“No.” Kera shook her head, adamant. “I don’t want to ruin it. I want this as a wonderful memory. You start learning too much about people, or meeting your greatest heroes, and you suddenly find out what dicks they really are.” She brushed dirt off her knees. “And apparently, after I die, I’ll have until Ragnarok comes to learn the good and bad of even the amazing Eleanor Roosevelt!” She grabbed Vig’s arm and her voice went up twelve octaves when she asked, “How cool is that?”

Vig laughed, remembering how excited he’d been when he’d met the Vikings he’d grown up hearing about all his life. A few he’d even managed to defeat in battle, which gave him a bit of remorse as well as a sense of superiority he hadn’t had before.

This was why he’d brought Kera here. Why he’d risked her life and his own on Odin’s field of battle. Because if she could survive here, then the human world would be much less of a challenge.

“Are you still angry at me, or do you want to go for a walk?”

“I’m furious, but my sister-Crows have put me in a surprisingly good mood.”

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll find out what a dick I really am?”

“Aw, sweetie, I already know. And so far . . . I’m not too bothered.”

While Kera waited outside, Vig sneaked back into the hall and retrieved a few clean bedrolls and some extra food. He then led them away from Odin’s hall and deep into the surrounding territories of Asgard.

First he took her to a field filled with winged horses of every color and size. Their offspring would be given to Valkyries throughout the world. One of the stallions came right up to Kera and let her pet him. When Vig got too close, though, the horse tried to bite his hand off. It was funny only because Vig was extremely quick and didn’t actually lose his hand.

After that, one of the mares led them down a steep path until they hit a very small, intimate lake. The water was heated by underground volcanos, Vig said, and the surrounding area had lush greenery and no snow. Kera was grateful. She wasn’t in the mood to sleep on ice if she could help it.

Vig rolled out the bedding and dropped to the ground with a happy sigh. He pulled off his boots and socks and sighed again when he wiggled his toes.

Kera sat down beside him. “It’s really beautiful here.”

“It is. It reminds me of home.”

Kera glanced over at him. “Do you ever think about going back to Sweden?”

“Sometimes. Especially during the World Cup.”

“World Cup? That’s soccer, right?”

He chuckled. “Yes. That’s soccer.”

“I hear that tone. Don’t think I don’t hear that tone.”

“The most popular game in the entire world and Americans are like, ‘eh.’”

“Because we have American football. Of the two, I think your Old World Vikings were built more for that rather than soccer.”

“They wouldn’t like all the padding.”

“Have you seen some of our football players? If they didn’t have the padding, they’d all be up on murder charges. Some are anyway,” she added, “but for a completely different reason.”

Kera had her own boots and socks off now and she unstrapped the sheath from her ankle. She stretched her legs out and, like Vig, wiggled her toes.

“My muscles are pleasantly sore,” she murmured.

“They’ll be worse tomorrow.”

Kera looked over at him. Stared.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Kera glanced off and noted, “Not a lot of Nazis.”

Vig seemed confused by that statement, so he asked, “Pardon?”

“I thought among the warriors here there’d be a lot of . . . ya know . . . Nazis.”

“Oh. I see. Well . . . Odin wasn’t a fan.”

“Because he’s so open-minded and liberal thinking?”

“No. Because nothing irritates gods more than humans who think they are gods. You won’t find Napoleon or Stalin or Idi Amin here either. Let their own gods sort them out; our gods have bigger issues to deal with.”

Kera placed her hands behind her, palms flat, and leaned back.

“So,” she finally asked after several minutes of silence, “have you been stalking me since you saw me the first time at the coffeehouse or did it start recently?”

“I have not been stalking you.”

“Oh really?”

“A few hours of slaughter and someone has become kind of full of herself, thinking guys are running around stalking her.”

“Not guys. Just you. And if you didn’t stalk me, how did you know where my apartment was?”

Vig’s jaw twitched. “Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me, Ludvig. The day when The Silent came to my place, I told you I was going to my apartment but didn’t give you my address, but you still showed up. How did you know where I lived?”

“You know, Kera—”

“Lie to me, and I’ll crush you.”

Vig began rubbing his nose and she knew he was embarrassed, but she didn’t care. He should be a little embarrassed.

“Okay. When I first saw you, I asked one of my Raven brothers to find out what he could about you. He’s got a security company and has access to that sort of information. He gave me a dossier—”

“A dossier?” Kera sat up straight. “You got a dossier on me? You’re starting to sound like my Navy SEAL ex.”