inland, and beyond them, goats and cows grazed peacefully. In the village itself, dogs and children barked and played together outside their huts. He smiled slightly. At least they were happy. Certainly the men seemed to be. He could not be sure of the women, but after spending time with the House of Lions, it was hard to look on any other people without imagining how different things could be for them.
It had been a fruitful visit, to be sure, but he had been forced to stay much longer than he intended among Eve’s people, in order to convince them of his honesty. It was years before they had come to an agreement, and in exchange for the information they had given him, he had promised them good weather, and protection for Eve for as long into the future as the gods remained present in the world. It hadn’t been an opportunity they could refuse, though they took their time about it.
“Thor!” A hand clapped him heavily on the shoulder, and he turned to see Odin. The god’s scarred face was split by a grin. “Baldur was beginning to worry you would not find your way back to us.” Odin chuckled, his eyes, as gray as his beard, crinkling at the corners. “And it goes without saying that your wife has made us all miserable in your absence. Another year and I might have sent her in search of you, just to spare the rest of Asgard.”
Thor frowned. Perhaps it wasn’t for all women to be left to rule their own lives. “I will see her first, of course. I had not anticipated being gone so long, but I believe you will be pleased with everything I have learned.”
“I am always pleased with you, Thor. Come.” Odin’s grip on Thor’s shoulder firmed and the air around them thickened, the view of the village melting into the stone of Asgard, high above the earth. They’d done so much since he’d left. Carefully tended gardens had been built around Yggdrasil and a new crop of golden apples winked between dusky red leaves. His mother’s tree welcomed him home with its bounty.
He took a moment to breathe in the scent of its fruit, like honey and wine, his gaze traveling over the halls that surrounded these central grounds. A building that could only have been Baldur’s work stood beside Odin’s great hall, modest in size, but made of white marble and roofed with shining silver. A smaller
“I see Freyr and Freyja have made themselves comfortable,” Thor said, nodding to the hall. “The others have settled well?”
“As well as they always have. Freyr and Baldur are disappointed that living in the heavens keeps them from the sea, but such is the cost of sharing a world. Better that we keep our safety and our skins,” Odin said. “Go find your wife and assure her that you missed her. The rest will wait until supper.”
Odin slapped Thor’s back and strode off toward his hall without waiting for a response. A raven cawed and swooped at the sight of its master, landing on the stone windowsill nearest the entrance. His father stopped to give orders to one of his Valkyries, and then Odin collected the bird and disappeared through the great silver doors. Thor could already hear the stir in the kitchen as news of his return spread and servants began preparations for the celebration. Odin would not permit anything less than a feast in honor of his first son’s homecoming.
“Sif,” Thor said to himself, wondering what trouble she had caused while he was away. Surely she could not have been too difficult. He had made sure the home he’d built for her was furnished with everything she could possibly desire, and Odin had promised to provide her with anything else she might need.
He turned toward his own home, and followed the stone path around Yggdrasil and Valaskjalf. Sif had planted a garden of her own in front of the cottage, and he smiled to see his goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr, grazing. Thor stopped to let them remember him, and Tanngnjostr butted his hand with its head, bleating, until he scratched the goat around the curled horns and behind the ear. At least the goats had been some company for Sif in his absence.
He settled the animals and opened the door to the cottage. “Sif!”
The front room was homey, a fire burning low in the hearth, and filled with the things he recognized from their old world. Tapestries she had woven, of his mother’s tree and the old Asgards, hung on the wall. She had found fabrics in bright colors to cover the armchairs he had made, stuffing the cushions with wool.
Thor pushed open the door to the bedroom, a smile on his lips. It was as though she divined his needs, to be waiting for him there. Perhaps one of the Valkyries had sent word while he stood with Odin beneath the tree.
And then he froze, his mind catching up to the sight that greeted him. He felt his eyes burn white, washing all color from the room.
Thor’s hand closed around a war-hammer he did not hold, aching to bring it smashing down on the black- haired head that hovered over his wife’s breasts as she arched her back with a moan. Thunder cracked so loudly the stone foundation shook beneath his feet, and the goats outside began to bleat.
Loki glanced back over his shoulder, a sly grin on his face as Sif cried out with pleasure. The Trickster did not even pause, his eyes glazing as he moaned his own release.
Responding to his fury, dark clouds formed, blotting the sun, which had previously streamed through the windows of the cottage. Loki’s sharp chuckle snapped him free of his paralysis and Thor crossed the room in one long stride. He grabbed the Trickster off Sif’s body by the back of the neck, throwing him through the window. Stone, glass, and wood shattered, leaving a gaping, splintered hole.
Loki still laughed as he picked himself up off the stone-cobbled ground on the other side of the wall. The Trickster smirked and brushed himself off, unashamed by his nakedness, though under the storm clouds his skin had a sallow hue, and the shadows beneath his eyes were so dark he might have worn a polecat’s mask. Thunder rumbled and Thor stalked toward him, unwilling to so much as glance at his wife, sputtering objections and imprecations from the bed.
“What do you expect, Thor, when you leave Sif for centuries to live among humans?”
Thor didn’t trust himself to speak. The sky overhead darkened even further as black clouds swirled over Loki’s head. A single lightning bolt, charged with his hate, was all it would take. Once, Loki might have been his friend, even an uncle in his youth, but those days had ended long ago. It had taken only a single cycle of Ragnarok for Thor to understand the Trickster’s true nature. Jealous and cruel, Loki had been a thorn in his side for millennia, but never had he believed him capable of so base a betrayal.
“Thor!” Sif’s voice distracted him, drawing his attention from the Trickster. “Control yourself!”
He growled and turned back to Loki, even more intent to destroy him, but Sif had given him the moment he needed to slip away. Without a focus for his anger, the thunder boomed and the lightning dissipated between the clouds.
Thor spun to grab his wife by the arm, broken glass crunching beneath his boots. He hauled her bodily from the room, ignoring her squawk of protest. Loki might not be in sight, but he would be lurking, listening, ready to twist the words he heard into lies. When Thor released Sif in the front room of the cottage, she all but fell into one of the armchairs.
“You
Sif righted herself and stood, proud in all her naked glory. Her golden hair cascaded down her shoulders to her navel, covering her left breast. She closed her hands into fists and raised her chin in defiance.
“You couldn’t even be bothered to wait until I had arrived before satisfying your curiosity about these feeble creatures, and you object to the fact that I found my own interests in your absence?”
“I was ordered, you fool! By Odin’s command!” He grabbed her again by her arms and shook her. He was barely able to moderate his tone, but when he continued, it was with a volume which did not cause the walls to shudder. “To return home to this betrayal! This faithlessness!”
“As if you weren’t planting your seed among the mortals while you were away,” she sneered.
He found himself growling again, and his hands tightened involuntarily on her body until she hissed. Thor forced himself to relax, open his hands, release her. He took a deep breath and stepped back.
“Unlike you, Sif, I do not cast aside my vows so easily for the first pleasure which presents itself. Could you not have chosen someone less offensive, at least? He is not even Aesir!”
Her eyes flashed gold in her anger. “Loki’s reputation as a lover is hardly undeserved, as he proved to me
