“No armor necessary. But way to embody the Asgardian slogan. Be prepared.”
“I thought that was the scout’s slogan.” I stopped at the hook by the door, grabbed my parka, and zipped myself into it.
Tore opened the door and stepped onto the back porch. “You coming, Pepper?”
“Yup.” I jogged down the steps and followed him onto a snowy path. Tore laced his fingers through mine, and we walked into the woods in easy silence. We’d had another storm while we were gone, so the forest was dusted in a thick, plushy layer of white. But no storm would ever compare to that one we’d endured in Jotunheim. My fingers ached just thinking about it. Brr. We walked further into the woods, passing tree branches that bowed under the weight of the freshly dumped snow. Occasionally, one of the trees dropped a snow-bomb on an unsuspecting pocket of forest—in one case, a highly-irritated squirrel got a frosty surprise, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Tore stopped when we reached the spot with the loopy trees. He pulled gently on my arm, turning me to face him.
“How are you doing with all of this?” he asked.
“Great. I mean, it’s been a weird couple of weeks, that’s for sure. But all things considered . . .” I shrugged. What could I say? Since I’d started college, I’d found out I was a demigod, I had the power to give life, and it was my job to hunt down an evil night goddess. After said hunt, I was tasked with destroying Nott’s minions, saving the planet, and awakening the mom I never knew I had from a cursed sleep. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Tore stared intently at my face. “Listen, Allie, once you heal your weapon and it binds to your armor, there’s no turning back. Gud Morder will respond only to you from that point forward, and as each successive piece is bound, your abilities will strengthen. You’ll be the only one of us who can kill Nott, and the only one who can end the Night War. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
“Oh, I am totally not ready for that.” I shook my head. “In no way am I even the slightest bit ready for any of this. But somebody told me demigods do things just like humans—one step at a time. So I’m just going to . . . how did you put it? Oh. I’m going to goddess up and figure it out.”
Tore’s eyes shone. “That’s my girl.”
My heart thudded against my ribcage. I so loved when he called me that.
“Hey, can I ask you something personal?” I looked up at him.
“Shoot.”
“Your mom . . .” I hedged. “Do you think about her?”
Sadness wove a tapestry across Tore’s face. “Ja, I do. She was beautiful—not just in body, but in spirit. She had an innate goodness that permeated the realms and brightened the lives of everyone around her. When she died, it was like a light inside of me died with her. Things got pretty dark for a while.”
“What do you mean?” An icy wind brushed through the trees. I had a Jotunheim flashback and stepped closer to Tore.
He wrapped his arms around my waist. “It was generally expected in Asgard that I’d follow my father and train to be his successor. Revenge had never been my thing, but when my mom died, there was this hole inside of me. I didn’t know how to fill it with my own energy, and you know how it works—where there’s a vacuum, some kind of energy has to fill it.”
“And the darkness filled you,” I surmised.
Tore grimaced. “Exactly. I was a monster for a while there, which was exactly what my father wanted. But it wasn’t who I was. The Alf?dr assigned me to guard Gud Morder right after my mother died—I think he felt it would give me a sense of purpose. But that darkness was growing inside me, and my father was training me at the same time. One night, while I should have been protecting the sword, I got a tip that one of the hostiles on my father’s watch list had shown up in Asgard. I tracked him down—it turned out, he’d come back to return what he’d stolen from the Alf?dr; he’d come back to make things right. But I was too blinded by the darkness to recognize his intention. And even though he pleaded for his life, I ended up killing him.” Tore winced. “He didn’t deserve to die. He was someone who was genuinely remorseful and whose soul deserved redemption.”
“Tore.” I placed a palm on his chest. “I’m sorry.”
“Not half as sorry as I am. But my father, of course, was thrilled. In his view, revenge is very much an eye-for-an-eye kind of deal. And he saw what I’d done as an indicator that someday I’d conduct myself as God of Revenge in the same way he did. But in my mind . . .” Tore looked up at the trees. “In my mind, redemption is a very real possibility. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t be here.” He shifted his gaze to look at me. “The night I killed that man was the night Nott stole Gud Morder. I left my post to track him down, and when I came back, Nott hit me with her sleeping curse. If I’d kept a clearer head, I could have deflected it sooner and stopped the theft. And we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Tore hung his head. “I am so sorry, Allie.”
“Well I’m not.” My fingertips grazed his chin and pressed lightly upward, forcing Tore to meet my eyes. “Who knows if I would have met you, or Greta, or the rest of the guys, if all of that hadn’t happened? I could have gone my entire existence without ever knowing any of you, which, in my opinion, would have been an even bigger travesty than something happening to my butt.”
The corners of Tore’s eyes crinkled, but he didn’t quite smile.
“I’m glad you’re the son of Revenge. Because if you weren’t, if that night had never happened, I never would have met you. And I’d never have fallen for you.”
Tore rested his chin on the top of my head. “Revenge is the last thing I want to be, Allie.”
My heart tugged as I sensed Tore’s very real agony. He knew what was expected of him, but had to find a way to fulfill his destiny on his own terms. Not anyone else’s. I could sure relate to that.
I stood on tiptoes and pulled Tore’s head down so his forehead rested against mine. “If you want a different life than what your father wants for you, I’m sure you can manifest it. You’re a pretty powerful demigod. You know, when you’re not faced with a can of pepper spray.”
Tore brushed his lips to mine. “I still have to pay you back for that one, don’t I?”
“Naw, we’re even. Besides you said you didn’t want to be Revenge, remember? That means no paybacks.” I batted my eyelashes.
Tore chuckled. “What do you say, Pepper? You ready to go heal those two pieces of your weapon and continue your quest to save the cosmos?”
“I guess.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “If that’s all we have to do today.”
Tore pressed his hips against mine, and gave me a sexy smile. “I can think of a few other things we could do.”