Playing With Fire (EDITING)

Regal Audience

I spun around and my eyes widened slightly before I pasted a cool demeanor over my surprise. Odin stood leaning on his staff and looking down his crooked nose at me. "What were you doing in the dungeons speaking to the prisoners?" he asked with a hint of threat in his tone.

"I believe that'd be my business," I retorted.

The air sparked around us and he bent forward, taking the weight off his staff. "I am the Allfather, the king of Asgard, and I demand to know what you were doing in the dungeons."

I stood my ground and met his eye with a defiant look. "I was doing what I was doing."

The edges of his face and the muscles around his mouth tilted downward in a disbelieving glare. "You are a guest under my roof and if the dungeons is where you'd like to be, then I can easily arrange that. I will ask once more. What-"

I opened my mouth to snap back a reply when Doug tapped my hand twice. He didn't have to say anything for me to know what he was thinking. Those two taps were a reminder; a reminder to settle and take a breath; a reminder to keep in mind who I was speaking to.

Odin lifted a grey eyebrow to remind me I was about to say something. "It's a long and confusing story, sir." I glanced around at the guards and soldiers discreetly but with an obvious hint to anyone trying to see it. "And not one for too many ears."

He tipped his head upward and examined me down his nose for a tense minute before nodding. "Follow me."

I turned to Doug and he nodded, gesturing with his head for me to head on after Odin. Behind him, Kitty and Kurt nodded but I heard Odin clear his throat. When I faced him, he glanced between me and my friends. "I speak with you alone," he rumbled.

I froze. "Sir-"

The glare he turned on me gave me my answer.

I sighed, "Sorry guys."

"You're going alone?" Megan blurted.

Kurt grabbed my arm and pulled me into their huddle. "Sparky, you can't. He's a king, a god. They're unpredictable, perform on whims. They can't be trusted."

Kitty shook her head vehemently. "We're not letting you go. Not without us."

"Guys, I have to," I insisted.

Kurt's grip on my arm tightened. "No. We won't let you go with him. Who knows what might happen to you and he's the king so he won't have any repercussions."

"Exactly. He could kill you or imprison you and wouldn't care one iota," Megan added.

I met each of their eyes in turn around the circle until I came to Doug, silent and watching his feet. Everyone was begging me to stay or take them except the one person I'd expected to do just that. And the one person I would want with me more than the others.

"Doug?" I asked.

Without lifting his head, he mumbled, "Go. I trust you."

I narrowed my eyes a minute amount and watched him. Most of his face was hidden by thick blonde hair, but I could see the eyes-closed, deep-frown look of concentration on his features. "You sure?" I asked.

He picked up his head and nodded, expression completely blank now. "We'll have your back from out here. Now go."

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks," I told him, meeting his gaze for a brief second before following Odin down a long twisting hallway. He led me to a wide marble staircase that led into a throne room with a large golden throne sitting at the end on a dais.

Surprisingly, he veered away from the throne and opened a door to the side that led down yet another hallway much shorter than the first. When a guard held aside a thick, dark door engraved deeply and glossed over by centuries of wear, Odin motioned for me to step in first.