Page 3 of Soul of Fire

Had it only been a week? Hearthmother save me, it felt like so much more.

Arik and I hadn’t discussed what to do about our unique mental connection, or if it was something we should reveal to our reirhold, and I felt a niggle of guilt for keeping it hidden.

You can tell Branka,Arik cut in gently.She’s your best friend.

I knew he was right. But there was also a part of me that liked having this secret. I was oddly proud of this connection we had formed by the grace of whatever gods or goddesses blessed the drage.

Norns,Arik corrected.Not gods or goddesses.

Stop listening in on my thoughts,I chastised without any real bite.

Arik laughed across the mental bridge.Stop shouting them at me then, Kjære.

“Ugh. Let me know when Idunn is done with you,” Branka sighed dramatically. “I’monlyyour best friend after all.”

“Sorry.” I flashed her a smile, trying to ignore my mate, whose shoulders were shaking in silent laughter. “She’s done now.”

“You were gone a long time.” Branka looked between me and the back of Arik’s head with suspicion. “What did she want?”

“Just complaining about being tired. Is Bryndis not?”

“Oh, she’s exhausted,” Branka said happily. “But that won’t stop me from jumping Jorgen’s bon—“

Jorgen choked on a cough, and Arik whacked him on the back rather harder than necessary.

I laughed, lowering my voice so only Branka could hear me. “I thought you two were waiting?”

Branka shrugged as her cheeks darkened in the gloom. “You know how it is. After a battle, I mean.”

She spoke quietly as if it would prevent Jorgen from overhearing. Based on the tense line of his shoulders, it wasn’t working.

My cheeks heated at the memory of what Arik and I had done after the same battle.

Delicious, Idunn murmured sleepily.

“And oh, Eisa. It was…” She broke off with a dreamy sigh.

“Magical?” I suggested.

In front of us, Jorgen cleared his throat. Arik offered him a water skin.

“Everything,” Branka finished, her eyes brightin the dark.

Jorgen looked back at his mate with the world’s most stupid grin on his face, and Branka threw her pack at him.

He caught it deftly, his steps a bit lighter than they had been as he blew her a kiss.

“I’m glad,” I murmured, squeezing Branka’s arm. “You deserve to be happy.”

Branka smiled at me, her eyes still slightly shadowed by her past.

“I do, don’t I?” I laughed as she shouted ahead to the men, “So where exactly are we going?”

“There’s a small village with an inn about two miles out,” Arik replied. “We’ll rest there for a few hours.”

“Two miles?” Branka groaned, looking wistfully into the sky. “Can’t we just fly closer?”

Jorgen chuckled at his mate’s distress. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll carry you if you collapse.”