Page 49 of Thor

Val fled quicker than Thor thought possible. Loki followed after.

“Can you see her?” he asked Heimdall.

Heimdall’s eyes glazed over and turned white. They moved rapidly back and forth and then cleared. “She on Muspelheim.”

Shit.

Thor grabbed Mjölnir but Heimdall laid his hand on Thor’s arm. “Not here.”

Thor glanced around at the mortals and headed for the portal down to the underworld.

He made it through and Frigg spotted him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, moving to his side.

“Elle’s been taken to Muspelheim.”

A frightened expression planted itself on Frigg’s face. “We need your father.”

“No. I need to go. Who knows what is happening to her.” He raised Mjölnir.

“Thor, wait.” Frigg grabbed him. “You can’t show up there. You need your father.”

“No,” said Thor. “I need Elle.” He threw his arm in the air and shot upward, with Frigg still hanging on to him.

* * *

Elle staredout the window into the ashen fields of Muspelheim. In the distance a volcano erupted spewing ash and lava over the ground, much like Surtr had done the moment she’d set foot back in the castle.

It’d been Thadren’s men who had tracked her down and Thadren himself who had brought her back. Rather than be angry with her over her disappearance he seemed amused by it. Surtr however had been anything but amused.

She’d only been spared a thrashing or death sentence because Thadren had promised to still take her as his bride. To which Surtr had immediately sent Elle to her room to be prepared for the wedding.

Elle stared out the window as the servants stripped her down and scrubbed her with coarse brushes. She didn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her shiver from the cool water they used. She simply stood, head held high, staring out the window.

She had considered fighting them. Considered breaking out of the castle and making a run for it, but where would she go? And more than that, what was the point? Thor hated her and if she couldn’t have Thor, it didn’t matter what happened to her. At least with Thadren she knew what to expect. And he’d not been violent to her like her father. But if he was... well, she wasn’t going to take the abuse anymore. She may not be able to control her magic all the way, but she could control it enough to do some damage.

The servants pulled on her undergarments and gown and then tried to move Elle to a chair, but Elle resisted. She was done being tossed about by servants.

“If you want me to do something, you can ask me,” she snapped. “Politely. You don’t need to shove me about like a farm animal.”

The women looked at her and then each other. One of them inclined her head.

“If you would sit, Princess Sutrelle we will brush out your hair and braid it for you.”

“You may brush it,” said Sutrelle. “But I don’t want it braided.”

Again, the women exchanged a look and nodded.

Sutrelle walked to the chair and sat, allowing her long hair to flow over the back of the chair. The show of assertion had Elle ready to bite her skin off her fingers but instead she looked down at her gown. The deep crimson dragonsilk fabric was some of the hardest in the nine realms to procure, and she was sure that it hadn’t been obtained by her father.

“Where did this dress come from?”

“Prince Thadren brought it for you.”

“As a welcome home gift for your wedding.”

Elle bit the inside of her cheek. She wondered if her father was aware he was marrying her off to someone so generous. He could have married her off to any number of monsters like himself, but surprisingly he hadn’t. Which meant one thing— Thadren was considerably more powerful than her father liked to admit.

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