Oathbreaker by Amy Sumida Page B

you hanging because I’m having an issue controlling my lust.”
    His mouth dropped open a little before he burst out laughing. “Your honesty is brutal but refreshing. Most women would deny what they felt and ignore the situation between us. You throw it out into the open, no ulterior motives, just a desire to conquer it.”
    “ It does neither of us any good to ignore things,” I sighed, rubbing at the knots in my neck.
    “ I wish I’d been the one to find you that day,” he murmured and took a swig of ale.
    “ What day?” I gave up on trying to tame my muscles and looked back over at him.
    “ When you crept into Valhalla,” he waved as if he could bring back a vision of the day, “to steal my campaign plans, and Thor caught you because he was trying to steal them as well.”
    “ You would’ve killed me,” I grimaced and then smirked, “or at least tried to.”
    “ Hardly,” he laughed.
    “ The Godhunter breaks into Valhalla to steal your Make War Not Love plans and you’re saying you would’ve just let me go?”
    “ I didn’t say that,” his eye twinkled. “All I said was, I wouldn’t have killed you.”
    “ Just torture me a bit, eh?” I laughed, then sobered as the thought of being tortured by Odin hit me. It was like a splash of cold water in the face of my raging libido.
    “ Remember what I said,” he brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “You’re safe here, Vervain.”
    “ Yeah, now ,” I pushed at his shoulder and smiled. “I doubt our meeting would’ve gone so smoothly back then. At the very least, I would’ve kicked you in the balls like I did Thor.”
    “ You kicked Thor in the balls,” his one eye got huge.
    “ Oh, you didn’t hear about that?” I laughed, remembering Thor’s face when I’d caught him off guard. “Yeah, that whole thing about the bigger they are… it’s true, Thor fell hard.”
    “ In so many ways,” Odin’s lips twisted.
    “ You never forget the first woman to kick you in the balls,” I nodded sagely, then got serious. “I’m bad news. You should run screaming.”
    “ Thor has a good heart but he’s been a fool,” Odin narrowed his eye on me. “If you were mine, I’d never have let you go.”
    “ Even if I killed your ex-wife?” I tried to block out the image of Sif’s head lying three feet away from her body, but I’d imprinted it on my mind so I’d never forget. Murder shouldn’t be easy, it should always come with a price. Unfortunately, part of the price of that particular killing had been Thor.
    “ Even if you tried to kill me ,” Odin’s voice brought me out of my dark thoughts. He was staring at me with a little smile that seemed to say he knew I had it in me to do just that… and he found it exciting. The gods are crazy.
    Then a thought occurred to me. “You were married, right?” I really didn’t want another angry ex after me for messing with her husband. Goddesses didn’t seem to accept divorce easily.
    “Yes, thrice. Thor's mother, Iord, died before we left Atlantis, then I married Frigg, who I split from amicably, and then  Sabine, who also died,” he smiled sadly. “You won’t have to fight over me… or for me, like you did for your wolf. It’s just me.”
    “ And all your traitorous friends,” I’d intended it as a joke but his smile vanished as he looked over his shoulder at the room. “Odin, I’m sure they’re not all against you. The Valkyries are definitely behind you, if for no other reason than they like the view. Can’t say that I blame them.”
    He chuckled low and shook his head. “You’re very good at that.”
    “What?”
    “ Changing my mood in a heartbeat.”
    “ It’s a talent and a curse, depending on which way the mood goes,” I rolled my eyes. “Just ask Thor, I could take him from wondrous infatuation to wild fury in seconds. He threw a vase at my head once.”
    “ A vase?” Odin choked, “At your head?”
    “ Well, near my head,” I shrugged, “it hit the wall