“But…”
I didn’t dare finish the question. Njord. The Lord of the Ocean—the one we were warned of as children because he would drown us if we listened to his song—was here.
He wasn’t one of our gods. He wasn’t an Aesir but one of the Vanir—the lower-tier gods.
And he wasn’t the one who should bless our bond.
Tears shrouded my vision when Darcke’s grip on me tightened. It washisgod. Not mine.
My mind went to the day of the choosing, my stomach dropping.
The bridge in the sky hadn’t been from our gods either. I didn’t know what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. It couldn’t bode well for my entering the gods’ halls. Would they even acknowledge me as an heir if I hadn’t been accepted by one of the Aesir?
My eyes dipped.
“Eyes on me, heir.” Darcke’s fingers were soft, gentle even, as they tilted my head up again. “It’s almost over.”
“How do you know?” I whispered.
“Don’t you feel it?”
Something in Darcke’s face softened when I pulled a breath. I did feel it. A strength that wasn’t mine gave me more control over the body that had tried to betray me and turn to the god. A sense—an awareness—filled me, and I knew Darcke’s fingers would splay over my cheek before they did so.
My breathing stuttered when guilt, anger—so much fucking anger—and something even darker, pure hatred, touched my mind until I shivered from its intensity. The water spinning around us slowed, the presence faded, and all the time Darcke kept his hand on my cheek, his eyes on mine.
“Nearly there,” he said, and I might have almost described his voice as kind when the water stopped, then exploded, leaving us dripping and drenched.
I shook my head. We were in a glen on Nordoen, right above the waterfall, the moon hanging beautifully over the mirror-like water in the lake beneath us. The air was warm again, but I still shuddered as whatever heat there had been in Darcke’s gaze drained. When he released me, the disgust I’d gotten used to returned to his harsh features.
“That was weird,” I said as I took a step back.
An anger that wasn’t mine—a frustration that caused urgency to rush over my skin—beat into me.
That was even weirder.
Darcke didn’t respond, only glowered at me. Something else joined the rage, and I frowned as I tried to understand what it was. It wasn’t longing, it wasn’t sorrow, it was… melancholy? No. I took a step toward Darcke as I tried to read him. My hand involuntarily flew to my chest when I realized what it was.
A void. An empty void where the sense of home should be.
“Are you ever going to get dressed?” he snarled.
I wanted to ask more about that strange emptiness, but thedarkness in his eyes made me decide not to risk my neck today. Not after everything that had happened the past few days.
I was too tired anyway.
I turned away from him and picked up the damp clothes. I grumbled to myself as I fought the fabric with my exhausted hands. Then Darcke bent over, a groan flying from him.
“Are you all right?” My vision was swimming with dizziness, but I tried to blink it away as the warrior straightened, his large hands covering his gut.
His eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this fucking hungry last night?”
“I—” My leg got caught, and I would have fallen forward if Darcke hadn’t caught me, his arm snaking around my waist and his fingers spreading over my stomach as he held me upright.
“Well?” he demanded.
“Would you have cared?” I shot back.
It was quiet for a long while, and I wrangled myself into my trousers.
