Chapter 9

Skadi

The dry heatof the sauna pricked my skin, and I found myself wondering what had come over me when I"d invited Erik to come join me. I was normally the kind of person who preferred to sauna alone.

Actually, I was the kind of person who preferred to do everything alone, but there was something about him that made me feel a little less like that. Coming back from checking on Lofn and the others to hearing the music coming from his room had been nothing short of wondrous, and it had felt right, even if it was something I"d never experienced before. And even though I"d been disappointed that the music had stopped, I"d been glad when he came out of his room to talk to me.

I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. "What"s wrong with you, Adi?" I murmured to myself. This wasn"t like me. When I had people staying because of the snow, the most common thing I did when they were around was ignore them. Or make polite small talk. I didn"t engage in lots of conversation and kept making small talk with them.

I closed my eyes and leaned back, lying down on the hot wooden bench and feeling the heat tickle me. No matter how much I tried, it wouldn"t chase the feelings away.

A knock sounded on the glass door of the sauna and I sat up, being careful to place my leg in a way that would hide anything from view I didn"t want seen.

"Yes?" I called.

The door slowly creaked open and Erik popped his head around it. The moment he caught sight of him, something changed in his expression, his eyes darkening as he took in every part of me.

At least until he came to my feet.

"You"re really serious about the socks," he said.

"Mmhmm. If you want to join me, there are towel socks in the rack outside. Or aqua socks if you prefer."

"What are towel socks?"

"Socks made of towel," I responded, wiggling my toes in my own. "I find they"re better than the aqua socks for in here, though you have to change them again if you want to go into the hot tub outside, which is a drawback."

"Are you sure you"re okay with me joining you?"

I nodded. "There"s plenty of room." I waved to the other side of the sauna. "But maybe bring a couple of spare towels in for us." I"d usually just lounge around naked save for the socks, but I figured it was better to at least cover up a little.

"All right." The door closed, and I was vaguely aware of the sounds of changing outside it.

I took the opportunity to rearrange myself so my towel covered me, even if that left my legs touching the hot bench a little too much.

The door opened again and Erik stepped in with a towel around his waist and his eyes closed.

Despite knowing I shouldn"t, I laughed at the sight. "What are you doing?"

"I"ve heard horror stories of men who gazed upon a goddess naked."

"Artemis?" I guessed. "Don"t worry, I"m not naked, and I"m not Artemis."

"Socks don"t count as stopping you from being naked."

I let out an amused laugh. "I wasn"t thinking about that, but I"m going to quote you next time someone tells me it"s weird that I keep socks on in bed." I took one of the towels from him and laid it down on the bench so I didn"t feel the heat as much.

Erik opened his eyes and seemed relieved to find that I actually wasn"t naked after all.

"I"m not sure if I should be insulted or not," I said as I retook my place on the bench, lying down and stretching out my legs.

Erik"s gaze immediately went there, which certainly helped alleviate some of the hurt that he didn"t seem to find me appealing.

"And I"m definitely not Artemis," I murmured.

"I don"t think I"ve ever met Artemis," he mumbled.

"Considering it took you a while to figure out I was a goddess, you could have been dating Artemis for years without realising it."

"I think someone would have pointed out that I was dating a goddess," he said.

"I think she goes by Missy these days anyway. And she tends to throw a lot less temper tantrums about people staring at her naked."

"I"ll keep that in mind if I ever do meet her," he responded.

"Have you ever met any of the gods before?" I asked.

"Not that I"m aware of, but I"m now starting to question every interaction I"ve ever had," he quipped.

I laughed, the sound coming out a bit weird from how I was lying, but still feeling kind of nice. "Sorry."

"Not your fault. I guess I shouldn"t be assuming that people aren"t gods. Just how many of you are there?"

"No idea," I responded. "I mean, there are hundreds of Norse gods and demi-gods, times that by every culture that"s ever worshipped a god in the world, and there are a lot of us."

"Demi-gods are real too?"

"Kind of." I sighed. "Most of the heroes that the legends remember as demi-gods were actually immortals. It"s the step before god. So if you wanted to become a god, you"d start as an alv, and then you"d become immortal, and then you"d become a god."

"Sounds complicated."

"The mortal to immortal bit is easy enough, it takes some getting used to emotionally, but not much changes other than the fact you don"t age the same. Your magic stays and you just go about your life. It"s the immortal to god step that"s harder."

"I don"t even know how that"s done," he said.

"And nor can I tell you."

"Forbidden knowledge?"

I snorted. "Hardly. It"s more that it"s complicated than that. And the process takes a while. It"s simply not as easy as telling you how it works."

"Ah, fair enough."

I raised an eyebrow even though he couldn"t see it. "You don"t mind the wishy-washy answer?"

"You"re not going to give me another one," he pointed out. "So I shouldn"t push for one."

"You"re much more patient than I"d be," I joked. "I don"t think I"d be able to deal with someone saying anything as cryptic as that to me without more of an explanation."

"How about I ask you some more questions about being a goddess instead?"

"Sure." Normally I kept this kind of thing to myself, but it felt nice to share. Not that I was ever going to tell Lofn about this. She"d immediately jump on it and insist that she was right and that I was lonely. And if I told Kua, she"d tell me that I"d already talked too much and if I wasn"t going to jump Erik"s bones, then I should turn him out, snow or no snow. Or maybe she"d at least suggest letting him go back to Lofn"s cabin.

"Do you like it?" he asked, drawing me out of my thoughts.

"Like what?"

"Being a goddess."

"Do you like being an alv?" I responded.

"I don"t really think about it."

"Me neither." I picked at the edge of my towel with my fingers. "I didn"t even spend fifty years as just a j?tunn, and barely a hundred years as immortal. Most of my life I"ve been a goddess. It doesn"t really mean much these days. I mostly just spend my time doing what anyone else would."

"Running your ski resort and not dating?"

"I mean, I wouldn"t necessarily put it like that, but yes, I guess."

"Why did you go to a dating event if you don"t date?"

"Why did you?" I countered. "It"s okay, you don"t have to answer that, I know you went because of your friend. I guess my answer is the same. Lofn is a good friend of mine, so when she asked if she could host a Jinx event in one of my cabins, I said yes. I was making sure I was being a good hostess, and she"d have been disappointed if I hadn"t at least stayed and talked to one person."

"I was just your lucky target."

I snorted. "You approached me," I reminded him.

"So I did. Think that was her design?"

"Honestly, who knows with love gods, they tend to be a bit meddlesome."

"Hence Jinx," he said.

"From what people have said, yes. It was set up by one of the Celtic goddesses, and she"s recruited a lot of others to her cause. From what I"ve understood, they"re running all kinds of dating events."

"Oh, I know. I was on a Jinx Cruise not that long ago," he said.

I twisted over on the bench so I was facing him, though he was still lying down with one of his legs propped up and his hands folded over his chest. He looked peaceful, like he was in the exact place he wanted to be rather than snowed into a cabin on the side of a mountain. "So you say that you weren"t at Lofn"s event to find love, but you were also on a Jinx Dating Cruise?"

"It was for work," he said. "Though the route was beautiful. I"d probably go back if I had someone to share it with."

"Ah." Of course. He"d said he was a musician, I supposed I hadn"t fully come to the conclusion that he was a musician who did things like the Jinx events. "I should hire you if I ever run an event here."

"I"ll make sure my manager knows to give you good rates."

"That"s appreciated."

The soft chime of the sauna alarm went off, reminding me that I"d had the allotted time.

"I"m guessing that"s it for you?" Erik asked.

I nodded. "I"m going to go jump in the cold pool."

"You"ve got one?"

I nodded. "You"re welcome to come with me, if you want."

Indecision warred on his face.

"I promise not to look."

He chuckled. "Maybe that"s not what I"m worried about."

"I"m not going to get worried about you looking either," I responded. "The sauna is sacred."

"It"s a long time since I"ve done this properly," he admitted. "Normally when I"m on the road, it"s about the customs of whatever country I"m in."

"Ah, that makes sense," I said. "Well just like coming in here, it"s your choice. There"s a robe on one of the hangers if you want it."

"You"re very prepared for guests."

"They"re all mine, I just do it so I don"t have as many washing cycles to run."

"Surely that doesn"t make any sense, you still have to wash the same amount of stuff"

"Yes, but I don"t have to do it straight away, I can wait until I"ve used them." I got to my feet and grabbed my towel from under me. "Will you put the cover on the stove once you"re done?"

He nodded.

I gave him one last smile and headed out the door, readying myself for the cool of the air outside and looking forward to nothing more than plunging into the ice-cold water waiting for me.