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He laughed. “It always has been. You wanted to sit on a throne, and I wanted to explore the unknown.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Sitting and exploring are about as opposite as I can imagine.” I met his gaze again. “But you do know being king is far more than sitting in a gilded chair, right? You might like the drama that comes with it.”

With another laugh, he let his arms fall to his sides. He was loosening. “I’ve heard enough speculation and ideas about ruling Vylheim to last me a lifetime. Stasia never shuts her mouth.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder. “She’s probably talking in her sleep right now. Thank the fucking stars she slept in the temple.” He nodded toward Lux. “Speaking of, you’re still an asshole if you don’t get her inside soon.”

He was right. Lux’s fingers had gone frigid again. I carefully adjusted her so that I could slip the crooks of my arms beneath her knees and neck, and stood. The effort wasn’t as easy as when I was a vampire, but most of my energy returned, and as a man who trained my muscles long before I sacrificed my soul for immortality, I had decent strength. “I don’t fucking care if you want to hear it or not, Soren, I’m sorry for trying to force you to do what I wanted. I had—” I swallowed. “I have this stupid fucking urge to control everything, but I’m fighting it now because control is a waste. It’s…” I paused again, emotion thickening in my throat. “I mean, giving it up saved her, so I’d give it up again and again. And I’m sorry for what it pushed me to say to you.”

“Are you done?” he asked.

“I’m done.”

Soren turned without another word and took three steps toward his tent. “Goodnight, brother,” he said.

He pushed back the stretched animal hide, so I followed suit, turning and carrying Lux to our tent. I didn’t look back as I ducked into the tent, but a smile crossed my face as I laid Lux on the furs. I twisted to pull the cover shut. Light filtered in through the cracks between the bear’s hide, giving me glimpses of Lux’s serene face.

“He faced Hel for you, you know,” Lux spoke, but her eyes were still closed.

“Heard all that, did you?” I smirked as I lay beside her, propping my head in my hand. My elbow perched against the fur by her ear.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and she peered at me through slitted lids. “Not all of it, but I can tell he cares about you without needing to hear you two speak. It’s all over his face. It’s in the fact that he came here with me⁠—”

“I thought you said that was for Axel.”

She laughed. “We’d all do anything for Axel, but Soren clearly does whatever he wants. And did you know I’m the only one who can actually make him do anything?”

I hummed. “You can make me do anything.” I traced her jaw again.

“My point is, he found the last piece of your soul.”

“He likes souls.”

“He likes you, but he needs more than we do. A library is enough for me⁠—”

“And you’re all I need.”

She turned her head, glittering eyes meeting mine. She looked so perfect lying before me, her neck curved back, her lashes brushing the soft flesh above her eyes. “If you can give me a library, you can give him what he needs.”

I sighed and rolled onto my back, tucking my hands beneath my head. “I suppose I can send him across Drukna. That’d be an adventure.”

“Or back to Hel,” she whispered. “He’s a shadow. He’s at home among the darkness, and did you see how he doesn’t even shiver in the cold? If the maw remains open when we cut down the new seed of Yggdrasil, it’d be his perfect adventure. Seal the gateway to the underworld so that the wasteland⁠—”

“Skaldir,” I corrected her.

“Skaldir,” she repeated. “Yes, so that Skaldir can be free of the gods, even those that live beneath us.”

“And what of you?” I asked, my voice fading even as I dared to say it. Lux was one of those gods now.

She rolled up and over me, her hands splayed on either side of my head and her body perched on my hips. My cock twitched as she straddled me. It felt so damn good that all of me had life again. My cock was fully awake and working again. Lux had that effect without even trying.

Tendrils of auburn hair brushed my face as she hovered over me. “I don’t know,” she said. “But my husband promised me we’d figure it out together.”

“Together,” I echoed. “Fucking finally.”

She laughed and buried me in a kiss. Her tongue flicked at the seam of my lips, and I opened, accepting her as she tasted me. Apparently, she wasn’t tired anymore.

I snaked my fingers through her hair, gripping the thick tendrils in my fist, and kissed her harder, savoring the inside of her mouth. My hands worked at the hem of her shirt. I tugged it up and over her head, tossing it aside and taking her pert nipple into my mouth. Drawing the tip in, I sucked, grazing the soft pink flesh with my teeth. No longer did I have to worry if my fangs would nick her. I sucked harder and gently pinched her other nipple with my fingers until she moaned.

Desperate to take her, I sat up with my hands clutching her hips. She perched over one of my legs and ground against my thigh. “Ride me, Skald,” I whispered as I tugged her skirt down. She wriggled out of it and sat on my lap again.