“That’s because I wore you down. You had no choice but to love me.”
He sighed melodramatically. “What a chore.”
I laughed. Now I knew where Eirik got his wacky sense of humor. The goddess just shook her head, her eyes going to the bathroom door. The water had stopped running.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“A little, but I want to hear more of your story.”
“Can you convince your brother to eat, too?”
“Oh, yes.” I glanced at the closed bathroom door and hoped Eirik stayed a little longer and shaved. “So how did, uh, Mother wear you down?”
“She didn’t. I wore her down. I reminded her every day she was a beautiful woman and I was devoted to her. She wanted me to talk to her while I wanted to kiss her, so I did both. And she rather liked it.”
The goddess sighed. “You are impossible, Baldur.”
“I’m telling our daughter the truth.”
“She doesn’t need to know every detail.” She angled her head and said, “Yes, Maera. You can come in.”
Sounds came from the living room. Then the housekeeper appeared in the doorway. She beamed. “Shall I set the table here or your quarters?”
“In here, and let me know when Einmyria’s rooms are ready.”
Maera left, and Baldur got to his feet. “I’ll join you for dinner, but first I need to check on our guests. Don’t forget to tell our daughter how hard you made me work to prove my love to you.” He kissed her forehead and walked around the bed, dropping a kiss on my forehead and another on Celestia’s. “Come back to us soon, little one.”
The goddess watched him as he walked across the room. A sigh escaped her. “Your father is a wonderful man. I hope one day you meet someone like him.”
I wanted to tell her I already had, but I held my tongue.
“Not once during those years did he complain about how I treated him. He didn’t just take care of everything I asked of him, he made sure the guards did their duties, dressed properly, and learned court decorum. He ran drills for possible attacks, created a chain of command, and a duty schedule. I didn’t ask him to do any of these things. My mother had trained the guards before he arrived here. She was an amazing strategist when it came to military attacks and counterattacks, but she didn’t know anything about running a hall and dealing with visitors from other realms. Her solution was to attack anyone who entered our realm and ask questions later, and we did that for millennia. Baldur changed all that, and so the two of them didn’t get along. It only grew worse with time. Maybe it was the fact that she hated him that caused me to seek his counsel more and more. The more time we spent together, the more he’d ask me personal questions about my past instead of discussing the realm. I kept telling him it was none of his business.”
I laughed. “But he didn’t stop?”
“No.” She chuckled. “I think you might get your stubbornness from him, after all. Once he decides to pursue something, he never gives up. Ordering him to stop didn’t work. Talking down to him didn’t work either. Finally, I gave him a little information to test him. I told him terrible things about my childhood. Cruel stunts children played on me. He’d get angry. I even overheard him tell Litr he wanted to beat his uncles to a pulp for the things they’d said about my parents in my presence.” She smiled while my heart broke for her. Tears rushed to my eyes. “I never realized how much pain I’d carried from those years until I saw things through your father’s eyes. Oh, dyrr mín. Don’t cry. This is all in the past.”
“Doesn’t make it right. I hate bullies, Mortal or gods. Only last week I had the Grimnirs punish the bullies who’d caused a girl’s death.
The goddess smiled. “I want to hear the details of that story.”
The sweet aroma of spices and freshly baked bread reached me before I heard sounds from the other room. Maera had arrived with dinner, and Eirik was still in the bathroom. My stomach growled, but I ignored it.
“When did you realize you loved him?”
“I think I always did. He is warm and kind, he makes me laugh, and there’s nothing he can’t accomplish when he sets his mind to it. Like you said, I had a crush on him as a child, but as a woman, I’d thought falling in love with him would only lead to heartache, so I fought it. I did what the others had done to me for millennia and judged him by his looks. I concluded that a god who looked like him would never see the real me, yet he did. He won me over with his love, kindness, and thoughtfulness.”
Maera appeared in the doorway and announced that dinner was ready before bowing. The goddess stood up, and I followed. When she glanced at the bathroom door, I knew it was time.
“I’ll get him.” Eirik mumbled something when I knocked. “You okay in there? Do you want me to break down the door and rescue you?”
He opened the door, cut me an annoyed look, and pushed past me.
“Dinner is ready. Do you want a plate?” I asked.
“Not now,” Eirik said, taking Celestia’s hand and the chair I’d been using.
“I’ll make you one anyway.” When he didn’t respond, I added, “You can eat while watching her.”
“I’m not hungry,” he grumbled.
“Of course you are. I can hear your stomach growling from here. If you’d like, I could feed you since your hands are occupied. It’s not like I haven’t done it before.” He scowled and looked up. “Remember when you’d become ill and feverish like clockwork. Raine and I would take turns feeding you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Did too, so one plate coming up. Be ready to open your mouth and chew with it closed.” I was deliberately goading him so he’d agree to eat. The goddess followed me to the dining room. The table was set for four, and servants waited to serve us, including Astrid, the girl Maera had assigned to me. Once they pulled out our chairs, the goddess dismissed them.
“I hate people standing around while we eat,” she said. “It’s okay when we have guests, but I find it unnecessary when it’s just our family. Litr can take care of us.”
“Who is Litr?” I asked.
As though on cue, the Dwarf with red hair and a bulbous nose appeared with Baldur. The goddess introduced him as Litr. He bowed several times, then went to the covered plates and started serving.
“How are our guests doing?” the goddess asked.
“Settled in,” Baldur said. “Richard promised me a game later this evening. He taught me how to play chess,” he explained for my benefit. “Now I beat him.”
“Or he allows you to win,” the goddess teased.
“I’m insulted. You are supposed to be my champion, ástin mín.”
“I am, but you love to win and you become a grouch when you don’t. I’m sure Celestia told Richard to let you win.”
Baldur sighed. “You see what I have to deal with? My own wife has no faith in me. Do you play chess, Daughter?”
“No. I could never sit down long enough to learn.”
“Then I’ll teach you.”
The goddess groaned.
“Stay out of this, dyrr. This is between me and my daughter.”
“Our daughter,” she corrected him.
In some ways they reminded me of Mom and Dad. “I promised Eirik a plate.”
“Litr will prepare him one,” Baldur said. “How is Eirik doing?”
“He showered and shaved, and might even join us for dinner. I think he was ready to bite Einmyria’s head off when she suggested feeding him.”
“She never fed me,” Eirik said from the doorway. “She just says stuff to annoy me.” He walked to the side table, took the plate Litr had prepared for him, and walked out of the room again. Litr followed him with a tumbler and a glass. No one spoke until they disappeared inside the bedroom.
“At least he’s eating,” Baldur said.
Litr returned to serve us. Dinner was fun, listening to Baldur and the goddess talk about life in the hall, their work, how Eirik changed things. I asked questions, and they were more than willing to answer. I was, too, until they became personal.
“Do you have a special young man, Einmyria?” Baldur asked.