Page 39 of Thor

Thor nodded. “No matter what I did. No matter how many realms I took. No matter how many battles I won, in the end, we lost everything anyway.”

Elle wasn’t sure what to say. “But that was so long ago. Now you’ve made a new home for yourself and your family.”

“True but our people, the remaining Asgardians were displaced. Many died. Some ended up here. Others in other realms. But it’s not the same.”

“But... your people are in Valhalla. Paradise. Being cared for by virgins, fed meat and ale until they are content every day.”

“In theory that sounds wonderful but after a thousand years or more you start to go stir crazy. At least I did. The peace felt... fake. Forced. In the end my family and I couldn’t handle it.”

“So that’s why you all went to the underworld?”

He nodded. “It was my father’s idea and to be honest, I’ve never seen him happier. I’ve never seen anyone in my family happier. Even in Valhalla we were forced to mitigate any problems. But here. Here we are only responsible for ourselves. It’s the first time I’ve been free to be myself in my entire life.”

“That’s a good thing then, right.” She smiled at him. “Maybe Ragnarök was a blessing.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Why did you come to the underworld?”

Elle chewed the inside of her lip. “My... father wanted me to marry a man not of my choosing.”

“Why didn’t you say no?”

She chuckled, humorlessly. “Where I come from, women don’t say no.”

“So, you ran?”

She nodded.

“Do you miss it?”

“No,” she said too quickly. “I mean... back home I wasn’t allowed to do anything, but here, like you, I am finally free to do what I want. If I want to eat, I eat. If I want to sleep, I sleep. No one tells me when to do things and what to do. No one hits me for looking them in the eye. No one grabs me for voicing my opinion. No one kicks at me to watch me flinch, so they can laugh.”

Thor stared at her with those flashing lightning eyes. “Tell me where you are from and I will once again become the hero people once thought I was, and I’ll kill them all for daring to breathe the same air you used to.”

She didn’t need to ask if he was jesting with her, the ice in his voice and in his eyes said he meant it.

Elle swallowed hard. “Thank you, but no. I like who you are now. I’d hate to add to the nightmares by making you do something no longer in your nature.”

Thor raised his hand and cupped her cheek. “You are too good for me, Elle. I don’t deserve you.”

She pulled from his reach. “Don’t say that. It isn’t true. You don’t know me. You don’t know who I really am.”

He pulled her face back to his. “I know everything I need to. Like you said, I’m not the person I used to be. I don’t care where you came from. I don’t care who you used to be. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again, if you’ll let me.”

Elle’s heart fluttered. How had it happened? How had she gotten so attached to him in such a short amount of time? She didn’t care. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to lay in Thor’s muscular protective arms for the rest of her life.

“I’d like that.”

Thor pulled her back into his arms, and they lay back on the bed. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath before beginning to sing. Thor’s breathing stilled for a moment, and she laid her hand on his chest and continued to sing. His warm hands roamed her body and as soon as she finished her song his lips found hers again.

“Elle, you become more beautiful to me with every passing second.”

He kissed her hard.

They made love several more times before falling back to sleep as the sun began to rise.

* * *

Thor awakenedto a knock on the door. He rolled over to find Elle already dressed in her uniform, shoes in hand. She walked to the door quickly and quietly and opened it a peek.

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