Rygnar wasn’t just standing near me.
He washolding on.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, feeling the strength there—the same strength that had pulled me out of danger hours earlier.
“You were terrifying yesterday,” I murmured.
“I was efficient.”
I laughed softly against his chest.
“No. You were terrifying.”
His hands slid slightly along my back, slower now, less like a soldier securing something and more like a man reminding himself that I was still there.
“Lina,” he said quietly.
The way he said my name sent warmth straight through me.
“I’m right here,” I told him.
Rygnar
She was not trapped beneath stone or carried away by enemies. She was here in my arms.
The relief of that fact moved through me slowly, like warmth returning to limbs after cold.
I lifted one hand to her face, brushing my thumb along her cheek.
“You understand what today means,” I said.
“That we’re lucky?”
“That I will not take your presence lightly again.”
Her eyes softened.
“Good.”
Then she rose slightly on her toes, closing the small distance between us.
The contact was gentle with no urgency nor any attempt at conquest.
Reclaiming each other was something that had nearly been lost.
My hands settled more firmly at her waist as I drew her closer, letting the quiet of the room replace the noise of battle.
Outside, the mountain wind moved through the pines.
Inside, the world had narrowed to one undeniable truth.
She was alive! And she was mine to hold.
Lina
For a heartbeat, I simply stood there, wrapped in him, feeling the steady strength of his arms and the faint tremor he was trying so hard to hide. He had pulled me out of danger today with the force of a storm—but now he held me like something breakable. I didn’t want careful. I didn’t want fragile. I wanted to erase the space that had existed between us when I thought I might never see him again. I slid my hands up to frame his face, forcing him to look at me fully. “I’m here,” I whispered—not just reassurance, but invitation. Then I kissed him with all the certainty I hadn’t been able to voice in that tunnel, pouring relief and want and fierce gratitude into the simple fact that we were still standing.
My intense, deliberate claiming of his lips quickly deepened as his tongue teased my mouth open.
