Harvey tilted her chin upward, looking into her eyes.“Jörmungandr.”
“English, please,” she muttered.
“A big ugly snake.”
She bit the inside of her cheek.“And why was the big ugly snake here?”
“To steal Mjölnir, of course,” a raspy, cultured voice said.
Harvey took her hand and helped her down off the table as she fought to keep her legs from wobbling.
The man with the raspy voice, not much taller than her and round like a barrel, with cloudy blue eyes, held out his hand.“That was quite something, Dominique.Well done.”
“No shit, Shorty!”Nina crowed, slapping her on the back.“You were fucking fierce.”
Dom only half-smiled.She still didn’t know what had just happened.She didn’t know why she’d reacted the way she had.It was all a blur.
As Marty and Wanda surrounded her, their hair mussed and eyes astonished, she felt their comforting hands.“You were a monster!”Marty praised.
“A total warrior!”Wanda said, squeezing her shoulder.
“Dom?”Harvey said.“This is Heimdall.”
Ah.The infamous all-knowing and all-seeing guy who looked nothing like Idris Elba.
She took his hand and thought to bow or curtsy or whatever it was the people of Asgard customarily did when they met a god, but she failed miserably, almost tipping over.“Your…um, your highness.”
But Heimdall gripped her by the shoulders and smiled at her, his graying teeth like small tombstones in his mouth.His chuckle rang in her ears.“Just Heimdall is fine, Dominique,” he said, offering his hand once more to her.She took it.
But what happened next threw her for a loop.
Hundreds of scenarios flashed before her eyes—war, fires, famine, a rainbow, joy, sorrow, weapons flying through the air, children, families, fear—until her whole body shook.
“Heimdall!”Harvey warned, pulling Dom to his side.“You’re scaring her.Turn it off!”
Instantly, Heimdall dropped her hand.“Apologies, Dominique.Are you all right, child?”
“What…what was that?”she murmured, terrified and weak from the visions.
“I forget myself sometimes.I see many things with these eyes.Often, I forget those visions can be transmitted to someone who wields as much power as you.I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Her gulp was audible as she scrunched her eyelids shut, but closing her eyes only brought back the visions she wanted to forget.“So you really do see the entire planet?”
His nod was solemn, his balding head shiny as it bobbed.“I do, and I forget my gift, if you want to call it that, can be turned off.Again, my apologies.Now come.We must speak.”
She wasn’t sure shecouldspeak, but she assumed when you were part of the inner circle, whether you asked to be or not, you didn’t have a choice.So she opted to act as though she was ready for a discussion because that’s how adults behaved, and she was an adult, right?
Hiking up her tattered dress, she followed him as they picked their way through the debris.Several crowds had gathered in the corners of the room, consoling one another, casting grateful eyes upon her.
Heimdall motioned for her to sit at the long table, where he took the chair next to hers.Everyone else joined them, gathering around to hear what he had to say.
Clearing his throat, Heimdall gazed at her, his cloudy eyes intense.“First, our deepest gratitude, Dominique.Your skill with Mjölnir so early in the stages of your learning was most impressive.”
Blowing out a breath of air she’d been holding, she didn’t know what to say.She could hardly remember much of it, and the rest she was still processing.Though, she did remember leaping onto the table like an Olympic gymnast.
Shaking her head, she whispered, “I…I don’t know about skill.It just happened.I think most of the credit goes to MC.I just hung on for dear life.”
Heimdall chuckled, deep and raspy, reaching over to pat her hand.“Some goes to him, of course.He is a mighty tool we value above almost all else here in Asgard.However, you just fought a lethal foe like a true warrior.The damage you prevented could be considered legend.”
