Page 25 of Her World In His Hands

“Loki seemsto have appointed himself your protector and avenging angel, but I claim the right to kill the woman who kidnapped you.” he answered his voice brusque.

“Really? How sweet of Douglas, perhaps he cared about me after all. Now be a good god and put that knife down.”

He had no time to dwell on her words because Odin intervened and the blade vanished from Njord’s fist.

Loki immediately began to rant like a maniac at Skadi. She burst into noisy tears and launched herself at Odin, who caught her. Gathering her into his arms, with head lowered, he whispered into her ear.

Thor and the rest of the gods swarmed into the room and everyone began to talk at once. Njord reached for Sassa and grabbed her in a bear hug. It felt wonderful to hold her in his arms and know that she was safe. “I’ve been frantic with worry. You have to know that I would tear whole worlds apart to save you!”

“Fa!”

He looked up and saw his daughter pushing her way through the crowd her expression anxious. He waved to attract her attention. Hurrying over, she plastered herself over her mother’s back in a hug. Looking down at his small family, he shifted his arms and gathered both women into his embrace.

“You found her, Fa!” Iona cried.

Sassa looked up, eyebrow raised in a quizzical look.

“Yes, I know that Iona is my daughter and she knows I’m her father.” He was pleased to see relief soften her gaze as she gave a satisfied nod.

Movement caught his eye,Odin gently set Skadi aside. “Silence!” The head of the gods boomed.

The sudden decent of peace was startling after such noisy commotion. All eyes were now trained upon Odin.

“I am sending the majority of you back to the club on Midgard; those involved in this ridiculous feud will remain here.” He merely inclined his wrist and the mass of Gods instantly vanished from the room. Odin and the five protagonists remained. There was a brief flash of light and Odin reduced Skadi and himself to human size. “There, now at least you can discuss your problems on equal terms. I intend to mediate since I feel partially responsible for this state of affairs. Shall we move somewhere more comfortable?” Before anyone could reply, they all found themselves standing in Sassa’s comfortable drawing room.

“Take a seat and we will begin to sort this mess out,” Odin said.

Bemused Njord and the others settled themselves onto various couches and padded armchairs.

“I had a long conversation with Sassa before we arrived at Skadi’s palace. It seems to me she is an innocent pawn in this, and I wanted to ascertain what she sees as the perfect outcome to her relationship with, Njord. Before we address that issue, I want to know how you fit into this muddle, Loki?”

“After all the fuss Njord made when he took part in the parade of God’s for Skadi to select a husband, I was curious to see Sassa, and so I went and found her. Using my disguise as a fly, I watched her and after a while I looked forward to popping down to Midgard just to check that she was all right. I kept an eye out for her. After a hundred years had passed and she continued to live, I became intrigued, finally convincing myself that I was in love with her. I became Douglas and asked for her hand in marriage. When she agreed to wed me, I felt both excitement and dread in equal measures. To my surprise life was actually good after we were married, but after a while I became irritated by her questions when I left to return to Asgard. I was running out of excuses for my repeated absences. Once again England waged war on Scotland and things got dangerous for males so I decided it made sense to vanish and return to my previous role of protector from afar — ”

“You, you, nasty little weasel!” Sassa shrieked.

Njord placed his palm on her thigh to calm her, giving a squeeze in gentle warning. She subsided and settled for sending glowering dagger looks at Loki, who shrugged back non-apologetically.

“I intervened for you a number of times over the following years. I even saved your third husband, Iain’s life a couple of times when he got into sword skirmishes,” he told her.

“Oh, well that makes all the difference. Everything is all right then! I’m so grateful!” she retaliated sarcastically.

Loki stopped trying to explain and subsided into a sulk, throwing Sassa mournful glances. Njord ground his teeth. Sassa was his woman, and he didn’t kindly to Loki’s soulful infatuation. He wanted to punch the creepy god’s teeth down the back of his throat. Odin caught his eye and shook his head. He dragged his attention away from Loki and looked at Skadi who was chewing her lip and watching Odin anxiously.

“Go on,” Odin encouraged, Loki.

“Not much more to tell really.” He shrugged. “When Njord and the others took up their posts at Sassa’s new club, I kept my eye on Sassa as usual. I didn’t understand why things began to break or stop working, any more than the other gods did. Everyone turned against me, blaming me as usual. They all assumed it was me making mischief, so, I decided to capture the real culprit.” He pointed at Skadi.

Odin raised a brow and nodded at the now human sized giantess. “How did you get to Midgard,” he asked.

“I-I, well I — ”

“Yes?” It was clear to Njord that Odin was not prepared to let this breach of protocol go, even though he knew Odin was secretly seeing Skadi.

“She used her powers as a Goddess of her people,” Loki crowed.

“What?” Odin bellowed.

Skadi looked nervously from Odin to Njord and back. “Well?” Odin repeated, his voice cold.

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