The dwarves were patching up Thruor. “I’m not going to wait here.”

 

Loki nodded. “You did what you needed to do here.”

 

“And you approve.”

 

“Your mother might not, but I think I can talk her around to it.”

 

I looked down at my hands. I did not feel that much different. “I think I chose this without realizing it when…” A pause. “When I accepted the loyalty of a fyrhund.”

 

He grinned. “That certainly helped. But we still have to get rid of Surtur.”

 

“Do we?”

 

“Yes. I know…”

 

“Honestly, I think he does care about this realm and these people. He just has a poor way of showing it. But…”

 

“And then you were told it was not your task.”

 

“Right. Maybe that was meant to be a distraction, but every time I come close to doing it I find myself staying my hand.”

 

“Because it is not your task.” Loki’s lips quirk. “There’s another prophecy you don’t know about.”

 

“Which you aren’t going to tell me.”

 

“I can’t.” He turned towards me, brushing back a strand of red hair that had fallen across his face. Looking quite vulnerable. “Afterwards.”

 

Meaning it was something I would mess up if I knew. Not my task. “So…he checks on his armies. If it is not my task I should…”

 

“You and I both know we’re going to go after him.”
Was he going to do it for me? Was there…what was he keeping from me? But Loki was silver tongued, a liar, but always the one who brought the gods what they needed.

 

I trusted he would do the same thing for me. If I was still a goddess, which I was not sure about.

 

I still felt like me. But I knew I looked different, unless I made an effort to change my appearance.

 

“Yes, we are. Where did you stash my girlfriend?”

 

Loki laughed. “You’ll have to trust me on that one.”

 

“How mad is she?”

 

He shrugged. “Trust me. She does.”
Which meant he was up to something else, but I wasn’t about to push it.

 

We both knew we were going to go after Surtur, after all. Together.