I reeled toward the voice, recognizing its timbre though I hadn’t heard it that many times. I was greeted by an infuriating, smiling, redheaded git.
“Hello, little sister.”
“You!” I seethed. Then I turned to Cas, glaring at him too. “You! You work together?”
Never would I have guessed that. Not in a million years.
Cas snorted. “Hardly.”
“Never have, never will,” Apollo confirmed. “I’m just crashing at his old place. It’s well known we can’t stand each other, so no one’s looking for me here.”
I wondered who Apollo was renowned to dislike, and came up empty. I was too tired to think hard anyway.
“And here is?” I started, half expecting evasions again.
“Bilskirnir, in Asgard,” Apollo replied with a shrug. “About a thousand years ago, during yet another gigantomachia, most of the Norse gods died, so it was deserted. Those who hold seats in both pantheons still have keeps here. I didn’t.” He wrinkled his nose. “It’s too bloody cold in the winter in this world.”
The words finally made me connect the dots, as I remembered the bright lightning I’d seen just before passing out.
“You’re Thor,” I realized, feeling dumb for not making the connection earlier.
The man literally had lightning marks all over his arms. He might as well have been holding up a banner with name on it.
Cas remained motionless, but I didn’t need confirmation.
Apollo clasped his hand around Cas’s broad shoulder. “In a manner of speaking. Charles hereabsorbedThor’s power, and managed to emerge victorious.”
“Charles?” I laughed, and immediately regretted it as it activated core muscles that absolutely did not want to be called upon for the rest of the year.
That did manage a reaction from him. “You’re judging old-fashioned names,Edith?”
“I just mean—that’s your real name?” I considered Silver mine, as that was the name I’d been given in this life, though I accepted that I once was Artemis.
He shrugged. “Everyone who used that name is dead. I prefer Cas.”
“Why didn’t you just tell us?” I asked, looking between my brother and the Norse deity.
I genuinely didn’t understand. None of us had anything against Thor. Did we?
“As I said, you would have jumped to conclusions,” Cas supplied.
I frowned, still not getting it. He absolutely could have revealed he was Thor, currently hiding my divine brother. I would likely have been a bit skeptical, then looked into it and shrugged it off.
“But—”
“Silver,” Apollo interrupted, smirking. “Thor’s only one of his names. You and I used to know him as Ares.”
I inhaled sharply. Ares, son of Zeus, god of war.
A million questions jumped to my mind. When I finally managed to voice one, what came out was, “We’resiblings?”
Because, ew.
Major ew. The guy had his fingers inthere, just hours ago. Not to mention the many things I imagined myself doing to him.
Apollo seemed to find that question highly entertaining. Cas—Thor, Charles, or even bloody Ares—grimaced. “Hardly.”
“But you’re a son of Zeus. I’m a daughter of Zeus. We are—” I started.
