“The portents of Ragnarok were found deep in the woods, hidden by their Jotnar parents. Their capture was easy and without incident, and the city has nothing more to fear from them.”
—Public Notice
I knew something was wrong before I opened my eyes. The smell. A thick mildew, like an abandoned cave, and underneath it was sweat and human waste.
Fingers stroked the top of my head, a gentle caress. I rolled over. My muscles ached and the floor beneath me was hard, only thinly lined with dirty straw. Narvi smiled down at me, my head on his lap. His face had started to bruise.
“Good, finally.” He looked away, through the bars that separated our cell from the one next to us. “She’s awake.”
“Sig.” Loki pressed himself against the other side of the black steel bars. “Are you alright?”
I shivered, the damp cold having already made its way into my bones. I’d certainly had better days, but it was all aches, not the burning of an open wound. I pulled my dress up. My calf was intact, a thin pink scar where the gash had been. Someone had healed it.
I looked at Narvi. “Did you do that?”
He shook his head. “The dungeon is warded against seidr. I can’t cast anything. Someone must have done it before they threw us in.”
“Is everyone here?” I struggled to sit up, taking in the dark, putrid room. It was dimly lit by a pair of torches, condensation dripping down the walls. At the far end of Loki’s cell was Angrboda, curled up in the corner, head hidden in her arms.
“I’m here.” Váli was in another cell past Loki’s. They’d given him a blanket to cover himself, but that was all. His skin was littered with small wounds, but he seemed alright.
Loki stared at the ground. “They took the children.”
“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just listen.” Narvi touched the purple and yellow bruise around his eye, wincing. “We could have talked it out.”
“When have you known your grandfather to listen to anything?” Loki leaned his back against the bars, facing away from us, but still close. His voice came back as a whisper. “He’s going to kill them.”
Narvi reached through the bars to touch his father’s arm, his face twisted with grief. “You don’t know that. There’s still time. We can find a way to compromise.”
No one had the heart to tell him he was being naive.
Not long after, the iron door to the dungeon scraped open, dragging across the stone. Einherjar poured in, two for each of us.
“Those two last,” one said, pointing to the cell with Angrboda and Loki. “They’re dangerous.”
Our cell opened. Four einherjar came in, pulling us up and strapping our hands into iron cuffs and putting the muzzles back onto our faces. Narvi kept his eyes down, and I waited for one of them to step out of line, just once. I was no warrior, but they’d leave with a black eye. They went for Váli next.
And against everything I’d seen from her, Angrboda didn’t fight the einherjar. They had to drag her from the floor and force her to her feet like a ragdoll. Her steps were stumbling, automatic, like she was barely there at all.
They took us through the corridors of the dungeon, up the stairs, and back into fresh air. I could still close my eyes and navigate every corridor of Odin’s halls, even though I could barely remember the last time I’d stepped foot inside. They were taking us to Gladsheim.
Everyone was there when we arrived, all the gods staring at us from on high. Only Idunn’s seat was empty.
At the base of the dais were three cages. One for a snake, one for a wolf cub, and one for a little girl.
Angrboda came to life at once, tearing herself free from the grip of her captors and racing forward. She nearly made it to the cages, but one of the einherjar caught her by the hair and pulled her back down. She hit the floor, muffled cries bursting out from her leather muzzle.
Hel grabbed the bars on her cage, her mouth bound, tears rolling down her cheeks as they dragged her mother back into line with us.
“Welcome,” Odin said, far too jovially. “I’m sure you’ll want me to get right to the point, so please, have a seat.”
The einherjar pushed us down in front of the dais, forcing all of us onto our knees.
Odin sat back in his throne. “You’re here today charged with the crimes of treason against Asgard and the nine, conspiracy to invoke Ragnarok, and, at the very least, aiding and abetting. The einherjar will remove your bindings since we’ve temporarily warded Gladsheim against runes. I want to hear what you have to say for yourselves.”
He waved his hand, and the soldiers behind us began to unbuckle the straps of our muzzles. I needed to think quickly. Loki and Angrboda knelt on one side of me, Narvi and Váli on the other. What could I do to save us?
As soon as her muzzle came free, Angrboda was screaming. “You fucking monster; I’ll kill you!” Angrboda spat on the floor. “I’ll rip off every last fucking piece of you!”
“You’ll be lucky to see tomorrow.” Thor leaned forward, the fingers of one hand reaching for the handle of Mjolnir, which sat on the floor beside him. “Shut her up.”
The einherji cuffed her in the face, toppling her to the ground. Angrboda struggled up and spat again. Blood spattered onto the stone, and one of her teeth came with it.
“You’ve spent too much time thinking about fate, Odin.” Loki looked up at him, pleading. “They’re just children. None of them have to do anything. Please, let us prove it.”
“Your paramour has other ideas about that.” Odin accepted a cup of drink from one of the servants and paused to take a sip. “She’d like to see us all dead at their hands.”
“You’re fucking right I would.” Angrboda snarled.
“It doesn’t matter what she wants,” Loki said. “They have minds and lives of their own. It’s going to be their decisions that make their future, unless you give them no choice at all. If you kill them—”
“I don’t plan to kill them.” Odin smirked. “Just remove their chance of survival. Semantics, I know.”
His tone curdled something in my stomach. “What are you going to do?”
“Why do you care?” Odin asked. “It’s curious, isn’t it? That you’d hide and help the woman who birthed your husband’s bastard children.”
And I just did it. After years of trying to be Loki’s saviour, rescuer, and healer, I put myself first.
I burst into tears. “Father, they gave us no choice.”
Loki’s head whipped around, his eyes wide.
“I had no idea about any of it until they arrived. Angrboda came to our door with her children and forced her way into my home. She was aggressive; she picked a fight with us. Loki insisted that they stay. We were in danger. I didn’t think I was strong enough to face the two of them.” I wiped the tears away, sniffing. “What could I do? I had to protect my sons.”
Not a word of it was a lie. Let him save himself.
“You bitch.” Angrboda struggled to move, but the einherjar were holding her down. “I knew you were no better than these pretenders. If I ever see you again—”
“It’s true.” Loki’s expression slowly shifted away from shock. “She knew nothing. We forced her to take the children in. They had nothing to do with it, nothing we didn’t make them do.”
I had to believe that he understood. That he knew whatever it was they had in store for Angrboda’s children couldn’t happen to mine.
Odin huffed. “How am I supposed to believe that? You’d lie to protect her.”
“Of course I would.” Loki craned his neck up, catching Odin’s eye. “But what was she before I came to Asgard and claimed her? Quiet. Docile. Obedient. She isn’t capable of what you think she’s done. Do you really think she had a choice in any of this? She’s too good.”
They bit, those words. There was some truth in them, but I would never again be ‘too good.’ Time and spite had made sure of that.
A throat cleared, drawing attention to one of the often-vacant seats. Hod.
“I think Sigyn has suffered enough.” He toyed with the collar of his shirt. “Váli is an asset to the einherjar, and Narvi is a fine student under my watch. While I can’t condone anything Loki has done, this family has caused no trouble and to punish them for this, for something clearly beyond their control, would be an injustice.”
Odin scratched his beard. “It amazes me that you have allies after all this time. Very well. Let the shame be punishment enough. The people of the city will make sure you feel it.” He got up and walked down to the cages that held Angrboda’s children.
“Don’t touch them.” Angrboda strained against her captors, eager for blood.
“I won’t need to. Someone will do that for me.” Odin peeked down into the mesh cage that housed Jormungandr. He hissed and snapped at the steel. “The serpent will be taken to Midgard and tossed into the sea, where it will inevitably be eaten by something bigger.”
“No.” Loki shuffled forward and was dragged back. “You can’t just leave their lives up to chance, please.”
“Let it earn life if it can.” Odin rattled the second cage, the one where Hel was sitting, her legs pulled up to her chest, still in Narvi’s old clothes. “The girl will be sent to Helheim, as suits her namesake. You wanted her to be a goddess so badly? Let her die trying.”
“She’s just a child!” Narvi cried out. “You can’t expect her to survive!”
Odin’s gaze turned to him. “You’d best hold your tongue before I change my mind about you.” He went to the last cage. “And the wolf. He and I have a personal vendetta, don’t we? He’ll be trained with the einherjar to become one of our own. A force for the good of the realms. A play against fate.”
Tears were rolling down Loki’s face. “Please. Don’t do this. You took Sleipnir. Wasn’t that enough?”
“You should have thought of that before, Liesmith. It’s far too late to beg for mercy.” Odin climbed the stairs and sat back down. “Let Sigyn and her sons go. Take the others back to the dungeon.”
“Father!” Narvi tried to move towards Loki.
Váli cracked him in the side with his shoulder. “Shut up, you idiot.” The rune tattoos on Váli’s chest had begun to change shade, a clear sign he was angry. But the wards in the room would never allow him to shift form.
The einherjar pulled Loki and Angrboda to their feet. They fought, but it was no good.
“I love you!” Loki screamed as they pulled him toward the doors. “I will find you, I swear it! I love you!”
But the three children couldn’t answer.
The doors slammed shut. Fresh tears welled up. I didn’t know how to help any of them. And even though they weren’t mine, even though their existence was a kind of betrayal… I wanted to save them.
“As for the rest of you,” Odin said, leaning forward to peer down at us, “you keep getting lucky. Don’t find yourself in this position again.”
“So we should just ignore the prophecy then?” I snapped. “The one where you murder and imprison us?”
A smirk rose beneath Odin’s beard. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. If that were a prophecy, we’d all know it, wouldn’t you think?”
He looked to Frigg, then to Thor. They shook their heads.
Bastard.
“If you won’t admit it, let us go.” I had no hands to wipe the tears away, so they dripped down my neck, underneath the collar of my dress.
“Fine. Uncuff them.” He waited as we were each let go and pulled to our feet. “And don’t forget to say your farewells to your husband’s brood.”
It was a test. To see if I’d betray myself. I urged Váli and Narvi forward, towards the door, and when I was sure Odin had looked away, I looked back and caught Hel’s eyes. They pleaded with me to stay, to find a way to help. But I couldn’t. In a room full of gods, I was nothing at all.