Can I do nothing to push her away from me?
He nuzzles her neck, evoking a needy moan as his hand dips into her bodice, splaying out over her soft, pliant breasts. “Doesn’t the heir to Treland wish to find a proper partner? Someone worthy of her station? ”
Her lips gently graze his beard. “I trust you, Calder.”
He growls, inhaling her faint scent of blackwood tree flowers.I am not the man she needs. The man to be her King.
His hand clutches her neck, and the quick inhale of her breath and flutter of her lashes make him harder than stone. “Do you know how many innocents I have slain with these hands?” He tightens his hold until she whimpers.
She licks her lips. “You shall not harm me.”
He bites over the shell of her ear with a debauched growl that causes her skin to erupt in goosebumps.
“You see, Aura,” her name tastes like the salvation he knows he is denied, “you are mistaken. I hunger to defile you.” He pulls her against him, salivating over her neck as he imagines every despicable act he would wreck upon this young woman’s body. “The thirst I have for you is an insatiable desire I fear I will never be able to quench.”
Her husky gasp has his cock somehow hardening more as his control hangs by a thread.
“If I lose my control with you, I will bring the continent down with me.” He snarls in her ear.
Coincidence or divine intervention, but Gunni’s footsteps returning from the kitchen below burst their intimate bubble. The Princess scrambles away, panting as he leans back, concealing his erection.
His Second appears with an armful of mead bottles. “Why do I get this feeling that your mission to protect the Princess failed?”
“Changed, not failed. Aura will pose as my new slave until we have a plan forward.”
“New implies you have ever owned another person, my friend. She will draw attention at any rate.” Gunni bows to her. “A pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. I pray to the gods Calder doesn’t get you killed.”
Aura curtsies with trembling hands after their tense moment. “That is why I have Drengr like you to protect me. I should mention that Isabel said Rendel was a son of Freyr.”
“As in the God Freyr who nearly handed Treland to Sigvid’s narcissistic cunt of a brother?” Gunni intervenes before Calder can.
“She is working with him. I guess he came to her in a dream. It is safe to assume that if she has a partnership with Queen Lavinia, then Freyr will be working with them, too.” Aura leans against the wall beside a large portrait painted by Argnier of an armored woman with black wings and armor—a vísir–spirits that carry the souls of the dead to their respective afterlives.
“This is a huge, massive pile of shit. And I mean that in the best possible way.” Gunni guzzles the rest of his ale. “Briny’s balls, this does not bode well for us, Calder.”
The sound of the front doors creaking has him on edge. He glances around the corner to face Edmund and Thora, who are dropping their weapons in the rack.
Gunni sweeps into a low bow. “My Lady Commander, PrincessThora.” He takes her hand and presses the top to his lips. “A ravishing sight in these dark days.”
A gentle smile twitches along the corner of Thora’s lips. “Gunni. I appreciate the Salt braid. Still cozying up to the Iss Drengr after all these winters?”
“Someone should look after him. I denied myself a family to keep him on the straight and narrow.”
“Denied, huh? Such a noble friend.” She unties the scrap of fabric that was keeping her black mane tamed. Gunni’s hungry gaze watches as her tight curls cascade down her back.
“Ouch,” he clutches his chest. “I could put your tongue to use better than cutting words.”
Thora grabs his armor and tugs him forward until they’re a breath apart. She licks her tongue along his cheek. “You can’t handle me, Olafsson.” She pats his other cheek rather roughly before striding deeper into the keep, leaving him alone in the entryway.
Edmund and Aura shift when he turns around, acting as if they weren’t hanging on every word.
“I’m just going to go.” Gunni jabs a thumb at the doors. “I’ll be back tonight with clothes and supplies for your stowaways.”
Calder nods, “That would be for the best.”
After showing the group their respective bedrooms, assigning cooking and cleaning duties, and lighting fires in the hearths of the bedchambers, Calder collapses in a thick chair in his suite, puffing on his pipe.
At some point, Gunni returned with clothes and supplies for Thora and Aura. Enough to help them blend in and stay warm in Skalor’s climate.
