“Mortals are different. Idunn’s apples might not produce for her the longevity they have for us.”
“Idunn, the keeper of the apples of immortality, delivers her fruit readily to keep us young, but not immortal. We can all die, just like she can. That is no reason to disallow such a union.”
Like me, they too could die?
“It’s been done for the giants, so why not for one from Midgard?” Baldr chastised. “Isn’t there a ready supply of giants in our midst who have been accepted into the pantheon? Why should my beloved not be offered the same?”
“Take her away,” Odin ordered. “I will not decide her fate today.”
Baldr swooped me up and carried me away. His footsteps thudded against the floor, and the noise around us lessened.
“You can open your eyes now,” he said.
I wondered how he knew I was conscious, and I batted my lashes at him, biting my cheek in a half-grin.
“You almost had me going with your swoon. But there was something about it that was a little off.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.”
Instead of putting me down, he continued to carry me. “Was this swooning act your way of rejecting my offer?”
I bit my lip, torn between the truth and the adoration in those crystal blue eyes.
“Place me down.” He did and released his hold on me. I quickly missed his warmth.
“Baldr, we know nothing about each other.”
“I know everything about you, even how your heart skips a beat when you laugh, how you grip and twist your sword’s handle to ensure it is balanced to your touch, and most of all, that you are afraid to let anyone in.”
“Those are common things. Things you can pick up from watching me. But you don’t know me, and I don’t know you. This entire place, with all of its grandeur, makes all of the gold in Rome look worthless. Where shall I fit in between gold pillars, marble floors, and immortality? I am a simple woman and unfit for this honor you wish to bestow upon me.”
“Why, Nanna?”
“That is not my name. I am Annôn,” I whispered.
“Maybe it is lost in translation, but Nanna means ‘daring one.’ You take risks like no other. Even now, you are thinking about your people and how you can help them. This marriage might begin as a marriage of convenience, but I see the future that we could have together.”
I took a seat on the settee, and watched him leave.
The room felt empty with him gone.
He was growing on me.
Surely some women enjoyed gilded cages. But they made me think of exotic birds with clipped wings imported to wander around prestigious gardens as living adornments, but never knowing true freedom.
Alone, I closed my eyes and allowed my thoughts to wander. I liked him, but it would take a lot more for me to love. A handsome face wasn’t enough to make me shift my stance. I couldn’t betray my people for him. That would tarnish my family’s name. We fought for our people, and to allow myself to fall in love with him, this Baldr, well, that would make me less than honorable. It would also bring shame to him. What good was a cursed god?
No, I would not dishonor him, even if I had to sacrifice what might have been good between us. My people needed a savior, and I had to be strong enough to be that savior.
With my position firm, I allowed my breathing to calm, my body to relax.
Loud drum beats interrupted my contemplation. It sounded like Roman sentries, seated in their watchtowers, warning of danger. I jumped to my feet and reached for my sword, which I always wore on my side.
I’d not dressed myself, and my weapon was gone.
That would not stop me, though. I raced toward the sound, down corridors, passing by strangers who undoubtedly viewed me as a madwoman, as I raced toward the sound of pending doom. The Romans were coming. They’d kill us all.
The sound had to be coming from a nearby portal—something that showed what was happening on the other side.
I traveled deeper within the hall, down and around, until I came to a thick black metal door. The drums beat like they were in my head, rattling me. Nothing made sense, but I knew I had to get through that door to the other side.
Yanking it with all of my might, I entered into a dark cavern. No light existed, just the senses of touch and hearing. I must be close.
The ground crunched under my weight, and the cavern took on an eerie green glow.
It beckoned me deeper, whispering my name in the sing-song manner of my deceased mother’s voice. I’d never gotten a chance to say goodbye, to wish her well on her journey to the afterlife. I’d never gotten the chance to hold her. Now she called to me.
My gaze fell on an illuminated chest.
I went ever closer, and stretching out my hand, I touched it. The size of a horse’s wagon, it opened of its own accord. Therein rested a palpitating heart, broken in pieces, but still beating in time.
Reaching forward, I watched, paralyzed, as gray smoke billowed upwards and toward my fingertips to crawl under my skin. It soaked in deeper until my fingers turned blue, as if I’d been bitten by frost.
Rising ever higher, it quickly covered my hand, wrist, and arm, moving toward my heart.
“Nanna!” Baldr called out, and yanked me backward out of its reach.
“That is my mother. I must get to my mother,” I said, and tears raced down my face.
He hauled me into his grip, turning me away. The smoke began to scream with the voices of what seemed to be a million-plus-one of the tormented.
Baldr pulled me out of the room and back into the light, cupping my face in his hands.
I didn’t understand. I felt like ice melting as sweat formed
