Chapter 26
Elva
Ithought Leifur had a good sense of direction, but Njall put him to shame.
The forest was nearly pitch-black, and my brother-in-law was ready to give up.
I even offered to climb a tree to see where the moon was, but Njall had insisted he knew the direction.
Sure enough, after a few hours of riding, I could hear a river.
“Are we going to cross tonight or wait for the morning light?” Sindri asked.
Njall chuckled. “I didn't know sirens feared water.”
I could sense my brother's annoyance, even though we were on opposite sides of our line. “I’m not afraid of the water,” he snapped. “I just don’t want to lose anything in the river while it’s dark.”
“We test the water,” I suggested, hoping to stop a fight before it could begin. “If it’s shallow enough for the horses to cross safely, we do it now, and if it’s deep, we wait and find a safer location in the daylight.”
I’d won over the men, and after another hour of walking, we were finally released from the endless trees and found ourselves at the river once again.
The moon reflected off the dark water, and I bit my tongue.
Although I knew sirens were scarier than most of the creatures we’d come across, after the wolf attack, I couldn’t help but feel anxious in the forest where massive werewolves hunted.
Njall slid off Acorn and scanned the ground. I hopped off my mule and followed. He seemed to find what he's been looking for: an almost comically long stick.
“What are you doing?” I asked, careful to keep my distance in case he was planning revenge for when I’d hit him in the castle.
Ignoring me, he walked to the river’s edge and shoved the stick into the water. “If the shore is already deeper than our height, there’s no point in anyone getting wet to see, that is, of course, unless the hot-blooded sirens need cooling off.”
I rolled my eyes. As a Siren, I wasn’t affected by cold water, so the idea of testing the depth would never have occurred to me. But the idea of not being wet while we rode through the chilly air was appealing, though I could have done without the snide remarks.
Njall pulled the stick out of the water, walked a ways down, and tried again, and then a third time. “Some places are deeper, so if we want to go tonight, we’ll have to go slowly and use the stick to check for depth.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Leifur said. He dismounted and brought his horse up beside me. “Why didn’t you think of that?” He playfully elbowed me, and I pushed him back.
“Obviously because she’s not afraid to get wet,” Njall said.
I narrowed my eyes at the stuck-up, royal pain in front of me. Part of me wanted to shove him into the river. Luckily for him, Leifur knew me too well, and he grabbed my arm, shaking his head.
“Fine,” I muttered under my breath and stepped back.
“What was that?” Njall asked, stepping away from the water to shake something off his stick.
“Nothing.”
“I want to check a few more dips in the bank to see if they were made from people crossing the river, and then we can pick where we go.”
In the end, it was the third last spot Njall checked that we ended up crossing.
The water was so shallow that it only came up to my horse’s thigh, so they had no problem making it across.
Once we were safely on the other side, we swiftly rode into the forest, going only deep enough that we wouldn’t be spotted from across the river.
“Now that we’re out of harm’s way, should we stop and get some rest?” Sindri asked.
“Tired already?” I teased. “Was it stressful sitting on the beach while I snuck into the castle to save the prince?”
“Haha.” My brother muttered back sarcastically while I sped up to catch up to Leifur.
“I know what you’re going to ask, and I think Sindri’s right,” Leifur said. “And not just because he’s my husband. We’ve been riding for hours in complete darkness. We all need a break, but the horses especially.”
“You’re probably right. If one of them gets injured, we’ll be in trouble.” I pulled my mule’s reins tighter and glanced behind me. “But I’m worried our prize might try to run.”
Leifur looked back, too. “If he does, it won't be tonight. It’s too dark, and he’ll need the combined supplies to make it home without being caught.”
“I can hear you two,” Njall called over.
“Good,” I shot back. “Then keep in mind that if you try to run, I’ll let my siren chase you, and she loves to play with her food.”
I’d worried that having Njall along would be a headache, but for a spoiled prince, he knew his way around a campsite.
Leifur handled the horses, and Njall and I gathered the firewood.
We’d gone far enough into the woods that we figured it would be safe to have a small fire.
I loaded my arms with sticks and branches, while keeping a sharp eye on Njall.
He’d said he wouldn’t run, but I would not risk it.
Even starved, his body was lean and muscular, and I suspected that after how much food we’d given him on the beach, he’d have the energy to outrun me for some time.
“Uh,” he cleared his throat, and I looked up to find him staring at me. “Like what you see, little Pearl?” His lips curled up into a wicked little smirk.
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, glaring at him.
“What, Pearl?”
“No, little.”
“And why not?” Njall stepped so close we were almost touching. He was trying to intimidate me, with how much taller than me he was, but I didn’t move a muscle until I pulled out my dagger and held it up to his abdomen.
“Because the last man who did found himself smaller in a very tender area.”
Njall’s face blanched, but he didn’t back down. “Do you ever reply to someone without resorting to violence?”
“I do, but rarely once I’ve gotten to know a man. Most of you are only good for one thing.” I said, raking my eyes across his muscled chest.
“Then it’s swell that I’m exceptionally good at it.”
I used the tip of my dagger to scrape some grime from under a nail before I turned my gaze up at him through my lashes. “It doesn’t count if you say it in the mirror.”
He leaned down enough that his lips just grazed the top of my ear. “That’s not what you said when you were riding my cock.”
“How do you know I wasn’t faking? I am a siren after all.” I pushed past him and strutted toward the first branch I spotted near me.
“You’re not that good of a liar.”
“And how would you know—” I turned, prepared to throw more insults at him, but he was already standing beside me.
I was immediately thankful I’d swam him through the sea as far as I had because he smelled significantly better now than when I’d found him in the cells.
The stench of piss and sweat was gone, replaced by sea salt, and the peppermint I’d kept in the bag with his clothes.
He stepped closer to me, his eyes locked onto mine.
I swallowed back the nerves and tingling that were spreading as his closeness brought back the memories of the night we’d shared.
I’d been with many men, and few were memorable.
I knew I’d always remember our night together, even more than the night I’d shared with Baldr.
“Because I’ve been around liars my whole life. And you, Pearl, are not a liar.” He bumped me out of his way and disappeared into the trees to get more wood. In an instant, all my attraction to him vanished.
Jellyfish, I muttered to myself, and headed into a different direction to gather my wood. I intended to make sure my bundle was bigger than his.
When I returned to camp with my firewood, Sindri raised an eyebrow. “Were you two getting naked out there?”
“Catch your tongue,” I growled at him, and I moved to smack him, but he caught my wrist before I could.
“Where’s the prince?” Leifur asked, feeding the fire with the twigs I'd gathered.
“Getting more wood.”
My brothers exchanged a look. “Are you alright?” Sindri asked.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, yanking my wrist free. “Where am I sleeping?”
“I’ll get your blanket,” Sindri said, heading toward the horses.
Leifur added the larger branches to the fire and watched it for a moment before turning to me. “You’ve been acting strange since you got out of the castle.”
I forced a smile at my brother-in-law and poked the ground with a stick.
“The conditions they kept him in were … how do I put it mildly? Inhumane. They starved him and left him to sleep on a pile of hay that stank of piss and vomit. I am aware our kind is known for being violent, but at least we’re quick about it.
Who knows how long they would have left him there? ”
“Sounds like the night you shared with him had quite the effect on you.”
“Nonsense.” I ignored Leifur and moved dirt around with my shoe. “I’ve just never seen a species treat its own so poorly.”
“Is he, though? Human, I mean. No one knows whether his mother was human or something else like his siblings’ mothers,” Leifur said.
“He'd be half-human. The siren queen may be a pain in the ass, but at least she treats us with respect. I was banished, not tortured.”
Leifur scoffed. “You never should have been. You couldn’t provide a child, but you did more to protect the children of others than any of the other sirens who birthed young.
” His fist clenched around the wood in his hand.
I rubbed his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
Although Sindri hadn’t cared when the queen banished me—he’d simply packed up and followed me—the entire situation never sat right with my brother-in-law.
He’d spent his entire life doing what our kind demanded of him, just like I had, and then, because I couldn’t complete one demand, they deemed me worthless, as if all my other accomplishments were erased because I was barren.
He’d argued with the general and the queen on my behalf, and for a minute I thought they might listen to him, but in the end their decision had been final.
“Are you thinking of when Sindri threatened to make the queen pay for dishonoring you?” I asked him.
“How’d you know?”
“You get this look on your face. It's an odd mixture of respect, terror, and humor that I never see otherwise.”
Sindri joined us at the fire with our mats and blankets. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I replied quickly, as Leifur coughed to cover his laughter.
Sindri pursed his lips as he threw my mat and blanket into the dirt. I rolled my eyes and set up all our sleeping mats, and Njall arrived with a load of firewood and dropped it in front of my brothers.
Sindri had dropped to the ground beside his love. Now he turned to our prisoner. “What side of the bed do you usually sleep on?” he asked.
“Why?” Njall asked, eyeing my brother.
Sindri smiled sweetly. “So we can make room for you. To travel lightly, we only brought two mats and two blankets. You’ll have to share with my sister.”
Njall’s head jerked as he scanned the ground around the fire, letting out a loud gruff of disbelief.
Leifur couldn’t hold back his laughter any longer.
The entire situation was so ridiculous. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I’d have rescued a prince, let alone one from Tyndorf of all places, and would be stuck sleeping beside him or choosing to freeze away from the fire.
“It’s fine. I don’t need a mat or blanket,” I said, moving to the end of the sleeping area, where there was more dirt than wet grass.
Njall’s huffs softened. “Don’t be ridiculous. There is more than enough room here.”
While our mats were not a bed, they were warmer and softer than the ground. But the idea of lying beside him—of his body pressed against mine, made my throat go dry.
“Are you going to stay on your side, or do we have to tie you up?” Sindri asked, smirking at Njall. “Wouldn’t want you getting inappropriate with my sister … again.”
Njall’s eyes narrowed into slits, and he looked like he was ready to explode.
Leifur diffused the situation. “No one is tying anyone up. The faster we get some sleep, the faster we can keep moving and get as far away from here as possible.”
Njall grumbled to himself, but grabbed our blanket and lay down on the mat facing toward the fire.
I was going to tell him that was my spot, but Leifur shot me a warning glare.
I closed my mouth and lay down on the mat facing away from the fire.
I shifted around until my back was flush against his.
The heat from his body immediately poured into mine as he draped the blanket over me.
Blush crept across my cheeks as his scent filled my nose, bringing back the memories I desperately wanted to block out.
It made me thankful to be facing away from my brothers, because Sindri would have noticed and made comments, and the last thing I needed was the memory of Njall’s hands on my body being more vivid than they already were with him at my back.