Midnight Sun (Arctic Love Book 3) Read Free Page A

names," Frey explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Sleipnir was Odin's eight-legged horse and Skalm was the first Icelandic horse known by name."
    "I really don't know how they came up with the names. I never asked." Jørgen stared at him in surprise. "You interested in Norse mythology?"
    "I-I guess." Frey felt uncomfortable being stared at like that and so he started stuttering again. "I've lived with it all my life. My parents are very interested in it. They both graduated with Norse as their majors and they gave their sons Norse names."
    "If I remember correctly, Varg means 'wolf'? And Frey was a Norse god, if I'm not completely mistaken?" Jørgen looked to him for confirmation. "I can't say I remember much of Norse mythology from school." Jørgen grinned wryly.
    Frey nodded. "Y-yeah, it's correct." The god Frey's real name was Freyr, but his parents had been kind enough to skip that last r. He couldn't imagine how much more crap he would've got in school if they'd given him the proper Norse name. Kids tended to be cruel, and Frey had experienced that more closely than most.
    They continued up the sturdy landscape in silence. It was white all around them now, everything was covered in snow. Frey felt his nervousness ebb away slightly as he looked around at the beautiful landscape. He swayed slightly from side to side as the mare trudged on, and he relaxed his grip on the reins.
    "Mind if I ask you a question?" Jørgen suddenly asked, breaking the silence.
    Frey glanced at him curiously.
    Jørgen looked back at him. "Why did you move up here?"
    Frey looked down, his mind going blank. He fastened his eyes on the saddlebags that lay across Jørgen's gelding's back part. He did not know what was in them, he hadn't wanted to ask. The only thing he knew for certain was that Jørgen had brought a rifle, because it stuck out slightly. It made Frey uncomfortable, but he knew that it was a necessity. Everyone that moved outside the settlement had to bring a rifle and be able to use it. Frey did not know how to use it, but he hoped they wouldn't meet an angry polar bear.
    "I-I wanted to move somewhere more desolate. Oslo is too much." It was part of his reason, but it was a very small part. So he wasn't exactly lying, he was just leaving the other parts out. Still, his guilty conscience reared its head. Jørgen had been kind enough to go on this trip with him, to show him more of Svalbard.
    "That's true. I never liked Oslo."
    "Did you live there before you moved up here?" Frey asked.
    "Yeah. I grew up in Oslo, but never liked the city much. And after Karina's accident... She wanted to get away, Sara suggested Svalbard and I went with them."
    Frey blinked in surprise. "Accident?"
    Jørgen's smile was sad this time and he looked down, seemingly lost in thoughts. "Karina was a jockey, she lived for it. But on Derby Day that year... it was horrible to watch how the horse fell, how she landed underneath it. The ambulance came quickly and they shipped her away to the hospital. Sara was in shock, I had to take care of her. And the horse, it had to be put down immediately. It was too injured, it couldn't heal from it. It broke Karina's heart, she loved that horse, but she had her own recovery to focus on. She could never go back to being a jockey, but she still wanted to work with horses, so we moved up here. Sara actually grew up here, her parents owned the stable and they sold everything to the both of them. Horses are Karina's passion."
    Frey felt his chest squeeze at the story Jørgen had told. He had only met Karina briefly, didn't know her at all, but he felt truly sorry for her. It was clear in Jørgen's face and voice just how much he loved his best friend.
    "Life's good here though," Jørgen continued. "I don't think any of us will ever move away."
    Frey looked out over the snow-covered landscape ahead of them, at the white mountains and glaciers. "I won't either," he mumbled.
    Jørgen smiled. "There's no place on earth like