Chapter 33
Njall
The melody that left Elva was nothing like the one she’d used in Tyndorf.
The one with our guards had been ferocious, more of a roar than a song, but this one flowed like a soft lullaby.
The men between us froze mid-step, their swords slipping from their hands.
Elva’s eyes fixed on mine as she continued to sing.
I strained against the ropes that held me against the tree as I fought to get to her.
She carefully stepped over the dead soldiers and approached one of the men who stood entranced near me. Leaning in close, she whispered something in his ear, and to my surprise, he nodded slowly, as if in a trance. He raised his sword and came at me.
For one panicked second, I worried she might have changed her mind about getting me home, but then he started to hack at my ropes.
When my hands were free, I staggered to my feet and grabbed the sword from his hand.
He gave no resistance. I looked him over slowly, and it was unnerving how still he stood, his expression blank, more statue than man.
I gave him a shove, and he didn't even flinch.
“This is incredible,” I said.
Elva chuckled. “I can only handle a few men at once. Too many and I lose my grip on them.”
She could handle men all right. The image of her riding the captain’s cock was not something I would soon forget. Without a word, I marched across the camp toward where the captain's body lay, then drove my blade into his face. Then, as I was cutting off his fingers, Elva appeared beside me.
“What are you doing?” she asked. She was still naked and streaked with blood.
It took all of my willpower to direct my gaze at her face.
She had a playful glint in her eye and looked amused.
When her eyes locked onto mine, I realized she truly didn’t know why I needed to deface the captain’s corpse.
“I’m removing the parts of his body that touched you without your permission,” I explained.
Elva leaned so close to me that her breasts pressed against my biceps.
“You missed one,” she murmured, her gaze flicking to the captain's groin.
Without hesitation, I did what she asked, though it made my stomach twist with revulsion.
When the deed was done, the way she looked at me shifted somehow.
Her eyes went black, and she tilted her head, studying me like a predator sizing up prey.
I swallowed hard. What I’d just done had brought out the siren.
Elva was a warrior, fierce and capable, but the siren was a monster, and while I hated that word, in this case, it was fact.
The man before me had been nearly flayed into two pieces by her talons, and yet those black eyes regarded me with a flicker of confusion.
“Why?” she asked, her tone raspy and guttural.
I still hadn’t figured out Elva and the siren. If I told the siren something, would Elva know it? Were they two sides of the same coin, or was the siren an excuse for Elva to unleash her dark desires? “No one touches what’s mine,” I said, trying to hide the fear crawling up my spine.
Slowly, her lips parted, baring her fangs at me before she let out a soft, mocking laugh. “Oh, sweet boy,” she purred, leaning closer until her breath brushed against my ear. “Have you not figured it out yet? It's you who belongs to me.”
Her lips pressed into mine, and every nerve in my body flared to life.
I dropped the sword and pulled her close, desperate to get as much of her body touching mine as I could.
She grabbed my shirt and pulled it over my head before slamming her mouth back onto mine.
Her breasts pressed against my chest, and the heat of them combined with knowing that another man had touched them was enough to make me feral.
My fingers dug into her backside, lifting her so she could grind against me.
Her legs wrapped around my waist, and she rocked her pelvis into me like a woman possessed.
I winced in pain as a coppery taste filled my mouth.
The little siren had bitten me. I pulled back and looked at her, and when she licked my blood off her lips, I couldn’t tell if it had been an accident or if she'd enjoyed the taste.
But that sting was enough to snap me out of the moment.
There were still two men standing off to the side, bewitched by her song, and bodies scattered around us on the ground.
And then there was the memory of what had just happened.
Another man had been inside her. It was too much for me, and I lowered her to the ground.
I went to grab my shirt and handed it to her to cover herself. The siren glared at me, but I caught her face in my hand and pulled her close. “Not like this,” I said, and kissed her, pouring every ounce of frustration, fear, and love that I had into it.
I grabbed the sword and went to finish the men.
Normally, I would never kill men who couldn't fight back, but these men would have raped Elva and then killed me, regardless of whatever deal Elva thought she was making. I rammed my sword into the first man’s gut, slicing upwards until I met the resistance of his ribs.
He dropped to the ground like a felled tree.
The second was quicker. I simply slit his throat and watched as the blood ran from him, soaking into the ground.
Maybe there was more of my father in me than I cared to admit.
My selkie mother had taught me mercy, but when I looked at Elva, who was now wearing my shirt, scavenging what she could from the bodies, I knew I'd show no mercy to anyone who wronged her.
When I finished checking the other men for anything useful, I found she’d finally put some clothes on, though she'd kept my tunic rather than search for her own in the mess of blood and bodies on the ground. She’d also found her daggers and was cleaning the last one before returning it to her sheath.
“Do you think they have horses or that there’s a camp nearby? ” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” I glanced around the bodies and spotted something. “Elva, I’m sorry.”
She frowned. “For what?”
I picked up the shirt we’d found when we'd got here, an eternity ago, and shook the dirt off it. Somehow, it had avoided the bloodshed. “I think any hints of when Sindri and Leifur were here are gone.” I held it out to her, and she took it, clutching it far tighter than I expected.
“We’ll find them,” she said, her voice cracking before she turned toward the trees. “I’ll prepare the horses.”
“I’ll look around to see if I can figure out where the guards came from.”
I watched her go, fighting the instinct to follow and comfort her.
She’d been through enough today, and I would not force myself into her space just to ease my guilt.
While she readied our mounts, I scouted the camp for any clues about where the guards had come from.
There were no horses, no hiding places, and no trail leading in or out of the clearing.
It was as if they'd materialized from the forest itself.
They were in leather armor, and not steel, so they could have walked a great distance, but to manage that without disturbing the forest would be a challenge.
When I returned to the clearing, Elva was stuffing the gold and weapons we’d pilfered from the guards into our satchels. She was struggling to get the half-broken latch on my bag to close. I stepped up behind her and slipped my arm around hers to hold it so she could fasten it.
“Thank you,” she whispered, turning to face me. I hadn’t lowered my arms, and for a moment, just stared at her. “Did you find anything in the forest?” she asked.
“No, which is strange enough on its own.” I searched her face for any indication of how she was feeling after what had just happened.
She tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable. “That is odd. I’ve heard of water or sky creatures creeping up undetected, but never land dwellers. Something should have been disturbed.”
“Exactly. So I suspect they came on foot.”
“So we should get out of this area then, unless …” Her voice trailed off.
“Unless what?”
Her eyes locked onto mine. “Unless they found my brothers.”