They stared at each other in silence for a long moment before he asked, "Do you have a name?"
Her throat dried, and she couldn't make her lips move.
A slight smile creased the corner of Thor's lips. "Shy? That's new. Most women here can't wait to tell you everything about themselves. Is this your first time?"
Elle nodded, and again they spent a moment staring at each other. Dressed in a black leather coat and T-shirt, his face sported some blond scruff. His square jaw and intense eyes were a perfect balance of handsome and terrifying.
"You're aware the purpose of this masquerade is to talk with new people and get acquainted, right?"
Masquerade?
She shook her head.
His eyebrows creased. "You aren't here for the masquerade?"
She lifted her hand but put it back down and chewed her lip instead, unsure how to answer.
Thor nodded and chuckled. "Ahhhh… so you got tricked into coming as well? Okay, so here’s the deal. You see all the beings here? They are here to look for a mate or a companion or something… someone."
What? It was a potential mating gathering? She scanned the room as terror swept over her. That's not why she'd come. She'd come to procure papers. Papers to help her blend in on Midgard. Not to find a male companion. Did Val know that’s where they were? Why hadn’t Lady Frigg said anything?
Thor peered over her shoulder. She followed his gaze to the table where Val talked to a long-haired man wearing a horse mask. Loki.
Loki and Val seemed to be having an animated conversation. Maybe she found out where they were, too. Had Loki tricked them into coming for some reason?
"Hey." Thor reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
She pulled away instinctively, and he raised his palms in defense.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that.” He watched her for a moment. "You look like this might not be your kind of party. If you don't want to be here, I'll be happy to see you home. My mother will understand the mix-up."
Elle looked over her shoulder again at Val and Loki and then back at Thor. What did she do? Should she go to Val? The papers were important, she didn’t want to interrupt them, but…
"Look,” said Thor. “If you don't want to have dozens of males come try to talk to you, you should let me take you home." He held out his hand. She didn't want to go with him, but when a man in an eagle mask with deep red skin and pitch-black eyes spotted her and smiled, she involuntarily gripped Thor’s massive calloused hand.
A pulse of heat passed between them and rushed up her arm and down into her belly. He looked down at her hand in his and then into her eyes. Confusion played over his features.
Elle yanked her magic back inside her, but it wasn’t her magic that had heated their hands.
Elle jumped from her seat and glanced at the man with the eagle mask again. Thor followed her gaze and pulled Elle into his side. The eagle man stopped and inclined his head to Thor before heading in a different direction.
Relief filled Elle, but then nervousness gripped her again as Thor pressed his palm into the small of her back and escorted her toward the exit. Thor stopped and handed his mask to Fulla. A smile crept across her face, and she winked at him.
Thor led Elle through the throng awaiting to be let into the party. Elle should stop him. Move out of his grasp, but all she could concentrate on was the warmth of their connected hands, pulsating through her body.
Thor didn't know why he needed to help the timid, beautiful creature, but he couldn't help himself. Seeing her sitting at the table like a newborn doe had made his chest clench. Soft eyes wide with trepidation. Beautiful, thick auburn and ginger waves cascading down her back like a cloak of modesty. Slender fingers clutched together and trembling. He had no idea how she had ended up at the masquerade, but he was sure of one thing- she didn't belong there. Especially not while wearing a short, tight black skirt and sleeveless cream blouse. Both showed too much for his liking and, again, not enough. Either way, the clothes didn’t seem like something she would normally wear. He saw her more in something soft. Flowy and feminine, then in something so… Midgardian. She seemed more like an innocent beauty that should be lazing in a meadow of flowers in Valhalla, instead of in the ashy grayness of Helheim.
He'd thought for a second she was a mortal, but the moment he'd touched her hand, he'd felt the power she carried within. A mortal didn’t carry power like that. Perhaps she was a witch like Frigg. She definitely wasn’t a succubus. Fae perhaps? Though he hadn’t seen her ears to be able to tell for sure.
He pushed his way through the exit, and as soon as they stepped out the door, she took a deep breath and leaned against the stair railing as if it was the only thing holding her on her feet.
Standing outside Frigg’s home, shrouded in moonlight, he wondered what the hel he was doing. He'd not been a savior of damsels in distress in centuries. But somehow, he couldn't help but want to protect the fragile creature who stood next to him.
"Where can I take you? Where do you live?"
She glanced up. "I... I'm not sure how to get there." Her voice came out so softly he'd almost missed it.
"Are you new to Helheim? I've never seen you before."
