Page 3 of Thor
Sutrelle inspected the clothes. Freedom. No more beatings. No more fear. The opportunity to figure out what she wanted to do with her life instead of being told. Wasn’t that worth the chance?
She stripped off her gown before pulling on the outfit. She regarded her things, trying to decide which of them were most important.
Her things. But they weren’t her things. Not really. Everything in her room had either been her mother’s or something she had secreted away without anyone knowing.
Sutrelle walked to the trunk in the corner and opened the lid. Inside a locket called to her. She’d made the locket out of scraps of metal she’d found around the castle. Mostly cast-offs from broken weapons. It had been the one thing she’d used her fire magic to make, melting and shaping the metal with her hands, literally. She ran her fingertip over the intricate design she’d etched into it.
She slipped the locket around her neck, glad that she would finally be able to wear it daily instead of only inside her room. It warmed her chest where it sat between her breasts. Inside a photo of her mother gave her strength. She picked up a worn journal as well.
Her books were replaceable. Her clothing as well. Not that she figured she would need long grab gowns where they were going. The only other things she wanted had been her mother’s.
She grabbed the dragon’s hide bag and walked to her shelf and began putting her figurines and rocks inside.
“Hurry,” Val urged. “We have a long trip ahead. And we need to make sure we arrive there before they notice we’re gone.”
CHAPTER2
Thirty DaysLater
“I can’t believeI let you talk me into this.” Thor ran his fingers through his dark hair and slid on his boots before tying the laces.
“I think it’s your mother you have to thank. I simply asked if you would go with me because I have someone I need to meet, and I don’t want to get roped into conversations with other underworlders looking for free legal advice,” Loki replied.
Thor threw him a daggered gaze. “You mean a meeting you happened to mention in my mother’s presence which happened to be on the same night as the speed dating event?”
Loki chuckled and straightened his shirt cuffs. “Wrong again my boy. Your mother setup the meeting. It’s not my fault you’re so nosey you eavesdropped on the conversation and got tangled up in her little scheme to marry you off.”
Thor growled and stood from the edge of his bed. He didn’t need marrying off. He’d been there and that hadn’t worked out so well, so giving it another try was not in the cards as far as he was concerned. Not that that stopped Frigg. Ever since they’d made the move from Valhalla to the Underworld Frigg had been trying to set him up with every human and sup that came into her pub. Frigg may want to see him happy, but she had no idea the things that weighed his soul down, and he doubted bringing a female into the mix would make anything better.
Even so, he appeased his mother by agreeing to go to the speed dating events about once every six months. Not that anything ever happened. For years he’d watched the regulars show up and leave. Seen newcomers pair off with someone never to return. But for him it was all routine. He went. He sat. He spoke as little as possible and then he left. And tonight would be no different.
Loki set his hand on Thor’s shoulder for a moment. “It won’t be any different if you don’t give it a chance.”
Thor shrugged off Loki’s touch. “I hate it when you do that.”
Loki shrugged. “I wouldn’t need to if you opened your mouth and spoke more. You used to be so talkative. Couldn’t stop talking as I remember. Mostly about yourself. Your conquests, victories, virtues, anything about you. But now—”
“Now I know better.” Thor grabbed his leather coat and threw it on.
“I was going to say, now you are boring.”
“And what about you?” Thor questioned. “I don’t see you rushing out to find someone.”
Loki flashed him a winning smile. “I don’t need to. My bed is constantly filled with whomever I find companionable for the night. No strings. No expectations. Just fun. The way I like it.”
Thor walked to the edge of his loft and took the metal stairs down to the floor of his shop two at a time. Bikes lined the walls of the solid brick structure. In the middle of the shop stood his current restoration in pieces. Every section of the bike meticulously laid out and labeled.
“No time for fiddling with that,” said Loki.
Thor walked to his workbench and lifted an ancient hammer. Mjölnir had begun to feel heavier in his hand in the past century. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the things he’d done, or the things he hadn’t, but he didn’t care either way. The Thor of legend was no more and what remained of him was nothing but a scarred shell.
“My car is out front.” Loki headed to the exit.
“I can make my own way there.” Thor lifted his hammer to the sky and as always disappeared in a flash of light.
* * *
Thor slammedonto the sidewalk in front of DeLux Underworld Café, making several people jump. He stowed Mjölnir in his inner coat pocket and walked to the bouncer at the door. The bluish skinned man with protruding tusks nodded and let Thor in without so much as a questioning glance. One of the perks of being an immortal god who had thousands of stories made up about him over the centuries— no one questioned his age or purpose for being somewhere.