Obviously, I knew who exactly was going to show up next.

Mother.

“Have you been encouraging him?”

I paused, blushed, “Maybe a little.”

“He is not allowed to keep her.”

I laughed. “I’d rather he didn’t either. She’d be an embarrassing pet.”

“On the other hand, it might teach her a lesson to be on the receiving end,” Sigyn mused. “But still…”

“You knew what he was like when you married him.”

She laughed. “He tricked me. But I didn’t have to stay with him.”

“I’m glad you did, for obvious reasons.” I let out a breath. “He can handle her.”

“It’s not her he needs to handle.”

“Or he’ll be on the couch?” I quipped. Then I shook my head. “How many random half siblings do I even have?”

“Not that many, and most of them are half-mortals. Which means they end up brilliant, but not immortal.”

Brilliant at what? I thought perhaps at entertaining people. Or stealing things. Or…yeah. “I wonder…”

“None of them are alive right now.”

Right now implied…no, it implied she knew what he was up to. I shrugged a bit. “Ah well.”

“Or he’d probably have already introduced you.”

She had a point there. “How do you handle it?”

“Being married to a force of chaos? I handle it by being me.” She moved to sit on a bench. I joined her.

“I have something of you in me.”

“Definitely. It anchors your volatility. You got a lot of the fire giant in him.”

“I’m glad it does, for the sake of everyone around me.” A pause. “What do you think will happen, really?”

“Surtur will mess up somehow. He always does.”

“He’s already made me hate him, and is now backpedaling.”

“Of course. But I wonder.” She studied me for a moment. “Odin never tells anyone what he has in mind. Except occasionally Frigga, and occasionally Loki.”

“He should tell you something.”

“He told me he will not harm you. That’s enough for me.”

But there was a lot of space before you got to harm…