Sindri faced the queen. "What is this place?"
Elvinia rested a hand on Sindri's shoulder, staring ahead and wearing a grim expression. "When Loki killed Baldr, the Nordic gods sought to apprehend and imprison him. However, they needed to keep him out of sight so humans didn't accidentally stumble upon the location and set him free." The Queen's features hardened as she spoke remorselessly of her actions. "The goddess Frigga came to me after the others slew Narvi and asked for my help in concealing him. I was all too happy to oblige."
All this time, Elvinia had known Loki's whereabouts and had never told her. And like everyone else, Sindri knew the fate of the chaotic god who'd crossed a line he could never come back from.
Sindri pushed Elvinia's hand away and scoffed. "When did you plan on telling me? I could have saved myself a lot of trouble."
"It doesn't work that way," the queen said tiredly. "Fae magic has its limits, regardless of the wielder. Loki cast the spell, and he must free you in turn. I also needed to wait for you to ask once you were ready. It wouldn't be right to sway your decisions one way or another."
A maniacal giggle echoed within the cavern ahead and carried into the tunnel. "But the fire queen had no qualms sending me to the realm in between. No no, with my brethren she convened and left me to rot forever unseen. But her hands are not clean, for when she fancies, will intervene."
"The nerve," Elvinia grumbled, "If there ever was a more meddlesome god..." The rest was unintelligible, lasting no longer than two seconds before she regained her composure and faced Sindri. "Do not let that imp inside your head. He is a master of manipulation."
It seemed both the queen and the wayward trickster had secrets. Sindri didn't want to go as far as to accuse Elvinia of manipulation, but she couldn't say she was surprised. Resigned, she mumbled, "Let's be finished with this."
Without waiting for Elvinia to follow, Sindri strode forward with decisive steps into the darkness. As her light hovered inside the cave, stalactites hung from the roof, dripping water in little puddles with an echoing splash. The ground was barren all around, save for three stone slabs to which a small form with unkempt blond hair was tightly bound. Directly over his head was a serpent, steadily dripping venom at an alarming rate. The only thing keeping it from touching Loki's face was a wooden bowl, held by a frail woman, eternally youthful in appearance, but wizened by sorrow and too many years in exile.
"Lady Sigyn," Sindri whispered, dipping into a reverent curtsy.
Despite all her husband's transgressions, Sigyn never left Loki's side, faithful to the end. While everyone had left the demigod to his vicious fate, performing unspeakable acts in the name of vengeance, Sigyn hadn't condemned him. Instead, she'd taken it upon herself to perform a true kindness by keeping the venom away from Loki's eyes as much as possible. She embodied the very definition of true love.
The woman didn't leave her post as she unwaveringly held the bowl over Loki's face. After all this time, her arms must have been like steel for her not to tremble or need a break from it all. But she angled her head and blinked in the fae light as Sindri approached. "Hello, my child. What business does a fae and her queen have in the realm between realms?"
Sigyn glared at the queen before returning to Sindri with sorrow and exhaustion creasing her features and tugging her mouth down at the corners. "Do you seek to gloat at my poor husband's fate?"
Sindri shook her head. "No, m'lady. 'Tis a fate worse than death or anything he could have devised for me. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone, no matter what they did."
"The gods are cruel," Sigyn lamented, "but such has always been our way. "They insist upon torture, murder, and humiliation on the deepest level, screaming to their followers they are in the right, when in truth, they won and wrote the Nordic history."
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Hockey Pucks & Pixie Dust
FantasíaSindri, a Viking woman seeking to run from an arranged marriage, receives more than she bargained for when she has an unfortunate brush with the gods. Blessed with magic, cursed to walk the earth until Twenty-Twenty-Three, and equipped with strange...