Bullshit, Nate thought when Eva challenged his statement about his friendship skills. However, she was upon him and their lips/hands connected, his back still leveraged against his thestral. Her presence was a snow plow against the accumulated dread and depression his life had been buried in. His fingers found her hair and he kissed the queen like no one was watching, then suddenly he remembered people were watching. But he didn't care, it wasn't until she pulled away that her spell was broken. Right... Throne room, Helheim...
"Minutes?" he chuckled only slightly manically. "Days, weeks more likely, of nothing. Complete isolation," he explained conflicted between the relief that Brayden and Eva didn't suffer long in his absence, but infuriated over the experience and his flirtation with madness.
Nathaniel heard the Odinson brothers begin to talk among themselves and Caltrops used his hands to pull Eva back to him. "What are you doing? Don't leave," he whispered the plea just before he kissed her lips again, then secured the pregnant queen in a hug. "Major is perfect," he added between long, therapeutic kisses.
"Nathaniel, God of Darkness - Ridder of Asgard," still, he would be until... well, they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. "Congratulations, but I fear this was the easier leg of your journey," the Allfather didn't want to be the heavy, but someone had to. "Any change of heart?" he inquired but doubted it very much.
"No, your majesty," Nathaniel answered, one arm still around Eva. "I'm prepared to..."
"Stop," Thor raised his hand with a smirk. "Tonight we rest, the battle is still in the future," he insured the newly-minted god. "Besides, you need to become more accustomed to your new abilities."
"Yes, sir," he told the king of Asgard and broke eye contact only to catch Eva having a conversation with Major, in chirps.