“You were just her pawn.” That sounded so mean, but she couldn’t take it back. It was true. “You did what she forced you to do. She didn’t force me to do anything. I’ve never met her. Yeah, she’s a monster who manipulated my entire life. But I’m the murderer.”
“She’s also a murderer. She’s killed lots of gods. Though I’m sure you could put some blame on Odin…Not the point. None of it is your fault.”
Hannah shrugged. “Tell me that when we don’t have an imposter god to deal with. I don’t have time to process any of this, and there’s way too much.” She headed for the door. She needed to tell Megan and April everything. That was what was most important.
“You’re right. So does this mean you…Nope, I’m just being a selfish asshole, as usual. Never mind. Let’s go save your kids.”
“You’re asking if I still want you?” Hannah asked. “I’m barely staying afloat right now. I don’t know if I want anything. I don’t even know if I’m mad at you.”
They nodded. “You have every right to be.”
“One thing at a time.”
“Okay.”
She opened the door. “Emily, they’re all yours.”
Emily gave her a concerned expression and looked her up and down. “What happened?”
“Just more Hel stuff,” she said. And it was the truth. Hel was the one who had orchestrated all of this. And Hel was the one they couldn’t let come back to life. Who knew how much more damage she’d do?
Emily nodded. “Yeah. That was tough to hear. The bitch gave me homophobic parents. I really hope I get to stab her.”
Hannah forced a smile. “I’m sure you will.”
Emily grinned back. “All right, I’ll go talk to Alys. You sure you don’t want help?”
“Yeah. I’m sure. They’re my friends. I should be the one to tell them.” She closed the door behind her and tried to prepare herself to explain everything.
April and Megan looked incredulously at her.
“Tell us what?” Megan asked.
“What was all that about?” April added, moving toward Hannah.
Hannah opened her mouth and closed it again. She tried to focus. It was a monumental task, but eventually, she managed. “You’re Baldur.”
“What?” April reached up to her hair as if checking it was all there.
“No. You’re…” Hannah gave a dry chuckle. “My brother. Wow, we really are sisters. Hel did set that up well. You’re Baldur, and Megan is Tyr.”
“I’m who?” Megan asked.
Hannah felt like a terrible person to give this news. She still barely knew anything about mythology. Hell, she couldn’t even pronounce half the names. “I don’t know. My brother as well, apparently.”
“I don’t want to be a boy.”
“I feel you.”
“What are you talking about?” April asked.
Hannah swallowed the lump in her throat. She’d do the best she could. “Hel, the goddess of the underworld, set it up so that both of you, Emily, Alys, and me all came back to life and ended up meeting. I don’t know what all it means, but you’re the real Baldur, and there’s a fake one in Idavollr, and we need to tell our kids, unless that’s also what Hel wants.”
“Bullshit,” Megan scoffed, staring as if Hannah had gone insane. Again.
Hannah opened the bedroom door and peered in. “Alys, any way I can prove it?”
They nodded, looking up from their knees. “April, have you ever been hurt?”
She shook her head, taking a step back. “Plenty of people haven’t been hurt.”
“Hannah, punch her.”
Hannah glared at Alys. Really gonna suggest that now? Maybe she was mad at them. “That could kill her.”
“It won’t.”
“Can Megan punch her?” She looked to where Megan still sat on the couch.
“Sure.”
Megan shrugged. “If it’ll make you all stop with this craziness, fine. Not like I haven’t wanted to before anyway.” She took a few steps toward April and gave her the lightest punch possible.
April seemed unimpressed.
“Did that hurt?” Alys asked.
“No.”
“Try harder?”
“But…Fuck it.” Megan pulled back and slugged April in the stomach as hard as she could.
April was still unmoved. “That doesn’t mean—”
“Hey, Megan, want to try out Emily’s sword?”
April looked between the four of them, terror in her eyes. “We can’t just—”
“You’ll be fine.”
Megan stared. “I’m not gonna stab her. What if you’re wrong? Or what if it only works on punches, and I end up hurting her?”
“Yeah!”
Hannah looked at Alys. “Are you absolutely certain?”
“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t.”
Goddamn it. This was exactly the opposite of what Hannah should be doing. But she needed to save her kids. She punched April. It wasn’t the hardest she could go, but it wasn’t something any human could simply walk away from. She hated herself doing it, but it wasn’t really violence, and she wasn’t angry at April, so it didn’t count, right? She wasn’t giving in to her worst impulses. She wasn’t the same monster she used to be. The same monster Hel had made her to be. She wanted to believe that, but even if she wasn’t becoming a monster again, she doubted it was really Hel’s fault. No matter what Alys said. It was simply who she was. Who she’d always be. “Did that hurt?”
Shivering, April shook her head again. “Well, no.”
“You’ve seen what I can do. That should’ve done more damage than a sword ever could.”
“But…” April stared at Hannah’s fist still pressed against her shoulder. “I can’t be.”
“Alys, any chance you’re up for talking yet? I think we’re all having our own existential crises.”
They stumbled to their feet and walked into the living room, Emily following close behind. “She…that is to say, Hel, my daughter, hasn’t told me much until recently. I didn’t know why she had me do the things I did in the past, and there were enough random weird tasks that I never guessed who was who. I vaguely recall Megan’s name when Hel made me delete her application at Harvard.”
“You what?” Megan took a step, her hands clenched into fists.
“Sorry. I don’t think I ever did anything with April, but I don’t know for sure. There was a lot. Hel wanted to make sure everyone got into PSU, and she took care of most of it. I only needed to interfere occasionally, since she isn’t capable of leaving Hel. Her domain. It’s named after her.”
“Yeah. I’ve been doing some reading,” April said. “But just because I’m invincible—”
“I will find some mistletoe if I have to.”
“Okay, fine.” She sounded scared.
Hannah looked at her, confused. What would mistletoe do?
“She’s weak against it.” Alys sighed. “So, sorry, I’m a terrible person and have probably ruined all of your lives.”
“It was Hel,” Emily said.
Hannah wanted to echo the sentiment. She did agree with it. But she couldn’t quite get herself to say it.
“I actually like my life,” Megan said, visibly starting to calm down. “If I’d gone to Harvard, I wouldn’t have had my classes with Hannah, and I wouldn’t have done nearly as well without her help. School was a lot of work for me.”
Hannah blinked. She had a point. “I love my life. I have the four most amazing people in it, and I have those crazy kids and my dream job, and I’m a fucking god.” And a murderer, but she was trying really hard to see the bright side.
Emily slumped onto the couch, patting Alys’s knee. “I’m still pissed at Hel for the families she gave you and me, but right now, I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, that’s not true. My powers fucking suck. I mean, fine, I’ll make the best beer ever and become a world-renowned brewer or something, but I want to be a badass swordswoman or something. Is there a goddes
s of war?”
“Yeah, but it’s Megan.”
“Damn it.”
“I am?” Megan pointed at herself. “Fuck yeah. Anything else?”
“Justice and law,” April said.
Emily chuckled. “Wow, it’s like you were made to be a pig.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Fuck it. I guess I’m fine, then.”
“Can you or Hel make me have already finished grad school?” April asked.
“Afraid not.”
“Well, I guess being invincible is far from a bad thing. Especially with some of the changes I want to try when I get into politics. What if someone tries to assassinate me? Oh, that’d be amazing. No one would ever believe what happened.” April beamed at Alys. “This is wonderful.”
“She gave you all way better lives than she did me,” Alys said. “I really thought she cared. She was the only one who seemed to.”
Hannah squeezed Alys’s hand. Just say something nice. Tell them you care. It shouldn’t be this hard. “We care about you,” she managed.
“I don’t actually know you, and you made it so I couldn’t get into Harvard…Ow!” Megan glared at April, who’d just elbowed her.
“I do too,” Emily said. “You’re my best friend, and I love you.” She squeezed Alys’s other hand.
“Now, let’s go tell Modi, Magni, and Thrudr before Hel’s fake Baldur does something.”
“There’s not really any rush,” Alys said. “We just have to stop Fake Baldur before we get to the apples.”
There was absolutely a rush. Hel was pulling way more insane shit, and Hannah wouldn’t have time to process any of it if she still had to worry about her kids. “I want to tell them now. As you pointed out, they are my family, and I won’t leave them with a spy hanging around them.”
“I was a spy.”
“And that’s precisely why we need you to tell them.”
“Wait.” They stared, neon green eyes wide with panic. “No. I’m not going to Idavollr. That’s insane. They’ll kill me. Besides, remember the whole thing about Emily? I’m supposed to be her now.”
“They’ll have to go through me.” Just because Hannah didn’t want to fight didn’t mean she couldn’t stop people. If she lifted someone off the ground, there wasn’t a lot they could do. “You helped us find the belt, you put yourself at risk to find out about Baldur, and you’re…” She still liked them. That kiss had been amazing. But she couldn’t bring herself to say that right then. “You deserve to be accepted there as much as any of us. Come with us, talk to them, explain everything, and if they don’t want you there, they can throw me out too because you’re family.” Damn, she hadn’t expected that last part. How much did she like Alys back? It was starting to seem like a lot if she was already calling them family after they’d admitted to mind-controlling her and covering up the murder she’d committed.
“Family is a weird term. Even as Loki and Thor, I’m not your family at all, but okay. Sure. Fine. If you insist. But only because you keep looking at me with those ridiculous eyes, and I may actually melt if I don’t do what you tell me.”
Hannah managed a smile and dragged them to their feet. “Then let’s go.”
“I guess I’m calling out of work,” Emily muttered. “Damn, just when having two of me was starting to sound useful.”
“Do we have to go?” Megan asked.
“Yes. Obviously.” Hannah gaped at her. “Do you not want to go to the magical kingdom and be a god?”
“I don’t have academy until Monday. Fine.”
“I’m in,” April added.
“Can we at least eat the meat I was promised?” Megan asked.
“I forgot it,” Alys said. “Sorry.”
“We can pick it up,” Hannah said. “Maybe a peace offering will help them believe us.”
Alys added, “And not kill me.”
So Idavollr it was. They swung by Alys’s, then headed for the statue of Mimir and the Rainbow Bridge.
Hannah chewed her lip as Emily drove. This had to go better than the first time. Right? She was Thor now, and they’d accepted her. Surely they’d believe her. She had proof that was pretty difficult to deny. Hopefully, it would be enough for Forseti.
Chapter Thirty-three
“Hey, I know this is a weird question, but where do my kids live?” Hannah asked of the first familiar face she saw. She couldn’t recall his name—assuming she’d ever known it—but she recognized him from Forseti’s hall.
“They don’t all live together.”
“Okay, where’s the closest one?” Hannah had had the foresight to grab Thor’s crucial items, but she hadn’t thought to change out of her poofy dress—which had been hell to fit in the car—and she could imagine that being a strange distraction. She hoped it would distract this guy enough that she wouldn’t have to explain who Alys, Megan, and April were. Were they allowed to bring guests?
“Who are all these people?”
There went that hope. “Just friends. I’ll tell everyone later. It’s urgent, please, I need to see my children.”
“Thrudr and her wife both live right over there, in the hall of the Valkyries.” He gestured behind himself.
Great, the kid she’d just met. But it’d do. Wow, she really did not know her kids that well. Did that mean no one cared about the lesbian thing? “That’s fantastic. I’ll go find them. This way?” She pointed toward the long building in front of the castle.
“That’s it.”
“Thank you.” She waved for everyone to follow and charged on. If Fake Baldur knew he’d been found out, he’d likely think better of pulling anything when he saw Thor running in his direction. At least, that was the hope.
They charged through the hall, prompting curious gazes from Valkyries in various states of undress. Hannah tried hard not to enjoy the view. Who knew if more of them might be her kids?
“Thor?” someone asked. She looked vaguely familiar. Oh, Hannah knew this one. Shit, where was she from? That was it, she’d been there at that first feast.
“Yes, hi. Where is my daughter? I was told she lived here.”
The Valkyrie chuckled. “She’s right down this way, second to last door on the left.”
“Thank you,” she called, and they ran that way. It didn’t matter that Alys said it wasn’t urgent, it was. She needed to keep her family safe. And she needed to stop the bitch who controlled all of their lives.
“Father?” Thrudr asked, looking up from a book. She was lying in bed next to another woman whose long black hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Her own gray hair fell over a nightgown. “Mother? And…I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you.”
There were important matters at stake, but Hannah couldn’t pass up this opportunity. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your wife? I just found out I have a daughter, and now I have to learn I missed her wedding.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. This is Hildr. She used to serve ale with me in Valhalla.”
“I thought the Valkyries were warriors,” Emily said, stepping alongside Hannah. “So you’re…” She paused. “Bartenders?” Did Emily want to be a Valkyrie now? Hannah could get into that.
“We’re both.”
“I relate.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’m afraid I have some important business that simply can’t wait. Okay, one last question, actually, did I get to go to your wedding, or was I dead?”
“It was after you both died. She helped me deal with it.” She looked to her wife, clutching her hand. “We’d known each other for centuries, but after everything that happened, I really needed her.” So she had missed the wedding. She felt awful.
“That is so beautiful, and I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to walk you down the aisle.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not how marriages work here,” Alys whispered.
“Oh.”
Thrudr rose, smiling softly. “What’s the news? Is there anything I can do?”
&
nbsp; Emily said, “Well, how about I show you what the problem is. April, you cool?” She gestured toward the sword on her belt. Hannah had tried to talk her out of taking it, but Emily had fallen in love with that thing since their trip to Vigridr. Apparently, everyone found love there.
“Not like it hurts.”
“Okay, so this is the real Baldur.” She drew the blade and promptly shoved it at April’s belly. It didn’t so much bounce off as seem to entirely ignore April’s presence. It went through and then was simply not inside her. “I assume that’s pretty good proof?”
Thrudr’s eyebrows shot up, and she nodded. “My love, let’s get dressed. I believe there’s a man in our court who needs to answer a few questions.”
Megan chuckled. Of course she was enjoying this. She got to play supernatural cop before she even became a real one. Maybe that would be enough to get her to not beat up Alys over Harvard. “Well, as Tyr, wouldn’t that be my duty? I mean, all I’ve been told is I’m the god of law and justice.”
Thrudr cocked her head, staring. “How about you all explain everything before we go? I’d like to not have any more surprises.”
Alys cleared their throat. “Are you quite certain you need me here? I may be one surprise too many, and you already have all the proof you need, right?” They started to walk away, but Hannah grabbed their hand.
“No. You’re staying. You’ve more than earned your place back here.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Thrudr said, “but could you please just tell me who she is?”
Alys grumbled. “I’m not a she.” They stepped in front of Hannah and Emily, a charming smile on their lips. “Nor am I he, at least not anymore. But, uh, oh fuck.” They glanced in the direction of the swords on the opposite wall, then to the daggers poking out from under the pillows. “Promise not to kill me?”
“No,” Thrudr growled.
“April, stand in front of me?”
“I’m still pissed at you for manipulating all our lives.”
“April,” Hannah shouted, glaring. “They were being manipulated themself. It’s not fair to blame them for everything, especially after all they’ve done for us.”
Thor: Daughter of Asgard Page 30
