The little Faerie halted in front of him, breathless, her eyes wide with distress.
“I did what needed to be done. We’ll none of us ever have to fear Fenrir again. I destroyed the Beast by tossing the scrolls that bound him into the fire of the forge.”
Syrie’s hands flew up to cover her cheeks. “Do you have any conception of the magnitude of your actions? You’ve killed one of Asgard’s own creatures!”
Hall understood quite well what he’d done. It seemed to him it was the Faerie who didn’t understand.
“As one of Asgard’s own myself, it was my right to do so. Free will, I believe it’s called.”
He was Thor’s Rock, tasked with the well-being and security of those Mortals who’d found favor in Thor’s eyes. And he’d just ensured the well-being and security of untold generations of his grandfather’s followers.
Syrie took a deep breath, casting a worried gaze toward the sky before fixing it back on him. “Right or not, by your actions you’ve destroyed the tapestry woven by the Fates. You could well have changed everything—and you’ve certainly drawn the eyes of every god and goddess to this very place, to all of us. Your action has shaken the very foundations of the fabric of life.”
Bridget nudged against his side, slipping her hand into his as if to give him strength in his confrontation with the Faerie.
“Perhaps you are correct, Syrie. I may well have drawn the combined ire of Asgard and Wyddecol. But in doing so, I made the Mortal world a better place, and I’ve saved the woman with whom I would spend the rest of eternity. The woman I would have as my wife.” He lifted Bridget’s hand to his lips and locked her gaze with his. “If she’ll have me.”
BRIE’S WORLD REELEDout of control, as if she were caught in some amazing dream from which she never wanted to wake.
“IfI’llhaveyou?” she managed at last. “Why wouldyouwantme? Yer a laird, a landed man of wealth and position. I’m but a painted wildling with nothing of value to my name. I am no one.”
Had he forgotten that he’d refused her for this very reason?
“Never say that. Never think it. You are Bridget MacCulloch, daughter of the House MacUlagh, descended from the Ancient Seven who ruled the land when not even the Roman invaders dared challenge all the way to the Northern Sea. You are the woman who has captured the heart of Hall O’Donar, lowly laird of the Thunder’s People in the Land of Mists.”
She’d captured his heart? Though that had been her dream, it was more than she’d dared to expect.
Syrie said, “Tell her what that really means, O’Donar. Tell her who your people are, whoyoureally are, and what her life will be like if she agrees to your offer. She deserves that before she commits herself to you.”
Hurt flashed in his eyes, followed by a complete masking of his emotions. Did he not realize she didn’t care about any of that?
She said softly, “You’ve no need to tell me anything more, if you dinna choose to. I dinna care who yer people are. All that matters to me is whoyouare, and I already ken all that I need to about you.”
“No.” He squeezed her hand as the half smile she loved so much lifted the corners of his mouth. “The Faerie has the right of it. You deserve the whole of the truth. I am Thor’s Rock, a living descendent of Thor himself. I am his champion in the Mortal world. I told you once before that my life is not my own, and that was the truth. I am bound to go when and where he directs me, to answer the needs of his true believers and to see to their safety.”
“So yer the warrior I always thought you to be, am I right?”
“There’s more,” he said, as if once he’d started, he needed to unburden himself. “I am laird to a people and castle plagued by the Fae, as much as by the inhabitants of Asgard.”
“I beg your pardon!” Syrie huffed. “The Fae do not plague a place. We grace it with our presence for a time.”
“In that case,” Hall chuckled, the light of hope returning to his eyes, “my home, the place that will be our home together, has been more than amplygraced.”
“It sounds to be an interesting place you promise as our home together.”
“Interesting, perhaps,” he agreed. “But I can never promise you a normal life. Many of my days, great swaths of months on end, will be spent away from our home in service to Thor. I cannot change this.”
“I would never ask you to change it.” Brie pulled her hand from his to cup his cheek in her palm. “But I would ask you to understand that though you may be away from the land and buildings you call our home, ourtruehome will always be wherever we are together. And wherever you go, I will go, so you will never truly be away from home again.”
“Then your answer is yes?”
“My answer is yes. With all my heart, yes.”
Hall crushed her in his embrace, lifting her from her feet to twirl her around as he covered her lips with his, submersing her in the heady haze his touch always brought.
Could her life get any better than spending it with the man she loved over any other?
It could, and would. She would share her home with the Viking gods of her father’s people, and with the Fae.
