‘Oh, they’ll get over it soon enough,’ said Sigyn, finally telling the tale of how the Wolf had been restrained for the good of Asgard. ‘And so will you,’ she added, with a playful smile, ‘as soon as you’ve had a couple of these lovely jam tarts I baked for you.’

But suddenly, I was no longer hungry. The nest of wire inside my gut had tightened to an unbearable pitch.

They’d gone behind my back, you see: that was what really hurt me. They’d decided I couldn’t be trusted, and had sent me off on a fool’s errand, then blamed me for the consequences when their plan had backfired.

‘Now, don’t lose your temper, dear. You know that Angie person was no good. The last thing you want is a werewolf brat hanging around, causing trouble, reminding you of what you did to your wife and your real family.’

My real family. That was a joke. The accounts of Thor’s journey to Utgard had left my sons under the impression that I was a giant loser. Fenny’s incarceration had completed the job: now, in their eyes, I was the Man: a part of the oppressive patriarchal system; unable to understand the needs of a rebellious adolescent.

This was made abundantly clear to me as I went out to greet them. They’d grown since I last saw them, of course, and though obviously (favouring me), neither was as graceless or as uncouth as Fenny, both had managed to develop some of the werewolf’s mannerisms: the slouch; the grunt; the silent contempt.

‘So, how’s it going?’

Narvi, the first and dominant twin, eyed me from under his long fringe. His eyes were like mine, his hair, too; his colours, wild and rebellious – it was almost like looking at myself when I entered the Worlds from Chaos.

Vali, the softer, friendlier twin, might have said something if we’d been alone, but in the presence of Narvi simply looked down at the ground in shame.

‘No words of welcome?’ I said.

Narvi shrugged. ‘Hi, Dad.’

‘I heard about Fenris.’

‘Whatever.’

‘I didn’t know what was happening,’ I said. ‘Odin never told me.’

Too late I understood that having been taken for a fool by the General would do nothing to raise me in my sons’ esteem. I sounded weak and apologetic, which made me more angry than ever. Why did I even feel the need to justify myself to my sons? Since when did I care what they thought, anyway?

Narvi shrugged again. ‘Whatever.’

Vali gave me shy look. ‘What are you going to do?’ he said.

I thought about that. ‘I don’t know.’

There was nothing I could do, short of freeing Fenny myself which, even if I could manage it, would hardly improve my standing in Asgard.