2. Kain
Chapter 2
Kain
I don't know what she saw inside her head, but Skoll's magic is drinking in her fear of me, liquid fire burning through my veins. The wolf's presence surges, eager to feast on her terror.
And curse it all, I'm getting no pleasure from it.
She touched me. Touched my skin. The first touch I have felt in two hundred years. She has no idea of her impact. Of how that simple brush of contact shattered two centuries of carefully constructed walls.
The others are right to fear her. She's raw power wrapped in doubt, waiting to explode.
But I don't want her to fear me.
For the first time in an interminably shit number of years, I don't want someone to fear me. The realization burns worse than Skoll's fire ever could.
I want the adoration back. The wide-eyed wonder. I want to see the shock on her face at her own strength, her own power. I want to see her fierce scowl when somebody tells her she can't do something. I want to see her peaceful expression whenever she leaves this world and goes to whatever sanctuary she has built inside her mind. The way her eyes drift, seeing things none of us can imagine.
She's a fucking marvel, and she doesn't even know it. The things I could show her, the strength I could help her achieve…
Her face, flushed and alive after she froze the springs, fills my mind.
She has power in her. An ambition. A desire for revenge, a need to prove herself. It's all there. And the need to unlock it is starting to haunt my thoughts, an immovable pull, distracting me from two centuries of obsession.
A hiss escapes my lips, and she glances at me. We're in the catacombs now, the small boat almost at the dock.
She will leave me here. The certainty sits like acid in my gut.
"You're angry I didn't get us farther into the vault."
"We need four ship names. That will take time to find."
"So… you're not angry?"
The boat bumps against the platform as we reach it.
"Not with you."
I have been in her company for hours now, and keeping control of myself is starting to cause a strain on my body. Skoll paces restlessly in my mind, torn between wanting to terrify her and protect her.
She tilts her head. There is still uncertainty in her eyes, and I burn to know what she just saw. "Who are you angry with?"
It's impossible not to snort. "Everyone, princess. But right now, your family. They have hindered you. Used you. Kept you from what you should be. Their behavior is unforgivable." It takes epic self-restraint to say the words calmly. What I want to do is set the entire fucking building on fire, then let Skoll fill my body and allow me to rip apart anyone who has hurt her.
But she will argue with me, try to defend her parents and sister, and I don't want her to fear me. I need her to see that I am right, that she needs to be free of them and the hold they've kept over her.
The defiance I expected from her doesn't come, though. Instead, she drops her gaze.
"The gods chose me to come here and become a Valkyrie," she says quietly.
Hope explodes in my chest, and the ferocity of such a foreign emotion takes me by surprise. After two centuries of nothing but rage and bitterness, hope feels like being stabbed. "Yes."
" They know if my parents lied to me about the blackouts. But… I'm not sure I need to know."
My jaw works as I stare at her. She is still not meeting my gaze. Perhaps she is right. Perhaps she doesn't need to know. Yet .
"One day, you will find out, princess. And know this: if it transpires that they deliberately made you live two decades believing you might die every single day…" Skoll flares to life beside me, filled with my rage, and she jumps.
I regret my loss of temper immediately as she blinks up at me. Skoll's presence fades, though his bloodlust lingers in my veins.
Fuck, she's so soft, so beautiful, yet so… fierce. How? How can so much potential be wrapped in something so uncertain?
"I don't need you to defend me, Kain," she says. There's not much conviction in her voice.
"No. Not when you have control of Thyrvi. But until then, you don't have a choice. I will be here. Always." Skoll settles at the promise, accepting this hunt. We will protect her, my wolf and I, until she learns to tear her enemies apart herself.