“So, I think I made some progress. Also, the twins want to talk to you.”

 

“I’ve been wanting to talk to them. Where do they want to meet?”

 

“Same pub I got drunk at. So you have fair warning.”

 

I laughed. “Somebody is definitely not watering down his ale, right?” I was still amused at just how drunk she had got.

 

“I think somebody was actually adding some…additives. I haven’t got that drunk even on dwarven brew in a couple of centuries.”

 

Which given how much I’d seen her drink. Well. I shook my head a little. “I’ll be careful.”

 

“Do so. Because I just know those two would enjoy wheeling you home in a barrow.”

 

I thought about it and wondered who was responsible for…additives. Because she was right. “They’d grab my phone and take pictures too, and if they knew how to use the internet.”

 

Angrboda grinned. “Oh, definitely.” She paused. “Don’t show them.”

 

“I don’t plan on it. But…I went to Muspelheim.”

 

“What did you find?”

 

“About what we expected. Energy being drained, being put places it isn’t needed and not enough for places it is.”

 

She winced. “We’ve had issues like that before, but I suppose we’re better at fixing it when we spot things melting.”

 

“Or it’s all Surtur’s fault. He’s borderline crazy, after all.” A horrible thing to say, but…

 

“Only borderline?” Then she let out a breath. “No. He didn’t start getting really nuts until very recently. I mean, he’s never been easy to deal with, politically, but…”

 

“He wants what’s best for his people.”

 

“That’s a charitable way of looking at it. He wants what’s best for the subset of his people he actually cares about. Like most kings.” She lifted a hand. “Good kings know it and they have other people to care about the rest.”

 

I laughed. “I suppose it’s hard to care about people in the abstract.”

 

“Oh, come on. If it was Kanesha or a dozen strange mortals…”

 

“She’d yell at me, but…yeah.”

 

“Nothing wrong with that. It’s how we all are. Human, giant, god, angel, demon. Doesn’t matter. We all care about the people we surround ourselves with. Kings have courts. The good ones, like I said, recognize it.”

 

I thought about the fire giant sheriff. I reckoned he did care. But Surtur? I wasn’t sure…except that he had a realm to save.

 

“Well…”

 

She reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. “Siglaugr. You will do fine.”

 

I didn’t tell her I had no intention of being a queen. It wasn’t like I hadn’t said it a thousand times.

 

So I remained silent.