I woke to the sound of crashing waves and, for a few disorienting seconds, I had no idea where I was. The wall opposite me was a warm, creamy white, shimmering with the golden sunlight of early morning, I heard the low rumble of the ocean in the distance, and I was wrapped in what may very well have been a bearskin.

Clearly, this was not my bedroom.

I sat up, pushing the dark fur off my chest. Where the hell was I? An enormous fireplace dominated the wall opposite the bed, and a row of sunny windows behind me opened to the ocean. The fireplace brought back some memories. I ran my fingers over the thick fur next to me, then leaned into the pillow. It smelled like him, warm and wild.

So, I really had found Vali.

I stood up, pulling my shredded silk turtleneck and long underwear pants from the tangled mess of clothing on the floor. Something hard smacked the floor, and I bent to see my cell phone, still wrapped in its clear plastic drybag.

“Shit,” I whispered. “Colin and Zeke.”

The last time I’d seen my two graduate students, they’d been outside Níðhöggr’s cave, looking scared and worried. I pulled the phone out and slid my fingers across the screen. My phone flashed No Service. Of course. Feeling like an idiot, I slipped it back into my pocket, trying to tell myself that Colin and Zeke had the common sense to ski back to their car after I vanished into thin air. I leaned against the door with a heavy sigh.

“The second I find cell reception,” I muttered to myself, “I’m calling Zeke.”

I opened the door beside the fireplace and stepped through. Vali stood in the next room, facing an open doorway. The rising sun illuminated the lines of his very beautiful, very naked body. I froze. This is what I wanted, I realized. Vali, with me, when we woke. This is what I’ve always wanted, ever since I'd first dreamt of him.

He turned and smiled. “Good morning, beautiful Karen.”

“Good morning.” My voice sounded shaky and uneven. “Where are we?”

The room appeared to be a small kitchen, with a sunny sink and a little wooden table. The doorway beyond Vali opened to a small, sheltered beach. I could just see the stones of a pathway leading through what looked like a tangle of wild rosebushes.

“This is where I grew up,” Vali said. “Although the house was different then.”

I met his eyes. “Different?”

“It was bigger,” he said, his voice soft and thoughtful. “The great hall was much grander, Nari and I had our own rooms...”

A shadow crossed his face, and he fell silent. Nari, the brother he killed. I could picture them with painful clarity, two boys racing down that stone path, through the wild rose bushes. Playing together on the beach. Crashing through this beautiful little house, breaking its silence with shrieks and laughter. God, how bittersweet it must feel to be here again. I crossed the room to wrap my arm around his waist.

Vali turned to me, cupping my chin in his hand. “Do you like it here, Karen?” he asked, his golden eyes hooded and solemn.

My breath caught when I tried to answer him. “I - I don’t really know,” I said. “I haven’t exactly seen much of this place.”

His shoulders relaxed, and the ghost of a smile played across his lips. “Shall I give you a tour, then?”

The house was perfect. It was, in fact, disturbingly perfect. Every room opened to the ocean, from the cozy kitchen to the bathroom with an enormous brass tub. It was exactly the right size for two people.

“But I don’t understand,” I said, slowly. We’d come back to the cozy little kitchen, the room where I’d first seen Vali leaning against the door.

“What don’t you understand?” He pulled back a chair and sat down at the table.

The wooden table suddenly filled with what appeared to be blueberry pancakes, sausages, and steaming mugs of coffee. I jumped, banging my head against the doorway to the bedroom.

“What the hell?” I yelped.

Vali smiled. “Oh, that. It’s just breakfast. When you’re hungry, you sit down, and you eat.”

I shook my head and took a deep breath. “Not that. Okay, not just that.”

The pancakes smelled amazing. I pulled up a chair and sat down across from Vali. “Last night,” I said, reaching for a coffee mug, “Óðinn left us in - ah!” I flinched and pulled my hand away from the mug.

Looking down, I saw parallel red gashes across my palm. Hazy memories from last night surged through my mind. I remembered Vali’s glowing blue sword, Hrotti, pointed at my chest. And I remembered pushing it away, ripping the hell out of my clothes in the process.

“Let me see,” said Vali, his eyes dark and serious.

“It’s nothing.”

Vali frowned and reached for my hand. Reluctantly, I unfurled my fingers. He exhaled sharply, shaking his head.

“You’re quite brave,” he said.

I snorted and picked up the coffee mug with my uninjured left hand.

“Hrotti is no ordinary weapon,” Vali said. “I’m afraid you may always bear a scar.”

“What is Hrotti?” I asked.

Vali took a bite of his pancake and chewed contemplatively. “It’s magic. It’s the sword Sigurðr used to slay the dragon Fáfnir. Of course, Fáfnir was just an enchanted little shithead dwarf. He wasn’t a real dragon.”

Vali went back to his pancake, as if talking about dragons and enchantments was an ordinary breakfast conversation. Maybe it was, in this place. I opened my hand and stared at my palm. Two little red lines stared back at me, like parallel paper cuts. They didn’t seem like much for pushing a weapon of myth and legend off my chest.

“And you’re right,” Vali said, as I attempted to pick up my fork without re-opening the cuts from Hrotti.

I stared at him.

“Óðinn left us in Val-Hall,” Vali continued. “All the houses in Asgard connect to Val-Hall, whether you want them to or not. That’s why they say Val-Hall has five hundred and forty doors.”

“How exactly does that work?” I asked.

Vali shrugged. “I have no idea. Óðinn and Loki built Val-Hall together, back before they hated each other.”

I blinked in surprise. “Your dad built this place?”

“Of course. Óðinn and my father are the most powerful magic users in the Nine Realms.” His eyes darkened. “You can imagine what a disappointment I was.”

“Oh, Vali—”

“Loki’s own son couldn’t even cast a simple illusion. I couldn’t travel through the æther. Karen, even the mortals laughed at me.”

I frowned as the last conversation I’d had with Loki percolated up through my memory.

“But that’s not what he said.” I paused, trying to remember Loki’s exact words. “He said...you were everything he once wished he could be.”

Vali barked a hard, sharp laugh. “Well, they do call him the Lie-smith.”

He turned to face the window, and I decided to drop this particular subject. Vali had probably re-lived quite enough painful memories for one morning.

When he spoke again, his voice was lighter and softer. “Nari was always trying to find ways around it, that link to Val-Hall,” Vali said. “Time was different as a wolf. Nari’s been dead for over a thousand years, I think. But to me, it still feels like yesterday. I keep expecting him to walk through those doors, telling me he’s created another passage to Sif’s private chambers.”

I reached across the table and took his hand. Vali smiled, but his eyes glistened with tears.

“I don’t think the pain ever goes away,” I said. “Not really. Not when you lose someone you love that much.”

“Your daughter,” he whispered.

My heart rose to my throat. She would have been six this year, my beautiful Meredith. She would have started first grade.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“You used to talk about her, in the pine forest. On the moss.”

I shook my head. “I don’t remember that.”

“I don’t think you wanted to remember.”

I looked up to meet Vali’s golden eyes. He looked especially handsome in the soft morning light, and I was suddenly so happy to be alive, my chest ached.

“I love you,” I said. I hadn’t meant to say anything; the words tumbled from my mouth unbidden.

“I love you too, beautiful Karen.” He squeezed my hand once before letting go and returning to his pancakes.

We finished breakfast together, in comfortable silence, as the rising sun flooded the little kitchen with bright, golden light. Afterward, I tried to pull what was left of my clothes together in the bedroom. My jacket was totally destroyed; Hrotti had ripped the front completely open. My fleece top was also ripped down the middle, as was the thin silk turtleneck I wore against my skin.

An enormous wooden wardrobe stood in the corner, next to the bed, with an old, fly-speckled full-length mirror on the front. I stood next to the mirror and examined my torso in the sunlight. Sure enough, there was a thin, red scrape across my chest, from my collarbone to the swell of my left breast. I ran my fingertips across the tender skin and smiled at my reflection. Now that was a scar for pushing a weapon of myth and legend off my chest.

But how was I going to cover it?

This morning I’d worn my same long underwear pants and ripped silk turtleneck, but the shirt was little more than tatters at this point. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to facing Óðinn again under any circumstances, but especially not wearing a few shreds of dirty maroon silk.

I cracked open the door to the kitchen. Vali leaned against the counter, already dressed in the dark leather he’d worn in Yellowstone.

“Um, I’ve got a slight problem,” I said.

Vali’s brow furrowed.

“Nothing bad,” I said. “It’s, uh, I guess I don’t have anything to wear.”

He smiled. “Just check the wardrobe.”

“Okay...”

I closed the door again and narrowed my eyes as I approached the wardrobe. It was, by all appearances, a perfectly ordinary wardrobe. Still, I opened the door a tiny crack at first, afraid it was going to magic me away to someone else’s bedchamber.

The wardrobe was full of women’s clothing, mostly frilly, fancy gowns. I pulled out a pale blue dress with lace trim. It felt like it was made of velvet. I pressed the fabric to my chest and glanced in the mirror. It looked like it should fit, so I tugged off my wrecked turtleneck and stepped into the dress.

It was my size. No, not just my size; it fit me exactly, as if it had all been custom made to hug my body, even my big hips and short arms. I twirled in the mirror, admiring the way the pale dress made my waist look slender and my tits look freaking enormous. Then a dark green dress caught my eye, and I figured I’d better try that one as well.

****

I ENDED UP TRYING ON a few more of the dresses than was strictly necessary. They were all ridiculously comfortable and hopelessly flattering. I’d never looked so good, I thought, not even during that formal engagement photo shoot Barry’s parents insisted on buying for us. I was wearing a sleek, red sheath dress and admiring a dark blue ballgown when Vali knocked on the door.

“Everything okay in here?” he asked.

I laughed. “Oh, damn! I’m sorry, I got a little distracted. Come in.”

Vali gasped, and I turned to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He gave me a hungry smile, wrapping his hands around the tight waist of the little red dress. “You,” he whispered, his breath soft against my neck, “look amazing.”

His breath was soft against my skin, and it filled me with a low, hungry ache.

“I guess I got carried away,” I said, gesturing to the pile of dresses I’d tossed on the enormous bed.

But Vali wasn’t paying any attention to the pile of dresses on the bed. He ran his lips along my neck in a way that made my skin flush with heat. Then he grabbed the skirt in his fist and lifted it to press his hands into my thighs. I rubbed my hips into his, unable to stop my moan when I felt the hard heat of his arousal.

“I thought you liked the dress,” I said. “And now you’re trying to take it off.”

“No,” he growled. “I want you to leave it on.”

****

AFTER A SECOND HELPING of breakfast, which turned out to be smoked fish and what tasted like blood sausage, Vali and I walked along the stone pathway to the beach. I’d finally chosen to wear the most normal-looking outfit in the wardrobe, soft black pants and an elegant, long-sleeved, low-cut sapphire top. At least the pants had pockets, and the top was almost the sort of thing you might see at a Renaissance Fair. I hated to leave the short red dress behind, but I couldn’t see facing Óðinn in anything quite that sexy.

Besides, it needed a wash after what we’d done in it.

Vali’s golden eyes grew dark as we crested a small rise at the end of the beach. From the top, I could just make out the distant windows and sweeping wooden staircase of Val-Hall.

Vali turned to face me. “Before we see Óðinn again,” he said, “please tell me what you think. Do you like this place?”

I took a deep breath, searching for the words. “It’s very beautiful. I mean, the house is perfect. The clothes are, uh, very nice. And breakfast showing up by itself, well, that’s a plus.”

Vali tilted his head. “You hesitated.”

I looked past him to the slow undulations of the waves, and the white crests of the breakers crashing against the pale beach. “Well, it’s just—” I stopped, worried I’d sound like an idiot.

Vali watched me. The wind off the ocean lifted his dark hair, and it danced around his shoulders.

I sighed. “Well, what exactly would I do all day?” I asked

Vali laughed. The sound rang off the green hillsides.

“No, I’m serious,” I insisted. “I mean, it’s beautiful, but I don’t know how long I could stare at this ocean without losing my freaking mind.”

Vali raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I could entertain you?”

“Oh, hell yes, you could entertain me. I mean, I’d love to stay here and do nothing but fuck you for days. For weeks, even. But don’t you think we’d eventually, I don’t know, want to do something...” My voice trailed off. Now I really was sounding like an idiot.

“I remember my mother did embroidery,” Vali said, with a soft half smile on his full lips.

Something in my face must have betrayed what I thought of embroidery, because Vali held up his hands in surrender and laughed. “So, beautiful Karen, I take it you prefer the chaos of Midgard?”

“I do,” I whispered. “I like my job, Vali. I like my chaotic, stressful life in Montana. I don’t want to give that up. Is that...okay?”

Vali grinned. “Of course, that’s okay.”

“And I—I want you to be a part of it,” I stammered.

Vali brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Beautiful Karen, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I felt a hard knot in my stomach begin to unfold as some nameless fear I hadn’t even known was there finally let go.

“Now, my darling,” Vali said, “shall we meet with Óðinn and find our way back to Midgard?”

“Yes, please,” I said, taking his arm and turning my back on the little cottage by the sea.

Óðinn met us in the fields. Very suddenly. One minute Vali and I were walking, our fingers interlaced, staring at the winking windows of Val-Hall or the crashing surf against the stone beach. The next, Óðinn stood in front of us, his single blue eye sparkling.

I jumped. I might have stumbled backward, if Vali’s arm hadn’t steadied me. Vali bowed slightly. The sunlight winked off Hrotti’s hilt nestled in its sheath across Vali’s broad shoulders.

“All-Father,” Vali said, his voice low and formal.

“Lokisen,” Óðinn said, nodding briefly. “The house isn’t quite like it used to be, but we can change that. If you’re willing to pay the price, of course.”

Vali said nothing. Óðinn’s broad smile did not seem to reach his eye.

“I take it you’re ready to go?” Óðinn said.

“We are,” said Vali, his fingers tightening around my hand.

Óðinn nodded. “Heimdallr usually handles this. But he hasn’t come back yet, so you’re stuck with me. Hold on tight.”

The world spun. With a start, I noticed a rainbow over the ocean. A very vivid, very straight rainbow. It was enormous, as big as the ocean, as big as the sky. It was all I could see—

—and then it was very cold, and very bright.

So bright it hurt. My eyes squeezed closed reflexively. Glare, I realized. I was staring at the brilliant glare of bright sunshine on ice. I moved my hand to shade my eyes and found my fingers were still knotted with Vali’s.

“You okay?” he asked.

Slowly, Vali’s golden eyes came into focus. I nodded and felt his arms wrap around my chest.

“Where are we?” I asked.

It was so cold the words bit at my lungs. I looked up and saw bare tree limbs glistening with ice.

“I know this place,” Vali said.

My eyes focused on the trees beyond his shoulder. We stood on a tiny frozen stream, in an ash grove. The trees gleamed with ice, refracting the sunlight in a thousand frozen sparks. The ash grove and the frozen stream both seemed deeply familiar, yet I couldn’t quite place them.

“Yes,” Vali said. “I know it now. This is where I first met you.”

“What?”

Vali pulled back, smiling. “Over there,” he said, moving his hands to my waist and turning my hips. “Do you remember?”

I followed his gaze through the ash trees and up a small hill to a woodpile.

My father’s woodpile.

The world spun again, and I fell backward.