“This is a good move, Jo.” Von added two books to the shelf.
“Stop worrying, you sod.” Sander shot me a glare. “You’re quivering more than Mira when she’s overly excited about something.”
I shook out my hands. “You’re right. This is fine. It will be fine.”
This would be a disaster.
The lot of us huddled around the closed door, silent gazes on the delicate blossoms Frigg’s mother painted on the frame.
“It’s good, right?” I rested my hands on my hips.
“Gods.” Von peeled away from the group. “Come on. Let’s see if Jonas can find his balls to go show his bride what he’s done.”
Once the others left the corridor, Sander came to my side. “You’re welcome for what I did.”
“What?”
“Had I not sacrificed myself upon her sword,riskedmy very life, you might never have found love. I hope you name your first child after me.”
I laughed, but sobered quickly. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Sander.”
“Keep not knowing then; it seems to be working.”
“How is it even possible to feel so differently after so short a time?”
“Because you have found a woman who burned through those shields you like to keep with your companions. She was not even trying. That is how you know—at least I think so—it is a bond worth keeping.”
“Jonas?” Skadi’s voice echoed up the stairwell. “Are you up there? Von told me to find you.”
Sander left with a cheeky kind of grin, his muffled voice followed in the stairwell, likely as he passed her. My heart swelled when she came into sight.
Gods, she was beautiful.
Since the burrow, we’d spent little time away from each other. Once, I imagined spending my days with one woman would grow tiresome and aggravating.
I now woke each day with her as my first thought.
The piercings she kept in her ears always gleamed like crystals in the light, and the silver rings on her fingers did the same. She had her hair pulled high today, like on the sparring field, but her flowing dress revealed more of her shoulders, some of the coils of her secret ink spilled from the sides.
Skadi looked to the tall, arched ceilings, the stained images on the windows. “What is this corridor?”
I blew out a long breath. “It was empty, but it isn’t now.”
Gods, I sounded like a fool.
One of her brows lifted. “All right. Why so skittish?”
“I’m absolutely not skittish.”
“Like a frightened pup.”
I took hold of her hand and smashed her against me. “You could’ve at least called me a frightened wolf or something fearsome.” At the door, I hesitated. “I need you to know, I stole from you.”
“What?”
“It was for good reason.” I nudged the door open, drawing us into the open room. “You did not lose your endless trunks of books, Fire.”
Skadi’s eyes popped. Slowly she unlaced her fingers with mine and took cautious steps into the open space. Once an old study, the room had been neglected over the turns.
