Loki took me to the gardens afterword, just as he’d promised.  As we entered the red gates I let out a breath. It was everything I’d imagined.  Before me the ground was covered in rings of flowers, each ring in a different color, like ripples on a pond. In the very center a Japanese maple grew, it’s vibrant leaves standing out even among the rainbow of colors surrounding it, it’s crooked branches bent over the ground beneath it, guardian of the flowers.

A stone walkway looped around the middle and branched off, one side leading to a shimmering fountain, the other to a stone bridge that passed over a small stream.

“It’s beautiful,” I forgot how sore I was from the horse riding and stepped forward into the garden, breathing the sweet air in deeply. Everything was so fresh and green here. I had no idea how much I’d missed this.

“It’s no ice palace,” Loki grinned, “I’ll tell you that.”

“It’s way better,” I headed down the stone pathway straight for the fountain. Something about the noisy splashing and bubbling drew me to it. The sound was soothing. We sat down on the stone bench, and I was instantly mesmerized. The bottom of the fountain, a shallow rock basin, was lit by tiny beams. First the waters turned purple, then blue, then pink. A sparkling show of fairy lights.

“Do you like it?” Loki was a warm presence at my side. He was sitting so close that our legs were touching.

“I love it,” slowly I took in the rest of the garden, drinking it in like I might never see it again. And who knew, maybe I wouldn’t. Things seemed to happen to me without warning, so I was going to enjoy this.

We sat in silence for several minutes, until we heard the distant, metallic gong from high on the castle wall, the signal for dinner. Loki stood up, and I followed him back down the path slowly, shuffling my feet, reluctant to leave the garden.

Loki turned to me just outside the gate. He must have seen the look on my face, because he chuckled, “don’t worry, we can come back, every day after riding if you want.”

Every day riding. That made me groan. Of course I would have to have lessons every day. I had to learn to ride the stupid thing before the battle. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I had to go challenge the Queen, but I had to worry about staying on the horse too.

Dinner was totally informal, as was every meal ever eaten by the fire jotun. You pretty much picked a table, the food was served, and you elbowed as many people out of your way as you could and tried to get your share. It was sort of a mix between a sit down dinner and a football game. You tackled your neighbor to get a good slice of roast beef, but there were no hard feelings after dinner was over. It took some getting used to.

As usual, I shared a table with Charlotte, Becca, Stacey and Margaret. Marian sat at the end, watching us chatter with her usual amused expression. Loki sat with us, but Erik was off at another table, trying to settle a dispute between a frost jotun and a fire jotun, something about the last dinner roll. I wasn’t paying much attention.

“I hear you’re having trouble on a horse,” Charlotte teased me, “I hear you almost fall off just walking around the ring.”

I glared at her, “just because I never had lessons…”

“I never had lessons either,” Charlotte shrugged, “just rode once at someone else’s birthday party. My foster parents didn’t bother spending that type of money on me. I’m just a natural I guess.”

“Good for you,” I muttered, and took another enormous bite of roast, that way I wouldn’t have to answer any of her comments.

Luckily the girls began talking about how big the horses were here, and I was no longer the topic of conversation.  Just as I was lifting another forkful to my mouth  I felt a gentle pressure on my shoulder, Erik was leaning over me,

“Hey, I haven’t got a chance to talk to you in a couple days. Do you have a minute after dinner? Meet me in the library?”

“Sure,” I smiled and nodded, noticing that beside me, Loki was gripping the edge of the table so hard that his fingertips were starting to turn red.  Erik drew back, retreating to the table he’d been sitting at, already lecturing his men about something they shouldn’t be doing.

“What did he say?” Loki was obviously trying to keep his voice light, like nothing was bothering him.

“He wants to meet me in the library, I think he has something to tell me,” I shrugged.

Loki stabbed a piece of meat with his fork with far more force than necessary. I bit my lip and pretended not to notice. The clatter of plates and cutlery filled the hall as the servants took them away. I’d been so surprised the first time I saw the servants. They were nothing like the cowering, timid half-bloods at the ice palace. They were well fed, well dressed and happy.  I watched them joke with the other jotun, poking fun at the people they were serving. They seemed totally at ease and casual as they went about their business. When I had asked Loki if they were half-blood too, he’d said no, that the fire jotun didn’t experiment with humans as freely as their enemies. The only half-bloods came from unions that had come about of their own accord. The servants in the castle were country jotun who had travelled here for work. Country folk, cheeky and cheerful. They could make more money here then they could farming the rocky soil of the countryside.

People started to file out of the great hall, there was a collection of jotun in the big throne room next door. I could smell spiced cider and cinnamon from that direction, and cheerful fiddle music had started up.  It sounded like a party.

“I’ll be quick in the library,” I told Loki, “then I’ll come join you next door.”

“Good,” Loki grinned and poked me in the side, making me squirm, “I’m making you dance with me.”

“I can’t dance!” I protested, “No way!”

“I’ll teach you, the jig is pretty easy to learn…”

“A jig?” I squeaked, “you’re kidding, right? I can’t even dance at school dances, never mind some sort of complicated jig!”

“Then it will be fun to see you try,” Loki teased.

“We’ll see,” I narrowed my eyes at him and turned to spot Erik walking towards the door, “okay, I’ll see you in a bit.”

Loki didn’t say anything else. I turned back once before I followed Erik out the door. Loki’s brown eyes were narrowed in distrust, his chin was planted in his hands and he was staring at Erik’s back as he left the great hall. I wondered uneasily, if there was going to be trouble between the two of them. Loki wouldn’t start anything, would he?

The library was quiet when we entered, everyone was out enjoying the celebrations. Erik and I chose a table in the corner, one with a green shaded lamp in the middle with a pull down chain. I fiddled with the chain while Erik spoke.

“I just wanted to make sure everything was going well,” he leaned forward, placing one hand over my mine. It was strange, Loki’s hands were so hot on my skin, and Erik’s were actually cool, almost matching my temperature.

“We’ve been so busy settling in, and I’ve been talking to Surtr about battle plans…” he broke off, blue eyes steadying my face, “I heard you’re taking riding lessons with Loki.” His expression was unreadable.

“Not with Loki,” I mumbled, “with this other guy, Vidar, he’s a complete douche-canoe.”

A smile crept across Erik’s face, “Ah, very good. How are they going?”

                “Okay,” I was purposely evasive. I didn’t want to admit that I was well and truly terrible.

“Well, I’m glad they’re preparing you for that. I was speaking to Surtr, and we both think you should continue the training you were doing back in Niflheim.”

My stomach sank a little. Those weren’t good memories, but I told myself that it wouldn’t be the same. Lief wasn’t here. I would be taught by friends this time.

“I’ll be teaching you,” Erik continued, he suddenly took my hand and flipped it over, tapping my fingertips with his, sending a tingling shock through my arm, “I’ll teach you how to control this too. We didn’t get many lessons in before…well, before everything happened.”

I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded. What would Loki think of me training every day with Erik? It wasn’t as if I could say no though. And I didn’t want to say no, I couldn’t stand to hurt Erik. Plus, he was just training me for battle. It was nothing romantic, right? So why should it bother Loki? Besides, we weren’t dating, neither of us had a right to be jealous.

That made me think of the little temper tantrum I’d had before I’d known about Loki’s sister. The blood rushed to my cheeks. Okay, so I wasn’t immune to jealousy and neither was he.

“We’ll start tomorrow,” Erik let go of my hand and leaned back in his chair, “I want you to master everything as much as you can. Sword play, hand to hand, freezing and horseback riding. Everything.”

“Okay,” I murmured, “tomorrow.”