And…the road that reformed was a bit north of DC. I could already see the fire. What had Surtur done?

 

Not burned the entire city, no. Not yet. Of course, if he carried out his entire threat at once, then he had nothing to threaten me with.

 

“Southeast. He set fires in southeast. Where nobody cares.”

 

Kanesha’s face was tight. “I care.”

 

“You know what I mean.” We had our escort. We had our blades. But what could we do. “Thruor, what…”

 

“It’s under control, but…”

 

“But clearly Sigyn was wrong and me ducking out of town didn’t help.”

 

“Goddesses can be wrong.” Her tone was grim.

 

I wanted to kill him. Especially as if I was right then the more fire he used, the worse things got.

 

What about the fire I used? Was it their fire or mine?

 

Mine, some instinct told me. All mine. I wasn’t, exactly, a fire giant. I was something else, something more than that.

 

A fire goddess. The thought scared me. If I was something else, would Surtur want me? I was fairly sure the answer to that was no.

 

If I was something else. But I was not sure I wanted to be.

 

I only knew I wasn’t going to marry him and I wasn’t going to steal apples for him. If it was Muspelheim or the other eight realms…

 

…no, I had to change that equation. Had to. The fires were going out as I watched.

 

“Thruor, do you think beating him up and demanding he promises to leave me alone would work?”

 

“It…might, but I don’t think you can beat him yet.”

 

“I don’t have a century or so to get enough skill and power.” I glared at the city. “I can’t kill him. I can’t stop him. I can’t let him keep burning things like this.”

 

Hot tears sprung from me. “I want to…I need to talk to a fire giant. Know if any are around. That aren’t on his side.”

 

Thruor considered. “There’s one good possibility. Come on.” She opened the door. “Hop on.”

 

“Kanesha, stay with…” I tailed off, still unable to remember the other Valkyrie’s name. “Beat up anyone who messes with you.”

 

She grinned at me. “Always.”

 

And then I was on the steed behind Thruor and we were moving into the city as the remnants of fire bounced off the gathering cloud cover of a storm, turning the sky orange.

 

Turning the sky like that of Muspelheim.