Chapter 46
Njall
We’d been riding for so long that my legs felt numb.
Yet, we were close to the Forest of Endilaus, and my father's men could appear at any moment, offering safety from lurking Minotaurs and the Huestur guards who’d been pursuing us.
Elva rested her head on my chest, and my hand roamed around her waist to pull her closer.
We’d slowed our pace over the last few days.
Elva's mule had been hurt during our mad dash away from our camp, and the poor thing couldn’t support Elva’s weight and the bags.
Her brothers had offered her their horses, but I insisted she ride with me.
My massive warhorse wouldn’t even notice the difference, or so I claimed.
The truth was simpler: I wanted her pressed against me all day, every day.
Her gentle caresses and the whispers she shared ignited a desire within me. By the time we found a place to camp for the night, I practically dragged her into the woods. Once again, she came twice—first against my mouth, and then on my cock. I have no doubt her brothers heard her screams.
Today, we had to leave the safety of the Crimson mountains and venture to the only road that cut through the forest. The sun blazed high in the sky, and we were an easy target.
As we rounded a bend, I had to yank hard on the reins, jerking my horse to a stop.
Five knights blocked our path, clad in Huestur colors.
Leifur groaned, reining his horse in beside mine.
“There are only five,” Sindri said. “Could we take them?”
Leifur and Elva exchanged incredulous looks. “I’d rather not risk one of us getting hurt,” Elva said. She slid off our horse before I could stop her. “Get your ax and hammer ready, Leifur.”
By the time we’d all dismounted, Elva had stripped off her shirt and was sauntering toward the knights, bouncing her breasts seductively. One of them threw a dagger, but she caught it in midair and wagged her finger at them. And then she sang.
The men stopped what they were doing and straightened for her, puffing out their chests as she strode up to them.
One by one, she removed their helmets, tossing them on the ground behind her with a clatter.
The last man was the oldest and likely in charge.
When she whispered something to him, he snarled and grabbed her by the throat.
Leifur tossed me the ax, but before any of us could move, the man yanked Elva into a brutal kiss.
“What is she doing?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“She's seducing him,” Sindri said. “Her song must not have worked too well on him, so now she has to try other things.”
“Why? What things?” I demanded. Anger surged through me as the man groped her breasts, then shoved her to her knees. The thought that she’d use her body again to make our passage easier enraged me. When he started fumbling with his belt buckle, I could feel my blood begin to boil.
“She distracts them, so we can kill them,” Leifur said, hefting his hammer. “Let’s go.”
I charged down the path toward Elva and the Huester men.
By the time I reached her, the older knight was forcing himself into her mouth, and something inside me broke.
I turned to the closest man and swung my ax with such force that it nearly split his head in half.
I moved on to the second man, burying my ax in his neck so far that his head snapped back like a broken twig as he collapsed to the ground.
Leifur used his hammer to dispatch another one, taking out his knees before delivering a fatal blow to his head.
Then came a scream—a horrific, shrill cry that could have woken the dead. Leifur and I looked up to see Elva standing up as the older knight cradled his groin. A wicked grin spread across her lips, revealing her bloodstained siren teeth as she spat something into her hand.
“Show off,” Leifur muttered, then turned back to the last remaining knight.
It took a moment to realize that Elva had bitten off the man's cock.
I tightened my grip on the ax and approached him.
He was sobbing, clutching himself as blood seeped through his fingers.
“No one touches my siren,” I growled at him before swinging the ax with both hands, hacking away at his neck until his head finally rolled off onto the dirt road and into the ditch.
Sindri appeared with a full waterskin and a rag, offering them to Elva so she could clean herself up. Once she was done, she pulled her shirt back on and rejoined me beside the bloodied body of the older knight. “What did you say to him?” I asked her, still reeling from the intensity of my rage.
“I asked him what he thought of sirens, and to show me.”
“Why?”
A mischievous smirk graced Elva’s beautiful lips as she stepped closer. She tugged at my shirt, pulling us together until our bodies touched. “I wanted to know if it would make you jealous. I never expected it to send you into a feral rage, though.”
I grabbed her hair and twisted it around my fist. She let out a gasp as I crashed my mouth into hers. “You’ll never kiss anyone but me like that again,” I growled.
She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes, searching for something.
“We’ll see,” she said, nodding softly in agreement, before nestling into my chest. I couldn’t bring myself to admit to her that no man would ever kiss her in front of me and live—not yet.
Once she had her land and was settled in my kingdom, then I’d tell her.
Until then, I couldn't risk that she might leave and take a piece of me with her.
“Enough flirting,” Leifur teased, breaking the spell between us. “Someone likely heard him screaming. We should grab whatever supplies we can from them and go.”
By dusk, we'd reached the edge of the forest, barely a week's hike from Tyndorf.
We set up camp just inside the forest to avoid any more unwanted attention.
Sindri and Leifur quickly drifted off to sleep, but I could not rest. My mind was a ravenous storm of thoughts about Elva.
She could use her body to protect herself and her brothers.
She'd done it three times already on this trip—but how often? The question kept me awake.
A bolt of heat spread through me as Elva’s hand glided up to my chest. “What’s bothering you?” she asked softly.
“Nothing.”
She kissed me gently on the chest before tracing lazy circles with her finger on my skin. “I know something is. Please tell me.”
I sighed heavily. “It was so easy for you.”
“Look, we don't relish killing humans—”
“The seduction.”
“Oh.” Elva paused so long, I thought she had dropped the subject. But then she continued, “All sirens are taught basic seduction techniques. For warriors like us, it's a tool, a weapon to prevent bloodshed. If we can end a fight before it starts, often the easiest way is to take off our clothes.”
“Huh ... It did work.”
“It always does.” She rolled onto her side, pulling my arm with her and placing my hand over her breast. “Don't worry—I promise not to use my powers against your men, unless I have to.”
I hadn't even thought of that. The idea of her being near my father’s men made me sick.
I’d traveled with them enough to know how they treated women.
The whores who traveled with them were paid well, but the men knew they could get away with things that were taboo at home.
Most of the women ended up being discarded, pregnant after being passed around every night.
The mere thought of Elva in that world ignited a ferocious protectiveness in me.
As long as I breathed, I’d make sure none of my father’s men ever laid a hand on her.
But that wasn’t my deepest fear. It was the dread that gnawed at me, silent and persistent, that I might not be enough for her. That someday, she might seek more than what I could offer. And if that day came, I wasn’t sure if I could let her go.
Our journey through the forest of Endilaus was the easiest I’ve ever experienced in my life.
Traveling with sirens, it seemed, came with unexpected perks—no creature dared approach us.
By the sixth day, we glimpsed the pale gray limestone walls that surrounded my kingdom.
Elva had returned to her mule, and though I missed having her on my horse, I kept quiet to avoid more taunts from her brothers.
“You must be thrilled to get back home and not have to sleep on the ground,” Sindri said.
“Oh, Sindri, not everyone is as obsessed with luxury as you are,” Elva shot back.
“If anyone’s going to be, it’s a prince,” Sindri replied. “Or have you forgotten that your new toy is royalty?”
Leifur snorted at that, but Elva was not amused. She guided her mule toward her brother, and he hurried his horse to my other side.
“We’re in your kingdom now, Njall. It’s your duty to protect me!” he pleaded.
“Not from your sister,” I said, and picked up the pace so Elva could catch him. She swung at him hard enough that he almost fell off his horse.
As we neared the guards at the gate, I was grateful for the longer hair and beard that covered my face.
I didn’t want my father to learn of my return just yet.
My plan was for us to stay in the Pirate’s Booty for the night, so I could clean myself up and find out what happened while I was gone from Baldr.
“Do you have any coins?” I asked the other three.
Sindri eyed me suspiciously, tightly clutching his coin purse. “What for?”
“I’ll pay you back once we’re inside,” I said. “I just want the guards to stay quiet about my arrival and track down my brother for us.”
“Oh. The satyr, right? Baldr,” Leifur wiggled his eyebrows at me.
“Yes, him.”
“In that case, take it.” Sindri tossed his coin purse to me. “I want to properly meet this satyr.”