I hate this feeling. I didn’t need to get wrapped up in his nonsense with Aslaug or the map to the reindeer herd. My purpose is to find the bow and make it through Yule without getting married. My face radiates embarrassment at how foolish I am for thinking he would want to catch me. To have a chance to kiss me.
“You are the Maiden,” a voice I’ve never heard skates over me, and I raise my chin, only to collide with a man.Fuck.
“You can’t be sure,” I say, trying to give myself time to run. With the mask on, I have no idea who this is, but he isn’t Harald, and he isn’t Shaw. His clean hands and richly woven tunic place him in a council role, maybe the son of a clan leader? Either way, I am running out of places to hide.
Taking my chance, I bolt, but he has friends. Another masked man grabs my arm so hard it feels like my shoulder is about to dislocate as his leg snakes around mine.
“Don’t hurt her,” the first one says, sounding younger the more he speaks.
“We have her. We’ll bring her to Harald to trade after I watch,” his friend says, twisting my arm behind my back till tears sting my eyes.
“The gods are watching,” I grind out through my clenched jaw. He throws me to the younger one, whispering how he wants to watch his friend use me. I let the young one run his hands all over my curves. Underneath his tunic, I see the glimmer of a hilt peaking out. We agreed to no weapons, and yet, he broke the rules.
Reaching around his body, I see him grow ridiculously excited, and he grinds his hips into mine, thinking I am starting to enjoy him.
“What’s your name?” I ask in my best breathless tone.
“Ivan,” he says, all too quickly.
“Kiss her. We deserve to taste her,” the older man says, and I relax, letting Ivan’s soft lips kiss my neck. Enthralled in his luck, he doesn’t feel me slip his knife, which isn’t tied tightly at all, from his belt. The curse of naivety is placing how you look before the practicality of keeping your weapons secure. I push one hand against Ivan’s chest, and he smiles like he’s about to be blessed by Freya herself.
“She has a knife? She broke the fucking rules!” the other man scolds, but Ivan admits his mistake.
“It’s mine. It’s my family’s ritual knife. I didn’t think it counted,” he says to the man who wants to watch. Ivan’s old friend has beenteaching the young man to be an utter abhorrence. I recognize him as the partner Ingrid danced with before she left with Bjorn. He was in on it.
“You deserve to be killed along with the men who have been hurting the women.”
Chuckling, he responds, “Harald kept you locked away so you don’t know that none of those men were killed. Punished, yes, but they will live to fuck another day.” My only response is to drive that fancy knife into his chest.
He’s unarmed, and I am full of fury. Bones snap and muscles squelch as I take all my fucking frustrations out on piercing through his lungs and his fucking miserable heart.
Ivan runs. He doesn’t try to stop me or help. I hear him vomit on his way around the partition corner. Wiping my hands, I keep the knife locked in my palm and roll the partition to cover the body.
More thudded footsteps come towards me, the wall shifting again, and I feel the heat of another man. Raising the knife, I see the blood stained metal catch the moonlight, illuminating both of us.
“Calm yourself,” Shaw’s quiet voice stops me cold, and I start to collapse. His hands wrap around my body, and I melt into him.
“I thought you left,” I murmur, lowering the knife.
“I wasn’t going to leave you,” he replies, and I look at his mask, trying to see his eyes. Gently, he walks into me until we are pressed against the wall. “Is the person you used that on dead, or do I need to finish him off?
“Dead.” My voice shakes, and I drop the handle of the knife, listening to it hit the ground. In the safety of his strong embrace, I unravel my tension. “It feels good to stand up for myself.”
“I’m sure he deserved it.” He lifts his mask a fraction and smirks before placing it back against his face. Hearing his voice makes me want to cry and rip my clothes off at the same time.
“Jorvik has the map. I saw it with my own eyes.” I wait for his reaction, but he’s gazing at my dress like he’s seeing a spirit. “Shaw?” I ask, gripping his shoulder, but he runs his tongue over his lip, and my stomach throbs.
“The antler mask makes you otherworldly. I don’t give a fuck about anything but you right now if I’m being honest.” His passionate words ignite me. Stepping into his arms, I raise my eyes to meet his stare as he runs his hands through my hair up to my crown. I caress his forearms, reaching the band of the crown, and remove it, bringing it between us. Many sets of broken antlers make up the circlet.
Pressing my forehead into his, I can almost feel his smile when he realizes the antler with the tiny silver drops that mark the map is hidden among the other plain antlers.
“You amaze me at every turn,” Shaw whispers, taking his antler map out of the Maiden’s crown and pocketing it. My hands never leave his shoulders, daring to run my palms across his broad chest to his waist line. “Rasha, this crown belongs on your head.” His voice interrupts my exploration. Bending slightly, I feel him fit the circlet back with the gentlest motion, moving my hair out of the way. I stand tall in his reverent gaze as his fingers skim my collarbones, and he pushes the fur wrap from my shoulders.
“You caught me. Take your prize.” I can’t help but move into him, my body overwhelmed and ramped up from our other encounters. He obliges with eager tenderness, slipping in between the ties of my dress. When his hands touch my skin, I choke back a moan, and he turns me around, pressing my back into his chest.
Arching my neck up to his shoulder, I know our lips are a heartbeat away from a kiss. Our masks knock together, and I glance at the intricate scrollwork in the shimmering metal that he must have done himself.
“Touch me,” I whine as my impatience builds. Shaw’s hands find my nipples, hard against my dress, and he rolls one through the fabric. My legs fall open around his thigh. I can’t find the words to beg, but my body knows the way. His hands play with my aching breasts, finding sensitive places I didn’t know existed.
