“Yes, I am. Remember, they love me. If her soul wants to separate, I’d know.” That wasn’t really true, but he needed to hear it.
Sighing, he got up and disappeared through a door. My eyes met Baldur’s across the bed. He smiled with approval. Sounds came from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder. The goddess was smiling, too. I hadn’t realized she was still around.
“You have a way of talking to him that makes him listen,” she said.
My cheeks warmed. I’d been unfeeling. “I know how guys at home think. Eirik has changed a lot, but in some ways he hasn’t. I knew which buttons to push, and I’m afraid I wasn’t nice about it.”
“Is it true what you said about being able to see souls wanting to separate?” Baldur asked.
“Not really. Back at home, I’d see them once they started to separate, not before. I just wanted to reassure him.”
“Well, I’m happy you did,” he said and extended a hand toward the goddess. She joined him on the lounge and reached out to stroke Celestia’s hand. “The poor sweetheart. I wish Eir could get here faster. You think he is stopping her from leaving?” The way she said “he” told me she was referring to someone she thoroughly disliked.
“No, elskr mín. ásynjur Court is autonomous, and Alfadir would have no say on what the goddesses do,” Baldur said. “On the other hand, it involves traveling here and they still fear you.”
The goddess chuckled. “Then they are idiots. I’ve relaxed rules about visitors to my realm. All are welcome.” Baldur laughed, and she threw him an annoyed look. “Eirik and Celestia visited them from here. Why wouldn’t I be a gracious hostess?”
“Do you really want me to explain? They are terrified of you, elskr mín.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “Give them a few more days to gather courage.”
She shook her head. “Like I said, they are idiots. If my emissaries are not back in a couple of days, I’m going to Asgard.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, dyrr mín,” he said in a soothing tone.
“I think it’s brilliant. A couple of days, Baldur, then I’m going. I will put up with their stares and distain to bring Celestia the help she needs.”
“Of course, dyrr,” Baldur said and smiled.
“That’s not going to work on me, so stop it,” she whispered.
“I didn’t do anything. I’m agreeing with you.”
“That’s what I’m concerned about.”
The dynamics of their relationship were interesting. “How did you two meet? I mean, I know it was here. But how did you know you loved each other?”
Baldur chuckled while the goddess continued to stroke Celestia’s hand. For a beat, I thought she wouldn’t respond. Then she glanced at him. “Do you want to tell her?”
“No, you tell her.” He kissed her on the lips. “I’m better at filling in the blanks.”
She studied him with narrowed eyes. “Do you promise to behave and not sugarcoat anything?”
“Would I do that to you, my love?”
“Yes.” She glanced at me. “He embellishes everything to make me look good. I wasn’t. Not to him anyway. How much do you know about me?”
Watching them only made me want to learn more about how they met. “Everyone in Helheim loves you and is loyal to you because you are tough but just. You care about them and the souls you help. You grew up in J?tunheim, then went to Asgard before Odin gave you this realm to rule.”
“She demanded a realm to rule because she deserved one, and Alfadir, your grandfather, gave her Helheim.”
I looked at the goddess. “You demanded?”
“Asked. Like I said, your father embellishes things. When you feel you deserve something, you go for it and don’t let anyone stop you or dissuade you. Things don’t happen for those who wait or beg. What else do you know?”
“Your life in Asgard was not an easy one.”
She grimaced. “It had its moments.”
“Now you are being kind, dyrr mín,” Baldur said. “I’m afraid some of my friends and family were very cruel to your mother as a child. No one, let alone a child, should ever be ridiculed for their looks. I was very annoyed and disappointed with their behavior.”
The goddess chuckled. “He takes it very personal. The fact is being seen as different and treated a certain way is something I faced growing up. Some of the gods and goddesses were unkind, but I also found refuge with some. Frigg, your grandmother, for instance, is very compassionate. She would send for me for visits. Her hall is by a brook, and she has wild animals roaming her woods and meadows with flowers. I’d spend hours studying the birds and the animals. As I got older, she’d allow me to observe the proceeding in the ásynjur Court.”
“What’s that? Father mentioned it before.”
“The court of female goddesses. I learned a lot watching her, so when I overheard them discuss Helheim and how the god in charge no longer wanted the job and had disappeared, I knew exactly what to say to Odin to get this realm.”
“That was before my father learned about the prophecy of what would happen during Ragnarok,” Baldur chimed in. “He tried to change things, but Ragnarok is fated to happen. Once the Norns seal your fate, there’s no changing it without consequences.”
Raine had changed destinies, and so far, she was okay because she was supposed to be a Norn. What if Celestia’s situation was the result of her changing Dev’s destiny? I focused on what the goddess was saying, but my mind was racing with what could be wrong with Celestia. The Norns could be behind her condition.
“Your father is right. He had to die in order for you and Eirik to be born,” the goddess said. “You both have an important role to play in the future.”
“Like what?”
The goddess chuckled. “Your brother will be the next head of the Asir Court in Asgard, and Celestia will head the ásynjur Court. Now where were we? Yes, my relationship with your father.”
She neatly avoided talking about me. Did that mean I had no future worth mentioning?
“I was running things here with my mother, who’d fueled my hatred for Asgardians for what they’d done to our family. When the reapers arrived from Asgard with Baldur, his wife Nanna, and Litr, I wanted payback.” She glanced at Baldur and grimaced. “I was not very nice to you, elskr mín, was I?”
“You had every right to be angry and wanted revenge for the pain they’d caused you in Asgard,” he said.
“It was more than that. There was this thing inside me I needed to ease, and I thought that having your father, Odin’s favorite son, in my hall would do that. His wife just wanted to rest, so I sent her to an Eternal Resting Hall the moment they arrived, but I kept your father with me. When his brother came to plead for his return, I was more than happy to show him off.”
“Her newly acquired pet,” Baldur whispered.
She backhanded his chest. “Don’t listen to him. He was never my pet, but I had him sit next to me on my throne as I told his brother Asgard couldn’t have him back because he belonged with me in Helheim.” She sighed and glanced at him again. “I was horrible to you.”
“Ah, but it was the beginning of our adventure,” Baldur countered.
“You are being kind. You should have seen your father in Asgard, Einmyria. He was glorious.”
“I’m still glorious,” he countered, trying to look offended but failing miserably.
She smiled and continued to stroke Celestia’s hand. “He was just. Kind. Charismatic. Envied by many and admired by all. Whenever I met him, he was always kind. I admired him greatly.”
“Just admired?” he teased, and pink tinged the goddess’ normal cheek while the runes on the other appeared to coil faster. “I think it was more than that.”
“You had a crush on him?” I asked, grinning.
She scowled. “Explain this crush.”
“Our daughter means you more than liked me, dyrr mín.”
She sat upright and lifted her chin. “You were a married man and far older than I was.”
“She had a huge crush on me.” He whispered something in her ear, and she laughed softly, her eyes twinkling.
“Maybe a little,” she conceded. “I admit I’d hide behind pillars and watch him. Everyone adored him.”
“And now I adore your mother.”