I kept my expression calm.
Not too smug. Not too stiff. Just the right amount of "I'm-totally-not-scheming-against-a-goddess-right-now."
But Hel?
For the first time since I met her…
She really looked at me. And sweet mercy of the void, that stare could definitely freeze a sun or two. Cold didn't begin to describe it.
It felt like she wanted to have me ritually dismembered, slow-drained and put on display.
And I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what I had done to earn that particular flavor of hate just yet.
I mean, sure, I had a question lined up that she couldn't answer but I hadn't even dropped it yet. That one was locked and loaded for the final round.
So what had I done?
All I did was ask about her favorite snack.
Just a little harmless nonsense to paint myself as a dumb, desperate mortal who had stumbled into godhood's deal-making.
It was all part of the plan.
Make her underestimate me.
Let her think I was harmless, unworthy and forgettable.
