Page 33 of Last Thrall of Asgard

“Exactly.” I meant that, didn’t I? I’d only felt friendship, kinship for Balder. I couldn’t very well fall in love with one of these gods. I was barely getting more than an hour’s time with any of them.

Except Loki.

Loki, who I’d almost kissed. Whose unbraided side of his hair shadowed that half of his face always, so all I could see was profile and the sparkle of his hidden blue eye.

I reached to draw that curtain of hair aside, but he lurched away from me as if my touch might burn him. “Good. That’s all that is required of you.”

I felt the muscles in my jaw tighten, suddenly angry. “Good,” I repeated. “Although there was quite a bit to want to worship about Balder. Freyr was appealing too, with that huge prick and always having been one of my favorite gods. Heimdall as well, handsome and clever and so pliant beneath my touch. I can hardly await my next god.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. You wanted someone who canfuck, and I am ready for more. That is what you want from me, isn’t it? For me to keep fucking my way through your brothers?”

Loki crossed his arms. “What else would I want from you?” But before I could taunt him further, he asked, “Hungry?”

“I—” I stuttered from the change in subject. “We just ate. Didn’t we? I suppose I don’t know how long it was before I woke in Hel.”

“Your ass needed a rest, remember?” Loki grinned.

Iwashungry again. I must have had the equivalent of a good night’s sleep before Balder. Maybe a nap before waking in Loki’s lap earlier too.

Even well-rested, I found myself longing to doze upon those thighs again.

“So quick to get rid of me?” I asked. “Or trying to keep me longer?”

“I thought you couldhardly awaityour next god.”

Mocking aside, Loki wasn’t immediately sending me away. Was he stalling, honestly trying to keep me with him longer, loath as he was to admit it?

Maybe I wanted to stall too.

If all the gods were broken, in what ways was the trickster god in need of being fixed? Then I remembered the tears I’d seen in his eyes when Balder forgave him. He hadn’t meant for things to end that way. He hadn’tmeantto be the catalyst for Ragnarök, no matter what he pretended.

“You’re staring again,” Loki said.

“Just looking for faults.”

Loki snorted.

“You know, I never thought to ask the best question of a god. May I?”

“Do tell.”

“Which of your stories, your adventures, your epics, is your favorite? I would hear it from thehorse’smouth, as it were.”

Loki laughed. “Easy! Thor dressing up as the blushing bride Freya. I doubt I could ever top that adventure.”

“I had a feeling you might choose that one. May I wager a guess why it is your favorite?”

“By all means, but if your answer is because Thor looked ravishing in a dress, you are correct.”

“Because,” I said, “in the end, I think the trickster god wants everyone to enjoy his tricks, to have fun in his company, to smile when it is over and want to remain with him, not to be annoyed or angry or… curse or hate you for something you can never take back.”

“Why would I need to take anything back?” Loki’s smile drooped. “All’s well that ends well. That’s why you’re here.”

Was it?

I reached for his curtain of hair again.

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