Ros, who was now also holding the reins for Kara and Mist's winged horses.

When the swirling lights of the bifrost disappeared with Sig, Jal, the prisoners, and escorting legions, we turned to face the ambassador. Thor gestured for him to lead on.

"This way, please, Princes," Ogma said as we started into the mists leading to the Winter Realm. In addition to Mist and Kara, Math and Cailleach joined us.

A short walk into the mists, we passed through a stone archway and found ourselves in a subterranean hallway. Glowing vines grew on the ceiling and partly down the walls, providing light to the corridor. Once through another portal archway, we entered a dark forest within an enormous cave. The ceiling was far above us, with more glowing vines providing light to the gloom.

A well-trodden trail led through the towering trees, with branching paths heading off in various directions. After taking one to the right, we walked for at least twenty minutes, then took another path that veered off to the right. Coming to the edge of the forest, we entered another stone-carved corridor. Within ten minutes or so, we turned left to a corridor with a series of barred doors.

Opening the third one on the right, Ogma gestured to the room.

"This is where she was when she was brought from Litauī, what you call Midgard," Ogma said.

"Call the hounds," Thor demanded. "I want to see how they react."

As Cailleach called her hellhounds, I reached out, astral projecting multiple invisible copies of myself to search all the nearby rooms and hallways, including nearby floors.

Everywhere I looked, I failed to find any sign of her. A few Sidhe were able to detect my presence, even though they couldn't see me, but I passed by them, searching as wide as I could.

Farther and farther I searched with copies of myself, skirting the edge of the throne room itself, hidden in the heart of the forest we'd walked through.

No sign of her, anywhere.

Not even a hint.

Unaware of my presence, I listened to conversations of Sidhe as they speculated about her fate. Rumours were as plentiful as weeds along a roadside, but no actual leads.

Cailleach's massive black shaggy hounds arrived. 

"Dormarth, Grim, find the Princess," she said after showing them where Shannon had been.

She sent them out, and although they went up and down the hallways, and into all the nearby rooms, never once did they give off the howling bay that indicated they had found her scent.

"As you see, they can't find any sign of her," she said.

"Call them back and let them try with this," I demanded, holding out one of Shannon's hair ties that held her scent.

Cailleach shook her head, scowling, but did as I asked and sent the hounds out again.

Still, they gave no indication that they had found her scent.

"Unfortunately, it is as we told you. We can't figure out where she has gone," Ogma said apologetically.

"Any ideas, Mist? Kara?" My disappointment and frustration was so acute that I was having difficulty strategizing while expending considerable energy astral projecting this many copies of myself.

"No, my prince. With the dwarven cuff on, she couldn't have masked her presence herself. The only answer is someone who could mask her scent took her," Mist replied.

"Who would have that ability?" Thor asked.

"Anyone who can manipulate air could do it," Mist replied.

"Or who could teleport or create a portal," Kara added.

"Unfortunately, there are too many options," I reluctantly concluded.

A sharp ache and the onset of exhaustion told me I'd reached my limit. I couldn't afford to show weakness in front of the Sidhe and withdrew my astral selves back into me. Despite penetrating deep into the Unseelie territory, I'd couldn't find any indication of Shannon's presence, or anyone who had any actual idea of what had happened to her. If it was a conspiracy by the Winter Court, it was extremely well executed. Their nobles appeared to be as clueless as the rest.

Sharing a look of frustration with Thor, we allowed the Sidhe to guide us back to the treaty plains, where our legions of Einherjar and Valkyrie waited. Part of me wanted to attack them to make them pay, but it was a purely emotion-driven impulse I knew Odin wouldn't support. Not when we had the kidnappers in our dungeon. Attacking the Sidhe was pointless when they didn't seem to know where Shannon was.

Yet, we weren't going to simply leave. 

After forcing them to agree to allow some of our Einherjar and Valkyrie to join search parties to look through the Winter and Summer Realms, we sent them off with their Sidhe counterparts. No way did I trust the Sidhe to tell us the truth in their search for Shannon, given they had taken her in the first place.

And not after Sigyn. I'd never trust the Unseelie. Ever.

As much as I wanted to join the searchers here on the ground, we needed information, a clue, some logical way forward. There were other avenues that Thor and I could pursue. 

Still, it was with leaden feet and aching heart that I mounted my horse. Every part of my soul pulled at me to stay, but after telling Ogma we'd be expecting updates on the searches, we withdrew back to Asgard.

I couldn't help but feel defeated by the lack of progress. Who had Shannon? Was she even still on Alfheim?