“Orra is my most trusted guard, and she’s practically family,” he said. “She’ll take the baby far, far away, and she won’t leave her until she knows she’s safe. You’ll stay here to placate Indu until I can return with the troops.”

Her lips quivered. “What if he doesn’t let the twins go? He has Illaria with him always.”

“When I come back with the troops, I’ll make sure we get the girls to safety,” Thor promised her. “And once everyone is free and safe, I will be able to end my engagement with Bodil, and then we’ll get the baby, and we’ll be together as a real family—me, you, Illaria, Eliana, and Violetta.”

They kissed then, even with Senka crying. “I am trusting you that this is true.”

“I’ll never stop trying to reunite with you,” he said. “I love you more than I love myself, my kingdom, my world.”

She smiled up at him. “I love you, my summer bird.”

“And I you, my morning flower.”

I started fussing, and they both looked at me. My mother picked me up, and she held me in her arms with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Orra will be here soon to get the baby,” my father said, putting an arm around her.

“I know.” Senka sniffled. “This is probably the last time the three of us will be together.”

“For a while,” Thor agreed in his warm rumble. “But not forever. Not for long. I’ll get the army we need to properly deal with the Älvolk. Then I will come for you, and we will get the girls and live freely, happily ever after.”

As I looked up at my parents, embracing each other as they held me, a fat spider dropped down from the ceiling. It landed in Senka’s hair, and I started crying; wailing actually.

“Shhh,” my mother said, but the spider was still there, crawling in her hair.

“Hush, little one,” my father said, and put his big hand on my head, trying to comfort me.

But still I cried, watching the spider climb from her hair and onto his shoulder.

“Maybe she knows.” Senka’s voice was soft and thick. “She knows we’re sending her away.” She looked at Thor, frantic. “I could take her to Alfheim. There’s a way that you can cross the bridge. Indu is looking for an enchanted recipe. It will allow anyone who eats it to enter Alfheim. It may take some time, but you could find it, and you could eat it and join us.”

“I would join you tomorrow if I could,” Thor said. “But is the land where you’ve slain monsters with poisoned arrows, the place you already fled from with your young daughters after their father was killed, is that where you want to bring our infant?”