My throne was more comfortable than Karas. It smelt bad though, the pile of ash and still smouldering beams around me not exactly giving off a soft floral aroma to enjoy. I decided it only added ambience as I sat surrounded by the remains of Ullrs home. Thor wanted a Dark Queen, and I don't think he realised she already existed. It was the first thing he saw though as he reappeared where the front door had once been.

Oddly enough, I wished Cain was here and it wasn't to rescue me. No, I was beyond any need of that now. It would be fun to play for just a little while, really mess with Thor in a way we'd never get to with anyone else. Dark thoughts ruled my mind, and I let them. I wanted them. Closing my eyes I breathed in the salt air, slipping back into that memory of the time I was truly free. The darkness I'd unleashed that night returned now; ever dancing on the edge of my sanity and morals. This power was intoxicating, tempting, and every time I went too far, somehow I managed to come back to me. What would it really take for me to fall off the edge?

Subtly feeling the hardness of my stomach I knew the answer.

Thor didn't know how high the stakes really were, Ullr did and he paid the price for it.

I gave him a moment to take it all in, glad I cleared a path through the rubble like a pathway to hell. It made it easier to see him, and while I idly dusted off some ash from the black silk of my new dress, before the jewels layered on the neckline tinkled together as I raised my arms to adjust my crown. He spun around, taking a few hesitant and careful steps my way while the shock and awe on his face is clear to see. Looking behind him once more he must have spotted Ullrs body making him go that way. This time when I received his attention, rage sparked to life inside of him.

"What, happened?" He growled, stomping closer.

"I did." I held my hands up and gestured around us. "Much better than that creepy death room, don't you think?"

Thor stopped his approach, smart enough to keep a bit of space between us as he still looked around in disbelief. A string of cut off curses, grunts and choked gasps left him as he kicked something with his foot and threw one of the charred beams across the destruction site.

"I'm starting to think you don't like it, and heads up, I'm all about communication. So if you want this whole, bonding thing, to work, you're going to have to use your words."

"How?" Thor froze, looking around us again. "Where is he?"

"Who?" I pointed at Ullr. "Santa is right over there. He isn't going anywhere."

His steps made the earth shake as he stood before me, the sky blazing with lightning that followed his every move. He came right up close to me, my chin in his hands as he forced me to look at him.

"How did this fucking happen, is he here? Is Cain here?" He looked at my hands, no - he looked at the cuff lookalikes on my wrists as if to make sure they were still there. Idiot. "You're bound. Weak. You will tell me who did this!"

I slapped his hand away, his fingertips still imprinted on my skin,

"I told you the next time you touched me, it would be as you begged for mercy." I smiled up at him as his eyes widened, a second before he was forced to his knees in front of me. "You wanted the Dark Queen. Here she is."

"Impossible."

His strength was obvious, a lot greater than Ullr had been and I had to focus to keep him in my hold. The storm brewing around came with a cold wind that sent small flurries of ash and embers around us and glaring down at Thor, I stood.

"I told you to be afraid of me, not him." Looking down, I watched him look up at me, slowly following the slit in the dress that ended mid-thigh. My sword back in my hand I saw him flinch slightly yet he licked his lips as our eyes met. I leaned in closer to his ear. "I don't hear you begging."

Lightning struck just to the left of the house, and again in front. Too bad for him it was expected and blocking the space around us was easy. I tossed him away from the rubble and his landing wasn't gentle out in the snow as I stalked towards him. Holding his neck, Thor managed to stand, and feeding on the energy of the lightning, we weren't alone now. I sensed there was something darker coming, something strong and powerful.

The storm wasn't Thors.

Thor barely had a chance to defend himself against my blade and when it became clear he didn't want this kind of combat, I let my power free once more. He smiled as he blocked two of my hits, rising up as I felt him pull all the electricity around us to form a giant bolt of light in his hands.

"How, how did you do it?" He demanded, poised to strike.

"I can't tell you all my secrets, we only just met."

"You are something, unexpected." I think it was a compliment.

"I wish I could say the same." I shrugged, my power flowing up from the ground as he threw his lightning-like javelin at me. He didn't expect for me to stop it, or to then control it as it was suddenly embedded in his gut.

His body reacted, the sparks running all over his body as it was as if he was absorbing back into himself rather than it cause injury yet as I dared to go closer, his face was scrunched in pain and sweat ran down from his forehead.

"That looked like it hurt." My sword implanted itself in his thigh earning a scream, before I pulled it out, my foot kicking his head back as if it was a football. "So did that."

Cain had been right. Thor wasn't a threat.

I couldn't deny I wasn't disappointed. I wanted more, but I also knew it was better this way. Now wasn't the teim for any additional risks. Id done enough of that while I had been cuffed. Now I  slipped off the pretend bits of metal, tossing them by his head as he rolled around groaning in agony. Resting my blade in his chest, just below his shoulder earned more screams before I leant over him. Lightning struck the snow near us, weak and barely causing a tremble to the ground. It may as well have been a torchlight playing in the dark.

"You can start begging now."

I think he wanted to talk, only he coughed and threw up blood instead of the words I wanted to hear. Teeth were missing as he opened his mouth again, and I grabbed his chin, earring a grunt of pain as I forced him to look at me.

"It's almost sad how you thought you would win. That you even attempted to control me. You look like your father did when he was thrown back through the portal. Pathetic. Weak. Beaten." I sigh, standing back up.

This time, my sword is repositioned in his other shoulder as the gown disappears and I'm back in my normal gear. My boots stomp on his fingers as I walk past him, my hair wild behind me as the wind roars around us and my sword is put away. Thor is coughing and groaning, and while I keep him pinned down, I focus on someone else now. I feel his presence as if it's his arms that are wrapping around me not the air.

I'm so tired.

This fight is over.

And then it happens. His body is warm and real, his arms strong and almost crushing as I melt into his hold. I want to be consumed by him in every way, and looking up his eyes are dark and angry. Yet they're suddenly glazed over with unshed tears as a million more stress lines have appeared since the last time I saw him which was only hours ago despite how it felt like years.

"We're okay," I promised him, claiming his mouth and stopping whatever was about to come out. "We're okay."

I whispered the words against his lips again and again, but I could feel the way his body still trembled. He didn't ease up his hold either and with my hand on the back of his neck, I moved slightly to hold his face, forcing him to look at me properly.

"You were gone. There were biscuits on the floor. The ones you like. Deimos sensed your fear." Each word sounded painful as he slowly managed to get them out.

"I know." I sought out our friends, only there was no one else here. "But you found me. We're all okay."

His hand came up, a gentle touch from my temple, across my cheek and down to my jaw as his healing touch eased up some of the pain and pressures in my head. He kissed where I knew I had to have a serious bruise going on my face, and those tingles were suddenly going down my neck, along my spine - all over as he found every ache and sensitive spot that needed to be fixed. I leaned back into Cain, feeling slightly light-headed with relief and gratitude I wasn't sore anymore and my headache had gone.

The distraction made me slip up, and Thor's grumbling and groaning ruined the otherwise silent night. Cain tensed, looking around me and then he was gone.

"Shit, Cain, don't-" It was pointless, because of course he did. "Stop!"

Thor was now upright once more and weakly protesting that fact as Cain had a hand around his neck and a dagger at his chest. I was between them as best I could be just as quickly, my hand on Cains as I tried to pull back the blade.

"Don't kill him. Not yet." I begged.

"Kara said the same thing, and the only reason why she isn't going to meet the same fate is that I don't know how long it would take me to earn your forgiveness." Well, that was one less thing for me to worry about, yet I felt the pressure as the blade started to go in. "I am not making the same mistake twice."

"Cain, don't. Please. I have a plan and-"

"Elise, let go." He snapped, not budging.

His mind was made up and I didn't blame him. It took all I had not to already do the job.

"I'll have to earn your forgiveness instead." I sighed, distracting him for a second right before I hooked one of the cuffs over his wrist "He dies, I promise, but not now."

"You wouldn't." He challenged, my hands ready to lock it into place.

"You know I will," I answered, and he let Thor go. Cain didn't move, and neither did I as we found ourselves stuck in a stalemate. "Thank you."

I still didn't move.

Neither did he.

"Your plan. Speak." His voice was low filled with so many layers of anger and betrayal right now, I almost lost my nerve until he kept talking. "You know I can have you in those before you can take a breath and have him dead in the same second."

"And you seem to forget who you are talking to, you fucking asshole." I removed the cuff as he seemed to instantly regret that but he said nothing else. "Dead Santa was the one who took me, because that moron planned to use me to get Kara to go to war with Frigg, win and then hand over the kingdom because now he wants it and is too weak to do it himself. Before he could through this whole, binding us together thing, I broke free of the cuffs and well, you can see what happened next. Now here we are. We can't kill Thor, Cain. Kara has to do it."

"What?" All that rage was turned back to Thor and I put my hands on Cain's chest in an attempt to keep him from killing the other Power. "He was going to fucking, bind you together?"

"I know, I mean at least take me out for dinner first." I rolled my eyes. "Not the point. This is Kara's chance to cement her place on the throne. She has to be the God Killer now, and she has to also show Frigg and anyone else she's got shit handled."

Cain put a hand over his mouth and closed his eyes. Thunder rumbled in the distance, crack after crack as the night sky seemed set to tear apart above us. Thor painted the snow red, a dark trail showing the way he was weakly attempting to go as he slide slowly away from us. His breathing was raspy, he grunted and groaned with each inch of movement and I knew I'd definitely done something to his right side when I stabbed him there as that arm didn't move at all.

It wouldn't be a legend-making tale, but it would be a story. Something else to be passed on by the gossipers who only talked about her failure with the Furies when really, to have survived all three of them should be what was talked about. I knew Frigg wasn't going to be in a good place, and she would not be able to demand he be handed over alive; not this time. Thor's escaping would also need answers and there would be a debt now owed between the pair.

The Dark King, already gaining praise and new fans after his triumphant return did not need this mess to be seen as another victory because it would be. I didn't need any attention my way either, I wanted to avoid the pressure to claim my apparently, rightful, place from the False Queen.

Cain and I needed as little to do with this as possible.

"Okay," Cain said what felt like a lifetime later. "If she fucks this up, there is no way I will be stopped a third time."

"Thank you."

"I am to go and get them then?" He asked more resigned and disappointed than the earlier rage that he'd been full of a few minutes before.

"Yeah, I got this."

"I know you do, Elle." He kissed my forehead before disappearing and I'd barely made it to what remained of the steps to sit down before everyone was here.

"Bunny? You're okay?" Apollo was the first to grab me. A rush of tingles came with his hug as he checked me over. "What the hell happened?"

"Later," I promised.

"What about the baby, is the baby okay?" Artemis practically shoved Apollo out of the way, only to find herself staring up at her brother as Cain reappeared with Kara.

"They're both, fine." He glared at her, and she backed up, finding Ullr first.

Deimos merely gave me a nod, his gaze drifting across the rubble of the house. An impressive mm sound was all he said, as he followed Apollo to see who Artemis was making a fuss about. Cain's arm went around my back, his fingers pressing into my hip as he kept me close. I felt more like a human shield as Kara slowly approached, her face pale and tired.

"Elise, I just, I don't know how anyone got beyond our defences and-" She started before she looked at Cain and went quiet.

"Is Thor supposed to still be alive?" Hermes asked, kicking the other Power onto his back. "Cause he is."

"What?" Kara gasped. "Thor did this?"

"His plan was to use me to make you go to war with Frigg, reclaim the kingdom and hand him the crown. I'd had my powers cut off thanks to these cuffs, and he had planned to summon some old witch to do a binding spell on us which would apparently make everyone do what he wanted, and save his life in the process." I explained quickly.

"And then Cain found you?" Hermes asked, not overly interested.

"No. She freed herself, and this is what I arrived at." He told Hermes, completely void of any emotion.

Hermes wasn't stupid and dropped the don't care attitude he had on, looking between us nervously. So did Kara.

"Elise," She started.

"It's in the past Kara, but it's not over." I looked over to where Thor remained. "You know what has to happen."

Everyone came closer. Their curiosity on how this was going to play out would have been funny if it wasn't so serious.

"You want me to kill him?" Kara asked, apparently shocked at this request. "I promised Frigg-"

"She lost her right to make demands when he escaped her custody." I snapped, earning a few nods from our audience. Cain's fingers pressed tighter into my hip, and from the cautious looks they were all giving him, I knew he must be using every inch of self-control he had not to explode right now.

"This isn't how I wanted to do things."

"You don't have a choice," Deimos spoke up, so darkly I almost thought Cain had been the one to talk. "She's right. There is a time to be diplomatic, and there's a time to stand your ground. Lines were crossed today."

"Elise was kidnapped from your palace, under your guard," Artemis added. "We all know her. The ones who aren't directly connected at least know of her, of your friendship and her place at your side. She is your second, and today, she was taken."

"Even that could be seen as an act of War on Friggs behalf" Hermes agreed.

I could see the pressure mounting on Kara from all angles and maybe I wasn't as clueless to their ways as I thought. I'd already worked all this out for myself, it was why I hadn't killed Thor when I'd been able to.

"Leave us, we need a moment," I decided, attempting to slide out of Cain's hold but he didn't let me go. "Cain, I-"

"I stay. Simple."

It wasn't worth the argument.

"Now who sounds like the one in charge?" Hermes muttered, the four of them disappearing until it was just me, Kara and Cain left.

The second I was free of Cain, Kara claimed me in a bone-breaking hug of her own as she released everything she hadn't been able to do a second ago.

"Elise, I'm so sorry. I've been so worried when I got back from the library thing, and they'd just realised you were missing. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so happy you're okay." She cried. "We searched everywhere. I even sent a team into your world, and there's some crazy strong magic blocking this place. I don't know what I would have done if you or Blueberry had been hurt and now I find out it was Thors doing?"

"I know. When he turned up I wished it was anyone other than him, but it's fine. We're all okay. We just need you to finish it." I let her go, well aware of the deadly presence behind me.

"I was so determined to be different. To do things how they'd not been done before. I want peace with the North." She sighed, wiping her eyes.

"I know, and you will have it. What Artemis said is right, this can't go unpunished. Cain can't risk this being seen as a victory. I can't add to the rumours of claiming the crown back. You have to be the God Killer and you have to be the Queen they expect. I'm sorry, but too much is at risk for this to go any other way."

"You're right." She just sounded so defeated, it broke my heart.

"I believe in you, Queenie. We're on your team, remember."

"Are you though? Really? I don't know how I'm not on the ground next to him." She looked up at Cain and when he didn't respond I turned back to find him looking as though he was considering doing just that. "I fucked up. This is on me, if he'd succeeded, or worse, it's on me."

"But he didn't." I reminded them both, subtly elbowing Cain in the process. "We're fine, and now you're handling it."

Cain sighed. "I let you start with a clean slate. Now it's time you forge your own path."

Something passed over Kara's face at that, and she dipped her head as she gave a little nod.

"Thank you." Kara sighed. "So what do I do?"

"You make sure they all see you kill him, and then you walk into Friggs court like it's already yours and deliver Thor back to her, with a warning that if anyone dares try shit like this again they will end up the same way. Then walk back out with your head held high, go home and get it on with Deimos in the library." I winked at her. "You both deserve it."

"Seriously Elise, it's not happening!" Kara's face flushed pink instantly.

"Fine, whatever. Can we get things going though, I'm tired, hungry and need to pee. If there was a toilet here, I've obviously destroyed it and I don't fancy hiding behind a tree over there."

"Can we come back now?" Artemis called from across the field.

"Yes!" I answered. "You got this Queenie."

"She owes you a great debt," Cain whispered in my ear. "

"No, she doesn't. She's my best friend, and we've gone through a lot together to get to this point. I know it's easy to say I'm young and naive, and I am, but sometimes you also just have to trust people. No one expected Thor to escape. I don't blame Kara for it, and neither should you."

"I am well aware. That wasn't the part I was referring to." He motioned towards where they had all gathered around Thor. "Artemis will go back to her girls and tell them only of the fact the God Killer, killed Thor. Friggs court will talk of her visit for weeks, months even. Word will travel, evolve and change, some for the better, a little for the worse, but she will have made her first real claim to the throne and she needed it. Not just for the sake of the gossipers, but for her too. She will feel like she has control again."

So at least we all agreed on the why part of all this.

"I'm sorry I threatened you with the cuffs," I admit, snuggling into his arms.

"Don't be. I'm sure karma will catch up with me eventually." He sighed, his body softening slightly. "I wish I had been able to see you burn this place down. You would have looked magnificent."

"Thor wanted to make into me his Dark Queen," I smirked, glancing up at Cain. "Too bad she already exists and has found her very own King."

The heat in his gaze left me breathless, not helped by his mouth on my neck. My head rolled to the side on instinct, each slow, teasing, kiss as he made his way to my jaw and then finally my lips where that heat melted into a deeper level of passion and hunger. Every inch of my body responded to his touch and that need to be completely consumed by him again returned.

Yet something else tugged away in the back of my mind, an alarm that rang silent like I'd forgotten how to hear it. Reluctantly I pulled back, and looking over my shoulder I saw my last sword poised to strike. I held onto Cain's shoulders, my fingers digging in as if I could feel the hilt of the sword in my hand instead. The anticipation of the kill hit me hard, and then Kara finally did it.

Thor was dead.

"Elle?" I looked back at Cain, my new sword firmly in my grip and pressed against the flat of his back. "You, okay?"

"Sorry, I don't know what that was." I quickly moved it away from him but didn't put it away.

I felt the pulse of the sword in my palm, steady and calm. Familiar. Looking back over at Kara now, she was looking at me. She raised the sword in my direction, and I did the same. Then I put it away again.

"Let's finish this, and go home," Cain said softly, another kiss on my cheek as we slowly made our way over.

"I will go with you." Deimos offered, as Hermes nodded beside him.

"Me too. I can portal us right into the centre of things." I didn't hide my surprise and he noticed. "It's what I do. If I wasn't, it could raise questions within itself."

"Thank you, Hermes." Kara sighed. "Okay, well, let's do this then?"

"Artemis, make her look the part." I decided and she grinned.

"Of course."

A second later Kara was in a rather impressive outfit. Her black pants and knee-high boots looked like they had been painted onto her legs, the tighter bodice on the top flared slightly with a long lush, purple coat that came in at the waist. It almost looked like she was in a full gown, but decided to take out the front part to keep it practical for situations such as this. The braided bun looked just as fierce, with her silver crown completing the look. Even her makeup was flawless.

"Is this too much?" Kara asked, running her hands down her sides. "It feels like a lot."

"You need a lot," Hermes mumbled.

"Wow." I gushed. "Look at you Queenie! It's perfect."

"Are you staying or definitely going home this time?" She asked us.

"Definitely going home. We'll be back in a day or so unless you know, the world ends." I hugged her again. "I believer in you."

"Thank you." She squeezed me back and taking a deep breath, she stepped back and looked at Cain only instead of saying anything, she just nodded and turned back to the others. "Let's go. Hermes?"

We waited for the four of them to go, and as the portal shut, I began to breathe again.

"Well, we've got work to do. Rumours aren't going to spread themselves." Artemis smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks, Art."

"Be sure you're spreading the right kind this time," Cain warned.

She only rolled her eyes and disappeared.

"She will don't worry," Apollo assured us. "Stay safe. If the Furies hear about this, they might think it's a good time to strike."

"Nothings come up yet?" I asked hopefully.

"Not yet, we stopped everything to try and find you. Art will get them back onto it, but I think it will be like last time when we found where they used to live. Another dead end."

"Be careful."

"I always am." Apollo winked and disappeared.

I turned around and found myself back in Cain's arms. "Please, please take me home now."

"For you, Elle, anything." He promised, and once we went through the portal, home is exactly where we went.