[Intro]
No bell was rung, no feast was called,
Yet every god came into the hall.

[Verse 1]
[Duet]
They set her beneath the antler beam,
Where judgments cut like a winter stream.
TEER spoke first with his hand of law,
“Gold has a root, and greed has a claw.”
She spread her coins on the whale-bone board,
Each little sun with a silent lord.
“Choose,” she said, “what you already own,
A borrowed throne, or a purchased stone.”

[Pre-Chorus]
Frigg heard wives in the market cry,
FRAY-yah saw graves where the bright rings lie.
Odin watched every lowered brow,
And learned who wanted the bargain now.

[Chorus]
What is the price of a crown?
A cup poured up, then spilled back down.
What is the weight of a vow?
A spear held high, then sold somehow.
Count the rings, count the town,
Tell me the price of a crown.

[Verse 2]
[Duet]
Thor struck sparks from the table’s side,
“Kings are made where the storm-goats ride.”
Loki grinned at the smoking grain,
“Storms still ask for a roof in rain.”
Baldr frowned at the red-gold glare,
“Beauty rots when the oath grows bare.”
But servants leaned near the door’s dark seam,
Hungry for coin, afraid to dream.

[Pre-Chorus]
GOOL-vayg whispered, “No god is free,
If another god holds what he needs.”
Odin’s ravens beat the eaves,
Like knives in stacks of autumn leaves.

[Chorus]
What is the price of a crown?
A cup poured up, then spilled back down.
What is the weight of a vow?
A spear held high, then sold somehow.
Count the rings, count the town,
Tell me the price of a crown.

[Choir]
We were strong when the benches were one,
We were bright when the bargains were none.
Now every oath makes a smaller sound,
Now every hand wants a heavier crown.

[Instrumental Break][Frame drums lock into a 6/8 stomp while guitars cut short, dry accents under female vocal cries.]

[Bridge]
GOOL-vayg touched the ash on the floor,
Drew three circles by the hammer door.
“One for rule, one for need,
One for the mouth that learns to feed.”

[Final Chorus]
What is the price of a crown?
A cup poured up, then spilled back down.
What is the weight of a vow?
A spear held high, then sold somehow.
Count the rings, count the town,
Tell me the price of a crown.

[Outro]
No bell was rung, no feast was called,
But gold had measured the height of the hall.