Page 19 of Mated to Fenrir
"Thatdoesn'tsurprise me." I looked up and down him without even fully meaning to.
"What about you?"
"I work in HR. It's not my dream, but it pays the bills. I do lead a yoga class too. That makes me very flexible."
"I shall try not to think about that too much."
"You can think about it as much as you want," I responded.
He cleared his throat, clearly trying his bestnotto think about it. I leaned closer to get some more food, knowing that it would likely affect him and feeling a bit mischievous for it.
"So, what is the dream, if it isn't HR?" He asked, clearly trying to change the subject so he stopped thinking about whether I was actually flexible or not. He leaned over and speared a piece of chicken with his fork. "Mmm, that's good."
"It is," I agreed. "I've always wanted to be a hairdresser. I know that sounds like such a boring dream..."
"It's not," he said firmly. "What's stopping you?"
"Money," I responded. "I shouldn't really be talking about that yet, should I?" Though it felt right to, especially when we weren't exactly going for a short-term thing. We were takingthings slower than we normally would because both of us saw the potential for a long-term relationship, and one that could last a very long time. It was better to be open about these things.
"You can tell me whatever you're comfortable with," he promised.
"When I left school, my parents weren't in a position to support me studying for longer, so I started working. I have a savings account for going to beauty school, but it's been nearly eighteen years and I haven't actually gone back."
"You should do."
"Maybe."
"You only get one life," Fenrir said firmly. "You should make sure you make the most of it."
"An interesting take from someone immortal," I responded.
"My life might be long, but a lot of the people around me have had limited time in this world. It's better to tell people that they should be true to themselves before they realise they've run out of time."
"I get that you think that, but I've had to focus on other things."
He nodded and pushed the tray with the last piece of chicken towards me. "I had to do the same when I was younger. Though it wasn't as possible to choose your career as it is now."
"Mmm, I wonder what I'd have ended up doing if I'd been born when you were."
"Maybe you'd have become a goddess," he said, a serious expression in his eyes as he looked at me.
"Hardly. I'm not nearly special enough for that."
"The only reason you think that gods and goddesses are special is because they're deities," he points out. "Most of us started out just like you are now. A normal person just going about their life."
"I find that hard to believe."
He shrugged. "The only thing special about me is that my father was immortal. When I was in my late twenties, Loki asked Odin to make me immortal. After that, the rumours of me betraying the rest of the Norse gods and causing Ragnarok started, and were eventually enough to make me a god. It's only a circumstance of birth that made me special."
"Isn't that true for a lot of different people?" I asked.
"True."
"So, did they really chain you up?"
He laughed. "Yes, but it was a bet. I won a chest of jewels for getting free."
"What would you have lost if you hadn't broken the chains?"
