Chapter 83
“They are your people, Cordelia.”
“How?” I breathed.
“My parents signed the peace treaty, yes, but we were not in favour of it. My siblings and I”—which I knew included Eldric—“set up a search party the moment we received news. We saved as many as we could…so many were lost, trapped in their human form in the middle of the Thyren Ocean. Many were found lifeless, scattered on the Islets of Mora. I’m sorry. ”
“May their souls be received by Thalassa,” I murmured.
I finally lowered the talisman. The tears that lined my lower lids were not because of the strain from using the talisman.
“How many?” I whispered.
“One hundred twenty-six thousand, five hundred ten.”
My brows drew near. I’d heard that number before…the answer to my other question—what his tattoo meant.
“My parents never left the castle, so it wasn’t difficult to hide them beneath the great cliff that no one ever comes to. But we also warded it, just in case. Amani wanted it built in a similar style. She said she wanted to make them feel at home.”
“And your brother? I can’t just forget the fact that he wanted to execute Marshen.”
“Ehh. My brother…he—he sometimes gets carried away. He doesn’t like being disobeyed and throws temper tantrums whenever he feels threatened. But life made him that way. It didn’t always treat him fairly. But I promise you, he means well.”
“I trust you.”
“So, my question to you is this, my Queen, what do you want to do?”
“That’s a very good question, my King. I have a list.”
“A list?”
“Mmhmm. A long one.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and walked us past the sleeping dogs and towards the sleigh.
Aegir unhinged the wooden back of the sled and lowered it so that it became an extension of the wooden bench. He lay himself on the makeshift bed, carrying me with him. “Come, tell me all about your list.”
I nestled my head between his neck and shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around my back. We lay covered beneath the fluffy blanket and a moonlit sky. My gaze shifted between Aegir’s face and the glimmering night sky above us.
“It seems that my people are divided into three: the ones beneath us, the ones on Mistgeil Island, and the ones taken as hostages. I want them all freed, Aegir. Each and every one of them. I want to avenge my parents’ and Galen’s deaths.
I want to learn how to wield my powers. I want to know if I’m like my mother.
I want to fulfil my promise to my cousin, to find my uncle for him, and Aunt Alma.
I want to find Blanca and tell her that Marshen’s all right.
I want Eldric to talk to me. I want Cinnamon.
I want to tell Sand Priestess Selmira that I finally found what I had been looking for.
I owe a face-to-face explanation to Sabi and Nadya.
And I want us to visit Emika. I owe her an apology and an explanation.
Aegir, she told me that the ring was hers and I had taken it out of spite and jealousy.
I felt horrible. But she still wished for us to visit together. ”
“Speaking of,” Aegir said, pulling out his other arm from beneath the blanket. He brought the ring he was holding between his thumb and forefinger closer to my face.
“I know I’m supposed to do it on one knee and all, but I figured I’d rather do it holding you like this, while we looked up at the proof of our gods’ existence.” My eyes found his and I laced my fingers in his own. He brushed a kiss on the back of my hand before slipping on the ring—my ring.
“I love you.”
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips before leading us into a languid kiss.
Aegir brought his hand to my side and slid it beneath the fabric of my backless dress, reaching my breast. My hands, too, slid beneath his shirt, reaching his sides. I traced the whole length of his unnaturally smooth scar with my fingertips.
“I’m alive because of you,” I told him, my voice low.
“And I’m alive because of you, my little axe thrower,” he murmured against my lips.
Aegir freed the string at my nape and slipped the dress off my shoulders.
My skin sprang to life at his delicate touch, leaving a trail of goosebumps wherever he grazed.
I let out a shivering sigh, tugging at his shirt.
I chewed on my lower lip as I attentively watched him remove it.
My hands reached for his chest, my eyes swelled with want and burning desire.
I traced my fingers down. My lips quirked at his immediate rigidity.
Aegir lowered himself on top of me. The mere sight of him beneath the full moon almost had me undone.
We were outdoors, on the freezing Land of Boreas, entirely naked, yet the frigid cold did nothing to us. If anything, it all felt warm and safe.
“Aegir,” I whispered, pulling him close. My pleas were all answered as we lost ourselves in our own little tangled world.
I cupped my wrist and used my fingernail to scratch away the dried blood that had stuck to my healed twin mark. Then my eyes settled on the emerald green ring—the same ring that I had been carrying, wishing that it was indeed mine.
Aegir gently lifted my chin and brushed his lips against mine.
“I see you are already controlling your powers,” he whispered, bringing my hand close to his face. He kissed the ring.
“Mmhmm. It stays there, settled in my core, locked. I can feel it.”
“Soon you will master it. I know you will.” Then he pressed a soft kiss on my marked wrist and told me, “I promise you this, my beautiful queen, I’m going to do whatever it takes to help you accomplish every one of your wishes. But for tonight, I want it to be only about us.”
I learned that the waterskins were not filled with water, but with wine. The rich kind.
“Cheers to us, my soulbound. To new beginnings and to a long list of tasks,” Aegir said, touching his waterskin to mine.
“Cheers to us,” I replied with warmth in my heart.
That night, as we lay beneath the moon and stars, Aegir told me, “I can take you to them if you want to reveal yourself as their queen. I mean, not right now, whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m not worthy of them yet. When I reveal myself to them, Aegir, I want to stand with five hundred and seventy-two Ilmans at my back. I can’t return empty-handed.”
“I understand.”
“Oh, and I need to ask a favour of you.”
“Anything,” he said, smiling.
“I need you to drown me.”
“Absolutely not!”