“In what way? What are you talking about?”
Thorin brushed his hands over the thighs of his old-fashioned work pants—something I
had never seen him wear before. I had never noticed what I wore when I came here, but I looked down and found myself dressed in something like the Valkyries’ ceremonial garb: a white gown flowing in elegant panels, draping down to my toes. Okay, that’s weird.
“I told you my brother was trouble,” Thorin said.
“You just couldn’t wait to say, ‘I told you so’?”
“I was right, wasn’t I?”
“I told you not to go looking for Nina out at those warehouses in Arizona, and you didn’t listen to me about that, either.”
“We’re both too stubborn for our own good, I guess,” he said. “The difference is in the level of risks we take. The consequences are not as dire for me as they are for you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You think I don’t regret it? You think I haven’t learned my lesson? Paid my price?”
“This all could have been avoided.”
“If I let you keep me in a cage,” I said. “Or you could borrow your brother’s idea and just kill me rather than wasting all your energy trying to keep me alive. It’s the sure thing, you know. Grim was right about that.”
Thorin growled and stalked closer.
“I’m more trouble than I’m worth,” I said in a defiant tone. Without self-pity, I meant my words as a challenge. “Don’t you think?”
Thorin sounded like a bear when he spoke again, all low and guttural. “What are you playing at? Why are you always intent on antagonizing me?”
My shoulders slumped, and I exhaled. To push you away, of course. “I couldn’t fight your brother, so maybe I’m taking my frustrations out on you.” I dragged my eyes up over his body, making my appraisal obvious. “You can take it, though, can’t you?”
I crossed the distance between us and stepped behind Thorin. “Look at you.” I traced a finger across his bare back, from shoulder to shoulder. His skin was warm and alive under my fingertip. “You’re a real-life Atlas, shoulders that can bear the weight of the world. You’ll save us all, won’t you?”
“Morbid, Solina.” Thorin turned to intercept my orbit. He took my hand, the one tracing over his back, and clasped it between both of his. “It’s not your nature.”
“How do you know my nature?” I asked.
However, Thorin was right. That forwardness was unlike me, but I didn’t exactly feel like myself in that place. Asgard.
“I know you better than you think I do,” he said. “You forget I knew you in another life.”
My eyebrows arched high. “How is that possible?”
“In your soul, you are Sol. You always have been, and you always will be.”
I tugged my hand, and Thorin released it. I stepped away, relieving some of the tension between us. Thorin’s words disconcerted me, and I needed to process.
“Why are you here?” I asked. “Why are you rebuilding Idun’s house?”
“I came here a day ago, and I haven’t been able to leave,” Thorin said. “That’s never happened before.”
“So you’re setting up house and planning to stay for a while?”
“It rained last night, and it was miserable. I’ve got to make shelter until I can figure out how to get away.”
“Come with me. I’ll take you back.”
He shook his head as a sad smile tugged at his lips. “It doesn’t work that way, Sunshine.”
“If you don’t want to be here, I’ll help you go,” I said, confident in my ability to lead him away. I waved my hand around the lush yard and growing trees. “Though why you want to leave this place, I don’t really know. It’s so peaceful. No wolves. No fire. No monsters.”
Thorin’s sad smile brightened. “It is lovely, isn’t it? You should have seen it before, when it was all fresh and alive.” He collected his shirt from the ground, wiped his face, and cleared the soot from his arms. He stepped toward me again, close enough to reveal the copper flecks sparkling in his eyes. “Something has gone wrong.”
“You said that before. I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I shouldn’t be stuck here.”
“I’ll figure out how to get you unstuck.”
“No. No matter what happens to me, you must keep yourself safe. Do not attempt to find me.”
“Don’t find you? But you’re right here.” I laughed a nervous titter, and my heart beat in a cadence of alarm, fast and fluttery.
“That’s right. I’m here. And this is where you’ll leave me.”
“I’ll leave when I good and well feel like it.”
Thorin’s breath tickled my face as he chuckled. “I meant that you won’t attempt to do anything to make me leave.”
“Like I’d think for a minute I could make you do anything you didn’t want to.”
Thorin’s eyes darkened, but not in anger. “You make me do all kinds of things I never intended to do.”
Although Thorin and I stood inches apart, it felt as though we were staring at each other across a wide valley filled with unspoken sentiments. Thorin’s allure pulled at me, urging me to act, to do something decisive for once. I resisted that impulse, and as if sensing my reticence, Thorin stepped back and shook his head. “You don’t have to leave, but I wish you would. I’ve got to get back to work.”
His dismissal stung, but it cleared my head. I latched onto it and used the hurt to temper my urges. It’s not right to want someone so much. He’s a god, and I am not. How can it go any way but badly between us? “Don’t do anything to hurt my apples.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He turned and walked back to his rock pile and crouched among the stones. “They’ve kept me going. They’ve attracted small game, squirrels and birds. This place is coming back to life.” He turned to look up at me. “I don’t know how you did it, but it’s a miracle.”
“It has to be a miracle. I don’t know quite how it happened either.” I told him about how the first tree had come back to life under my touch and how I’d planted the seeds from the first apple harvest.
Thorin smirked and shook his head. “I never thought I would see the day.”
“You think it means something?”
“I don’t know what it means, but I’m thankful for the little bit of life you’ve brought with you.”
“Is it really Asgard?”
Thorin selected a rock and rose from his crouch. He hauled it to the newly erected section of Idun’s house and heaved the stone into place. “It’s really Asgard. It exists on a plane that is contrary to human existence.”
