Page 2 of Thor

Sutrelle watched the men leave and stood in front of all her father’s men, their eyes upon her. Some with pity, some with lust and others with disdain. She lifted her thumb to her mouth and began to bite the skin next to her nail.

“Sutrelle.”

She shoved her hands down quickly and turned to see the only friendly face she had known her entire life. Val.

The displaced Valkyrie had been like a sister to Sutrelle’s mother. And when Surtr had kidnapped Sutrelle’s mother after Ragnarök, Val had insisted he take her too, though it was as a prisoner. But overtime Surtr had found Val useful and had tasked her with being Sutrelle’s babysitter.

Val squeezed Sutrelle’s arm sending a jolt through her. Sutrelle straightened and lifted her eyes the way Val had taught her to.

“We should go,” said Val.

Sutrelle nodded and Val’s hand dropped away as she squared her shoulders and turned to leave.

Sutrelle held her head high as she passed servants, and Thadren’s men as well as her father’s. She would never dare to assume such a posture if her father remained in the room, but Val had told her if she ever wanted to garner an ounce of respect, she needed to at least try to look like she still possessed a shred of dignity. Easy for Val to say, she was a Valkyrie. Sutrelle was the unwanted daughter of a tyrant who took every opportunity to remind her how little she was worth.

She made her way to the other end of her father’s palace and walked into her simple yet comfortable room. She stepped into her room allowing herself to be cocooned by its familiarity. The smell of her fruity soap and candle wax. Along with the metallic scent of her metalworks. Every inch of her room calmed her like a mother’s embrace.

When she was young, she’d loved the amount of space in her room, until she’d searched the castle to find that her room was one of the shabbiest. Even Val’s room had been furnished nicer— and she was technically one of her father’s prisoners. Not that Sutrelle had cared, her room was her own space. No one else entered her room but Val, and only two servants ever came to summon her if needed. Where some might see the lack of furniture as a slap in the face, Sutrelle had taken advantage of it and used the vacant area to store her books as well as all her mother’s things. Sutrelle wasn’t sure her father was aware she’d taken her mother’s remaining possessions and put them in her room, but he’d never asked about them either.

Sutrelle sat on her bed and stared at her collection of things. A shelf of small wooden carved figurines Val had made for her as a child. Her small sewing kit that she’d used to mend her clothing when damaged. And favorite of all, several groupings of polished stones she had spent years collecting and polishing by hand until they were smooth.

“Do you think I’ll be able to take my things when I leave with Thadren?”

“No,” said Val without pretense. “Because you aren’t leaving with Thadren.”

Sutrelle looked at her friend. “Did you hear something? Is father making us live here?” She tried to not let fear shine through in her voice.

“No. I’ve arranged a way out for us.”

Sutrelle stared at Val. “What?”

Val hurried to the closet and pulled out a dragon’s hide bag, and tossed it to Sutrelle. “Take only things you cannot live without. Nothing of little consequence, and nothing that can be used against you.”

“I... I don’t understand.”

Val grabbed a pair of plain pants and a muddy brown shirt from the back of Sutrelle’s closet. “Put these on.”

Sutrelle stared at the clothes. “But—”

Val grabbed Sutrelle by the arms. “We don’t have much time. I’ve made arrangements for us. I’m getting you out of here.”

“How?”

Val shook her golden curls. “There’s no time to explain. But there’s a place. I booked us passage. A place we can go. You can have a life. Free of your father and Thadren and everything else. A place where you can be someone different.”

Sutrelle bit the skin of her thumb. “But...”

Val grabbed her arms and pinned them down. “I promised your mother I would take care of you. I promised to keep you safe. I can’t do that once you are married. I’ve been working on this for close to a year. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure it would come through and I didn’t want to get your hopes up. But it came through.”

Sutrelle swallowed hard. She wanted to leave. Gods knew she did. She wanted to be free, but... fear gripped her. If her father ever found her, the punishment would most certainly be death.

She shook her head. “They’ll find us.”

“Here you will never be anything more than you are right now. A rag doll to be used and tossed about by men. But you are so much more. Isn’t the risk of death worth the possibility of true freedom?”

Sutrelle glanced at her hand, feeling the power inside her. The power no one knew about except for Val. Her father’s fire and her mother’s magic. Combined. Val had sworn her to never use her power because the moment her father found out about it, she would be his slave to his destructive will forever.

“Come on.” Val shoved the clothes into Sutrelle’s hands. “Put them on. We don’t have much time.”

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