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The fight is still ongoing, turning more and more vicious until Iversen delivers the final blow and his opponent is on the ground. I want to clap my hands and jump up and down, praise him. It’s common for the women to praise the men when they’ve done something worthy and brave but I’m forced to keep still and stay quiet.
Once the opponent has left the courtyard, Iversen grabs a white towel and dries off his body before grabbing a water bottle and he chugs the liquid down. It’s arousing to watch him drink. I wonder if he knows that I’m spying on him, wonder if he knows just how much I want him...
And just like that Iversen swats his head around and despite the distance, our eyes still zoom in on each other.
I gulp. Guess he did sense me.
What do I do now? I want to run back inside and pretend this never happened but then I catch a movement. He just jerked his face...and then he prowls into the park as if he wants me to follow him.
Gawking, I stare after him. He really expects me to drop everything, risk everything and go where he goes. I exhale. As it turns out, he’s right in expecting that because apparently I do go where he goes.
CHAPTER FIVE
Valkyrie
It’s just as hard in theory as it is in reality to leave the compound without getting caught. I hide whenever I hear footsteps and race silently down the hallways but luckily a lot of the inhabitants are busy on their own. And there must be something in the air tonight because I catch the enforcer and his wife passionately kissing in the library, and one of the karl’s and his milkmaid can’t keep their hands off each other down in the living room.
Stepping outside, I let out a silent cry when I hear a moan from the opened bedroom window that belongs to the boss and his wife. I race into the park. It’s so big and wide it may as well have been a smaller forest. The trees are thick and lush and it’s so dark out, I can barely see where I’m going.
A couple of years ago, it was suggested that we should put up lampposts but that suggestions was quickly shut down which I’m pretty grateful for now. Like this, it’s more difficult to get caught. I roam between the trees, walking farther and farther into the park but I can’t see Iversen anywhere.
Did I misjudge his intentions? Maybe he didn’t want me to follow and maybe he’s already gone home...
Wringing my hands, I look left to right. “Iversen?” I whisper but there’s no answer and I feel a dip in my belly. I say his name again and tense when hands cover my eyes. They’re soft and hard at the same time and I recognize those hands. The ambusher removes them and I turn around, facing Iversen. His face is so serious, his cheekbones so sharp and his jawline...the kind that people pay for at the plastic surgeon.
He looks down at me with his brows pulled over his eyes and my heart speeds up. Licking my lips, I whisper, “I thought you’d left.”
“I’ll never leave you,” he says, his voice low and emotional. “You just have to call my name and I’ll always be there.”
That’s quite the promise but I don’t doubt him and my hands shiver from how bad I need to touch him. I flush at the thought and I’m happy it’s so dark, he won’t be able to see the color of my face. “I saw you fighting,” I murmur in a low voice. “You’re so strong and incredibly fast, he didn’t even see you coming.”
Iversen smirks, tilting his head to the side. “You enjoy watching me assert my dominance then?”
“Y...yes,” I stutter, “it was very s...stimulating.”
“As are you in that slinky robe,” Iversen says dangerously and I whimper, taking a step back and wrap my arms around me because I don’t know how to act when he talks like that. My eyes flare in surprise when Iversen grabs the belt around my waist and uses it to push me to him. “Don’t put any distance between us,” he rasps. “You know I want you close. You know Ineedyou close.”
“Did you feel me?” I pant. “Watching you?”
He nods. “Like sweet prickles on my skin. I wanted to roar when I saw you there on your balcony. You looked more hauntingly beautiful than the moon and gentler than the night.” He lowers his face until both his eyes and lips are close. “My little wallflower...”
Iversen doesn’t say it like its offensive to him but like I’m the only flower he sees in a bed of flowers and I fill with pride. Now I know how special a little daisy must feel when she’s plucked by someone who chose her, someone who wanted her and none of the other daises. Just her with her plain petals and hushed appeal.
I shiver when a fog rolls in over the park but Iversen takes my hand and leads me farther in between the trees. His breaths are excited and he seems bigger than usual. I want to cling to him and squeeze his muscles because it seems like it would be such an experience. Iversen walks in silence and its incredibly dark out but I still feel so safe.
I want to wrap myself around him the way ivy wraps itself around the façade of the compound. To me Iversen is the perfect place where I can grow, where I can flourish and as vicious as he is, there’s still a gentleness to him that comes out when we’re alone. Nobody would guess it by observing him in public. Then he’s all about the clenched jaw, the serious gaze and the tense muscles but with me he’s like a dark knight that’s taken off his armor and is now letting me see the soft spots.
A maiden would never use that against him and neither will I.
I cherish both sides of him, the good, the bad, the dark and the light.
“What are you thinking about, Iversen?” I whisper because he hasn’t said anything in a while and he stretches his neck side to side and I struggle to not stare at his muscles. He’s not wearing anything other than his pants and they hang low on his hips, his denim’s black and ripped and tucked into combat boots.
“There are men at the compound,” he says finally like it’s been bugging him for a long time. “They’re always around you...I don’t like it.”
“Don’t let it bother you,” I say in a gentle tone. “Nobody ever gets to me.” As in never, ever even in a million years. “I’ve never even been...”
“Been what?” Iversen asks, his voice suddenly sharper and I look down, scraping the earth with my boot. “Valkyrie?”
