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My brow pulled together. She hadn’t said anything to me about me meeting anyone important today. Hell, she made sure I understood today I was supposed to have fun and relax so that if I did remember things, it wouldn’t cause a scene around the townsfolk. “How many people?”
“Like, twenty.”
My eyes bugged, and I looked up at Tyr, who shook his head. “I know nothing about this.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” I said. “Can you let her know I’ll be down in a minute? I need to finish Tyr’s hair, as well as my own.”
I wasn’t meeting anyone until I had my hair done. I could walk around without makeup just fine, but I refused to look half-put-together.
Diego agreed and left, though not before his gaze lingered on me for a moment. I watched him go, enjoying the view of him in his tan tunic with the way his belts hung around his hips. He pulled off this reenactment look quite nicely.
With people waiting, I focused on finishing Tyr’s hair, adding a few beads into my work. I figured we could finish our discussion later.
When I finished, that left me with my own hair, and I wasn’t sure where to start. “How did I used to wear my hair?”
Tyr thought for a moment. “You had a few styles, but the style you went with the most was two large front braids, with the rest allowed to drape over your back.”
I squinted as I tried to remember doing my hair this way, and after a moment, those memories flitted through my mind. I immediately went to work braiding locks of hair and then holding them tight at the end in a decorative bead cuff. Tyr helped me with a few other hair decorations, as well as a headband I remembered wearing frequently before being married, and I also put my necklace and earrings on.
“I have something else for you,” Tyr said when I was finally satisfied. He untied a vambrace on his belt that I hadn’t noticed before and handed it to me.
I took the piece of armor and turned it in my hands. Warmth and longing filled my chest. “This belonged to my mother.”
I’d inherited them after she’d died, and rarely went out without them.
“But, where is the other?”
“It’s still safely stored away. I thought it’d be difficult to wear with this.” Tyr tugged on the vambrace he had around his wrist and removed it.
He handed it to me, and I stared at it in my hands, taking in its worn state. This had seen better days, but had yet to succumb to ruin thanks to an enchantment I felt on it.
“This is… Baldur’s.”
“It’s a bit big for you, and it doesn’t match your mother’s, but I thought, with everything going on, you might want to wear it.”
I held the vambrace against my chest, my heart aching. These memories I had with him… they hurt. Unlike the others, this was one person in the past I’d never be able to rekindle anything with, and there was nothing I could do but grieve in silence.
“This one also doesn’t have a pair,” I managed to say without choking up.
Tyr scowled. “Loki took the other as a trophy before I could kill him after finding him kneeling over Baldur’s body.”
The pain in my chest hardened, and my grip on the vambrace tightened. “The cocky bastard will pay for that.”
Tyr nodded and then rested a gentle hand on mine. “But for now, let’s work on getting through today.”
He was right. It wasn’t like we’d run into Loki at the festival.
Sliding both vambraces on, and doing a little extra finagling to make sure Baldur’s stayed on—I’d have super glued it to my arm if that was going to be needed—I found myself ready to face whatever guest Aya had in store for me.
Tyr followed me out of my room. My skirts swished around my feet, almost trying to trip me up on the stairs. Tyr took the stairs so close behind, I wasn’t sure what would be my undoing first.
When I reached the landing in the foyer, I looked around for Aya and these supposed guests. No one was inside, and someone left the front door wide open to allow the bugs in.
Angel appeared in the doorway and barked, wagging her tail and her tongue lolling.
“We’re outside,” Aya called.
I think my familiar and best friend are conspiring against me.It was strange to call Angel a familiar, especially knowing she wasn’t official still, until I worked out my magic a bit more, but Aya insisted I get used to it now, so it’d feel natural by the time that happened.
