They finished eating, Tove taking several of the buttered rolls with her. The custodian entered and showed them to their rooms, stopping by the first.
“Your room, Erik the Chosen.”
Tove started in behind Erik and Göll and the custodian spoke up.
“A separate room has been prepared for Honored Guest Tove.”
Tove turned. “I won’t be sleeping away from Erik.”
The custodian made a face but did not insist, only bowed and left after closing the door. Erik made a noise in casual surprise.
“I half expected him to complain.”
The room was expansive. Ceilings as high as the rest of the room with a bed that no pair of normal person could fill. There were several writing tables, a vanity, a couch, and half a dozen chairs, all in brilliant green with silver trim around the dark wood. The room itself was similarly colored, large fur rugs on the floor being the only brightly colored things in the room. Tove went to the bed and hopped onto it.
“It’s soft!” She nearly shouted the words. “How is it so soft?!”
Erik walked to the bed, pressing on it. It was down, most likely. “Feathers.”
“Feathers?! It makes so much sense!” Tove rolled around on the bed. She came to a stop, looking up at Erik. “What should we do about Ljunge?”
An annoyed sigh pulled its way out of him and he sat on the bed. “I doubt we’ll have much choice there. We’ll find this guy and drag him back here.” Erik looked at Göll. “Are we safe here?”
She looked around the room, finding no windows, contented herself by moving to the end of the bed. “Modgudr is known to Hel. Attacking would anger Hel.”
“Well,” Erik said, stretching. “We’ll sleep then. And figure out the rest tomorrow.”
chapter|29
The morning came and Göll shook Erik awake. He’d asked her to the night before, not wanting to be woken up by whoever Modgudr might send. There was enough stone between their bed and the outside that Erik had been willing to remove the grips for the first time. His skin under the leather wasn’t near as raw as he’d expected it to be and by the morning it had healed.
He put the wraps back around his wrists. The grips had come to fit even more smoothly into his hand after the fight with the valkyries. He hadn’t even noticed that they were still on until he thought to remove them to sleep. Even though a night had passed his hands still felt odd without the leather wraps in place. There was something comforting about the constricting feel over his forearms, a stability to it.
Clothes were a secondary thought and in the time he spent making sure the grips were well-secured onto his arms, a knock came at the door. He went to answer it, only wearing his pants and the grips. It was the custodian, carrying two sets of clothes.
“Modgudr has seen it fit to offer you fine clothes.”
Erik took the clothes and as he began to close the door the custodian cleared his throat with clear intention. Erik stopped.
“An addition to your task that Modgudr regrets she could not mention at your meal together. The valkyrie can offer you no assistance in your task. If she does, you will be disallowed passage if she takes active part.” He finished his sentence and before Erik could begin a complaint, left.
Erik shut the door, walked the garments across the room to the bed, and tossed them down. He eyed Göll.
“You heard him?”
“I did.”
He returned his attention to the clothes, choosing to ignore the annoyance he felt at the added condition. There were two sets of clothes, one obviously smaller than the other. Both had pants, though the smaller pair were much looser through the legs. They were made of cotton from the feel of them. He removed his pants enthusiastically before remembering Göll was present. The valkyrie was watching him as ever. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him naked, but it wasn’t entirely comfortable even now. Her icy blue eyes always seemed to take in more than her stoic face let on. He changed quickly, pulling on the light, navy-blue coat that had come along with it. It seemed to be tailored to him specifically. He looked down at himself, dressed far more formally than he preferred, and sighed.
“Tove, get up.”
Tove had slept on the far edge of the bed, falling asleep well before Erik was able to. She sat up slowly, wearing the loose linen wrap of the sort she’d worn at Völundr’s. She was slow to cover up the parts that were visible from the fabric slipping, Erik turning his eyes away. She didn’t seem much to care that he was there, coming around in the wraps to look at the clothes at the edge of the bed.
“These are for us?” She began dressing. “Turn around so I can see yours.”
He turned and she was still dressing, her breasts exposed. Erik looked up, trying to avoid staring. He could see her glance down at her own naked chest and then back at his clothes.
“They’re nice… soft.” She pulled at the coat and ran her hand across the fabric, doing the same with the side of his pants. “Can you move in them?”
“I haven’t tried. I woke you up. And now I’m being held hostage.”
She looked down again. “You are.” She laughed. “And by such a simple thing. If the valkyries thought to fight naked, we’d never have made it out of Lofgrund.”
“You’re doing this on purpose?”
She nodded. “I am doing this on purpose.”
Erik turned his back to her, letting out an exasperated sigh, and Tove began to dress herself. She put her sword belt around the clothes and adjusted it, checking that the weapon came clean of the sheath easily and joined Erik at the head of the bed.
“So we’ll go
