“You. What are you doing here?”
Morgan blinked in shock at the sight of Frigg standing in the doorway of Jeanne and Fred Grimm’s home. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be in her rambling, ostentatious mansion, plotting whatever revenge she was going to take against Jeanne for taking Thor’s corpse from her.
Or maybe this was the revenge. Maybe she was in Jeanne’s home because she knew it was the best way to wait for her, like a spider sitting in someone else’s web. Frigg hadn’t even let Thor’s corpse get cold before she’d snuck into Jeanne and Fred’s house and begun removing things. He wondered if, had they not come looking for Mjolnir, she would have taken Jeanne’s underwear.
She must have come straight from the funeral with a group of people to get all this done in such a few short days. “That would be my question, Frederica.” Morgan crossed his arms over his chest. He wouldn’t hesitate to throw her ass out if it saved Jeanne Grimm any further grief.
“This was my son’s home, and you aren’t welcome.” Her sneer was wiped away when Magnus pushed past her into the house, shoving her into the wall. “You can’t come in here!”
“Oh yes we can. Jeanne gave us permission, as did Jeff, Jamie and Jordan.” And now Morgan was glad they’d talked Jeanne into remaining behind. His stepmother did not need yet another confrontation with his grandmonster. Now they’d have even more ammunition to convince her to stay safe in the condo complex rather than return here.
Morgan entered the house behind his twin, giving Frigg his own sneer. He deliberately blocked her view of Skye, who hovered on the top step with an uncomfortable expression. “You’re the one who isn’t welcome here.”
“Frigg, where should we—oh.” Thor’s ex-wife, Sif, stepped back into Jeanne’s living room with a startled expression. She glanced between the three of them with a concerned look that marred the perfection of her face. Her golden hair was pinned up, neat and gleaming in the lamplight. She was the most beautiful goddess in the pantheon, and Thor had dropped her like a hot rock for the vivacious, loving Jeanne. “Is there a problem?”
Still, she’d never been rude to Morgan and Magnus, and for that Morgan could be polite to her. “Not if you leave, Sylvia.” The front door was still open. Mortals might hear them arguing, so he called Sif by her mortal name, Sylvia.
“Leave this to me, Sif. I’ll have these…people out of here within moments.” Frigg’s sneer was going to become permanent if she didn’t remember to use some other expression. Disdain, maybe?
“Frigg, they have the right to be here.” Sif’s soft voice was trembling. She’d had no problems screeching at Thor when they’d been married, but since the divorce she’d lost the spark that had been her true beauty. Now, with Thor’s death, she seemed lost and alone.
Sif had never been the bitch Frigg was. She’d loved his father fiercely. It hadn’t been her desire to end their marriage, but Thor had loved Jeanne desperately and had left Sif when he realized Jeanne returned his feelings. The fact that she’d born a child of Frey’s, Jordan, hadn’t deterred Fred Grimm from loving the mortal with everything in him.
“Do not interfere, Sif. This is none of your affair.” Frigg’s cold snap was going to break something. Already he could feel the temperature dropping.
Sylvia winced, her pain obvious. “Frigg—”
“Enough.”
Huh. You could speak clearly through clenched teeth. Who knew?
Frigg had become a serious bitch now that she was no longer being fed her daily apple toddies. Frigg had, under the influence of Odin’s apples, welcomed Jeanne and Jordan with open arms, adoring the tiny Jordan as her grandchild. Now off the influence of the apples and no longer under the Old Man’s control, her true colors had come out. She despised the mortal woman Thor had married, and equally loathed their children.
It was just one more blow Jeff, Jamie and Jordan had to endure from the grandparents they’d loved so much. Morgan wanted them dead just for that alone.
“It’s okay, Sylvia. We’re just here to look for something.”
Shit. Magnus had to open his big mouth, but his brother had always had a soft spot for their father’s ex-wife. His tone was always gentle when he spoke to her. Morgan wondered if his brother would ever have the chance to claim the woman he’d wanted for centuries.
Sylvia gave him a shy, sad smile, but didn’t respond, her gaze darting once more to Frederica as she awaited her orders.
It didn’t really matter. No doubt Frigg would figure it out quickly. Her eyes were already narrowed in thought as she waved Sif back into the family room.
Morgan caught a glimpse of other people moving around inside the townhouse. Fred Grey, Jordan’s father, was there, as was his sister, Freida. That Frey and Freya were inside the Grimm house didn’t surprise him. They’d chosen to side with Frederica, no doubt due to their hatred of Logan. They should have followed Tyr when he’d thrown his allegiance to Baldur, but neither Vanir had followed their ex-leader.
He also saw Henry and Luther Grimm, the Old Man’s brothers, hefting boxes from room to room. Nadine and Sonia Grimm, Frederica’s handmaidens, were quietly talking to Sylvia. And Sydney Saeter, Logan’s ex-wife, was staring at them from the top of the steps, her perpetual look of sorrow replaced by one of surprise…and fear. Sigyn had never gotten over her love of Loki, going so far as to take his last name for her mortal name. Sif had done the same with her name, Sylvia Grimm.
If Idunn, Bragi, Njord and the others were in the house Morgan didn’t catch sight of them. He wouldn’t be surprised to find that Idunn was avoiding Frederica like the plague. As the guardian of the apples, and a Vanir, she’d be doing her best to make sure they were never again used against the Vanir. Her husband, Bragi, was more than likely by his wife’s side. The god of poetry was devoted to his spouse, despite the fact that he was Aesir and she, Vanir.
Njord had always been a bit of an outsider, but his attachment to Tyr would hopefully cause him to come down on the side of Kir.
“Sif doesn’t matter. None of them do. You and I both know what matters here, Modi.”
Yes, they did. Somewhere in this house was his father’s greatest legacy, and he had every intention of claiming it.
“It belongs to us, Frigg.” Fuck it. She insisted on calling them by their immortal names, so be it. Maybe the humans would think they were LARPing or something equally nerdy. Not that he knew any live-action role-players, but still. He’d be willing to bet the Wonder Twins did. The two tended to make friends in the oddest places.
Magnus growled, and Morgan could sense his twin’s temper rising to the surface. “Get out, Frigg.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No.”
Magnus grinned, and it wasn’t pretty. Frigg paled at the sight of Magnus’s anger, as well she should. Magnus had been known to destroy buildings when pissed enough.
For once, Morgan wasn’t going to talk his twin down. Frigg had earned Magnus’s wrath. “We’re done here.”
Magnus grabbed hold of Frigg’s arm and tried to throw her out of the house, but the goddess resisted. She started screeching at the top of her lungs, demanding that Magnus release her.
When his twin merely pulled harder, she turned to Morgan. “Make this ignorant ass release me!”
Morgan looked at his twin and tried to hide his amusement. “Yeah, Magnus. Can’t you release her ass back into the wild?”
“I’m trying, but her wild ass won’t go!” Magnus grunted as he tugged again on Frigg’s arm.
Skye, silent up till now, giggled, earning a glare from Frigg.
Morgan turned back to Frigg and shrugged. “He’s right. You are wild. Getting it on with Henry and Luther all these years.” He tsk’d. “You dirty girl, you.” Behind Frigg, he saw both Luther and Henry Grimm freeze as Sif and Sigyn choked.