Chapter 25
25
RUNE
S unlight slanted through the open window, casting luminous light on Frida’s bare back. Smiling, I drew lazy circles across her skin and buried my face in her hair, breathing in the floral scent of her. Fate, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this much at peace.
I didn’t know if I ever had.
Sleepily, she nestled against me, curled up with one thigh tossed over mine and her head on my chest. Her breath tickled my skin, but I didn’t dare move. Right now, I wanted nothing to shatter this perfect moment. I just kept reliving the memory of her telling me she wanted to stay.
I wasn’t naive. People often said things they didn’t mean in the heat of the moment. It wasn’t that I thought she’d lied to me. At the time, I’d felt how deeply she believed it. But in the dawn of a new day, would she feel the same? The Hugur sand had long since worn off, so I no longer had that link to her emotions. She could be thinking anything.
“Good morning,” I eventually said, kissing the top of her head. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Hmm.” Giggling, she tipped back her head to gaze up at me. “Not particularly. Someone kept poking me with something.”
It was true. After we’d made love by the hearth, I’d carried her into the bedroom, where we’d explored each other again. And then we’d both drifted off to sleep—until a few hours later when I’d awoken to find her naked body pressed against mine. That was all it took to rouse me from slumber. It seemed I couldn’t get enough of her.
“I’d apologize, but it didn’t sound like you minded,” I said.
“I didn’t mind at all.” Her voice went soft. “In fact, I wouldn’t mind if every day ended exactly like that.”
I tensed. Here it was. She’d tell me she wished it could be like this, but that, of course, it couldn’t. Tonight, she’d board Louisa’s ship and return to the mainland. As soon as she docked, Erik would get his claws into her. And I’d never see her again.
Fucking fate.
Clearing my throat, I said, “You don’t need to explain yourself. I’m glad we had last night together, even though that’s all it was.”
Frida pushed up onto her elbow and frowned down at me, her chestnut hair sliding into her face. “What are you talking about?”
“I know you need to leave,” I said evenly. “Last night, we both got carried away—”
“ Carried away ?” Brow furrowing, Frida rolled off my chest, snatched the blanket, and covered herself. Then she stood and backed away, shaking her head. “Was that all it was to you? Getting carried away?”
“No, it wasn’t. Not for me.” I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood. This wasn’t a conversation to have lying down.
“Then I don’t understand what you’re saying. I told you I wanted to stay, and I thought you knew I meant it. I thought you could feel that I meant it.” She pressed a shaking hand to her heart.
“But I know how badly you’ve wanted to get back home,” I said softly. “I won’t hold you to something you said in the heat of the moment.”
“I’m in love with you, Rune,” she whispered. “I don’t want to live my life without you.”
“I don’t want that, either. Fuck, I’m so in love with you that I’d sail you back to the mainland myself if that’s what would make you happy.”
“Well, that’s not what I want!” she exclaimed.
“Then get the fuck back over here.”
She dropped the blanket, rushed toward me, and launched into my arms. With a satisfied grunt, I tossed her onto the bed. Bracing my arms on the pillows, I leaned in and kissed her, showing her just how much I’d meant what I’d said. Eventually, she hooked her leg around my hips and started squirming. I went rock hard.
“We need to talk about tonight,” I murmured against her lips.
She sighed. “Right now? Maybe we just ignore Louisa’s ship. She’ll go away and come back later.”
I pulled back. “I don’t think postponing the inevitable is a good idea.”
“You’re probably right.”
“So what do you want to do? It’s your call.”
“We don’t have many options, do we? I’ll have to ask Louisa to lie about what happened to me.” The sadness in her eyes sliced through my heart like a knife.
“There might be another way…” I said.
“Do you have one?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve thought a lot about it, and I can’t see another solution.”
“Neither can I.” She slid her soft fingers up the side of my neck, then tugged me toward her. “We know what we have to do, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Kiss me?”
I gazed down at her, wishing there was something more I could do. In my gut, I truly believed she’d be happy here—far happier than she’d ever be back in the guild. That place and those people would make her miserable. Eventually, she’d become a husk of the elf I’d come to love. But I also knew she hated vanishing on her family like this. They might not have done right by her, but she clearly loved them and would mourn their absence in her life.
“Don’t make me beg, Rune,” she whispered.
“Never,” I promised.