"I took it.This morning before the eclipse, I had Coinneach bring it to me while you were still sleeping."
"But... why?"
"Rhianelle, that ring was made of forest vines." I cup her face. "It's so fragile that one wrong move would crumble it to dust."
"You threw it away?" Her voice trembles.
"I made something to protect it." I hate moving away from her but I cross to the small table where I left my work and bring the case back to her. "I finished it this morning, just before the eclipse took me."
"Open it," I say.
Her hands shake as she works the mechanism. The case opens smoothly. Preserved behind enchanted glass and fitted into a shell of worked metal sits our wedding ring. The vines intact. Every knot exactly as I tied them on that night.
"You can wear the casing itself as a ring," I tell her, watching every shift of her expression. "It's fitted to your finger. The vines stay protected inside. I wanted you to have something that would last."
Tears stream down her face. I reach up to wipe them away with my thumbs.
"Svenn..." Her voice breaks on my name.
"It's probably ridiculous—"
She kisses me and I swear the world stands still. All the fear and relief of the last three days pour through her and into me. When she pulls back her tears are still falling.
"Thank you," she whispers against my lips. "It's perfect. You're perfect."
"I'm not." My hand closes over hers where the ring rests. "But I'm yours. All of me."
"And I'm yours," she agrees, slipping the case onto her finger. "Forever."
The ring fits perfectly.
"Just stay with me," she whispers, exhaustion pulling at her again.
I settle beside her properly, pulling her against my chest.
"I'm not going anywhere," I promise, and mean it with everything I am.
We hold each other as dawn breaks outside the cave, moonlight giving way to pale morning sun. The Calanmai festival will end today. Eirik Bloodhound's armies will march soon after.
War is coming. The world we know is about to burn.
Let them come.
They'll learn what happens when someone threatens what's mine.
Part III
Part III The Fall in Ashes
16
Chapter 15 Svenn
“Fresh oysters! Caught this morning in the Sapphire Bay!” A weathered fishmonger calls out from his stall, his voice rough with years of shouting over harbor winds.
The city unfolds before us, breathing with the rhythm of the sea that sustains it.
Völundr.
