Just as I knew he would, he chuckled. Low and deep.
“That’s it. That’s definitely it,” I murmured, grinning, unable to resist pressing my hands to his chest, feeling the tantalizing rumble of it. “Or maybe it was when you told me about theorala sa’kilan. The frozen haven. When you comforted me about my father.”
His chuckle slowly died down but I could feel the warmth of his gaze. I couldfeelthe warmth of his palms as they began to trail over me.
“Or maybe it was those moments in the fog,” I told him, my voice catching. “Maybe it was how you looked at me like you’re looking at me right now.”
“And how is that?” came his voice, thick and rich.
“Like I’m the only one for you.”
“Because you were,” he said. “Youare.”
I grinned. Wrune growled and caught my lips in another dizzying kiss, one that had me breathless and clinging to him.
We werestrong.
I was the shield and he was the sword.
Together, we could do anything.
“You’re the only one for me too,” I told him.
Epilogue
One moon cycle later…
“Morakkari,”came Wrune’s voice.
I smiled though I did not turn to face him as he approached from behind. My gaze was glued to the expansive view laid out before me like an offering. All glittering ice and frozen valleys.
That late afternoon, I’d climbed up this small mountain, Hukri and my ever-present guard, Revia, staying at the base of the incline to give me some privacy. Wrune had been busy meeting with Valavik, plotting our way on the maps to ensure that our route was as efficient as possible.
Yet, he’d found me. As he always would.
When his arms encircled me from behind, I leaned back into the wide expanse of his chest. His hand moved, his palm pressing just over my heartbeat as it thrummed for him. Even five weeks after the Dead Mountain, he still did that andoften. It brought him comfort, as if he still could not shake the memory of that night.
I felt him lean down and press a kiss to the side of my temple before nuzzling his head just below my ear.
“Leika,” he rasped. “I never tire of the northlands.”
Beautiful.
“And majestic,” I told him. “Though harsh. Brutal, even.”
“Deadly in their beauty,” Wrune agreed. “Though we are both northerners, are we not? The ice is in our blood.”
I chuckled, tracing my fingers over hisVorakkarcuffs, warmed from his wrists.
This high up, we could see a fair portion of the northlands in their entirety. This high up, my eyes immediately tracked to the tall, blue-tipped mountains and the valley that they bracketed. The Orala Pass.
The mountains were so high that I couldn’t see the tops of them. I recognized them, of course, had seen them nearly all my life. Only, I hadn’t known what the Dakkari had named them. I hadn’t realized that there was a road between them. And I certainly hadn’t known that the road led to a fortress.
“Why do you think the priestesses chose the northlands for their temple?” I asked him, my gaze pinned to the last bit of valley I could see. I wondered how much longer one would have to travel to reach them.
Wrune’s warm breath tickled the base of my neck. “Maybe they see the majesty here too. Maybe this is where they feel Kakkari most.”
I sighed. His lips came to my neck.
