Ana summoned the cabin in the middle of the endless plain. It looked exactly as they had left it back in Vinland.

  It was a two-story cabin with a chimney and a triangular thatched roof. On the lower floor, a large table stood before the fireplace, stocked with mead, surrounded by cozy furnishings. A beautiful red rug covered the floor.

  Behind that main room was a small kitchen equipped with a wood-burning stove. Barrels held food—meat, wines, bread, vegetables, and cheeses—sealed with ice magic to keep everything fresh.

  Upstairs were two bedrooms, each with a double bed, feather mattresses, and pillows. Each room had a wardrobe for clothes and belongings. One of the rooms even had a spinning wheel, though Ana barely knew how to sew. Both rooms were lit by two large windows.

  “Alright,” Ana said. “This is a house I bought with my savings over the years I spent in the human world. Make yourselves at home.”

  The sky over the eternal plain began to darken, even though this place was only an illusion. Everyone went inside, impressed by how warm and inviting it was—except Ana, who stayed outside. Epona and Rodrigo noticed immediately.

  “Aren’t you coming in?” Rodrigo asked.

  “No, Rui. I’ve got this unwanted thing on my back, and I don’t feel like letting him in,” the dark-haired goddess replied, referring to Loki. “And someone has to stay out here in case those flying weasels come back.”

  “In that case, I’ll stay out as well,” Epona said, sitting down in lotus position.

  “I’ll stay out here with you two,” Rodrigo added.

  “Seriously, you’re not going to untie me?” Loki complained. “I was more comfortable in that Skr?ling prison.”

  “You should bring him inside and rest, Ana,” Menrva’s voice called from within the cabin.

  When the three looked up, the Etruscan goddess was leaning out of a window.

  “The chains were made by Bellona. Nothing and no one can break them—unless she wills it,” Menrva continued. “So stop worrying and rest. You haven’t slept properly in a month.”

  Menrva withdrew from the window. Ana hesitated, considering it—until Epona stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s selfish of me, but… could you stay out here?” Epona asked, embarrassed.

  Ana remembered Epona saying she didn’t trust Menrva. Ana didn’t share the same suspicion, but she stopped anyway.

  “We’ll stay outside, Menrva,” Ana said loudly so everyone could hear. “We’ll keep watch for enemy movement as well.”

  Then she turned to Rodrigo and smiled.

  “Rui, you don’t have any reason to stay out here. Go back inside with the others,” Ana said, but Rodrigo shook his head.

  “I’m staying out here with you,” the young tannin replied.

  Tania and Anpiel soon stepped outside, carrying food and a bundle of firewood from inside the cabin. Ana blinked in surprise, then understood that Tania had picked up on the hint. She nodded with a wide smile.

  “Ana, remember when we arrived in Ibiza with Rodrigo?” Tania asked. “Why don’t we make a bonfire like we did that day?”

  Anpiel stacked the logs in the center of the group, and Tania lit them with one of her techniques. She quickly set pork legs over the fire. Anpiel, using a pan, sautéed vegetables and bread, finishing them with olive oil.

  “Well, look at that. You remembered I don’t eat meat, malak,” Epona said with a smile.

  “Of course. Everyone knows horses only eat vegetables—especially carrots,” the angel replied sarcastically.

  “As much as I hate your idiotic comments, I appreciate the gesture,” the Celtic goddess said, watching him cook.

  “So here we are,” Tania said, looking up at a satellite in the sky that reminded her of Earth’s moon and stirred a quiet nostalgia within her. “The original team, enjoying a bonfire again under a strange moon.”

  “The original team… plus an unwanted guest,” Ana added, glancing at Loki.

  “I would also like to eat, if it isn’t too much trouble,” Loki said. “I hardly eat at all. In fact, I’d be satisfied if one of you beautiful goddesses fed me by hand.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Feed him, Ana,” Tania said as she cooked lentils in a large pot. “He’s cruel, but we’re not like him—we won’t torture him.”

  Ana brought a pork leg to Loki’s mouth.

  “Go on. Eat,” she said.

  Loki bit in and immediately brightened.

  “Delicious! I haven’t eaten like this since Denmark!” he exclaimed.

  “Don’t get too excited,” Ana said flatly.

  “Exactly—after a thousand years locked in a prison in Yggdrasil, with a serpent dripping venom on my face every day,” Loki went on. “I wouldn’t have survived if my wife hadn’t brought me food every day.”

  “It’s hard to believe someone as sick and vile as you is married,” Ana said as she kept feeding him.

  “A wonderful woman, without question,” Loki replied. “Though fidelity was never really my thing—I had affairs. Even then, she still believed in me.”

  “A stupid woman, then,” Ana said.

  “Pious or stupid—that depends on the interpreter,” Loki replied. “Just like you believe I’m evil the way Asgard does. Labels. Foolish things.”

  Ana laughed.

  “Don’t try to play innocent with me, bargain-bin god,” she said, meeting his eyes with open defiance.

  “And what about you?” Loki pressed. “Married? Children? Affairs with that green-eyed serpent god?”

  “Married? I suppose. Separated,” Ana answered, a flash of pain crossing her face. “But that’s none of your concern.”

  “Don’t want to talk about it? Fine. We all carry crosses. The important thing is to overcome them,” Loki said.

  Ana grabbed a mug of beer, drank it down savagely in one go, then slammed it back on the ground.

  “I have three children,” she said, her voice rough. “But I’ve never seen them. I don’t even know if they’re alive or where they are.”

  She then lifted a mug to Loki’s mouth so he could drink.

  Loki drank eagerly and laughed. “It’s excellent! Almost makes me forget I’m tied up like this.”

  “Alright,” Ana said, cheeks flushed. “I said something I didn’t want to say. Now you—answer me.”

  She stared at him hard.

  “Is it true you killed the queen of Asgard’s son?”

  “I did,” Loki admitted. “I envied him. I hated all of Asgard. They mocked me for being a jotun. I mocked them for their inferior intellect. I assume you’ve seen how barbaric they are, yes?”

  “Yes. At the banquet, they behaved like savages,” Ana said.

  “I never fit in,” Loki continued. “I was their target. I helped when they wanted advice, and other times they humiliated me—like once…” He stopped.

  “Come on. We’re among friends,” Ana said, a little drunk.

  “They made me… being raped by a horse,” Loki said, ashamed.

  Ana let her mug slip from her hand and stared.

  “You’re lying,” she said.

  “I’m not,” Loki replied. “Being the clever one among savages always makes you the target.”

  “Strangely enough… I understand,” Ana murmured, lowering her gaze.

  “Anyway,” Loki went on, “Balder was Asgard’s pride. A blond, effeminate boy. Frigg spoiled him beyond measure—he became arrogant and petulant.”

  “I knew Odin would make him the Anunnaki of Asgard—someone who’d never faced hardship, who saw everyone as servants, who humiliated the weak. So I devised a plan to kill him. And I succeeded.”

  “And that’s why you were imprisoned?” Ana asked.

  “Essentially. A thousand years, exactly,” Loki replied.

  “I also want to kill someone from my homeland,” Ana said, her eyes turning dark. “I want him to suffer.”

  “Let me guess. The ex-husband,” Loki said mockingly.

  Ana laughed again.

  “How did you know, idiot? Do you read minds?” she asked.

  “Oh, come on. It’s obvious,” Loki replied. “With everything you’ve said, he was some big-shot Tuatha Dé Danann who abused you. Probably an arranged marriage for some stupid alliance.”

  “…Yes,” Ana admitted, the laughter fading. “That’s true.”

  “It’s common in Asgard,” Loki said. “Women given as prizes. Women sexually abused by husbands with no way to fight back. I was a bastard, I admit it—but the women I slept with chose it. I never forced anyone.”

  “It’s a filthy world,” Ana said, and tears slipped down her cheeks.

  “Come on, Ana. Be stronger,” Loki said with a theatrical sigh. “You said you’re going to kill that bastard. You’re not going to cry like this in front of him, are you?”

  “No… I suppose not,” Ana said, wiping her face.

  “How about this,” Loki continued. “Once we find Odin, and once I do what your friend ordered me to do, I’ll help you in your crusade against that Tuatha big-shot. What do you say?”

  Ana’s expression tightened again.

  “You’re trying to convince me to untie you, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “I never suggested that,” Loki replied with a sly smile. “But it wouldn’t bother me if it happened.”

  Ana stood up, swaying slightly.

  “Good night, god of lies,” she said coldly, and walked away.

  Loki returned the gesture with an amused smile.

  Ana looked over and saw Rodrigo and Epona, leaning against each other, fully asleep. The sight stirred a sharp envy inside her.

  “Why? Why do I feel this?” she asked herself silently. “Do I feel something for Rodrigo… or am I just jealous of Epona?”

  Tania appeared behind her, holding a bowl of lentils.

  “Come on, Ana. Eat,” Tania said with a smile.

  “Oh. Thanks, Tania,” Ana replied, sitting beside her.

  “They look cute together, don’t you think?” Tania asked, glancing at Rodrigo and Epona.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Ana answered, forced and flat.

  “You’re very transparent, you know,” Tania said quietly, laughing under her breath.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s my disciple, and I’m proud of him,” Ana said, drinking the lentils as if they were water.

  “You never saw him as a disciple,” Tania replied. “You always identified with him.”

  “You’re too reckless to train him. You would’ve killed him,” Ana shot back.

  “Bringing him was your idea,” Tania said. “We could’ve left him in Spain with a scolding or an injury so he’d stop causing trouble. But you suggested he live with us—educate him, teach him to fight, give him some culture. This whole adventure began with that choice.”

  Ana went quiet.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell him what you felt?” Tania asked.

  “I don’t know what I feel about Rodrigo, Tania,” Ana admitted, melancholy.

  “Does he know what happened to you in Tuatha Dé Danann?” Tania asked.

  “He knows,” Ana said.

  “I heard you talking about it with Loki,” Tania confessed. “A long time ago, you never would’ve opened up about that to a stranger. I think Rodrigo has helped all of us change—to improve.”

  “Do you think I’m better than I used to be?” Ana asked, still subdued.

  “By a lot,” Tania answered. She stood up, smiled, and went to sit with Anpiel.

  “I’m a better person than I was… because of Rui,” Ana thought deep down, and she smiled.

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  The next part will be released Tomorrow.