“On one of our cases, Nina’s hair caught on fire,” Marty informed Dom.“No one died, and look at her hair now.It’s like a shampoo commercial.No harm, no foul.”
To be fair, Nina’s locks were glorious.Long, shiny, hanging to almost her waist with only a slight wave to them.Dom would be pretty angry if she had hair like that and someone burned it.
Nina flicked her fingers under Marty’s nose.“That’s because it wasn’t your fucking hair, Blondie.You’d have shit a damn llama if your specially curated locks were fried to a crisp.”
Harvey, who didn’t appear at all surprised there was a crater in the middle of her living room, looked at them, his green eyes capturing the group.“Are we ready to discuss this now?May I explain what just happened?”
Taking a deep breath, Dom bit the inside of her cheek.“Does your explanation come with a contractor?Because I think my floor’s going to need one.”
MC laughed from his place on the floor, where she’d dropped him.“Hah!She has a sense of humor, Harvey.Lucky you!Now, can you please pick me up, Dominique?Don’t leave me here, exposed and vulnerable.”
“MC?Quiet,” Harvey demanded, his chiseled face hard.“Let me explain to Dom.”
“Well, I know I’d love an explanation,” Wanda said, smoothing her trousers.“What just happened, Harvey?”
Harvey raked a large hand through his hair.“The only person who can pick up MC is Dominique.She’s been chosen to represent Asgard and protect Midgard.No one else is capable of using the hammer buther, as evidenced by the hole in your floor.”
“Meet your new best friend!”MC chirped.
“That’s fucking ridiculous.I thought you said this wasn’t anything like the movies, and in the movie, only Thor can pick up the damn hammer,” Nina crowed, as she stooped and put her hand on MC.
When she wrapped her hand around the handle and tried to lift it, it wouldn’t budge.
This from the woman who’d all but twirled Dom’s couch on two fingers while in the process of showing off her vampiric strength.
Marty tried her hand at it, too.She grunted as she attempted to peel MC from the floor, but to no avail.“He’s telling the truth, ladies,” she whispered.
Dom backed away from the hole with its splintered boards, cracked and scattered.“You’re all crazy.I don’t mean to be ugly, but you’re all crazy.I’m a thirty-four-year-old single woman—aGreekwoman, no less, not Norse—trying to get by each day by taking care of her elderly grandfather and bracing herself for a world without him.I barely have time to wash my hair these days, let alone rule Mid-Earth?—”
“Midgard.It’s Midgard, Dominique,” MC corrected, his articulate words putting the fear of God in her.“But fear not, we’ll teach you how to use me if the need presents itself, right, Harvey?”
When Harvey said nothing, his lips thinning into a line of anger, Dom scooped MC up with ease.“Let’s put a pin in the animosity between you two for a moment, please.Can you explain to me, why am I the person—nobodyme—in all the wide, wide world, by reason of some vision you had while meditating, who should rule Midwhatever.”
“Midgard,” MC corrected again.“Because you are pure of heart, my dear.You’re kind, selfless, smart but strong-willed, as evidenced by your grandfather and your fight to find him proper care.All qualities necessary to rule Midgard.”
Gulping, her fear returning, she held MC up to meet her gaze.“What do you know about my grandfather—howdo you know about my grandfather?”
MC, in his soothing tone, offered a gentle explanation.“Don’t be frightened, Dominique.I know all there is to know about you.I don’t say that to threaten you, I say that because it’s a necessity that I know every aspect of your life.Making a decision as serious as this requires an in-depth evaluation of your character.”
Suddenly, every mistake, every misstep she’d made in her life, every fib she’d told, all of it flashed before her eyes, leaving her feeling exposed.
But there was no way she’d allow them to involve her ailing grandfather in anything, and there was nothing she wouldn’t do to protect him.“Leave my grandfather out of this.Do you hear me?”she hissed, giving MC a good shake.“You leave him alone!”
Harvey put his hand on her arm.“MC would never hurt you or your grandfather, Dom.That wasn’t in any way a threat.You’re one of us now, and by proxy, so is your grandfather.Neither of us would allow any harm to come to you.”
Though his touch was light and not at all threatening, it made her shiver, but not in the way she would have expected.It left her feeling warm, comforted, and she didn’t understand the roar of emotion he stirred with nothing more than his palm on her skin.
“Oh, Odin, no!Never,” MC insisted ardently.“I would never allow any harm to come to him or you.I know how hard you’ve championed for Stavros.Your spirit is that of a fine Norse warrior, Dominique, even if your heritage is Greek.”
Dom’s head spun as her stomach churned.He even knew her grandfather’s name?How was any of this possible?
Nina, quite obviously growing impatient, stuck her face between Dom and Harvey.“Listen, while this moment is tender as fucking hell, we need to get this show on the road.We can do the rest of this at my castle.So if you’re done with the loyalty speech, let’s do that.”
“At your castle?”both Dom and Harvey asked in unison.
She rolled her eyes, jamming her hands into the pockets of her jeans.“Yeah.I have a castle.In Long Island.It’s big enough for everybody.I have rooms for days, and experience tells me that you’ll need time to work out all this batshittery.So let’s get your shit together, pack a bag, get your lip gloss and scarves or whatever that is around your neck, and move it.”She pointed to the door while Fletcher continued to perch on her shoulder.
Wanda nodded with a decisive bob of her head.“Yes.That’s a good idea, Nina.We have plenty of room for you in the car, Dom.And Nina’s castle is amazing.”
