Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1)
Read Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) Online
Authors: S.T. Bende
Tags: #urban fantasy, #coming of age, #adventure, #paranormal romance, #young adult, #teen, #mythology, #norse god, #thor odin avengers superhero
The Ære Saga: Book One
by
The Ære Saga
Perfekt Order
Copyright © 2015, S.T. Bende
Edited by: Lauren McKellar
Cover Art by: Cora Graphics
All rights reserved. Except as permitted
under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the
prior written permission of the author.
This book or any portion thereof may not be
reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage system without the express written permission
of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book
review.
Scripture taken from
The Message
.
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by
permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
First publication: 2015, S.T. Bende
This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents either are products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.
Perfekt Order
"Like macaroni and cheese with bacon,
Perfekt Order
provides the perfect comfort from a hard day.
Snuggle up to Tyr and Mia’s story of warmth and love mixed with
adventure and excitement that will keep you turning the pages until
the end."
- Kristie Cook, International Bestselling
Author of the
Soul Savers
series
“
Perfekt Order
has everything you want
in a book filled with HOT Norse gods: The swoon-worthy hero, the
sweet yet strong heroine, the humorous Norse-god sidekicks, and the
page-turning suspense.”
-Stina Lindenblatt, Author
Back Cover Copy
All's fair when you're in love with War.
For seventeen-year-old Mia Ahlström, a world
ruled by order is the only world she allows. A lifetime of chore
charts, to-do lists and study schedules have helped earn her a spot
in Redwood State University’s engineering program. And while her
five-year plan includes finding her very own happily-evah-aftah,
years at an all girls’ boarding school left her woefully unprepared
for keg parties and co-ed extracurricular activities.
So nothing surprises her more than catching
the eye of Tyr Fredriksen at her first college party. The imposing
Swede is arrogantly charming, stubbornly overprotective, and runs
hot-and-cold in ways that defy reason… until Mia learns that she’s
fallen for the Norse God of War; an immortal battle deity hiding on
Midgard (Earth) to protect a valuable Asgardian treasure from a
feral enemy. With a price on his head, Tyr brings more than a
little excitement to Mia’s rigidly controlled life. Choosing Tyr
may be the biggest distraction—or the greatest adventure—she’s ever
had.
Dedication
To my three gentlemen —
I wished for you upon a star, and all my
dreams came true.
Acknowledgements
An eternity of gratitude to my handsome
husband for choosing me, and walking beside me on the journey of a
lifetime.
Jeg elsker deg
.
Tusen takk
to our biggest little
blessings, whose kind hearts embody love and
ære
with a
light that shines brighter than the sun. We thank God for you every
day.
Mange takk
to my editor Lauren
McKellar, for keeping our gods in check, and always making me
smile.
To my authorial Asgardians, Stacey Nash and
Kristie Cook, for putting up with endless questions, drafts, and
writerly freak-outs. I am so grateful for your friendship.
Massive thanks to my ‘technical advisor’
Lorna Richmond, whose patient explanation of all things energy
deepened Elsa’s ‘magical’ gifts. I hope I always do her justice.
And hugs to Heather Brandt, whose tireless enthusiasm and
endorsement of all things Norse god continues to blow me away. I’m
so grateful you share your talents with me.
Tusen takk
to
Antonella Iannarino for providing thoughtful notes on this
manuscript.
A huge thank you to my RagnaRockstars and
our Valkyrie Team for giving me such a supportive place to land.
You truly are the greatest street team in all the realms, and I’m
humbled that you choose to spend your free time with me, and with
our crazy Norse crew.
Eternal gratitude to MorMorMa for making me
a part of your family. You’re stuck with me forever, and I couldn’t
be happier with the arrangement.
And
mange takk
to every single reader
who’s taken a chance on my books. None of this would be possible
without you, and I’m so very grateful that you choose to share your
reading time with me.
Tusen takk
, from the bottom of my
heart.
“Serve God, love me, and mend.”
-Benedick,
Much Ado About Nothing
ONE
“
CHEESE AND CRACKERS.” NEEDLES
shot
up my pointer finger. I freed the pinned appendage from my bureau
drawer and cradled it to my chest, willing the pain to stop. My
digit was an unfortunate casualty in an overzealous unpacking
spree. Excitement made grace something of an enigma, and today was
pretty much the most exciting day of my life.
In the twenty minutes since I’d pulled up to
121 Daffodil Drive in Arcata, California, I’d unloaded the contents
of both of my suitcases and done a moderate amount of decorating.
The upstairs bedroom I now called home was just a short walk from
the school I’d worked so hard to get into—Redwood State University.
Now, after three thousand miles of driving and roughly seven
thousand calories of road food, I was itching to explore my new
neighborhood. I crossed to my little dormer window and looked at
the wall of evergreens standing sentry outside. Since my roommates
still weren’t home, it wouldn’t be rude to pop out for a quick run.
Five days without exercise left me stiff and cranky, and it seemed
prudent to run off a little anxiety before meeting the ladies I’d
be living with for the next year. First impressions took a
heartbeat to make, but a lifetime to break, and I wanted mine to be
impeccable. I threw on my workout clothes and jotted a note to the
girls.
Just got in and went for a run. I’ll be back
by dinner time—can’t wait to officially meet you! XO, Mia
I left the note on the table in the entryway
and closed the front door behind me.
A quick search on my phone told me there were
two main hiking paths that picked up just behind my house. The
review of one said it offered “the most pristine ferns this side of
Jurassic Park, nestled amidst redwoods too beautiful to be missed.”
Winner.
I committed the map of the trail to memory—straight
at the end of the pavement, turn left at the top of the hill, and
stay north at the fork near the big boulder—pocketed my phone, and
jogged toward the forest, taking in the late afternoon air. It
smelled of fall, like a pile of newly fallen leaves baking in the
warm sun. At the end of the block I turned right, then crossed the
street and entered the woods that bordered campus. The air was
thicker in here, the dense trees acting as a sieve against the
sun’s filmy rays. My footsteps padded softly on the dry dirt as I
ran up a steep slope. At the top of the hill, I hung left, making
my way through the gently swirling fog. The mist was cool—it
tickled my nostrils and chilled my lungs as I sniffed the familiar
scent of earth and pine. This smell was one of my favorite things
about our family camping trips. It was nice to snatch a bit of
recognition in an all-together foreign world, and besides green
leaves and dirt, there wasn’t much familiar about my new home.
To start with, the trees in this forest were
much taller than the trees in the forests of New England. Hundreds
of feet taller, to be exact. Their trunks were a warm reddish
color, and an emerald green moss was draped like a blanket covering
the bark from base to lower limbs.
And the air…
I skidded to a stop as the trail came to an
abrupt end. Since I hadn’t seen any big boulders, I must have taken
a wrong turn. Somewhere along the way, the air had dropped ten
degrees in temperature, and the fog morphed from a soothing cumulus
mist to an oppressive cloud of smoke. The backs of my arms
prickled. Fear took hold in my gut, gripping my stomach in its iron
manacles as my gaze darted around the densely packed forest.
Between the hovering sequoias and the intricately woven ferns, the
woods were so dark I couldn’t see much of anything. But I didn’t
need to see to know the only thing that mattered—I wasn’t alone.
And judging by the low snarl coming from the foliage in front of
me, my visitor was madder than a wet hen.
“I’m leaving,” I offered softly, hoping to
placate the unseen creature with a gentle tone. My voice cracked
just enough to betray my panic. What was I thinking going into a
strange forest alone this close to dusk? Things got hungry at dusk.
Big things. Carnivorous things.
God, I hoped whatever was growling was a
herbivore.
I waved my arms at my sides to make myself
look bigger, and slowly placed one foot behind the other. There
wasn’t time to think about the blades of terror piercing my gut, or
the numbness settling in my hands. All I had to do was make it back
to the top of the hill. Then it was a clear shot back into town.
Just a little fun run. I could absolutely do this.
With my arms still moving, I inched backward
up the hill. The snarling continued, but I ignored the impulse to
flee. The creature hadn’t come out of the ferns yet; I didn’t want
to give it any reason to chase me. Toe to heel, I continued my
climb until I was halfway to the top.
Breathe, Mia
. I
consciously drew two slow breaths, willing my heart rate to stop
its frantic tango.
