Frej was fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve, trying to pull it further down to cover the tattoos. But it was no good. His fingers had small runes on them too and there were intricate designs on the backs and palms of his hands. There was no hiding those. Not to mention the small blue rune under his eye. Not that I minded them. They were artistically done, and they hugged his body beautifully.

I took his hand in mine and squeezed it. The newly hired servants opened the doors for my siblings. Ton smiled very brightly at me and immediately hugged me close.

“Brother. You look well,” he said and patted the top of my head.

“As do you,” I replied and turned to my sister. Zitzi looked stunning but she was the real beauty of all of us. “Zitzi,” I said softly, and she smiled. She embraced me very gently.

She had grown her hair down to her waist and she was covered in gold. Even had a golden chain headpiece on top of her hair. She looked breathlessly beautiful.

Ton looked a lot like me but just… Bigger. Way bigger.

“So, you’ve finally acquired one,” Ton said and nodded towards Frej.

Frej was about to take a step back but I grabbed his hand and threaded my fingers in between his, pulling him forward. Both of my siblings’ eyes shot down to our hands and they both arched their brows.

“This is Frej. He was sacrificed for Death.” I watched them both closely. They knew of my affections for my own gender, so that wasn’t why they were looking that baffled at us.

I was stupid. I was not supposed to be with Frej the way I was. He was my subject and I was his deity. It was wrong and I was stupid… But…

“I’m Tzitzimitl. You can call me Zitzi,” my new favourite sibling said and smiled very widely. She made a slight bow and Frej mirrored it.

“Oh, right. I’m Ixtlilton, but everyone calls me Ton.”

Frej bowed to him too, while Ton shot me a look.

“Let’s go to the sitting room. I have refreshments there. I know your trip must’ve been long,” I hurried to say before things became more awkward.

“Well, it wasn’t that long. We were both here already. And the carriages of this decade is only getting more comfortable,” Ton said as he followed me through the halls to the large sitting room.

“We’re getting ready for the Winter Solstice celebration. Do you celebrate that too, Frej?” Zitzi asked and sat down on a red velvet sofa.

“We do,” he replied hesitantly and glanced at me. We both sat down on the opposite sofa across from my siblings. “Great fires are lit during Jul, in celebration of Thor. My own sacrifice was a part of the celebrations. We spend a whole moon celebrating the solstice.”

“You were burned?” Ton asked.

Frej nodded. “They sacrificed me to Hati and Sköll, the wolves that’ll eat the sky and the sun during Ragnarök. My clan thought if they sacrificed me before the solstice, the winter would be shorter and the summer harvest fruitful. It has been… A bad harvest the last couple of years...”

I took his hand in mine again and squeezed it. “Frej knows his gods aren’t the true gods.”

“I do find other cultures fascinating. How did they come up with those gods? Who named them?” Zitzi asked and leaned forward.

Frej shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. We’ve believed in the gods of Asgard for generations.”

“You should be proud of your culture.” Zitzi smiled. “Despite being wrong on some details, they’ve been right on others. Wait till you meet Neith. She’ll love hearing about this.”

“Neith is sort of our queen. She and Zitzi have been friends for a long time now,” I explained and smiled at Frej.

“I’m… Meeting royalty?” he asked and paled considerably.

“Of course, you are. You’re one of a new breed. There are not many like you around. Death has not chosen anyone for centuries now. One of the last times she chose one, they kind of made a religion about him.” Ton chuckled and took a glass from one of the servant’s trays. “The humans don’t deal well with dead people rising again.”

“I can imagine,” Frej breathed and squeezed my hand. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Anyways,” Zitzi said and rolled her eyes, making Frej choke down a small chuckle. “It’s the best party of the year. Everyone is there.”

“Speaking of nothing,” Ton interjected and turned very serious as he leaned forward. “What in all the gods’ names are you doing, Tec?”

I turned serious too, feeling that old familiar mask I had hidden behind my entire life slip back in place. “What ever do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

Frej shifted a little uncomfortably.

“Enlighten me.” I narrowed my eyes at my brother.

“No offence to you Frej, but maybe you should leave for this conversation,” Ton said and that was the time when I’d had enough.

“You don’t get to dismiss him like that,” I snapped.

“It’s okay,” Frej said. “I’m… I’m gonna check on the… Kitchen...” He rose to his feet and left the sitting room.

“Ton, maybe a little sensitivity would be the best approach,” Zitzi murmured.

“He’s your subject, Tec! What are you doing?” Ton growled and balled his massive hands into fists.

“He’s not my subject,” I muttered stupidly because I was stupid.

“Then what is he? Your lover? Your betrothed?” He arched a brow at me.

I looked down at my hands. “I… Couldn’t help it. You don’t know him like I do.”

Ton groaned but Zitzi moved over next to me. She patted my hand and smiled at me.

“He’s nice. And sweet.”

“He’s also not for you, Tec,” Ton chimed in. “You know that.”

I rose to my feet. “But why? I made him. I brought him back from death.”

“And Death chose him for a reason!” Ton roared and jerked up from the sofa, ending right in from of me. “He is not for you!”

“But maybe he is!” I roared back.

“Tec, what have you done?” He looked coolly down at me, towering over me.

“Nothing… I haven’t done anything. I just… I made him and… I… I just couldn’t help myself.” I walked back to the sofa and dropped down on it, burying my face in my hands. “He’s so pure and sweet. Just spend an hour with him and you’d see I’m right.”

“I don’t need an hour to see that.” Ton crouched down in front of me and removed my hands from my face. “But you know this won’t fly well with the others.”

“There are no rules against it.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s right though. We’re not supposed to be distracted like that. That was kind of part of the deal, Tec. You gave that up on purpose.”

“Like Death is gonna appear and strike me down.” I rolled my eyes and leaned back.

“So what’s the plan? Are you gonna hide him away here and keep him hidden away forever?”

“Sounds like a pretty good idea to me.” I shrugged. “And you know what, I brought you here to meet him not to be judged.”

“You knew we were going to say something.”

“Keep me out of this,” Zitzi said. “I wasn’t planning on bringing it up, because it’s obvious Tec has made his choice. It’s not our place to question our brother, Ton.” She smiled a little at me and patted my head. “And we should not be talking about this.” She flicked her wrist and the door opened. Frej was standing outside with a tray in his hands.

“I… Was supposed to bring this to you...” He put the tray down on the floor, whirled around and disappeared.

“Nice,” I growled at my siblings and jumped over the tray, following Frej back to our room.