Chapter 41
Forty-One
Gunnar
Gunnar didn't know how long they stayed in that room. He knew someone kept delivering food to them, and from the scent outside their door he knew it was in equal parts Astrid, Vigdis, and Torbin. But he and Rose never left that small room in the barracks.
Not all of it was sex, although he was surprised by how voracious his wife was.
A good amount of the time was just talking.
They talked about everything from good to bad.
Her time in the labyrinth to the teachings Rhydian had used to keep her mind busy.
How she’d always sort of known what was going on, but how she couldn't really feel it.
Her magic had kept her alive. It had kept her mind safe while knowing that her body was enduring the worst kind of treatment. It only made him even more impressed with her, knowing that she had kept herself alive and sane while many people wouldn't have succeeded in doing that.
And he told her about himself. About those he found when he wasn't bound to Trollveggen, how he would like to continue doing that work.
Gunnar would never forget one particular conversation, as she trailed her fingers down his chest, her words marking him as much as her touch.
"What if I asked the dead? I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would help you find them. We could work with them to bring their bodies home."
"And then they could finally rest," he replied, his voice a little thick with emotion.
"Eh."
He'd sat up, looking down at her where she laid on the bed, her hair spread around her like some goddess from another realm. "Eh? What do you mean by eh?"
She shrugged, still naked and not caring in the slightest that she was.
"It doesn't seem like the dead think of it like that.
They don't need to rest. Obviously there is another realm where they spend a good amount of their time, but they come back here often to check in on people.
Their bodies aren't necessary for that. The physical form decays and returns to the earth, while the soul endures. "
He'd laid back beside her and thought about that even as they continued their conversation.
The soul endured. It was almost a softer way of looking at death, in knowing that.
.. Well, he would not be alone. Ever, really.
The dead could return and their spirits could guide him for centuries to come.
Even his children would be seen by all those who came before.
Eventually, though, Gunnar thought about leaving this room. He wasn't even sure how long they had been indulging themselves, but they had a life out there.
Someone was going to think they'd died. And it wasn't that far of a stretch. Her hunger for him, and his hunger for her, could easily consume the two of them.
Sex wasn't always easy for Rose, but he would spend the rest of his life working through every single one of those memories, and also learning what would make her uncomfortable. There was a list a mile long, but he remembered every single time she tensed up or didn’t like what he was doing.
But then came a knock that was as insistent as it was annoying. Whoever was knocking didn't stop, and finally Gunnar had the choice of leaving taken away from him. Grumbling under his breath, he made sure that Rose had a blanket wrapped around her before he stomped over to the door.
"Clothes, Gunnar!" Rose said with a laugh.
"If they're interrupting us right now, they damn well know I'm not going to have any clothes on."
He flung the door open, caring very little if it was his new sister-in-law who was overstepping her bounds. It was not, though. Instead, it was Magnus who stood in the opening.
A little dramatically, the prince waved a hand in front of his face. "You really need to air this room out. It positively reeks in here."
And then he walked in.
Right into the room. Without being invited.
The prince strode over to the wardrobe, perched himself on top of it, and then declared, "I need both of you to help me. There is a lot going on and the two of you need to be informed about it."
"We are newly bonded. We will be doing no such thing." Gunnar kept the door open, and then waved his arm as though ushering the prince out. "The door is still open, your highness."
"Yes, it does need to be. Again, the smell." Magnus then dismissed him and instead looked at Rose.
Gunnar had never been more furious to have another man's eyes on her.
Her hair was all mussed from his fingers carding through the pretty locks.
Her cheeks were still flushed from the attention he had been giving her with his mouth buried between her thighs.
She had scratch marks on her shoulders from his claws, and she was still very much naked underneath the blanket that she currently held against her chest.
Gods, he could see her legs. Sure, it was only from the calf down, but Magnus was looking at her and talking to Rose when she was unclothed and Gunnar was going to gouge his eyes out for such a thing.
"Magnus!" he thundered, and both of them went quiet to stare at him. "Get out."
"I'm the prince. I can be wherever I want. Besides, I need you both to listen. Not just the lovely Rose."
"She is not lovely to you, she is just Rose." Gunnar was about to throw him out of the room. "Magnus, I am giving you one more warning before I remove you myself."
"You could put pants on. That might make you more intimidating." Magnus rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Rose. This concerns you, but I'm not sure that you will be able to help very much. Were you close to the princess at all?"
She situated the blanket around her ribs a little tighter, sticking the ends under her armpits and clearly considering his question as though he had any right whatsoever to talk to her right now.
"I had a lot of interactions with her while I was in the labyrinth, but I wouldn't say that I know her at all.
She's a little confusing to the best of folks.
Lived a very, very luxurious life and had everyone at her beck and call, but for some reason was still deeply unhappy. "
"With a father like that, I can't say I blame her."
"Well, King James was a large part of that I am certain. And perhaps another part would be the fact that she was surrounded by so many powerful women who looked just like her. I'm sure she had a suspicion that most of us were her bloodline."
"Interesting. I don't suspect that's a good enough reason for the absolute bloodthirsty monster she actually is, but I digress." He waved a hand in the air. "She is working to take up her father's mantle, apparently. She wants to unite the remains of his forces and attack us."
"There aren't many of his forces left after what Astrid did."
"Precisely. But what if she had something else under her thumb. Some kind of special weapon."
Gunnar was done listening to this. He slammed the door shut so hard the wall shook with the force and then stalked toward Magnus. "You're leaving."
"I need someone who was in the labyrinth, and Rose spent a considerable amount of time there."
"Ask Torbin," he snarled, grabbing Magnus by the shirt and hauling him toward the closed door.
"I tried to ask Torbin. The man refuses to work through any of his trauma, thus making him almost impossible to talk to.
He just said that the princess was a horrible person and that I should give up trying to understand her.
" Magnus stopped talking for a brief moment when Gunnar yanked the door back open and threw him out. Not for very long, though.
The prince stood back up, dusted himself off, and then continued as if nothing had happened. "Torbin doesn't understand how the mind of a woman works. And if we understand the why of what she's doing, then I do believe we can—”
Gunnar slammed the door in his face.
Sighing, he turned to look at Rose who was blinking at him from her place on the bed.
"That wasn't very nice," she scolded.
"You are completely naked in my bed, and I refuse to have another man looking at you when you are." He stalked toward her, already feeling uncomfortable with what had happened.
He didn't care if the princess was gathering her forces.
He didn't care if there was an army of humans camped right in front of their mountain.
All he wanted was a few more moments with his bride, as stolen as they were. He wanted to indulge himself in the moments of privacy that they had. Climbing onto the bed, Gunnar crawled over her and laid them both back down on the mattress.
She didn't seem to mind when he cuddled her like this, and he greatly enjoyed it. All he wanted was to rest his head on her chest and listen to the sound of her heart.
Just like she had started doing regularly, Rose worked her fingers through his hair. There wasn't ever going to be a single knot in those locks if she constantly touched him like this. He couldn't blame her. He did the same thing to her when she was lying on his chest.
This was a moment to love and be loved. He adored listening to her breathing, her heart, to everything that made her alive and he just...
What he could hear now was her thinking.
Groaning, he asked, "What is it now? What is the problem?"
"It's just... If he needs our help, don't you think we should offer it?"
"Magnus doesn't need anyone's help. He is a complete menace to society and all he's looking for is someone to listen to him. There are a lot of people in this castle that would be more than happy to listen to the prince speak. He doesn't need us."
"What if he does though?"
Gunnar sighed. He lifted his head from her chest and looked up her body to see her glaring at him. Clearly she felt strongly about this, and who was he to deny her anything?
"You have an opinion about this," he said, and it wasn't a question.
"Yes. If she's trying to gather her forces, then I agree with him.
The princess is cruel, not stupid. She must have something else up her sleeve that she's quite certain will work.
And if people are following her? Then they know exactly what she's got up her sleeve and that makes that person, item, magic, whatever it is, even more dangerous. "
"I met her in the labyrinth. She wanted Ragnar to do a song and dance for her because she was supposed to marry him. I'm sure it's something to do with that."
"Maybe. She is vindictive. But she never wanted to marry a troll, so it has to be more than that.
" Rose cupped his jaw in her hand, stroking her thumb over his cheek.
"Don't you think we should at least try to figure out what it is she's doing?
She's not the same threat as her father, but she certainly could do a lot of damage to your people. To our people."
He sighed, heavily. "Yes, I see your point."
"I don't want you to say no to all of this simply because you don't like Magnus."
"It's not that I don't like him. I just think that he's an idiot who gets far too much attention for someone of his low intelligence.
" Gunnar groaned and rolled to the side.
"Fine, fine, I understand that you want to help and I do as well.
There's no reason for us to stay locked in here for the rest of eternity. "
"Maybe we could look for somewhere to live outside of the barracks," she said as he got off the bed and started for the wardrobe. There should be an extra pair of pants waiting for him, although he couldn't promise anything about the smell of either of them.
"There are a few abandoned homes in the mountain. I could ask the king if we could take one of them," he replied absentmindedly while he pulled the pants on and then sniffed underneath his arm.
Damn it, Magnus was right. They did both reek.
"I wouldn't mind living in the mountain edges instead of the main area of Trollveggen.
" She stood as well, and pulled on the pretty blue dress that she'd married him in.
"Of course, I would need to look it over for any lingering spirits.
No one needs to be subjected to what we do with each other. Spirits like to rest too, you know."
He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "What I wouldn't give to do that one more time with you before I have to face the prince again."
Rose walked up to him and patted his chest. "Thankfully we have our entire life together. You can have me any time you want, but first, we have to take care of our people."
With a low growl, he wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her into his arms.
Gunnar took his time looking her over, seeing the soul that was so firmly planted in her body, and the ease in her muscles. She'd come so far from the pretty but vacant woman he had brought here over a year ago. She'd blossomed, just as Maia had wished for them to do.
"I am always so impressed when I look at you," he murmured, drawing her close to kiss her one last time. "You are so much braver than any person I know."
"That's not true. I don't go into battle and kill people."
"You've killed to protect yourself. You speak with the dead. And now you walk through Trollveggen with a confidence I didn't think I would ever witness."
Her cheeks turned bright red. "Gunnar. I am not that strong. If you took me out of Trollveggen then I'm sure this would be a very different story. I rarely even see other humans here, and I can't promise I would be this strong, capable person if I did."
"Then it's a good thing I don't intend for you to leave Trollveggen all that often," he replied, scooping her up into his arms for one last bone crushing hug before turning to the door. "All right, let’s bathe first, and then we can track down the prince."
Except, when he opened the door Magnus was already resting on the wall right beside it. Leaning a shoulder against the stone, he waggled his eyebrows at Gunnar. "I knew you'd come around."
Gunnar groaned. "I have hated every moment since you've returned to this kingdom."
"Ah, you haven't hated every moment. Walk with me to the bath houses and I'll fill you in."
Sighing, he tucked Rose underneath his arm and did just that. Because what else was he supposed to do?
Family and friends were ever so tedious. But maybe he loved them a bit for it.