Coffee and Books 3

Chapter 4

After asking me at least three times if I am sure, Loki goes back inside the house with me. In the living room Heimdall is sitting with a woman. Her hair is still wet from swimming. When he sees me he waves me over. "Ylva, dear, I'd like you to meet Brunnhilde."

The woman looks me up and down before extending her hand. "You're Loki's girl." It's more of a statement than a question.

"Uhm... I guess. Nice to meet you."

Brunnhilde cracks a smile. She's pretty. "Nice to meet you too. What's your secret?"

"My secret?" Is she referring to my powers? Something else? I don't know what to think.

She laughs at my puzzled face. "For putting up with Mr. Sly and Moody over there."

"Hey!" Loki glares at her.

Now I can laugh too. "It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it."

"Well, you must have a talent for it," Brunnhilde answers, challenging Loki with her eyes.

He comes to stand behind me, with an arm around my chest and shoulders. He presses a kiss to my ear. "Ylva has many special talents."

"Brunnhilde makes a disgusted face at the double entendre. "I did not need to know that!"

"Aaannd... that's enough, Loki." I untangle myself from his embrace, which Loki makes harder by holding on to me a little longer.

"Actually, Ylva really does have some special talents," Heimdall says, eyeing me carefully. "But that's something for another day, I think."
I smile gratefully at the dark skinned man. Just meeting everyone is quite enough for one day.

"Oh yeah, Thor told me about that," Brunnhilde says. "You're some kind of diffuser, right?"

"I suppose you can call it that. But it only works on people, not on bombs."

"How do you know? Have you ever tried it?" The woman looks at me curiously like I'm a new toy, sizing me up.

"What? No!"

Loki tenses up, yet Heimdall speaks before he can react. "Ylva only learned she had powers about six months ago, she's quite new to it. However, I don't think dismantling bombs is one of her talents. Not in the literal sense, at least."

"Ah, so you've got yourself a puppy to train, Loki?"

Okay, I don't know what Brunnhilde's issues are, but I don't want anything to do with it. "I'm not listening to this," I say coldly and turn to walk away, at the same time as Loki gets up in Brunnhilde's face.

"That's enough!"

She doesn't get up from her chair, yet I can see every muscle in her body is on alert. "Or what, pretty boy?"

Loki flicks his hand and a dagger appears. Heimdall grabs Brunnhilde by her arm at the same time as I get a hold of Loki's wrist. A familiar heat surges through my arm, spreading through my fingertips. The contact is brief, Loki is quick to shake my hand off, but I know the skin to skin contact makes it work fast.
Another flick of his hand and the dagger vanishes. Loki straightens out, the threatening pose gone. Ignoring Brunnhilde, who is clearly looking for a fight of some sorts, I take Loki's hand and walk away. He reluctantly follows me, his grip on my hand tense.

"I thought she was your pet," Brunnhilde calls after us. "But I see it's the other way around."

"Enough!" A fist slams on the table. I've never heard Heimdall raise his voice before. His golden eyes glow with anger.