Spartan Frost Read Online Free Page B

Agrona had used to help control me. So far, Dad hadn’t been able to figure out what the Reapers wanted with the artifacts, as some of them were pretty obscure and seemed to have little magic, but it didn’t really matter. At least not to me. All that mattered was stopping them—for good.
    â€œWe’ve called for reinforcements, but due to the weather, they won’t be here for at least two hours,” Sergei said.
    Inari nodded, his dark hair gleaming under the kitchen lights. “And we don’t know how much longer the Reapers might stay at their current location.”
    Dad looked at me, regret and resignation flashing in his eyes, along with stubborn determination. His somber expression was all too familiar, since his work had always come first—especially before me.
    â€œI guess that trip to the academy will have to wait, huh?” I said.
    He put his fork down on top of his plate, pushed away from the table, and got to his feet. “I’m sorry, son, but I’ve got to go check this out. You know how important it is that we don’t let any more artifacts fall into the Reapers’ hands.”
    I did know—better than he did, since Agrona had used some of those stolen artifacts on me. This wasn’t the first time that Dad had ever been called away in the middle of a meal, and it wouldn’t be the last. In fact, I couldn’t remember a time when we’d actually managed to make it all the way through dinner without him taking a phone call, checking e-mail, or chatting with the Protectorate members who’d come to the house to speak to him about an urgent matter in person. It used to piss me off, that he couldn’t forget about work for one measly hour, but not anymore. Not since Loki had wormed his way into my mind. Not since I’d felt all of the evil god’s intense, burning hatred for the members of the Pantheon. Not since I knew exactly what horrors my dad and the other members of the Protectorate were up against.
    I stood up as well. “I’m coming too.”
    Dad was already shaking his head before I finished speaking. “No. Absolutely not.”
    I threw my hands out to my sides. “What else am I going to do here all day? Like you said, I’m not supposed to start classes at the academy until next week. Even I can only play so many video games in a day. Come on. Let me go with you— please . I want to do something, anything, to help. You know that. Why do you think I’ve been training so hard?”
    It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was close enough. I didn’t think Agrona would be at this building, not given how close it was to our mansion, but if she was there, then I wanted to be the one to deal with her— I wanted to be the one to kill her.
    And if she wasn’t there, well, I would settle for the Reapers that were.
    Sergei walked over and gave me a hearty, approving clap on the shoulder. “Well, I say it’s a fine idea. We can always use an extra pair of eyes and ears, not to mention another sword, right, Linus?”
    Inari moved to stand beside me as well, silently offering his support. Dad looked at his friends in turn, before his blue gaze focused on me again. I lifted my chin and stared right back at him.
    â€œAll right,” Dad said, sighing a bit. “All right. You can come. But make sure you grab some weapons on the way out the door. If the Reapers are using that building as a hideout, we don’t know who or what we might find there.”

Chapter 3
    D ad threw on his Protectorate robe, while I went back to my room and put a heavy black snowsuit on top of my winter clothes. On the way out the front door, I grabbed a sword from one of the walls. Sergei and Inari were already outside waiting in Sergei’s black Range Rover. Dad and I piled into the back of the vehicle, and the four of us took off.
    Sergei drove for about thirty minutes, twisting and winding through the