No, let’s go for twenty.
24
FRIDA
“That was incredible!” I pranced from one end of Rune’s cottage to the other, my heart so full I felt like I could stay awake all night. The morning’s exhaustion felt years away, like it had belonged to someone else entirely.
Rune, however, eased into his chair beside the roaring hearth and closed his eyes, like he could fall asleep right then and there. “You, Frida Rurik, were crafted from pure sunshine and endless energy.”
“Oh, come on,” I said, sliding to a stop before him. “Don’t pretend you didn’t have fun today. I saw you smiling. And celebrating. And shouting, just like me.”
His eyes cracked open. “You’re right. It was one of the best days I’ve had in a very long time.”
Heat curled through me. But as much as I yearned to climb onto his lap, I cleared my throat and turned away. “Thank you for helping me experience something so wonderful before I leave tomorrow.”
Rune grunted. “And even that couldn’t change your damn mind? You’re willing to leave behind your bonded dragon andthe joy of flying with him, and for what? To live a life you’ll hate?”
“This isn’t what I want, but I don’t see another way,” I whispered, my heart aching. I didn’t want to spend our last night together like this, but I’d known it was coming. Neither of us could ignore the truth of what tomorrow would bring, no matter how much we wanted to.
“I gave you another way,” he said in a low voice that shuddered over me. “Stay here. With Eldi. With Arvid, who I know you’ve grown fond of, too.” A beat passed. “With me.”
“Rune, you know I want to stay.” Tears ran down my face now. I tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. “And if I could, I would. You have to believe that.”
“What I believe is that you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’re so focused on the life you think you want that you can’t see the life you could have, not even when it’s right in front of you.” With a frustrated sigh, he closed his eyes. “Good night, Frida. Sleep well.”
I blinked, caught off guard by his sharp dismissal. Silently, I dabbed my face with my sleeve and walked away from him. This was not how I’d wanted to end things between us. But anything more would be unfair to him. Rune had already given me so much. I couldn’t ask for more. I couldn’t ask for him to wrap his arms around me and give me one last memory of what life was like beyond the guild.
One last moment of joy.
Something I could hold on to when the guild-hall felt too small and too dark.
Something to remind me of why I’d gone back—to save him and everyone else here.
I went into my room without a word. As soon as the door was shut, I slumped against it and sank to the floor. I dropped my head into my hands and mourned a future that could have been.Me and Rune, waking up beside each other every morning. Hazy days spent building and training archery and soaring through the skies on the back of the dragon, who I realized I’d already come to love. Nights in front of the hearth with Moira curled up at our feet.
In my mind, it was a lovely little life. One I could never claim as mine.
The weight of the door suddenly vanished from behind me. I fell back, my head colliding with a pair of worn leather boots. I looked up into the oak moss face of the orc who’d shown me the kind of life I could have had, if only I hadn’t been born into the wrong kind of family. Maybe in another life, we could find each other again, and we wouldn’t have the long blade of the guild hanging over us.
Rune swept me up into his arms and carried me into the main room. He gently lowered me into the rocking chair, his eyes searching mine. Everything within me tensed.
“I’m so sorry, Frida,” he murmured, kneeling before me. “I don’t want to argue with you, especially not on your last night here. That’s not how I want us to spend our last few hours together.”
Something in my chest stirred, that aching sense of loss I’d felt earlier with Eldi. Rune’s eyes, so rich and brown and kind…they felt like home.
“I don’t want that, either,” I said.
He smiled. “Good. What would you like to do, then?”
Kiss you. Hold you. Touch you. I want to love you, Rune.
Rune’s eyes went wide, and a shudder went through him. Gone was his smile. In its place was the look of a man starved. He cupped my cheek, his thumb on my jaw and his fingers spread across my neck. An unrelenting need tore through me, my eyes locking on the closeness of his lips, his tusks.
“Eldi convinced me to take some of the Hugur sand during one of your flying breaks,” he murmured. “He poked a talon at the sack very insistently. I thought he wanted me to take it so I could hear his thoughts in case you two got into trouble when you were up in the air. Then he started badgering me with questions.”
The roaring of my thundering heart filled my ears. “Wait, what are you saying?”
I heard your thoughts just now.
