Page 63 of Valhalla is Full of Hunks
I nearly jumped out of my skin for the second time in only a handful of days. Spinning, I gaped to find amancasually hanging off the stern with his lower half underwater—as if the yachtwasn’ttraveling at a steady 30 knots per hour.
“Or… trouble in the bedroom?” he added with a saucy wink.
“Both. Neither,” I automatically replied before shaking my head and scowling. “I’m sorry, but who the fuck are you?”
Because my stable doors are closed, dude.
“The more important question is, who areyou?”The man cocked his head, scrutinizing me.
I returned the favor. At first glance, he was pleasant enough to look at, with warm brown eyes peering up at me through wet strands of jet black hair. His skin tone was a reddish brown that reminded me of terra-cotta pots in the sun, and there was no missing how stacked he was.
From what I can see…
But there was no land in sight, so I immediately realized this was no ordinary man out for a swim. He’d either swooped down from the air, swam up from the depths, or magically materialized out of thin air.
With the company I keep, it could be any of the three.
Mystery man continued to assess me shrewdly, as if he were trying to solve a complex puzzle. “Or perhaps I should ask…whatare you?”
Same.
“Hazun?!”
Jör’s surprised voice had me spinning again. My sweet snake was staring at our surprise visitor like he’d seen a ghost.
A ghost from his past.
‘Hazun’ looked Jör over with confusion before leaning forward and taking a deep inhale. “Jörmungandr?” he gasped. His brown eyes widened in shock as he climbed onto the deck—disappointingly revealing human legs instead of a fin or tail. “Why in Anahita’s name do you look like a…human?”
The way he spat out the word in disgust had me cackling. “Um…Youlook human, too, dude,” I deadpanned.
Although he’s hung like a horse.
The not-quite-merman scoffed. “I certainly am not human. Didn’t you tell her anything, little snake? Or have you forgotten all about me?”
“Never!” Jör exclaimed. “I had no idea you survived Ragnarok and, as you can see”—he gestured to himself—“things have been a bit strange since then…”
My heart panged to hear my sweet snake sound self-conscious once again. “You do realize you are a total hottie, right?” I soothed, moving closer so I could wrap my arms around the only man on board not currently pissing me off. “And once I got over the shock of seeing you in your true form, you were kind of cute like that, too.”
“Ahhh… so the rumorsweretrue,” Hazun murmured, looking Jör up and down with a blinding smile on his face. “The Seven Seas were abuzz with news of the great Midgard Serpent’s return. I swam all the way up from the Persian Gulf to see for myself.”
Instead of rejoicing over the reason for this reunion, Jör looked nervous, and it only took me a moment to realize why.
If all the Seven Seas know he’s back, the gods will, too.
But maybe that’s a good thing…
Once again, I found myself with a hard decision to make. Now that I knew their permanent vacation to Valhalla included ending the world, there was no way I could let them go through with their plans. It would be easy enough for me to contact Leia or the Fates psychically and play informant, but the thought of turning them in made me feel like I was going to throw up.
Maybe I can convince them to try infiltrating Valhalla some other way.
I sighed. No matter how much I tried to fight the feels, I was already tied to these three in ways I couldn’t ignore.
Maybe I can convince them to stay.
STOP. IT.
“How did you access your true form again after all this time?” Hazun’s voice yanked me away from my scheming.
