Page 94 of The Sun He Buried

His chest moves against my back when he laughs.

The room goes quiet after that. Baldr’s breathing evens out with one hand spread over my stomach. Snowpetal purrs against his ankle. I close my eyes and listen to the hall settle around us.

Sleep doesn’t come.

Chapter Ten

Sleep still doesn’t come.

I give it every opportunity.

I close my eyes. I open them. I move onto my left side, then my right, then my back, where I discover one of the ceiling beams has a knot shaped vaguely enough to be a duck.

It stops being a duck when I look directly at it.

Unhelpful.

Baldr sleeps behind me with one arm across my waist. His breathing warms the back of my neck. Snowpetal is still pinning his feet, though she has rolled onto her side and pushed all four paws against his ankles.

The stuffed unicorn has lost half the pillow to my head.

Everyone else is doing very well.

I listen to the hall.

No sea. No wheels. No guards changing outside the guest wing. Myrkviðr has little sounds instead. A branch brushes the window. Fire settles in the hearth. Snowpetal makes one tiny snort and digs a talon into the blanket.

Baldr’s arm tightens.

I hold still until his hand goes loose again.

The empty chair returns to my head. Then eight missing bars. Then Ketill laughing because I defended Eirik, followed by Asta telling him his aim needed work.

That part was excellent.

The rest refuses to arrange itself.

Eirik wanted Baldr here. Then he ordered a count that will keep us here. He didn’t come to dinner. He prepared rooms, hot food, bathwater, and a healer for the guard Snowpetal bit.

He also left his chair empty.

I turn onto my left side again.

This puts my face too close to Baldr’s.

He looks younger asleep. His hair has fallen over the pale-green eye, and one cheek is creased from the pillow. I move the hair back with one finger.

He doesn’t wake.

Last night, he laughed into my shoulder while Asta knocked on the wall. He held me when the room went dark. Everything with Baldr makes sense while it’s happening.

The silver doesn’t.

His brother doesn’t.

Baldr’s hand slides over my stomach. I wait.

He keeps sleeping.