Björn stretched lazily and smiled as he opened his eyes and took in the sight of Hela curled up beside him under the furs. He couldn't believe he'd been so lucky as to end up with someone like her. And to think he'd tried so desperately to avoid marriage.
She does not really want you. The thought entered his mind out of nowhere. Small hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he brushed at his ear. She is but a goddess playing at mortality. Once she is done using you, she shall return home. As soon as you lose your heart to her, she shall break it. That is what goddesses do for amusement.
Björn tried to dispel the thoughts, but like all doubts, they began to fester. What if she had lied to him again last night; she'd done it before, after all. What if it had been an act, and she had done this more than once? Another plaything to ease her boredom.
A shadow moved across the room and he turned to see what had caused it, but there wasn't anything there. He rubbed his eyes. Had the discovery that magical beings and deities existed made him one of those superstitious men who would spend the remainder of his days jumping at shadows as though everything was not as it seemed? He couldn't live his life that way. The shadow was a trick of the light, nothing more.
"What is amiss?"
Björn turned to Hela and smiled as she blinked sleepily up at him. They had joined together twice more before finally giving in to slumber. They hadn't been disturbed, but it had to be near noon by the direction of the sun through the window. "Nothing," he assured her. Still the doubt tugged at him, longing for attention. He pulled the covers aside and started to dress.
"Must we leave this room?" she asked. "I feel like the best moments of my life have been spent in this bed."
He wanted to believe her. Part of him did irrevocably, for his heart had been full when he closed his eyes to sleep and again upon waking. And then… What had his mind rebelling against him now of all times? "Aye. If we stay much longer the jesting will last for days."
Hela groaned behind him and his body responded. He chose to ignore it. The only thing that could be done was to go about his day as usual and the doubts would go away. He wouldn't ruin the days he had left with her by dwelling on misgivings. "Stay here," he said when he finally turned back around. He leaned over and kissed her forehead and she smiled sweetly. How could he ever think bad thoughts about her? Some of the unease was fading, like it had never been there. "I shall find us some more food." They'd eaten all they'd been given in the middle of the night between bouts of lovemaking. Restoring the energy they would immediately use up in the throes of passion.
Björn spotted the goblet that the nisse had thrown at him on the floor, so he stooped to pick it up and set it on the table. Was it selfish to want Hela to remain with him as his wife even though he'd done everything he could to avoid marriage, including spending several days apart from her to prove she was there to cause harm to his village?
It wasn't because he loved her. That could come in time, sure. He desired her, but who wouldn't? Did she have some kind of otherworldly hold over him?
He stepped out into the hall and shut the door. The strange sensation from earlier returned, like someone hovering behind him, but he was alone in the corridor. His neck hairs prickled again as the thoughts consumed him. If you were a Christian man, you would see her for what she is: the Devil. She resides in a land known, to many, as Hel. Of course she wants you to love her. To want her. 'Tis but a game to her.
And just like that, the feeling that someone had been in the corridor with him faded, yet Björn's mood had darkened considerably.
Hela had already dressed herself and was braiding her hair when Björn returned with another basket of food. Having gotten used to eating food during her stay, her stomach growled as he placed the basket on the table beside the empty one. Then she raised her gaze to her husband's. Something wasn't right. He'd been so happy before she fell asleep, but his mood when she woke was troubling. He tried to hide it, but it was hard to ignore. Did he not want her anymore? Had she done something wrong?
It was true that he hadn't wanted a wife, though from what she had grasped from their conversation before she told him the truth about herself, his mother died when he was young and his father had never remarried. He hadn't admitted it outright, but she had determined he must have avoided anything that would lead to heartbreak ever since. She could respect that. Hela feared her own heart would break beyond repair when Loki found a way to make her leave.
She wanted to stay. Hela's heart beat faster when she looked into Björn's blue eyes as he handed her a piece of bread topped with honey—a favorite treat of his. She was just starting to get to know him, and she really liked him. He was honest, brave, and cared about his people and his village. Her heart could so easily be given to him. But what was clouding his happiness?
"Have I displeased you in some way?" she asked as she took a bite of bread. The sweet honey tickled her tongue with a burst of flavor, and she licked the sticky residue off her finger. Björn's gaze followed her actions and his pupils dilated. She shivered. "You seem sad today."
He blinked several times and walked back toward the basket. "Nay. I fear I find myself questioning how we are to stay married if you are to leave me. If your father is so intent on making you return to Hel."
Her head snapped up and her teeth clacked. "What did you say?"
Frowning, Björn replied, "When you return to your world and leave mine."
"You called it Hel." She rose to her feet, still holding on to the remainder of her bread, unconcerned that the honey had dribbled off the side onto her hand. "As in Helheim, my fortress in Niflheim." He backed away as she approached him, and she had to wonder if her fury showed as much as she felt it coursing through her veins. "I do not call it that. I have never wanted to call it that. Yet… Loki calls it that."
Hela set the bread in the empty basket and used the cloth to wipe her hand. It was still sticky, but she didn't care. Not really. Her appetite had left her. To think Loki was letting her have this time for herself when he was doing everything in his power to ruin it. He was behind this. She could feel it. Tears sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them away, refusing to cry. She was stronger than that.
Björn opened and closed his mouth like he was struggling to make sense of something, then asked, "Does he?"
"He does," she replied, narrowing her eyes. "Have doubts been whispered in your ear this morning?"
"No one whispered anything to me." He cocked his head to the side. "Though I kept feeling strange, like someone was near but no one was there."
"That cheat." She couldn't believe her father. Hela clenched her hands into fists and fought the urge to hit something. Violence had never been in her nature and she didn't intend to change that now.
"You are saying that was Loki?" Björn scowled, though it didn't seem directed at her. Loki's methods of influencing mortals to take part in his amusements were strong. He often bragged about them.
"Aye, whispering doubt in your ear. It is what he does." Damn his eyes.
Björn shook his head. "Doubts do not mean anything. They just are. People have them every day and about small, inconsequential things. It does not necessarily mean someone is forcing them there."
He had a point, but she knew Loki. He hated losing. She was falling for her Norse warrior and that meant she would get to stay. But if her husband started to mistrust her, to resent her, it would mean she'd be left broken-hearted come day twelve and she'd be home for good. "If you doubt me for any reason, tell me. Ask me your questions. I shall answer them." She grabbed his tunic with both hands. "I want to be here. I would have never stayed this long if I did not. Nor would I have married you if I did not feel there was some connection between us. So, if you doubt me, now is your chance. Walk away from me forever. I shall leave, and Loki will have what he wants."
Björn's eyes widened. He clenched his jaw, then he exhaled and wrapped her in his arms. Some of her anger dissolved, as a man who didn't want her surely wouldn't act that way. Would he? "I am but a mortal man," he said in a shaky voice. "I was not meant to play these games with a god, a trickster at that. He will win against me at every turn."
Hela shook her head against his chest. She hated that Loki's meddling had caused him any misgivings. "Not if you have me by your side. Not if you confide in me. I know him better than many of the Æsir. He talks to me because I cannot leave my home—usually." When she stood up straight she was closer to him in height. "Everything I told you is the truth. Well, except for not remembering who I am…that was a lie, obviously, but you understand now why I had to."
"What do we do?" he whispered, brushing the hair from her cheek and staring at her with intense longing that made her pulse quicken. "How do I get to keep you?"
Her heart clenched. She wanted to keep him too. "We live these next few days to the fullest and refuse to give into doubt. He cannot win if you stay positive. If you trust me."
He kissed her, and he tasted like warm honey. There wasn't much speaking after that. Though her body was tender and a little sore from the night before, she worked the laces on his trousers while he pulled up her skirts and before long he was inside her, moving against her with her back against the wall and her legs around his hips. She wanted this man, and if she had to fight against her father to keep him, so be it.