I nibbled her ear. “I can’t hold this for much longer without stimulation.”
She chuckled. “You seem impatient for something. It’s not like you won’t be ready for more in a little bit. I know you.”
She did. I’d taken her wherever I desired and she allowed. Sometimes multiple times a day.
I nipped at her neck and slowly slid her up and down my cock. Astrid moaned at the slow tease of her overworked pussy. “I am impatient.”
She bit her lower lip. “For what?”
“To see you heavy with my child.” I lifted her up and slammed her down on my cock. She cried out in pleasure. “I’m not letting you leave until you are.”
Astrid gasped. “We are expected to return to the festivities tomorrow.”
I chuckled. “And?”
Her nails dug into my neck, and her breathing hitched. “That’s not possible.”
I increased my thrusts, fucking her harder. “Don’t underestimate what your god can do, Wife.”
Chapter Twelve
Týr
Water lapped at the shore. My head rested comfortably in Astrid’s lap while she ran her fingers through my hair, gathering locks into a complex braid to match the one on the other side of my head she’d already made.
I gazed at her, marveling at her beauty. She’d aged a few years since our marriage, but then… stopped. Time had passed around us like it normally did. Her father and brother grew older, eventually dying in glorious battle. Randi grew up, learning her magic through Astrid, and raised children of her own, continuing with the honor of providing her first daughter with the name Randi as well. But even she succumbed to her mortality and her daughters, and their daughters continued to take up the family mantle. Astrid lived through it all, frozen in time. I don’t know how she became immortal, but I knew roughly when.
We never had the family we tried so hard for. We’d come close, three times in fact. But something went wrong, and her pregnancies failed. Unfortunately, the loss of the third caused the worst damage. We saw several healers, mortal and immortal alike, and, finally through one last consultation with Freyja, it was confirmed Astrid would never be able to bear children. And that was only the start of the hardest part of our relationship.
She withdrew. I watched the light of my Valkyrie dim and the harder I tried to help her, the more she pushed back. It had pained me to hear her repeatedly tell me to leave her. It frustrated me to hear her utter words about her bullshit curse again. It broke me to hear her cry herself to sleep at night, and the only thing I could do was stubbornly remain by her side to show her I loved her no matter what.
The others tried their best to help. Even with combined efforts, it took so long that I feared I’d lose her to her agony.
But slowly, things mended. Astrid healed little by little, and we grew closer together. I stayed with her through it all, reaffirming that her feelings on the matter were valid, and that mine for her didn’t diminish. And a surprising helping hand came from Baldr. He opened up to a side of him I didn’t even know, and spoke about his own infertility.
These conversations helped her to cope and finally accept what had happened to her. She and I from then on spent so much time rebuilding our bond that it resulted in something stronger than before—the tipping point for her path into immortality.
Astrid ran her finger down my cheek. “What are you looking at?”
“The most beautiful creature in existence.”
She glanced around. “I don’t see Freyja anywhere.”
I sat up and cupped her face. “Freyja could never compare to you, Valkyrie.”
I pressed my lips to hers, soft and gentle at first, but as her taste teased my senses, I grew hungry. Astrid chuckled and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me closer. There was no battle of wills this time, and I liked it that way.
My hands fumbled and tugged at the buckles and ties for her dress—the design specifically created for lounging around our island, and yet would give me both a challenge of removing it from her and that sensation of tearing her clothes off, while not forcing Astrid to have to mend her clothes all the time. Spending centuries with her did not diminish my burning need for her.
Her clothes fell away, and I claimed every visible part of her. Her intoxicating tastes and smells; her tempting moans and begs; her mirrored caresses; she was everything I craved—everything I needed.
Astrid’s hips bucked and she screamed my name. The sound and feeling of her clenching around me sent me over the edge and I came inside her with reckless abandon.
We lay together in a spent but blissful heap. Her head rested on my chest, where she listened to my still-erratic heart.
“I love you,” I murmured, trailing my hand up her soft back.
She snuggled into me more. “I love you too.”
