Page 28 of Thor

"I found it!" Thor burst into the tent, bottle in hand, with a beaming smile upon his face.

Sibyl's jaw dropped.

"Who in blazes are you?" Nik snapped.

"I'm Thor. Sibyl's friend. I said I'd meet her here when I found where I'd stashed the bottle of mead and I found it!" He brandished the bottle. "Now, we need to warm it up properly, and we need glasses for everybody. Everybody must drink a toast to our handfasting!" As he drew close enough to lean in to kiss her cheek, he whispered, "Must keep them all in here for as long as possible." Then he raised his voice to its normal volume. "With Sibyl's family so far away, we wanted you, as her friends and colleagues, to be part of the ceremony. Who is the leader here?"

Karl and Lara exchanged glances. Lara was the one who spoke first. "Well, Karl is the expedition leader..."

"But Lara is the one who makes sure everything runs smoothly, so it should really be you," Karl said.

"Excellent! Both of you can perform the ceremony!" Thor said.

Lara looked doubtful. "But I've never done one before, and it's not like searching it up on the internet will be easy out here."

"I have seen it done many times. All you must do is bind our hands together, and ask us to say the vows. Then we are handfasted, and we drink!" Thor said.

Lara still wasn't convinced. She looked at Sibyl. "Are you sure about this?"

Of course not. She'd never had a boyfriend for more than a few months, and this was...commitment. How could this Norse god possibly want to be tied to her?

"I have never been more certain of anything in my life! Sibyl is the kindest, loveliest woman I have ever met, and I am honoured that she chose to spend a year with me. I only hope that it is time enough to convince her let me protect and cherish her forever!"

He meant it. He really meant it.

Sibyl swallowed. Time to make shit up, then, and really sell this. Everyone's eyes were on her. "Yes, handfasting. Thor said it's an old Viking custom. Agreeing to be together for a year. Kind of like a betrothal or living together. We decided to do it while we were in town, but he said there's usually a celebration with friends to mark the ceremony, and seeing as everyone's out here, I told him he'd have to come with me to camp if he wanted to meet everyone, so... here he is. But one bottle of mead won't be enough for everyone. We should go back to my tent and find some more." She gave Thor a significant glance and jerked her head toward the door.

Thor shook his head. "I'm sure this will be plenty! We can get more later. Help me find the glasses, Sibyl."

"I'll go get the rest. Be right back," Jorunn said cheerfully, slipping out the door before Sibyl could stop her.

Thor didn't appear to be concerned. Perhaps he just wanted everyone else to stay? Sibyl would do her best.

Lara sidled up to Thor. "Sibyl never told us she had a boyfriend back in civilisation. Where'd she meet you?"

"I went out one night, and he offered to walk me home. We got to talking, and found we had a lot in common – a shared interest in Viking history and weapons, for a start. Oh, and wait until Jorunn comes back...he's worked with reindeer! But enough about us. Thor, pour the mead. Tell us what you've found while I've been gone!"

Sibyl pasted a smile on her face and did her best to say as little as possible about Thor as the others told her about their progress on the site. Arrows, animal bones and a child's shoe seemed to be all they'd found, but Sibyl kept asking for more details, drawing it out, as Thor poured the drinks so slowly, she might have sworn it was pitch instead of mead.

Finally he was done.

He pulled a length of ribbon out of a pouch strapped to his belt and held it up. "This belonged to my sister. She said if I were ever to be handfasted, I must use this ribbon for luck."

A lump formed in Sibyl's throat. From the way he talked about his late sister, that ribbon must be very precious to him. If he intended to use it now, he was absolutely serious about this. Could she agree to be his partner for a year?

Well, the sex was already amazing. He was funny, and he wanted to protect her. They had a shared interest in Viking history, even if it wasn't exactly history to him. Besides, he'd said he was sworn to serve her, because she'd summoned him. She couldn't even begin to understand how that worked, but that meant she wasn't going to be getting rid of him any time soon, handfasting or no handfasting. Plus, she'd never met a man more easy on the eyes...

Thor handed the precious piece of ribbon to Lara. "You must bind our hands with this, while you – " He pointed at Karl. " – ask us to say the vows. Once we have said the words, we must share a cup of mead, and remain bound together until everyone has toasted our handfasting. Then we may remove the ribbon, but it cannot be cut or damaged, or the same will happen to our relationship," Thor finished.

So she was supposed to get tied up, get drunk, and then Thor had to help her untie herself. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.

Lara looked at the ribbon and made her decision. "All right, then, how do we do this?"

"You both stand here." Thor pointed. He seized Sibyl's hand in his and pulled her to his side. "We shall stand here, and you may begin."

Oh, fuck. They were definitely doing this.

He held their clasped hands out, and Lara began to wrap the ribbon around them. Thousand-year-old silk, as soft as if it had been spun yesterday. It belonged in a museum, for all the world to see, not around her bare hand. And yet...this ribbon was something personal and precious to Thor, so he was the one who got to decide what to do with it. For some reason she did not understand, he wanted to use it to bind them together. And she wanted...well, him, obviously, but...

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