Chapter 27
27
FRIDA
T he next morning, I awoke in Rune’s arms, safely tucked into the crook of his shoulder. We’d spent all night ‘celebrating’ the true start of our new life together, and while I’d hardly slept, I felt as fresh as a purple lily. Smiling, I unwound myself from his embrace and padded out of the bedroom to get ready for the day.
“I love you, Frida,” he said sleepily when I reached the door.
I paused and cast a smile over my shoulder at him. “I love you, too.”
The next few weeks passed in a haze of happiness and hard work. Now that Arvid’s fence was done, I joined Rune on his builds. With the help of the villagers, we finished up Helga’s house and moved on to Lilia’s new place. On some afternoons, I trained Eydis. On others, I made the trek to Eldi’s cave, where we practiced flying. With every day, he grew bolder and flew further.
And after two full weeks of shorter trips, we made it all the way to Oakwater. When we landed on the outskirts of town, a crowd awaited us. Arvid and his entire family had come out for support, along with Lilia, Ragnar, Helga, and Valdar. They clapped and cheered, throwing their fisted hands in the air with an exuberance that reminded me all too well of my brother back home.
I still missed him terribly, and as I swung off my dragon’s back, a pang went through my heart. Deep down, I knew it hadn’t been long, and it would take time for the pain to heal. It didn’t mean it hurt any less than it did right now, though.
Rune crossed the distance between us and swept me up into his arms, spinning me around in a slow circle. When he stopped and drew back to look at me, he beamed. “I knew you could do it, you brilliant ray of sunshine.”
“It was all Eldi. I was just there to help him remember what he could do,” I said.
Rune cocked his head. “What’s wrong, my love?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
But Rune didn’t look like he believed me. Even without the Hugur sand, it often felt like he could read my emotions. And as much as I loved that he could understand me in a way that no one else could, I didn’t want him to dwell on my sadness. The last thing I wanted was for him to believe I regretted my decision to stay here.
Gently, he lowered me to the ground and started to say, “Is this about—”
But Helga sprang over to us before he could finish his thought. “Congratulations, Frida! I know you’ve been working with the poor beast for weeks, and look at him now!”
I smiled. “He’s done so well. I’m proud of him.”
“Well, listen. You know how we’ve been talking about getting the Dragon Festival up and running again?”
“Right.” I nodded. “Lilia mentioned it to me. She said you all were trying to sort it out for real this time.”
“I must admit, I already have.” She grinned at me sheepishly. “We want to throw it on Freyasday of this week, to celebrate Eldi’s first successful flight to Oakwater. But since he’s your dragon and a wee bit shy, I wanted to tell you before we got it all set up.”
“Oh!” I looked up at Rune, who wore a bemused expression. “Did you know about this?”
“No, they kept this quiet from me, too,” he said with a low chuckle.
“So.” Helga grasped my hands in hers. “What do you say?”
At the edge of the group, Eldi shifted. I gazed over at him, arching my brow in question. Now that we’d traded away the last of our Hugur sand, I could no longer hear his voice in my head, but we’d learned to communicate in other ways. Deep down, I expected him to rebuke this offer. Helga was right. Unlike Lilia’s dragon, Eldi wasn’t particularly fond of attention.
But slowly, he lowered his head, confirming his agreement to the festival.
With a grin, I turned back to Helga. “Well, it looks like you’re going to get your party. Eldi is happy for you to do it.”
“Oh, this is incredible!” Bouncing on her toes, Helga clapped and hopped away to inform the others. Rune slid his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in close. The warmth of him radiated through me.
“I don’t know what she would have done if you’d said no,” he said with a low chuckle.
I shook my head, watching her share the news with everyone else. “She might have knocked her house down again, just to make us rebuild it for her as a punishment.”
Rune laughed, a deep, throaty sound that warmed every inch of me, soothing away my earlier sadness. I nestled against him, relishing his love and the cheerful chatter of my new friends. Life did not have to be perfect to be good.
Shouts erupted from down the road. The bubbling conversation ceased as we all turned toward the noise. The shadow demon minstrel rushed down the road. His eyes were wide, fear painting his every feature.
Instantly, Rune went tense and took control of the situation. He pulled away from me, reaching the shadow demon in two quick strides. “What’s happening?”
“Some folk just came ashore,” he said quickly, rubbing his hands together in great agitation. “They asked where they could find you.” His eyes darted to me. “They said they’re Frida’s family. And that they’re from the Assassin’s Guild.”