“I understand, brother. I do,” Tyr said. “But you must admit… things are changed now. And do you not find it at least a somewhat delicious irony that they would have changed in this way? With our brother, Loki, taking a human mate? I find the whole thing rather poignant, given what he put you through with your own human mate––”
“He left her here,” Thor growled, aiming his silver hammer at Lia. “How much could he care for her? He left her here! Do you think I would ever do such a thing to my dearest Sylvia? That I would leave her with my enemies and simply ‘hope for the best’?”
“His enemies?” Tyr rolled his eyes. “He left his wife with his brothers, Thor. Whatever our attempts to discipline him, that is hardly the same thing as ‘enemy.’ Do you really suppose Loki expects us to do something terrible to her?”
Pausing, Tyr looked up, focusing on the sky.
His head tilted slightly, his eyes falling out of focus as he stared up at the blue bowl overhead. After a long-feeling pause, his smile returned.
“Our brother is doing his best to block us, but he is worried. He is very, very worried about his bride here. So even knowing it is us, even knowing we would never harm her… he is far from indifferent to the situation he has left her in.”
“Sure,” Thor growled, setting the hammer heavily on the wooden deck. “And I’m sure he told you that, did he, brother Tyr?”
“Actually, he is not doing a very good job of blocking either of us right now, given that he very much wants to check up on his mate. You and I could likely track him easily right now, given his level of agitation.”
Lia looked between the two of them, swallowing.
She folded her arms, then, feeling like the posture might be overly aggressive at this point, or maybe just overly defensive, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts.
When she did, she jumped.
Staring down at her pocket, she pulled her right hand out in shock, only to shove it right back into her shorts pocket.
Fingering what she found there in a kind of amazement, she felt her throat close.
Some part of her didn’t want to understand what it meant.
She did understand, though.
Exhaling in a kind of embarrassed, frustrated, half-outraged sigh, she pulled the ring out of her pocket and stared at it.
She’d known without looking exactly which ring it was.
It was the same damned ring she’d stolen from Loki in that market in Kathmandu.
It was the same ring Loki had stolen from their father, Odin.
It was the same ring he’d stolen from his brother, Thor.
And now Lia was holding it in her hand.
16
Peace Offering
W hen Lia glanced up, she saw Tyr staring with amazement at the ring she held.
His dark eyes morphed into a cross between amusement and disbelief.
Thor, who looked over a beat later, perhaps sensing something from Lia or Tyr, or just noticing the silence, stared at her hand next.
For that first second, that’s all he did.
The Thunder God stared at the ring, motionless.
Then Lia saw him blink, jumping a little in surprise, as if he, too, was utterly shocked when it finally sank in what she held. Walking over to her, he leaned down, staring at the etched, bronze-and-gold-colored piece of jewelry from only a few inches away.
He stared at it for what must have been several seconds.
Then Thor scowled.
He muttered a bunch of those strangely-melodic but utterly foreign words under his breath, ending on something that sounded significantly more crass and guttural.
Lia didn’t have to be told the God of Thunder was likely swearing.
Even as she thought it, Thor switched to English.
“That little shit,” he growled, staring out over the water.
Lia glanced at Tyr, who once more looked like he was trying not to laugh.
Her eyes shifted back to Thor, who was gripping the handle of his hammer tightly again. Blue-white electric current sparked up from the hammer to his arm, coiling and twisting around his massive forearms and biceps without burning his clothes or his hair. She watched it slide around his chest, strangely fascinated, but somehow not afraid.
“You know what this means,” Tyr said to Thor, his voice low.
Thor scowled, staring at his brother, staring out at sea, where he presumably expected Loki to be, at least in his mind’s eye, then staring back at Lia herself, and finally the ring in her palm.
“Yes,” Thor growled. “I know.”
Lia held up her non-ring-bearing hand, her mouth twisting in a frown.
“Hey,” she said. “I don’t.”
The two gods turned to her, staring down at her, and suddenly, they looked about seven feet tall, each. Swallowing, she firmed her jaw, refusing to lower her gaze.
“I mean, I know I’m supposed to give this to you,” she clarified. “I’m guessing he wanted me to do it, thinking you’d be less likely to toss me into the ocean once I had––”
Tyr broke out in a delighted chuckle.
Lia glanced at him, but didn’t stop speaking.
“––but I still feel like I’m missing something,” she added. “Why didn’t he just leave the ring for you here? He must have known a note would have worked as well as me.”
Tyr laughed again, glancing at Thor.
The God of War patted his larger brother on the shoulder, again smiling warmly down at Lia.
“I believe you are far more of a message than the Andvaranaut, my clever, beautiful new sister,” Tyr said, grinning. At her confused look, he clarified, “The ring. What you are holding in your hand. Yes, we are here to retrieve it, and yes, I think you are right that he means for you to give it to us. But I think the message he would like to send is that he has a human mate now. It is a peace offering, but also a request of his brothers. And ultimately a request of our father.”
“A request?” Lia frowned, glancing at Thor, still holding the ring flat on her palm. “You mean, ‘here’s your ring back… don’t beat the crap out of me?’” she said. “That kind of request?”
Tyr let out another delighted chuckle.
Thor gave her a hard look with those ice-blue eyes, but Lia couldn’t help noticing that something in them had softened, and perhaps not only to her.
“It’s a bit more nuanced than that, sister,” the blond god with the massive shoulders said. Raking his fingers through his long hair, he let out a defeated-sounding sigh. “…but that’s the gist of it, yes. Loki is attempting to parlay with us. And doing his usual… apologizing without actually apologizing. Especially to me.”
“Apologizing?” She blinked down at the ring. “You mean for stealing this?”
Tyr snorted another laugh.
“More for what he did to Thor’s own human wife,” the God of War explained. “And his scoffing dismissal of our brother being mated to a human in the first place––”
“Which is what?” Lia frowned, feeling slightly alarmed, and slightly worried, in spite of herself. “What did Loki do to Thor’s wife?”
Thor turned, glaring at Tyr, then a little less menacingly at her.
“Oh,” Thor said sarcastically. “Not much. Your husband only gave my wife to his sociopathic, shape-shifting, water dragon son. Told Jörmungandr to breed with her to create a demigod ruler of Earth. No biggie. I mean, he let his son kidnap her and take her to Alfheim, locking her inside an underwater prison… but, you know, he really wanted that ring you’ve got on your hand right now…”
Thor aimed the hammer at where she still held out her palm.
“…so I guess it’s all understandable, right?”
Lia swallowed, staring up at those angry, pale-blue eyes.
“Oh,” she said meekly.
“Yes. ‘Oh.’”
Thor glared at Tyr when the other god chuckled again.
Thor continued to stare at his brother a few seconds longer
, mouth hard, as if daring him to say another word. Then the God of Thunder turned his wrath back on Lia. Strangely, however, that anger still didn’t feel aimed at her.
It more felt like Thor really wanted to be yelling at Loki.
He aimed those words at Lia instead––likely in a much-restrained voice, compared to how he’d be saying these things if Loki stood in front of him––probably because she was the only one there. She found herself thinking Thor might hope she’d convey the message back to Loki as well, or even that Loki might somehow feel Thor’s message through her.
“Now my brother,” Thor added sourly. “My charming, utterly infuriating brother, who put my wife in such danger, would clearly like to convey to me he’s seen the error of his ways. He wants me to know he’s found himself a human wife he wants, and that he’ll give the ring back, abandon his plans to subjugate the human race… all for the low, low price of being let off scot-free to live his life happily with the woman he loves, with no prison time in Asgard, no banishment to the outer worlds, and no banishment from Earth…”
Grunting at Tyr’s laugh, Thor scowled back at Lia.
“According to Loki, this should settle things. He expects me to sympathize with him because of you, accept his apology, and lobby our father on his behalf that we should all just let bygones be bygones.”
Thor growled his opinion of this, even as Tyr snorted another laugh.
When Lia glanced at Tyr, however, quirking an eyebrow, the dark-eyed god nodded sympathetically, as if he agreed with Thor’s assessment.
“Our brother has a… unique… way of communicating,” Tyr explained. “I suspect his message to us is more or less exactly what my brother, Thor, just said. Loki clearly adores you, chose you as his mate, and now wishes us to fuck off back to our own lives and sections of the cosmos, and leave him and his new bride alone.”
Grinning a little, Tyr shrugged at Thor’s glare, holding up his hands.
“You have to admit, brother. It’s a little funny.”
“It is outrageous!” Thor growled.
“You say that as if Loki isn’t always outrageous,” Tyr pointed out. “You cannot ask him to be what he is not. But look at the imprint he has left on his new mate. Clearly, he is utterly smitten. Would you really deprive him of that?”
Tyr’s voice lowered, growing more serious.
“Because honestly, brother? I think you would not. I think none of us would. When is the last time Loki had love in his life? Real love? Are you really going to pretend that such a thing would not exert a positive influence on him?”
Thor glared at Tyr.
He opened his mouth to answer, but Tyr held up a hand.
“I said love, brother,” Tyr said, his voice warning. “Not lust. Not whatever the hell he did to create Jörmungandr or Fenrir. Or what he did to trick our father in Alfheim that one time. I mean the love it would take to mark this one as his mate.”
Thor closed his mouth, scowling.
He looked at Lia, aiming that scowl at her.
At the same time, she saw that softer look in Thor’s eyes, too, as he examined whatever it was they saw of their brother on Lia. His reaction to that thing, whatever it was, seemed to irritate the blond god even more.
It also seemed to leave him resigned.
Like Tyr said, Thor didn’t seem capable of ignoring it.
Finally, he scowled at Lia.
“Fine,” he said. “Give me the ring, if you please.”
He held out a thick hand, his blue eyes blazing.
Lia tilted her own hand over it, letting the gold and bronze circlet fall into the meatiest part of the god’s palm. Thor’s fingers closed over the ring, right before he disappeared it somewhere on his person, Lia guessed in the pocket of his black suit pants.
“Thank you,” Thor said, gruff. “And apologies, sister. Congratulations. I hope it is clear it is not you I take issue with, but your incorrigible mate.”
Lia smiled, maybe for the first time since she found Loki gone.
“Oh, I’d like to have a few words with him myself, right now,” she muttered, glancing out over the water and waves towards the shores of California.
When she glanced back at the two gods, both of them burst out in a laugh.
Even Thor laughed that time, throwing back his head.
As he did, however, he made a more frustrated sound, like he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to strangle something, continue laughing about it, or just let the whole thing go.
Thor and Tyr looked at each other then, and something seemed to pass between them. At the end of it, Tyr shrugged, holding up his hands, and Thor scowled, but that hotter look in his eyes finally seemed to be fading for real.
“Fine,” he growled, turning to Lia. “Tell Loki I will bring the ring back to Asgard, and speak to our father on his behalf. Tell him, I make no promises as to what Odin will say. Much less what he will do. Or if he will accept this half-assed apology in any way.”
Lia felt herself paling, losing some of the blood from her face.
Tyr must have noticed, because he immediately spoke up.
“Thor can make no promises, it is true,” the God of War said, his voice shifting to a more reassuring tone. “However, our father, as a general rule, does not interfere once the issue of mates becomes involved. It is one of those unspoken things, but I have never known him to act differently. Loki is no doubt counting on his father to offer him some clemency in this case, because of you.”
“And because he’s the bloody favorite,” Thor growled. “Even after all this time.”
Tyr rolled his eyes, giving Thor a sideways look.
“Our father is fond of all of us.” Tyr glanced at Thor, quirking an eyebrow. “For example, he recently released Thor from his normal duties on Asgard and in the other realms, all so he can spend time with his mate here on Earth. I suspect Odin will overlook Loki’s transgressions for similar reasons.”
Lia blinked. “Because of me? Why would I have anything to do with it?”
Rather than Tyr, Thor answered her, his voice booming.
For the first time, a faint note of humor lived in his words.
“If nothing else, our father knows he finally has leverage over the miscreant,” Thor said, giving her a wan smile. “I suspect that alone will still Odin’s hand. Loki knows if he ever got out of line, Odin could separate the two of you… which, once a god has bonded with a mate, is a kind of torture for us. Truthfully, as much as I hate to admit it, it says something indeed that Loki would make us aware of you. It is a form of offering the jugular––especially to someone like Loki, who hates appearing vulnerable in any way. My brother Tyr is likely right, for this reason alone. Loki would only do this if he intended to keep his word.”
Lia nodded, her brow clearing.
Thinking, she added, “But you’d still like to thunk him on the head with that thing.” Lia pointed at the silver hammer. “…Right?”
That time, Thor let out a real laugh.
Lia stepped back in reflex, a little alarmed at the deep, near-roar that came out of the blue-eyed god’s chest. Thor only smiled at her when he lowered his head, and she found herself a little thrown, seeing how much that smile transformed his face.
“Yes, little sister,” the God of Thunder said, smiling wider. He winked at her, hefting his hammer up on one bulging shoulder. “I would very much like to thunk him on the head. Several times, in fact. Right before I threw him off this boat.”
Tyr chuckled, smacking Thor on the shoulder playfully before he aimed his smile at Lia.
As he did, Lia felt another presence there, a worried-feeling presence, somewhere in the back of her mind. The presence pooled in her chest as liquid warmth, and Lia could almost see Loki there, his light green eyes looking through her darker green ones at his two brothers.
She felt Loki assess the situation.
She felt the exact instant he made up his mind about what he was seeing.
Relief flooded through her t
hen, filling her chest, her throat, warming her face and belly. That relief remained tinged with a sharper, denser bite of worry, but the edges of that smoothed the longer he watched his brothers smile at her.
She found herself wondering if Loki knew she could feel him there.
She found herself wondering if she was losing her mind, imagining things.
Perhaps not for that. The Trickster God smiled at her, winking inside her mind. But certainly for allowing me to make you my mate, little elf.
Is that what I did? Lia thought dryly. Allow you to make me your mate?
Most certainly. It is an entirely mutual event. By definition.
Sighing a bit, and deciding to let it go for the moment, Lia combed her fingers through her long blond hair, looking out towards the ocean.
So we’re okay, then? Lia thought at him next, still aiming her smile at Thor and Tyr. They’re not going to whisk you away to an Asgardian prison if you come back here? Or if I look away for a few minutes? Or in a week? Or after a few months have gone by?
No, no. My brothers are hardly perfect, but they are not liars.
Then bring my damned sister back, Loki, she thought at him, sharper, making her thoughts deliberately louder as she gritted her teeth. Now. Or I might throw you into the ocean myself. Naked. Covered in fish guts to attract the sharks.
Pausing at his delighted laugh, even as that warm presence in her chest grew hotter, more dense, more filled with desire and affection, Lia added,
And if you ever leave me like that again, without telling me a damned thing, you’d better sleep with one eye open, God of Mischief.
Hey, Loki thought back at her. You knew who you married.
Without knowing I was MARRIED AT ALL, she retorted.
Feeling Loki’s amusement grow in equal amounts with that hotter, denser reaction, Lia sighed. It was impossible to stay angry though, as much as she might have wanted. That liquid heat continued to fill her chest, what felt like desire mixed with affection mixed with… well, other things, perhaps emotions stronger than lust or affection…
Pushing it briefly out of her mind, Lia refocused on Tyr.
The God of War was smiling at her again.
Gods on Earth: Complete Series (Books 1-3): Paranormal Romances with Norse Gods, Tricksters, and Fated Mates Page 30