Loki Quakes In His Cement Shoes

Alas, poor Baldur! Pierced by a spear of mistletoe, Odin and Frigga’s son perished and went to Helheim.

In a last-ditch effort to save her son, Frigga sent an emissary to make a deal with Hel. If everything and everyone mourned Baldur, Hel agreed to let him go. Since Baldur was beloved, it was a sweet deal. A hue and cry went up on Baldur’s behalf, and it seemed as if Baldur was a free áss.

But…Loki couldn’t leave well enough alone. He transformed himself into a giantess who wouldn’t join in the mourning and the deal was off.

When the gods learned about Loki’s latest mischief, there was no place in the nine worlds of Norse mythology for him to hide. The gods seized Loki and gave him cement shoes, Norse style. They lashed him to a bed of rocks and suspended a snake possessing acid-like venom over his head. Loki’s wife, Sigyn, stuck a bowl under the drip to spare her husband. Unfortunately, the bowl had to be emptied every so often, which left Loki exposed. Whenever the acid dripped on Loki, the result was an earthquake.

Otherwise known as a Teutonic shift.

~ S.G. Rogers

When Dani was a teen, she had it all; a starring role in her own television series, a wonderful family, and her health. A few years later, everything has changed for the worse—and her time is running short. All she wants to do before she dies is to fall in love, but when she’s kidnapped and taken to Asgard of Norse mythology, she becomes enmeshed in a quarrel between immortals. Prince Rein lends a hand in her quest to return home, and she begins to think the handsome elf has captured her heart. After a magical artifact goes missing, however, he may be forced to marry another woman to avert a diplomatic catastrophe. To find the artifact and save the prince, Dani must undertake a dangerous quest involving ogres, dark fairies, and underworld criminals. Ultimately, however, she’ll have to defy Odin himself.