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She hummed. “Absolutely.”
I grinned and settled in to fall asleep with her in my arms.
As my exhaustion drew me closer to sleep, my mind pinged back to earlier with the visions in the hallway, and then some of my new behavior during our intimate moment. A small flash of fear soured my blissful mood.What’s going on with me?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tyr
The front door swung open,and I entered the house, running into Carrie. I caught and steadied her with my quick reflexes and then immediately stepped back. She may have been doing well around me these last few weeks, but I wasn’t going to push it.
“I apologize, Carrie,” I said. “Astrid is always telling me to be more careful when opening doors. And something about being a lumbering bear in a wood shop.”
Carrie laughed and fixed her hair. “I think the expression you’re looking for is a bull in a China shop.”
My brow scrunched.Is that what Astrid said?I was pretty sure she’d called me a bear. I shrugged it off. Didn’t matter in the end. “Are you okay?”
She waved me off. “Of course. It was only a slight bump. And really, I should have been more aware myself. I know better than to linger in the foyer.”
Wasn’t the expression “linger in doorways?”These people and their idioms.
I stepped out of the way so she could leave. “Good luck at work.”
“Oh, honey, with my skills, I don’t need luck. But thank you.”
I chuckled. Her confidence and fire were nice to see.
Raeni rushed out of the house. “Mom, wait up! Don’t leave without me.”
“I told you I was leaving, with or without you,” her mother scolded. “I have a job to get to. You’re lucky Tyr stalled me.”
Shaking my head, I entered the house and looked around. Ùna busied herself in the kitchen, using the human disguise she’d chosen. She insisted on serving Astrid and me like before, but because we weren’t returning to Norway anytime soon, she felt obligated to care for the home here as well. Her presence also had a positive effect on Sean, so that was a bonus Astrid enjoyed, and resulted in her discussing with them various rituals and improvements that could be made to make the retreat a comfortable place for fae.
Diego sat at the island, his attention on Astrid, who stood in the great room staring out the window. She fingered the chain of the necklace she wore, but it was clear she did it absently.
I drew closer, curious about what was going on, and shot Diego a questioning look. He shrugged in response. Ùna gave an acknowledging nod to indicate she, too, didn’t know what was up with Astrid.
“Valkyrie,” I said.
She didn’t respond. I pursed my lips and kept an eye on her while going about rummaging in the kitchen. No sound I made distracted her.Maybe it was a good idea to let her rest today.
We’d gone hard with her training these last two weeks, with only the festival giving her a break. Aya let me know earlier this morning she was giving Astrid the day off, before she herself disappeared on me.We might be doing too much at once.
She was making amazing progress, especially now that almost all her memories had returned. And I knew we’d pushed this hard so that she’d be able to protect herself, and so we could deal with this shifter issue sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t yet recovered any memories that would help us with the identification of our adversary, and I was beginning to wonder if it had to do with us pushing too hard. We all needed rest, and Astrid was no exception.
Astrid turned away from the window and walked for the front door. She didn’t seem to notice any of us.
Concerned, I intercepted her, gingerly grabbing her elbow. “Valkyrie.”
She jumped and whipped around. Magic coalesced around her hands. Her wide eyes met mine. I took a step back, my pulse skyrocketing, and my senses picking up the growing aura of battle radiating off her.
It then died as Astrid realized she wasn’t being attacked. Her reaction time in such a distracted state impressed me.
Astrid’s shoulders slumped. “Sorry. Lost in thought.”
I held up a placating hand. “It was my fault for startling you. I was concerned and didn’t think about your possible reaction. Are you okay?”
