Chapter Four
Val set three steins of beer on the tray in front of Elle, sitting on the polished honey-colored bar, and pointed to a table. "Take these to table one."
Elle stared at the portal down to Helheim.
“Elle!”
Her gaze snapped to Val, who pointed at the tray before turning to the shelf behind the bar and grabbing a bottle of rum.
Ever since meeting Thor the night before, she'd been able to think of nothing else. Elle lifted the tray and headed to one of the humans' tables. She set the mugs down and returned to the bar without realizing it.
None of the stories she'd heard her father tell about the horrible monster of a man who brought nothing but death and destruction to all who opposed him in the nine realms seemed to fit the gentle giant who had thought of nothing but her peace of mind.
And when he'd touched her hand, something had sparked inside her.
Something she'd never felt before. A part of her she couldn't reach on her own, nor define.
Not her magic. Something different. Something…
She rubbed her fingertips together, trying to recreate the warmth he had produced within her.
"Elle!" Val grabbed her shoulder.
Val pushed a stein toward her and jerked her chin toward the corner. “Get it together.”
Elle’s cheeks heated as she picked up the beer and headed toward the table. She didn't need anyone to tell her where it went or who it was for. The golden-eyed immortal who worked as a bouncer in Frigg's Raven Weaver topside pub was known to everyone in the nine realms.
She put on a smile and headed straight for the solemn, hulking figure.
"Hello, Heimdall." She slid the beer to him.
"Lady Elle. How are you today?"
No one had called her ‘Lady’ back when she'd been princess of the fire giants, so to hear someone on Midgard call her that seemed especially strange.
"It's Elle."
Heimdall took a long swig of his drink. "You and I both know that is not true."
Elle chuckled and rolled her eyes. Heimdall, as well as Lady Frigg, had treated her with nothing but the utmost respect since she'd arrived.
In the past month, they'd made her more welcome than she ever had been back at her father's court.
Even so, the idea that someone would recognize her still made her nervous- and calling her Lady was one small step closer to being possibly recognized.
Heimdall squeezed her hand and winked at her. "Don't worry, your secret is safe."
"What secret?" a deep voice rumbled behind her.
Elle turned at the sound, and her skin warmed as she pulled her hand from Heimdall's grip.
Her gaze traveled from Thor's handsome, chiseled face to his fathomless eyes.
Unlike the night before, he was clean-shaven, and the faint scent of soap and cologne wafted off him instead of ozone and electricity.
She shivered at the delicious mixture.
"Thor," said Heimdall, "I can't remember the last time you set foot in Midgard. Should I be afraid for my job?"
Thor moved around Elle, his body brushing up against hers and making a pulse of heat rush through her. He sat in the booth opposite Heimdall and stole a swig of beer.
"Buy your own." Heimdall pulled the stein back across the table.
A table down the row broke out into cheers and banging on the table for several minutes as they high-fived and gulped down all their drinks. She looked at the table, calculating how many more pints she would need to bring them, and then looked back at Thor.
"Would you like a beer?"
"Please, Elle."
She looked up at his use of her name. Her heartbeat quickened at his smile. She retreated to the bar, trying to slow her racing heart. He’d found her. She’d hoped he would, but the fact that he was really there brought up mixed emotions.
Val had given her almost an hour-long lecture when they’d gotten back from Frigg’s the night before. All about what would happen if Thor found out her identity.
Elle chewed the skin around her nails as she waited for Val to finish filling other orders.
Confusion swirled inside her. She'd never felt so... strange before. In Thor’s presence, the tumultuous fusion of scorching heat and bone-chilling cold burned her.
Despite being raised to conceal herself, to exist in the shadows without a voice, an indescribable force robbed her of speech whenever she crossed paths with Thor.
Was it the dread of his discovering her as the offspring of his eternal adversary, or something far deeper?
If he’d shown up a minute earlier, he would have heard Heimdall call her ‘Lady’, and then what would have happened?
She wouldn’t be able to hide from him forever, but the idea of him looking at her with rage and hatred made her gut twist. When that happened, would she even still be able to keep working for Frigg, or would he insist she be sent away?
Or worse, would he tell her father where she was?
"What's wrong?" Val startled her, making her jump.
"Uh... nothing." Elle bit her thumb.
"Why are you flushed?"
"Am I?" Elle touched her cheek.
Val eyed her. "You're chewing your fingers again."
Elle dropped her hand. "I need another beer," Elle said, not meeting Val's probing gaze.
"Which table?"
"Heimdall."
Val's eyebrows slammed together. "He never drinks more than one an hour."
"It's not for him."
Val glanced at the table, and her eyes darkened. "Elle-"
"I didn't ask him to come."
"We've talked about this. If he finds out who you are-"
"Lady Frigg knows. And Heimdall and Loki-"
"But Frigg, Heimdall, and Loki didn't try to kill your father.
And thousands of fire giants. And vow to kill them all after Ragnarok.
" She looked around. "And though most of these are mortals, any number of sups pass through here who, I am sure, would be more than happy to sell you out for money or favor with Surtr. "
Elle's fists balled. "Then why did we run? Why did we come here if I'm still going to spend the rest of my immortal life looking over my shoulder? I might as well have stayed and let Thadren have his way with me. At least with him I would've been protected."
Val crushed a lemon in her fist. "You are protected. I will protect you. But I want you to be careful."
"And stay away from Odin's son?"
"Yes."
Val wouldn't be happy with anything but her agreement to stay away from Thor, but somehow, she wasn't sure that was a promise she could make.
"I'll do my best. But I can't ask him not to come to his mother's establishment. That would be more suspicious than if I do nothing."
"Then continue to do nothing. Don't be discourteous, but don't encourage him either. If Thor Odinson finds out who you are, you can bet he will want one of two things: to use you to hurt Surtr, or to kill you to hurt Surtr."
Elle snorted. "Too bad he doesn't realize my father would have killed me himself if he'd cared enough about me to lift a finger.”
When Elle escaped with Val, she'd anticipated her life getting easier, not harder. She shook her head. She should have known better.
"Problem?" Frigg appeared next to Elle and smiled. “What can I do to help?”
* * *
"Tell me about her." Thor’s gaze remained on Elle as she moved about the bar in her dark, tight leggings that hugged her slender hips in a beautiful temptation. Once again, he didn’t like her wearing something so sensual around other people, but he had no idea why it bothered him.
"Who?"
Thor rolled his eyes. "Elle."
"Ahhhh..." Heimdall sipped his beer but didn't say anything.
"Ahhh? That's all you have to say? Ahhh?" Thor waited a moment. "Heimdall."
Heimdall shrugged his heavy shoulders. "Not much to tell. She got here about a month ago with her friend. They were looking for work. Frigg needed help and hired them."
"Where did they come from?"
Heimdall wouldn't meet Thor's eye.
Heimdall had never not told him something before. They'd always been honest with each other.
"Where are they staying?"
Heimdall rotated his stein. "I believe they are staying here."
"Here?"
"In the apartments upstairs."
"Hello, Odinson." Frigg set a beer in front of Thor.
He scanned for Elle and found her serving another table.
"Hello, mother." Thor picked up the beer and swigged it. Though she wasn't biologically his mother, Frigg had taken him in as a baby, treating him like one of her own, and had always raised him as such. Just like all the other children of Odin that hadn’t been hers by birth.
She ran her fingers through his hair. "You're letting it grow again?"
He shrugged. "Not as long as it used to be."
She smiled. "I liked it long."
"Are you giving shelter to Elle and her friend Val?"
She planted a smile on her face and blinked innocently. "If you are asking if they are renting rooms from me and working for me, then yes."
Thor growled. "That's not what I mean."
Frigg patted him on the head. "Well, that's what I mean, son."
It was common knowledge within their family that Frigg had an open-door policy for helping those who wanted to relocate to Midgard or to their area of Helheim.
It was how they'd all gotten there in the first place.
Frigg had helped relocate hundreds of people over the years.
But somehow this time it felt different.
Thor’s gaze followed Elle from table to table.
"If you don't stop eyeing my help, I won't be able to find anyone to work here," Frigg teased.
"What can you tell me about her?"
Frigg chuckled. "Oh no. I'm done playing matchmaker for my children."
"Wasn't it you who made a point of nagging me to go to the masquerade last night? You know the party you throw every month, specifically to help people find love."
Frigg’s mouth fell open in mock outrage. "Nag? I never nag, Thor. I simply suggest things. Multiple times if necessary."
Thor cocked an eyebrow at her.
"If you want to understand Elle, talk to her," said Frigg. “Maybe not while she is working, though. You make her unable to concentrate, and I don’t want all of my mugs broken by the end of the day.”
"I want to talk to her, but her friend doesn’t seem to like me too much."
Heimdall chuckled. “That must be new for you. A woman not liking you.”
Thor flipped off Heimdall, who laughed harder.
Frigg sighed. "Elle... has been through a lot. She's had a hard life. Val is just protective of her. If what you are looking for is some fun, please, Thor, for her sake, pick someone else. Anyone else."
Frigg’s words stung more than he wanted to admit. "How long has it been since you've seen me want to have fun with a woman?"
“Technically, I’ve never seen you have fun with a woman, thank gods. But… Since I’ve seen you look at a woman?” She patted his shoulder. "Too long."
"I don't want fun," Thor admitted. "I want..." What did he want? "I want to know her."
Frigg searched his face for a moment. "Then do it. But go slow. Elle is... fragile."
Thor glanced over at Elle again. Frigg's description of Elle seemed correct. But Thor remembered what he had felt when he touched her. Power. Deep, raw, untapped power.
"And be careful."
"I am not going to hurt her," Thor said.
"I didn't mean her. I meant you.”
What did that mean? What did Frigg see?
“But, if you want Elle, you have to go through Val." Frigg smiled. "And may the gods be with you on that front."
He waited for Frigg to move on to her other guests before turning back to Heimdall.
Heimdall studied him. "You like her."
"I don't know her."
Heimdall smiled. "What does that matter? You know better than anyone you cannot stop fate."
Thor gritted his teeth. Heimdall had been trying to help Thor release his guilt over Ragnarok for centuries. The problem was, it was the first battle Thor ever lost, and it ended with his home destroyed and all its remaining inhabitants displaced.
"Is that what she is? My fate? Both you and my mother see what lies in my cards, so tell me and save me some time. Is Elle my fate?"
A part of him wished more than anything that the fiery-haired beauty was his fate.
The part that hadn’t been able to do anything other than think of her all night and all morning.
Even when he’d been in the ring fighting.
Afterward, when he’d gotten drunk and fallen asleep in one of the guest rooms at his father’s bar.
And then first thing when he’d woken up and headed home to shower.
That part of him had been able to do nothing more than remember her scent, her eyes, her soft smile.
But another part told him that, after everything he'd done, he didn't deserve someone like Elle.
"I cannot tell you the future," Heimdall replied.
"Why? You've done it tons of times before," Thor countered.
"Yes, but…” Heimdall stared at him for a long moment, his golden glowing eyes glazing over.
Heimdall saw something. Something in the future. Thor had seen that look in Heimdall’s eyes a million times before.
Finally, his eyes cleared and dimmed. “The things I’ve told you have involved the fate of the nine realms, not the fate of your love life."
Thor glared at Heimdall, trying to let the weight of his gaze push Heimdall into speaking, but it was pointless. Heimdall didn't bow to anyone but Odin- and he only did that out of respect. Heimdall was both older and more powerful than even Odin.
"So you won't tell me?"
Heimdall shrugged. "Wouldn't you rather be surprised by how it plays out than ruin the ending?"
"Not this time." For some reason, that was the truth. Thor didn’t like knowing the end of the story before it started, but this time, something told him he needed to know.
Heimdall chuckled. "Well, too bad, old friend. I don't want to spoil how it ends before it gets going. If it were a book, I'd rip out the last chapter so neither of us peeked."
Thor growled and clenched his beer. Okay, so for some reason, no one would help him cheat this time. He had to do things like a mere mortal wanting to get to know a woman. The thought both intrigued and aggravated him.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
"Fine. If you won't help, I'll find someone who will."
Heimdall shook his head. "You already asked him, and he wouldn’t say anything. Are you sure you can trust what he tells you now?"
"Who said I am going to ask him to tell me something?" Thor pulled out his phone and pressed speed dial. The phone rang several times.
"Odinson, how interesting to hear from you twice in two days."
"I need your help," he said without pretense.
Silence filled the line for a moment.
"Well, well, well. I can't remember the last time the Mighty Thor, son of Odin, needed my help. Oh, wait, yes, I can. It was when-"
Thor's hand clenched tighter around the stein. "Are you going to help me or not?"
Loki paused. "Of course, cousin. What do you need?"
“Meet me at Frigg's. Midgard side.”
"When?"
"Now."