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I limped forward, eyes on them at the other side of the underworld’s entrance. Shadows swirled up from below but I kept my distance from Hel’s grasp, desperate, instead to be in Lux’s arms. I just needed my damn limbs to work a little faster. I shouted, but thunder swallowed my first attempt.

Again, I yelled for Lux, and even Stasia and Soren. I couldn’t believe that bastard had come all this way for me, and though I fumed at the idea of him taking my wife from me now, it was for her own protection. Immortal didn’t mean she was immune to pain.

The thought of his help kept me warm as I dragged myself through mud and rock. Agonizing tingles seized my calves and thighs. My feet burned with an ache that matched the fire at the sight of old wounds. It seemed every scar, ancient and recent, flamed along with my muscles.

My body remembered each life and every battle we’d fought together. It just wasn’t as pleasant as what my mind remembered. All those centuries, torn apart, then reborn. No matter what names we used in our past lives, like Myrah and Rune, or Abi and Jayce, or even Lagerda and Ragnar, we never changed. We were the same people—the same couple. She loved sagas and stories, and I was just stupid enough to want to be immortalized in them rather than simply listen to the tales of others spoken in her formidable voice.

I was the same as the day I chased her down to learn her name, when she wanted to run and challenge me.

“Lux!” I shouted again, to no avail. Skald, I sent my thoughts toward her, unsure if we could still connect through our souls this way. It feels like I’ve waited a thousand years for you.

She struggled against Soren, but he carried her away from me until she finally broke free of him. He set her down, and she pointed a finger in his face. Through sheets of rain, I couldn’t make out her words, but I had no doubt they were full of ferocity.

The buzzing in my muscles had faded enough for me to break into a sort of pathetic run. My legs seized from overexertion; it was too much, and even though I almost reached them, I had to pause before collapsing. But the reprieve gave me more breath, and I lifted my voice, heaving all of my energy into my words just as I willed myself toward her when she carried my soul. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to chase you, Skald.”

Soren turned around first, but when Lux froze, her body going rigid as she stared up at Soren, I knew she had heard me. Breath caught in my throat as she finally—finally—faced me.

Auburn hair plastered to her face, and blood vessels shot through her golden eyes. Gods, she was so fucking radiant. Soaked through, her skirts and shirt clung to her curves, and the faint red coloring her nose and cheeks brought out the autumn in the braid that was draped over her shoulder and hanging between the swell of her breasts. For a second, she didn’t move or speak. Only her brow bent, and she stared.

I expected her disbelief; I expected to run for her again, despite my locked-up legs, but I didn’t expect the tears—my own.

As soon as reality and recognition washed over her face, she broke and bolted toward me. She ran through sliding mud with the grace I saw the first time I laid eyes on her in this life, when she ran for the gods’ visions and for the fun of the sport back in New Skaldir.

I tried to meet her halfway, but I was slower; it’d been too long since I felt the pain of a human body.

She threw herself into me, and I wrapped my arms around the curve of her torso. Warm and alive and so damn perfect, I soaked in every inch of her as her body pressed into me. The smell of her, rain and oak, like the wood in the library I’d built her, overwhelmed me. Emotion choked in my throat, and as she released me from the embrace, I gripped the back of her head and pulled her into me. Our lips crashed in a wild and desperate kiss that I didn’t want to end.

As I dipped at the knees, she instinctively leaped into my arms. My muscles shook from ‌disuse, but I held her legs wrapped around my hips and kissed her harder.

She separated from me only to suck in a breath and rake her gaze over me. With my hand still at the base of her skull, I tilted her head toward me, and our foreheads rested against one another.

“Do you remember the first time I chased you?” I asked. “I didn’t even know your name, and I already knew I was going to love you forever.”

“I remember everything,” she said.

“Everything? What about the lifetime when your mother named you after the greatest shield-maiden to ever exist?”

“And you were Ragnar.” A smile lifted her cracking voice.

Emotion split me down the middle, and I swallowed it away. “That had to have been a joke fate played on us, right? Us named after historical figures?”

She laughed, though it didn’t stop the tears still rolling down her cheeks. Her joy sobered. “Drak, I’m sorry for not listening to you.”

“No, Skald.” I shook my head. Fuck, I couldn’t help but weep like a child at the sight of her. “You never forgot me. The gods did everything to keep us apart, and you didn’t give up on me. Never fucking say you’re sorry about any of it again.”

“But we could have had more time together⁠—”

“We have time now.”

She stretched her legs, reaching for the ground as I eased her back down. Unable to keep my hands off her, I encircled her with my arm and cupped her shoulder, letting her head rest on my chest. “We have the rest of this life.”

“I’m nearly immortal, but you…” her words faded.

“I know, Skald, we’ll take care of it.”

“I can’t lose you again.”

“I promise you, we’ll take care of it. We’ll go back to Old Skaldir and rebuild and live the life we deserved as Rune and Myrah.”