Epilogue
CLARA
I was hosting a dinner party with a death goddess, and I could safely say that was something that had never shown up on any of my plans for how my life would go. But I loved it.
Hel moved around the dining room with Garmr trotting by her heels.
It was amazing how fast he'd grown over the last few months, but she'd assured me that was entirely usual.
Maybe it was a hellhound thing, or it could be a dog thing.
Despite always having wanted one, I actually didn't know a lot about puppies.
"Everything looks great," I said to Hel as I admired the table.
"I know. I have great place settings."
"Is there anything you're not confident about?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I've had about seven hundred years to find the confidence, I'm not about to let anyone take it. You don't let anyone tell you that you make bad potions," she pointed out.
"Fair point."
"How are things going with the potion for dreaming about the dead?" she asked, turning to face me in a way that I knew was because she wanted me to be certain she was listening to me.
"Good. It's been approved by the Potion Safety Bureau, and now I just have to come up with an actual name for it."
"You mean you're not going to keep calling it the potion for dreaming about the dead?" she teased.
"It's a bit wordy."
"It is. But I know you'll come up with the right name." She leaned in and kissed my cheek even as the doorbell rang. "Okay, are you ready?"
"To meet your family? I'm not so sure."
"You've met Thor already, and he's dating your cousin, so that's your family. It's only my brother and his mate that you're meeting for the first time. And for all I know, you've met them already."
"I don't think so," I responded as I thought about the people I'd met through Thor and Daisy. "But wait, necromancers have mates?"
"Fenrir is a wolf shifter, nothing to worry about," she assured me.
I blinked a couple of times, not fully able to grasp the truly complicated situation that was her family's genealogy. I was suddenly very glad that my family was all witches for as far as the eye could see.
She hurried to the door and pulled it open, leaning in to kiss a blonde woman on one cheek before doing the same with Daisy.
"So, Clara, this is my brother Fenrir, and his mate Delia," Hel said. "And this is my girlfriend, Clara." She beamed at me as she said it, as if discovering the joy that came with the word for the first time. Which I supposed she was.
"It's good to meet you," Fenrir said. "I never thought I'd see the day that Hel tried a relationship."
Hel rolled her eyes. "And I never thought I'd see the day that you brought a respectable mate home and not one that you made a fool out of yourself making puppy eyes about."
"I did not make puppy eyes," Fenrir mumbled.
"You could have given Garmr a run for his money," Hel said as her hellhound puppy trotted into view. He bounced over to Fenrir as soon as he saw him, and the wolf shifter bent down to fuss the tiny dog.
Delia laughed. "I've heard the stories, I think it's true."
"Whose side are you on?" Fenrir joked.
"My own." The way she smiled at him made it clear that the two of them were comfortable around one another in a way that I hoped Hel and I would be too. I certainly wanted that.
"All right, come through and have a seat," Hel said, ushering everyone into the dining room, but stopping when she got to me.
"How are you feeling?" I asked, knowing how big a deal this was.
"Nervous. Introducing you to my family as my girlfriend to my family is a big step, but it's a good one. It feels right." She put her hand on my arm and smiled at me, her eyes softening in a way they only ever seemed to do around me. I liked it.
"It does," I agreed.
"And maybe soon we'll take another relationship step," she said.
"Such as?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm ready to discover all the things a relationship with you will hold." She walked away to get drinks for everyone, but paused to look back before she did, her confident smile on her face.
She was truly beautiful, and I was confident that we were going to discover a lot of happy memories together.
* * *
Thank you for reading Dreaming of Hel, I hope you enjoyed it!