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I REGRETTED THE evening as soon as I stepped outside wearing enough jewels around my neck to feel as if I were choking.

Ve had suggested I forgo weapons to put on a charming appearance tonight. Difficult for you to accomplish, I’m sure, he’d said with half sarcasm and half sincerity. I chose a different route. I strapped the most beautiful axe from Hitta Haven to my back—a gorgeous weapon with a silver head and perfect balance—and a dagger to the outside of my arm like a tattoo I kept on me. Ve had frowned when he came to pick me up. “That’s a bit much,” he said.

“I’m not leaving without a weapon. You feel like telling your parents on your own that you want to live in mortal lands?”

“They’d chain me to Asgard,”

he’d grumbled. He motioned to the chariot with a sigh. “Come on then.”

His eyes narrowed to slits as I came closer. “Is that the dagger you used to cut me?”

I patted it. “I think I’ll name it Delight, in honor of your dreadful nicknames.”

“Cute,”

he said dryly.

We took the chariot ride in stilted silence. I didn’t miss how the muscles in Ve’s arm rippled with how tightly he grasped the crossbar, his knuckles whitening with each passing moment. “It’s going to be fine,”

I told him.

“You haven’t met my parents,”

he responded.

I would tonight. I was very interested to meet whoever could make a strong god like Ve fearful.

An urge rose within me to protect him. I tried to shove it away, but the truth was hard to ignore. Ve was someone I’d easily fall for. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up doing whatever it took to save him, and let myself die.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Ve said.

The way that made my heart flutter was not in the spirit of faking feelings.

“Thank you,”

I muttered.

At last, we reached the single-story structure of his parents’ home, spanning the field with many open walls, tall windows, and greenery left to climb rampant wherever it chose. On a different night, this would have appeared like calm quarters full of fresh air and the scent of turned soil, but tonight was not that night. Tonight, it was overrun with gods.

Ve didn’t pull the horses to a stop at the front veranda, but kept them moving past it and around the corner. Then he stepped off to offer his hand. From the back of the house, there was nothing but moonlight to illuminate his outfit, but the moonlight was very generous with him, causing my eyes to wander his way more. They caught on the straight cut of his suit and brass buttons, lingering along the high set of his jaw, and making a home in the tangles of his hair that he’d coerced into a knot at the back of his head.

I had to remind my heart one more time he could never be mine.

“Ready, my love?”

That didn’t help.

I stepped down without his help. “Call me that again, and I’m using Delight.”

At his puzzled expression, I patted my dagger.

“Out of curiosity, I’m going to keep a tally of the number of times you threaten me over the next two months,”

he said. Then he gestured to a grand staircase behind him, leading up the outside of the house to a balcony overlooking the veranda. “That is where we will be presented. Think you can pretend to be in love with me?”

Quite easily, yes.

“I’ll do my very best.”

The real trick would be him convincing the others he fancied me.

Hand in hand, we ascended the stairwell. The top spilled us on the wide balcony, where Ve led us directly to the railing. His grip on my hand tightened, and he held up our clasped hands to get the attention of the gods.

“Thank you for coming tonight,”

Ve shouted, quieting the crowd.

While there’d been dozens of gods the other night, tonight there were nearly a hundred guests, crowding the open veranda below, scattered through the open halls of the house, and migrating on the roof directly across from us. Word of my arrival had spread. Once more, most wore weapons of some sort though I’d yet to see anything resembling violence, other than my tiff with Ve earlier. But he hadn’t needed a weapon to hold me back.

Down below, Frigg stood by Odin, both in matching shades of teal and seated at a fountain so comfortably, the rest of the gods appeared to be centered around them. Even in someone else’s home, they still commanded the space. Frigg caught my eye and winked.

Let the show begin. I smiled back, and let myself lean in to Ve. Encouraged by the touch, he let go of my hand and wrapped an arm around me.

“Many years I have waited for the day when I would meet my fiancée,”

Ve said. “I’d heard tales of what her beauty would be, what strength she would possess, and how mountains would surely bow at her presence.”

That might have been a bit much. I nudged him with my foot, and saw him grin. “What I failed to hear about was her fire, but believe me, this young goddess has a wild spirit.”

He laughed, and a ripple of chuckles ran through the crowd. Then he quieted and his expression softened. To everyone watching, he’d look very much in love as he gazed at me.

“You were well worth the wait.”

He was selling his part well.

We hadn’t rehearsed lines for me, but I cleared my throat. “And I lived my life not knowing who I was,”

I spoke. Ve’s brows raised in surprise as I projected my voice over the crowd. “But this?”

I tilted my head to look up at Ve. The night made his dark eyes look black, but I could see they were on me, waiting for what I would say. “You were a surprise, but one of the greatest surprises life has given me. I look forward to many adventures with you, wherever they take us.”

I added that last part purposefully, laying the first brick in the long road to our escape. The glint in his eye told me he caught it.

He faced the crowd a final time. “To Ruin, our lost goddess.”

“To Ruin,”

they echoed.

Something about the fact that no one in this place knew my real name pleased me. Standing on this balcony in front of Asgard with every eye trained on us, noting every detail about me, felt like a glass cage. They were there, in every direction, and I couldn’t escape them. I’d lived my life as the runt of the clan, and now I had the eye of the gods. It was empowering and frightening at the same time, which made keeping my true name a secret all the more special. It was something they couldn’t see into. My name became one of the most treasured things about me, and I’d keep it close for when I needed to remember who I was.

You are Rune; a fighter and a survivor. Viking.

I repeated the mantra to myself as Ve led me back down the stairs and into the party.

“That was good,”

Ve whispered to me. He plucked two flutes of bubbling champagne from an ivory pedestal and put one in my hand. “Now convince my parents. If we accomplish nothing else tonight, we need to convince them this is real.”

“I do not have the best luck getting parents to like me.”

“Your freedom hinges on this. There—”

he pointed across the terrace, where a wide veranda extended from the house with little flames burning in jars and a fire burning in a stone encasing the side. Two men stood together there, one young like Ve and one older with striking black hair, slender eyes, and arms crossed like a shield over his body. The man he spoke with offered him a drink but he refused with the flick of his hand. Then his eyes darted out over the guests and found us.

My stomach tangled into a ball of nerves. If I hadn’t been good enough for a Chieftain’s son, I wasn’t good enough for a god.

Ve pressed forward with no sign of hesitation. I set my jaw and straightened my spine before remembering this was not a fight I walked into, and I softened my expression by the time we ducked under the string lights to the veranda.

Ve dropped my hand to greet the younger man first. “Leif, you made it after all.”

They clasped hands before pulling into a strong embrace. “I wouldn’t miss this! Your infamous fiancée has been found. It’s all anyone in Asgard can talk about, and everyone who can get away from business is trying to get here.”

He stepped back and straightened his jacket. “This must be her.”

Ve slid an arm over me and put on a smile. “This is Ruin. And Ruin, this is my brother, Leif, and my faoir, Erik.”

I tried not to let the surprise show, but a simple family run through would have been nice. How many other siblings did he have here, people who knew him better than anyone and would know this was a fa?ade?

If my siblings were here, they’d recognize the guise in an instant. I prayed Leif would not be as keen.

I recovered quickly and offered my hand. “It’s an honor to meet you both.”

Leif’s handshake was warm and eager. He didn’t dress like the other gods—dripping with weapons and an air of superiority—but had a clean look about him from the shave of his beard to the short cut of his hair and the kind set of his almond eyes. “You’ve no idea how eager we are to meet you. We thought you were dead long ago.”

My smile threatened to crack. “Here I am.”

Leif tipped his glass at me. “Here you are.”

Erik was quieter as he took in every detail of me, and I took in as much as I could of him. Unlike his son, he was burly and stiff, with a sharp look in his dark eyes and no laugh lines etched into his skin. He reminded me very much of Jarl Hakan. I softened my voice. “It’s so wonderful to meet you. Ve has told me much about you.”

He paused for only a moment, but it stretched for ages. Then he spoke, “I look forward to getting to know you better.”

Something in his eye said he already knew everything he wanted to know about me and I hadn’t met his standard. I bit down against the insecurities and reminded myself I was a goddess here and he had no reason to question me. But even as I thought it, he turned to Ve. “Why don’t you boys go find your móoir while I have a word with Ruin?”

Ve stiffened. “I’d rather not leave Ruin with strangers. She’s still new to all this.”

“You just met her a few days ago,”

his faoir reminded him. “You are still a stranger to her.”

Leif dipped his head, as the tension in the air thickened like the clouds at our feet, drenching me in shivers of discomfort. Ve looked like he wanted to argue more, but his faoir put up a hand. “I only wish to get to know the girl my son is to marry. She will be right here.”

“I’ll be fine.”

I placed a hand on Ve’s arm to gently push him away. “I’d love to speak with your faoir.”

He hesitated but finally obliged. He strode into the crowd without a look back.

“You too, Leif,”

Erik said.

Leif downed the rest of his drink, and set the glass aside. “Welcome to the family, Ruin,”

he said with a chuckle as he followed after his brother.

Losing Ve felt like losing my armor as I stood before his faoir, searching for the right words. Before I found them, he held out his arm. His still demeanor melted as his shoulders relaxed and he took in a long draw of air. “Come,”

he said. “Let’s take a walk away from all the noise.”

I placed my hand on his arm and allowed him to lead me into the house and through a back hallway before cracking open an arched doorway. Back outside, he guided me along a twisty path leading to a small garden at the side of their home. It reminded me much of my móoir’s garden, carefully tended and planted in perfect rows, with a large watering can resting on a hook. The familiar scent of turned dirt filled my lungs.

“I used to garden with my parents,”

I said to fill the silence. The words settled between us until I didn’t think he’d respond, but then Erik tore his eyes from the garden.

“My daughter planted this,” he said.

Not just Leif then. Ve had a sister as well. I didn’t want to acknowledge I hadn’t known that already, so I said nothing.

Erik grabbed hold of a stone bench and turned it away from the garden to face the mountains. He wore a sword at his side, and the sheath clinked against the bench as he sat down to stretch his legs before him. The clouds blanketing the ground of Asgard gathered thicker, masking our ankles as I sat beside him and searched for something to say. I couldn’t tell yet if his silence was disfavor toward me or merely a quiet spirit. I hoped it was the second.

“I’ve never been much for these gatherings,”

he said at last. “Too loud and overbearing and filled with silent politics.”

I knew nothing of the politics of gods, but I knew of dislike for crowds. “I’m not fond of parties either,”

I confessed.

That earned a smile. “Ve isn’t either. It’s rare we manage to drag him out of his studio, and even then, he’s usually coated in clay or paint.”

The amount of new information I was amassing about Ve tonight was startling. I truly knew nothing about the man. We did not plan this well.

Erik was watching me closely, and he caught the surprise. “You didn’t know he likes to paint?”

I swallowed. “It hadn’t come up yet.”

His lips pulled into a thin line, like it ought to have been the first thing his son said after his name. “I’m sure it would have soon. I’ll let him tell you about himself though; I want to know about you.”

That should have been an easy question, but I tried out a few answers on my tongue and hated all of them. Runt of the clan. Sister to Tova. Burnt out flame of Trig. Probably wasn’t going to receive my shield this year. None of those said anything about my heart, and yet they had defined me. Finally, I shrugged. “I’m just Ruin. I grew up as the second daughter of six, farming the land with my faoir and training to be a shield-maiden like my móoir. That’s all.”

Now his brows raised. “Shield-maiden? So you fight?”

By the axe strapped to my back, that must have been obvious. “Yes, the entire clan learns to fight, even if they don’t all go on raids.”

He stood and drew the sword from his side. “Would you care to fight with me? It’s been years since I trained, so I should be easy to beat.”

I itched to train again after spending nearly every day of my childhood fighting, but I hesitated. “I’m not certain that’s the best idea.”

“A young goddess like you? You’ve nothing to worry about against an old man like me.”

He spread his feet amidst the thick clouds on the ground—something I’d never get used to—and held his sword in front of his face.

“If you’d like.”

I set down my wine, undid the buckle around the axe, and let the weight of it fall into my hands. It was heavier than I was used to, so I’d have to adjust for that, and I didn’t have my usual shield in hand.

Plus, I’d never fought against a god before. Even in old age—which Erik was not quite old enough to claim yet—he was sure to be much stronger than me. But there was no way I could refuse him. There was a gleam in Erik’s eye like this was the highlight of his year.

I couldn’t wait to tell Ve I was right to bring weapons. I liked his faoir already.

“You sure you can handle this?”

I asked, trying to appear as confident as I could.

He chuckled. “Show me your best, young goddess. I must warn you, I’ve been fighting for two hundred years.”

I had no time to absorb the oddity of that when he advanced.

He moved slow at first, testing out what I could handle. I held up the axe to defend against his first swing, then let the momentum carry it downward to strike. He backed up and let the blade pass before him harmlessly, but the delight in his eyes was so pure, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“No one trains with me anymore,”

he said, striking again. “I’d forgotten how much I missed this.”

“I’m always happy to train,”

I said between heavy breaths. I flipped the axe over so his next swing met the iron poll, then jabbed the knob against his chest. He staggered back with wide eyes. A poke like that wouldn’t be enough to even injure someone, but it was likely the only hit I’d be getting against him.

Now that I got a hit in, his fighting intensified. I widened my stance, absorbing the shock of each hit and only having time to readjust before he would strike again. After three strikes on the defensive, I finally hooked the axe around his sword and pulled it down, then jabbed his chest with the knob again, sending him back a pace.

He laughed. “Is that the only move you know?”

“I’m not used to such a heavy weapon,”

I confessed through deep gulps of air. My breathing hadn’t tightened yet, but I knew it would soon.

Erik lowered the sword, wiping his brow. “If your current weapon is too much to bear, then don’t be afraid to fight with ulterior means.”

At my creased brow, he raised a hand into a fist. “This. No one said you have to use the axe alone. Block an attack, then jab with your fist. It’ll be enough to stun your opponent so you can get an honest shot in.”

I had the dagger at my side, but I didn’t want to take things that far. I nodded, and lifted my axe. “Again?”

“Always.”

He brought the first blow, striking down with no resistance until my knees almost buckled under the weight. This time, before I could recover, he flipped the sword into a backward grip and brought the blunt end along my side. I twisted so the blade slammed against my handle, but he’d been anticipating that and turned it upwards at the last moment, bringing it over the axe and the blunt end came back down against my shoulder with a crack.

I sank to a knee. Instinctively, I lifted the axe flat over my head to block another attack, and watched him raise the sword up.

Before he could get another blow in, I sprang to my feet, twisted the axe upward to hook onto the sword, and spun it down. With the point of his blade in the grass, I brought my knee up hard into his gut.

He winced, but I wasn’t done. The axe was way too heavy to wield as usual, so I let the weight of it drop the head into the dirt, then I grabbed at both ends of the metal. Holding it by the head instead of the handle, I swung the pole of it around and knocked it into his side.

Had this been a real fight, I’d have swung it at the side of his head, but this was for fun, so I pulled the punch. Erik leaned over with a grunt, but he was smiling when he came back up. “Very good. The mortals have taught you well.”

“Thank you,”

I said, though it was his advice that helped.

Erik’s chest audibly rattled with his deep breaths, and he kept the point of his sword down to suck in air. “Let’s rest,”

he said. “I’m not used to this.”

“Of course.”

I dropped the axe and offered my arm to lead him back to the bench. With a jolt of triumph, I realized this was the first time I’d fought someone and they were breathing harder by the end.

He is at least a few hundred years old, I reminded myself. Whatever that means to a god. But then again, he’s a god. I took it as a victory I was still standing.

Ve was probably looking for us by now, and I couldn’t wait to tell him how well it’d gone with his faoir. I wasn’t coerced into talking about any feelings I might have for his son or lying about what I wanted for our future, but instead I had forged the start of a relationship the only way I knew how: through sparring. In my experience, training together built trust much faster than conversation could.

Erik wasn’t as intimidating as he’d been earlier that night, when the firelight had accented the sharp cuts of his face and he’d looked at me like I was an incoming storm and he couldn’t figure out if I would bring helpful waters to his lands or destroy them. Now, he looked at me like a friend.

I had no idea what Ve was so afraid of.

Erik set his sword back in its sheath and leaned his weight into the bench. “What was it like living with mortals?” he asked.

I sat beside him. There could be a hundred ways to answer, but I came up with something sincere. “They taught me to be grateful for everything and how to be strong.”

“That sounds nice,”

Erik hummed. “Such a fascinating land.”

His breaths came in steadier strings now, and his chest didn’t pull as tight with each one. Behind us, a howling wind cut through the night and drowned out the buzz of the party, flitting about the fallen leaves that hid in the eaves of Erik’s home. I was grateful to be out here instead of in there; conquering one friendship instead of tackling the pressure of a hundred.

I shifted to reclip my axe and let the weight of it pull me back to lean next to Erik and enjoy the stillness of the night. Down below in Danmark, they’d be preparing for harvest and stocking up for winter, but for the first time in my life, the colder months weren’t marked by tireless work. I picked up the flute of champagne I’d set down on the bench earlier and took another sip.

Erik’s gruff voice bit the silence. “I’ve always found mortals to be agonizing creatures.”

I almost choked on my drink. “How so?”

“They are as bitter as the land which they work, and the cold of their winters has hardened them all into unforgiving beasts with little kindness.”

He didn’t hold back.

“Is that why you won’t let Ve visit them?”

As soon as I’d said it, I snapped my mouth shut.

Erik’s demeanor changed in an instant like an ember bursting into a raging fire. “What did my son tell you?”

I worked my jaw. “He wishes to travel across the countries, but you won’t let him.”

I teetered between wanting to temper his sudden emotions and wanting to lean into them to uncover why he wouldn’t let Ve visit the mortal land.

Erik stood to his full height, and I followed suit so I wouldn’t feel as small next to him. It didn’t work; next to a god, especially a suddenly angry one, I was helpless.

“You do not know what you speak of,”

he grumbled. “Don’t repeat things that don’t involve you.”

He hovered so close, the heat of his breath wafted over me. It was nothing compared to the heat of his eyes. They’d narrowed to slits that made me shudder. I didn’t withdraw.

“I’ve seen parents like you,”

I told him. “They are too afraid to lose their children, so they hold them close with an iron grip. They lose them in the end. Ve is a grown man—a grown god—who should be allowed his own choices.”

I kept the waver out of my voice with great difficulty.

He laughed, but it was dry. “Ve makes plenty of his own choices, believe me.”

He looked at me like I was one of those choices. “You don’t know him well enough to say what he wants.”

Erik towered over me like a mountain. If only he relented and let Ve go, my problems would be solved. Ve would return me to my clan and I would escape the peril that would surely come as soon as one of these gods found out I was lying to them all. This one stubborn faoir was all that stood between me and that. If he released Ve now, I wouldn’t need to wait two months.

But Erik looked like he wanted to crush me, not reason with me.

My parents hadn’t cared enough to keep me away from harm by tethering me to them. If they had, I wouldn’t be here. But Ve’s situation was a different kind of struggle as he fought to cut his own path. It was a fight, I suspected, he’d been fighting alone.

I knew about being alone. That, I could relate to.

“You’re right,”

I said. “I don’t know Ve well. But you’re wrong about Vikings. They are brave and honorable and give their children a lot more respect than you give yours.”

His hand met my cheek with a crack.

I staggered back as pain shot like an arrow across my jaw and my vision darkened. I reached for the blade at my waist, but didn’t draw it, as my other hand met the cold wrought iron of the bench. I grabbed hold to secure myself to something as flecks of color returned to my sight.

Erik’s teeth grated together. His eyes became dark pits bearing into me. “Leave now, before I risk Odin’s wrath and hurt you.”

Now I saw what Ve was afraid of. A vibration hummed in my ears. Something trickled down my cheek, and I didn’t need to touch it to know his ring had cut me. “You’ll lose him in the end,”

I echoed my previous words. This time, I had the sense to walk away.

“Maybe,”

Erik called after me. “But not to you. My son can do much better than you.”

I tried to ignore the way his words twisted my heart into a tight knot that pulled at every insecurity I’d ever felt, but I kept on walking. My pride wasn’t worth staying to argue over, and it was clear Ve’s freedom wouldn’t be bought with words.

The noise of my engagement party surrounded me once more and I tore up the hill to where the lanterns lit the night. People turned as I came into view of the veranda but their eyes caught on my cheek where it bled and they thought better of approaching me. Good. The night had already exhausted me, and I feared I had little else to give.

I searched for Ve, but found Odin instead.

Rather than turning away, his gaze went lethal and he pushed through the crowd to my side. His fingers lifted to touch the raw skin of my cheek.

“Who did this to you?” he asked.

“No one,”

I replied.

Odin checked over my shoulder to search through the dark, but Erik must have gone a different way because he frowned. “Tell me,”

Odin pressed. “Tell me who dared to lay a hand on you.”

“I said no one.”

“Ruin.”

His voice was a rumble. “I protect my family.”

I jerked away from his touch. Erik’s words had put me in a foul mood, and the last thing I wanted was for others to see me as he did—insufficient, a weak child who needed Odin’s protection to survive.

“I can take care of myself.”

I pushed past him. “If you see Ve, let him know I had a lovely time tonight. I’ll be at home.”

I escaped through the back gate, climbed aboard Ve’s chariot, and left.