“Vali showed me the moment Skadi was struck down. I held her as she died while you ran away. Is that all you’re capable of? You took me away from my clan. We hid in your cabin for weeks, to what end? To keep me from leading my people because you cannot lead your own.” Rasha’s voice drops so low the ground shakes at her mercy.
“I wanted to protect you.” My response is weak.
“You don’t even want to sleep with me because you’re afraid.”
“Stop.” I bring myself to touch her, taking her face in my hands. “I am afraid that you won’t stay because I won’t be enough for you.” To say my heart is breaking is an understatement. Rasha’s crystal blue eyes have pierced through me since the first day I met her and have forced me out of hiding. Tonight she deserves the truth. “Denying the bond is how Skadi and I found trouble in the first place. I have lived with her death on my hands for so long I don’t know how to let you in.” My admission crushes Rasha’s blazing temper.
“We need to make the last link in the chain before the next full moon, or Vali is going to take your place forever,” she says. Infusing hidden gems of love and acceptance over every torn and fractured particle floating without direction in our frayed bond, I cradle the back of her head, threading my fingers through her crimson hair.
“Making the last link will bond us for all of eternity. Do you want that?” I whisper. My resolve falters, and I brush a delicate kiss over her cold lips to invite her in.
“I made a promise.” She is slowly unraveling.
“Eternity is forever. Will you be happy arguing with me forever?” Our bodies are sealed together against the cold, and I drag her leg up my thigh to hold her as close.
“As long as you promise to hear me out, but, Shaw?” she says my name, and I am ready to fall to my knees here in the dark, unnamed forest.
“Ask me anything you want.” I don’t care about the rules. She is right, I am the King of the Vanheim, and it is time to go home.
“I need you.” She grips my tunic. Running my nose down her face, I nip her lip, and she finally lets out the moan I have waited to hear.
“You don’t need me. Ask me a better question.” I know the same feeling building inside me is also driving her to madness. She leans up, and I pull her hair gently aside to expose her neck to my lips. Kissing down her throat, I want to lay on snow covered ground and please her until Spring blooms.
“Who am I?” she whispers a new question with a hot and needy breath in my ear.
I give her the truth.
“You’re mine. You will be a Queen.”
We cannot stop the chain from constantly bringing our souls together, even though the last link isn’t made. Rasha stands before me a maiden, which I am about to change. She is the other half of me for all eternity. We can die together or fight through our shortcomings, but we will always find one another. Life exists in balance, and it starts with the gods.
31
RASHA
Arguing with Shaw is unbearable. Half the time, I want to forget why I am mad in order to keep his lips on mine.
“Do you have the bow and the amulet?” I ask, dropping my leg back to the ground.
“Of course. Do you want to go to the Hall?” He peels himself away from me, which is the right thing to do. Joanna must have announced my return by now, but I can’t stop the pounding in my core.
“We should make an appearance.”
He nods, reaching into his pocket, and pulls out the bracelet. I haven’t seen it since the cabin because I’ve been wearing the chain as a necklace.
“For safekeeping. I know you trust your people, but Jorvik and Bjorn would sooner kill us both then allow you to bring your clan to the mountain pass.” He hands me the bracelet as we walk through the last of the sparse trees, and I tuck the chain inside.
Sliding it up my arm, I hide it under my sleeve. “What happens when we connect the chain? Do we both leave?”
Taking my hand and tucking it around his arm, he says, “I needto leave to fix the mess between Vali and me. I would like you to come with me.”
“I sense abut,” I reply, my eyes fixed on his tall frame and clean-shaven jaw.
“But I am not going to take you. It’s your choice,” he answers. I don’t know what to say, so I press my lips together and look out at the village I have called home for half my life. Every torch and fire basin is lit, leading our way to the Hall. People are lining the dirt path to see if I am truly alive. The last time they saw me, I was leaving for the Aske Stronghold.
Aslaug nudges me with her soft nose and drops the quiver at my feet. Before I can bend down, Shaw picks it up and slips my arm through the leather strap to put it on my back. Reaching behind my head, I feel the silver tip of the bow peaking out the top and pull my hair over my shoulders, shaking out the bits of ash and leaves.
“You are beautiful,” Shaw whispers, leaving a ghost kiss along my neck. His words hit me, making my stomach tumble with nerves. After everything I witnessed on the edge of the Vanheim, I am having trouble believing that this man, who is the most powerful being in all of eternity, thinks I am worthy of being at his side.
