“Thank you.”
“Of course, my love.”
Ari’s hand lands on my lower back—enough to remind me that I do not stand alone. He stares out across the land with me before pointing at a large rock formation jutting out of the forest. Far, far below.
“See that?” he asks. “Remember?”
I’m puzzled. What am I supposed to remember?
“No? What is it?”
“Strawberries,” he says with a grin.
I snort. Brought back to the first moment we shared in private. When I had brought a knife to gut him if he tried to rape me. When we had eaten strawberries under the moon, breathing in thick summer air. When we had climbed the rocks and stood at the top, buffeted by wind and he had… he had…
Shared his cloak with me.
Tears flood from my eyes. The memory unfurls within me. So gentle. But I was hard. I had to be. That night feels like another life, an age ago. I was a different woman. But he was there already.
“I remember,” I whisper.
He must also feel different. But he doesn’t show it. Always brave, this man. We stand together in silence before he breaks it.
“You afraid of losing it, or?”
He gestures with his chin to the necklace in my hand. I realize that I’m gripping it so hard my knuckles have turned white. I can barely feel my palm.
“No, I?—”
He reaches out and touches it. My body stiffens. No one else has laid a finger on it since the theft. But the gold tingles in my hand, like it approves of him. A pulse travels between us, through the bejeweled metal. I know it felt him. Liked him.
“Relax, Kilda,” he laughs. “I’m not going to run off with it.”
I let it go, expecting him to inspect it and tell me its value, or that we should sell it.
But he walks behind me, lifting my hair from my neck. He reaches around my throat before tying it. Its warmth coils around me. The chain tightens, just barely, as if to remind me that just like I chose it,itchoseme.
“Brisingamen,” whispers Ari with a soft laugh.
A gasp escapes me. He can’t be serious. How could I not have thought of it? To be fair, fleeing from frost giants keeps you busy. The thought lingers.
Freya’s fabled necklace. Could it be?
Silly girl. Ridiculous.
“No way, you can’t be seriou?—
“Now, it won’t go anywhere.”
The collar fits perfectly. It was made for my neck. The weight settles with authority. Heavy without being a burden. The moment feels like an announcement. Or a coronation. Like the nobles of the south.
This man. He never ceases to surprise me. So smug, so cocky, and yet, so caring. Such an eye for details. A Jotnar skald.
I throw my arms around his neck.
“Thank you,” I say.
“What?” he says, surprised. “For what?”
