He chuckled softly.“Aye.’Tis far better than the scowls I endured when first we wed.”
“Though our union was not of my making, I have come to accept it,” she told him, her chin tilting defiantly.
He carefully set aside the weapon and rose to his feet, lowering to a crouch before her.
Her face heated when he cupped her cheeks in his calloused palms, his gaze alight with both amusement and hunger.
“This union was always of my making, but I didn’t expect what now lies between us.On this eve of battle, this union is one I desire above all others.If we are defeated tomorrow, mate, it will be have been my honor to fight by your side.”
Something cracked in her chest as Brun sank to her knees and knelt in the damp grass.She laid a hand on his wrist, suddenly aware that this might be all they were given.
Brun had been fighting her feelings for this complex man since the moment they’d met.Every touch, every whispered endearment, every evidence he’d shown her that he was proud to be her mate, had chipped away at her defenses.They finally crumbled to dust as she leaned forward and laid her head on his chest.“If we die tomorrow, I do so with no regrets.”
“You once told me nothing would clip your wings,” he said as he traced a line beneath her jaw with the pad of his thumb, pausing to brush over the claiming scar.
“My wings are still intact, Barbarian.For the first time in my life, I can spread them and fly as close to the sun as I wish.”
“If I set you free, would you return to me of your own free will?”
Brun slung her arms around his neck and burrowed into his chest.She breathed in the scent of iron, ocean and woodsmoke emanating from the crevice between his jaw and shoulder and sighed in contentment.“I would return,” she reassured him.
“Because you have reconciled yourself to our union?”
She shook her head.“It isn’t reconciliation, or resignation to my fate.The each uisge have given me a home and a place to belong.You have given me the freedom to become a part of something, secure in the knowledge that I will be accepted for both my strength and my fragility.Before, only the waves brought me freedom.”
When he slid his arms around her body and hoisted her into the air, she laughed.She was tall and strong and intimidating, and had never felt cherished or protected by anyone.Until now.This fearsome, otherwordly each uisge king with his sparkling blue eyes and insufferable teasing made her feel all those things and more.Cherished.Protected.Loved.
His affection for her was so ever present she felt it in the marrow of her bones, and she knew he had grown as attached as she.
"Let us celebrate what we will build together when we have defeated our enemy," he said as he pressed a hot kiss to her forehead.
"Yes," she answered, and let him carry her to the tent pitched just beyond the firelight.
Something woke her in the dead of night, long after she lay sated from a bout of vigorous lovemaking.The leaves rustled ominously, and a soft glow approached their berth.Brun carefully lifted the edge of the blanket and Tor's arm from her waist and retrieved the dagger she'd placed beneath her pillow.
"You need no weapon against me, Daughter.And it would do you no good if you did," someone said with a tinkle of laughter.
Brun didn't recognize the bearer of the voice, and her mother was in Valhalla."I am no one's daughter," she snarled.
"You are mine, just as your mother was," the figure said as it stepped into view.
Brun fell to her knees."Forgive my impudence, Goddess."
"There is no need for apologies, Daughter.I have come to tell you I am pleased with the way you have embraced your path.Even now, it bears fruit, and soon your womb will swell with child.You have many battles ahead, and you will need to cling to the joy you've found in this union."
Brun laid a hand over her stomach."I'm to bear a child?"
"You're to bear children, Brunhild FreydisDottir.Cherish them and make them strong enough to withstand the storms that are coming."
"Will we defeat the kraken?"
The goddess shook her head."The outcome of the battle isn't clear to me.I have seen that his kingdom will be much weakened and the each uisge will thrive.That is all I've been shown."
"Weakened means vulnerable."
"Indeed it does, and I expect you to take full advantage of it.Now, rise so I may give you my blessing."
Brun rose on shaky legs and turned her hands palms up.The goddess withdrew a blade of light and laid it across them, briefly singeing Brun's flesh with the rune of Tiwaz for victory.
