We stood on a circular golden platform in the middle of… Nowhere, was my first thought. Darkness surrounded us but it wasn’t the all-consuming Darkness of Hel. I could still seeperfectly around the platform. Faint pinpricks of light moved far off in the distance, like we were deep in outer space. Staring out into the darkness, I could feel a faint swirl as if outside spun like a black hole or hidden galaxy. It made me vaguely dizzy, so I dragged my attention back to the platform.
Gunnarr slowly turned so I could see everything too, though it all looked the same. There were no walls or entrances. The same darkness stretched overhead, though it made me even more dizzy to look upward. I could only assume the darkness swirled below, too.
The weight of darkness tightened around us. Drawing closer. Pressure built inside me, like my ears needed to pop. Bjørg whined softly and burrowed deeper against me.
There was something unpleasant in the darkness. A creeping, crawling, subtle malice made my skin crawl.
“Do you hear them?”
A man whispered behind us, startling me. Gunnarr whirled to the side, putting his back to the threat and curling over me, immediately shifting me away from the voice.
“My apologies, Daughter of Hel, for startling you. Welcome to my domain. I am Heimdallr.”
:It’s okay,:I whispered to Gunnarr in our bond. :He’s the man I spoke to before. I need to see him.:
:Okay. But I’m one twitch away from shifting to my bear and looking for a snack.:
My lips curled with amusement as Gunnarr turned back around so I could see Heimdallr, the god of Bifröst and guardian of Àsgarðr. I hadn’t expected the god himself to deign to speak to me.
At first glance, he looked like a regular human, though he was at least as tall as Lokken, nearly seven feet. He wore basic brown leather pants, something a warrior might have worn hundreds of years ago, with a simple cream-colored linen tunicand thick wool brown cloak around his shoulders. A leather-wrapped sword hung down his back, the hilt poking up above his shoulder. His skin was deep black, and thick black coils of hair dotted with golden beads and rings twisted together in a bundle past his waist, nearly to his knees. I could only imagine how heavy the mass must be.
Until he smiled, his eyes were the only unusual part of his appearance, gleaming like burnished gold coins. Or a wolf’s eyes. Inclining his head, he flashed shining golden teeth, all just as sharp as a wolf’s would be.
He bowed. A god. Bowed. To me.
“May I have the honor of hearing the lady’s name directly from her lips?”
“Oh. Of course.” Blushing, I felt rather foolish and gauche. “I’m Helayna Ironheart. This is my Blood, Gunnarr, and my little fox friend is Bjørg. May I ask why we’re here?”
His eyebrows rose. “You followed the rainbows, did you not? That’s why you’re here.”
“Yes, of course, but why did you speak to me before? Why did you want me to find you?”
His eyes narrowed to golden slits, but his voice remained light and easy. “For many reasons. There hasn’t been a Daughter of Hel strong enough to touch Yggdrasil directly in several generations. Let alone strong enough to escape Loki’s machinations. I saw you, Helayna Ironheart. I saw you trapped inside Jörmungandr. I heard your Call, strong enough to raise the Darkness slumbering for thousands of years. Perhaps I decided to answer as well.”
My mouth sagged open.
Gunnarr chuckled. “I told you it was a strong Call, my queen. I’m not surprised at all that a god might hear and decide to answer.”
“Any chance I have to foul Loki’s mischief is an opportunity I rarely miss. You surprised him by escaping Hel, but that will be nothing compared to his shock and dismay when he sees me by your side in Miðgarðr, which is exactly why I was forbidden from visiting your realm directly myself.”
My stunned surprise shifted to pained pride in a matter of seconds.:Set me down on my own two feet, please.:
Gunnarr hastened to obey, though he hovered beside me.
I had to tip my head back to meet Heimdallr’s steady gaze. “I refuse to be a game piece moved between two gods for their own wicked amusement.”
Heimdallr’s eyes narrowed even more, though his lips twitched in what might have been a smile. Or a sneer of disdain. It was too quick for me to tell. “I would expect nothing less from the queen who escaped Jörmungandr.”
Then he shocked me all over again by dropping to one knee before me. Then even lower, leaning forward to drop his hand onto the golden platform, his head bowed. “I offer myself and all powers under my domain to Her Majesty Helayna Ironheart, daughter of Loki and Helle Ironheart, daughter of Hrefna, daughter of Hekla, daughter of Hadda, daughter of Hólmfriðr…”
He paused, lifting his head enough for me to see the sparkle of amusement in his eyes. “Shall I list all your ancestors, Your Majesty? I know them all, though it will take a few minutes for me to recite them all the way back to Lady Hel, may She Walk the Frozen Shores of Corpses forever.”
I shook my head slightly, still mentally reeling. I had hoped the man who’d whispered to me might be another Blood, but a god? Yes, I was descended from a goddess but so distantly I likely carried only a few drops of Her blood. I didn’t want to think about what I might have inherited from the god of mischief.
A god. How would that even work? He surely couldn’t mean to be Blood. Sworn to me. Giving me his blood. Though he offered all powers under his domain, the Bifröst rainbow bridge to any of the Nine Worlds and beyond. Access to Ásgarðr itself, the home of the gods. Just to be a thorn in Loki’s side?
“What do you want from me?” I finally asked.
