Chapter 33
SHAW
Rasha releases a hunger so insatiable from within me that I part her legs in the lilac-colored dawn, unable to wait till we are fully awake.
Her drowsy, pouted lips open in a soft moan when I drag my cock through her wet entrance.
Taking her gently from behind, I feel her grind her ass into my hips as I drink in her perfection.
After, we are sitting up in bed with the mold in her lap and the chain laying across my thighs.
She asks about the links, and if I made them all alone.
I tell her about the first few I crafted when I lived every day in dark despair then about the links I created when I started helping the clans make weapons.
“Why did you keep smithing all these years if you didn’t believe you’d find your way back home?” She trails her fingers from the last section to the end where her link is attached.
“I gave up for years. Long stretches of time passed, and I put the mold away, thinking eventually I’d die like a mortal, but death never came for me.
Something would push me to keep going after a while like Aslaug or the beauty of Spring.
The thought that Vidarr, Vali, and my sister are waiting kept me searching for a way home. And then the stars led me to you.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I never wanted a husband.” She slides me a gaze that could melt an iceberg.
“Am I your husband, my lady?” I tease, tucking a section of her crimson locks behind her ear so I can shamelessly kiss her soft shoulder.
“Do you like hearing me exalt you?” She chuckles.
“Of course, husband, King, god whatever you call out when you’re coming is what I want to hear.”
Throwing her leg over my waist, she mounts me like she is destined to be on top of me for the rest of time. The mold between us unmistakably pulses, emitting from the link inside.
“Ready?” I ask, trying to not stare at the swell of her breasts near my eye level.
Rasha nods, and I cover her hands with mine so we crack the top of the mold together. I don’t need it anymore. The thought that this is my fate, to have her at my side, makes the bond smolder in contentment between us.
Rasha breaks off the rest of the mold, and the last link comes into view.
I honestly don’t care what it looks like. I only care about the person who gave up everything to be with me. Caressing my hands across her cheeks, my lips crash into hers, offering her kiss after kiss, having no words to describe my thanks.
“Look, Shaw. Just for a moment.” Coming up for air, she brings the small link between us and sits back in my lap. Her center glides over my hard cock with nothing but a blanket between our skin.
The link is different from any link I have ever made. It’s different from the one Rasha made before we had sex and before she traveled to the edge of the Vanheim.
“It’s already engraved with your runes and whatever these ones say?” Her voice catches in hesitation, thinking that something is wrong. A habit of self doubt I fully intend on breaking once we are safely home.
“These are your runes.” I run my finger over the unpolished metal. She looks at the tiny markings and elegant loops in the link with disbelief in her big blue eyes.
“I have runes?”
“You have prayed to Skadi, Freya, and the rest. Now, if we can put everything back into balance, the people will be able to pray to you.” Easing her off my lap, I reach for clothes to put space between our aroused bodies.
“This feels like a dream,” she replies as she starts to braid her hair.
“Let’s get dressed and see what your brother is getting himself worked up over today. If we connect the link, the bond will run so hot neither of us will be able to think straight.”
Dressing with a raging hard-on is easy enough because I’ve been hiding my cock from her for weeks, but before last night, she didn’t look at me the way she is now.
Like a woman who knows what she wants. Fuck me, I want to give it to her.
But the banging coming down the hallway is putting an end to any and all thoughts of today being less stressful than yesterday.
“Rasha, are you awake?” Joanna’s panicked voice comes through the loose door frame.
Rasha glances at me for the okay before opening it.
Joanna bursts in with a flushed face, her hair falling in wisps around her head, and Aslaug follows her.
The huge cat pushes through the woman’s legs to see me and rubs her arched back into my knees with a heavy blast of purring.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I tried to tell him to stay. You have to stop him.”
“Who?” Rasha asks, adding a fur and leather vest over her green sweater.
Joanna avoids my stare. “Jorvik.”
“Where is he running off to?” I interject. Rasha adjusts the quiver over her back and holds Joanna’s shoulders to calm the poor woman.
“Where is he going?” she asks.
Joanna’s lip trembles. “He’s gone to meet Harald. He drank himself silly after you two left and mumbled something about Harald being closer to the entrance of the pass than we thought.”
“We need to leave,” I tell them.
“I am sorry, Rasha. I thought I could change him.” Joanna’s tears lace her cheeks, and she sniffles into Rasha’s embrace.
“Whatever happens, I won’t abandon you,” she says, giving her friend’s shoulders a squeeze. “I need you to take the lead here and keep our people fed. Hunt in our usual places. Don’t go far, and let everyone stay in the Hall for warmth.”
Her instructions make pride ring through my chest at how quickly she is adapting to setting plans and inspiring others to follow through. Slipping the link in my pocket, I take stock of the bracelet around Rasha’s wrist. We leave the room with Joanna and Aslaug in tow.
“We will have to allow Harald to be here. There is no way we can fight him,” Joanna explains, to which we agree.
“Just until I can come back with help,” Rasha replies. “I won’t leave you to his wrath.”
Joanna stops before the door to the Hall, looking at me and back to her friend. They console each other for a fleeting moment, and I push through the door to give them privacy.
It feels wrong to be taking Rasha away from her friends when she’s only been here one night.
But I am running out of time. The last link is struck, and I need to close the ritual.
Telling myself this is for the best and Rasha chose me, I keep moving through the Hall as people clean the grimy floors.
“There are men who wish to help Rasha,” Oslo says, quietly meeting me in front of the double doors.
Katrine’s father’s change of heart comes as a shock since he sent his own daughter to Harald’s winter solstice, not caring if she would be safe.
The sway of men’s conversations was never something I excelled at before being exiled, so it is a task I will need to practice.
“That is kind of them. It would be best if they fortify the people who need the most help. Winter will end soon, I can promise you that. And with the thaw, you’ll be able to seek refuge.”
“To what end?” Oslo asks. Katrine sees us speaking, and I gesture to the back of the Hall where Rasha and Joanna are.
“Harald must have reported to the King, but speaking from experience, a King won’t march his men until he is sure of the outcome.” I give him hope, which will serve him better in the coming weeks.
“For our sake, I want to believe you, Shaw. I am sorry the girls dragged you into this mess.” Oslo turns a tired glance back at the three women coming up the centre aisle of the Hall.
“I am not sorry at all. Rasha was taken for granted, which will never happen again. Don’t let anything happen to Joanna or her siblings. She had pure intentions with Jorvik, and there will be consequences if I find out she’s been treated unfairly.”
Oslo takes my forearm, shaking on what I’ve told him, and I let go to allow the three women into the conversation.
“I was telling your –” Oslo pauses to find his words, and Katrine stabs the silence.
“Her husband.” She nudges Rasha with her shoulder, and the smile on Rasha’s face makes me weak.
“Husband,” Oslo repeats the word like he’s speaking a foreign tongue. “Right, well I was telling Shaw that there are a few we can spare to accompany you. They can act as scouts and report back in a day or two.”
We wait for Rasha to realize it is her decision.
“That is fine. And if I find Jorvik before he meets Harald?” she asks the group.
“Tell him he has no place among our people,” Oslo firmly states. Katrine throws her arm over Joanna in an attempt to stifle her heartbreak, but Joanna wipes her eyes and walks out of the Hall alone.
“She’ll be okay. Jorvik was bound to fuck up,” Katrine adds. Oslo stays in the Hall to set up a table for accounting and hiding the precious, ancient scrolls Rasha’s clan keeps buried in a dirt cellar.
Outside the Hall, more people have gathered, men strapping weapons to their bodies and women preparing the land for an attack. They all quiet as we reach the middle of the road, as if they are waiting for Rasha to speak. Katrine beats me to the encouragement.
“Say something,” she whispers as Rasha’s blue eyes grow wide.
“I have no authority over them.”
“They don’t need authority. They need your resilience. My father is great and all, but he doesn’t know what it is like to live out there in the mountains. Harald doesn’t even know what it is to be hungry or to wait knee deep in the snow for one deer to walk by in three days. But you do.”
I find a place with Aslaug outside of the stables and prop our bags on the wall to give Rasha her own moment. It’s a strange thing to witness a woman have a tumultuous relationship with people who have both fed her and kept her decently safe, but who have also used her and left her for dead.
“Jorvik sold us out!” a few families holler, forming a group around Rasha as they wait for her to speak. The bond is pulled taut by her sudden upswing of nerves. Sending soft waves of reassurance to smooth over her fear is the best thing I can do while she gains her own confidence.
“I know. I am sorry. He sold me out too,” Rasha starts, her voice shaking.
“Will we kneel to a King?” another man takes the lead to ask.
“Not if I get to the herd and drive Harald away from our lands. Then you can all move into the pass for the Spring and Summer.” The crowd mutters between themselves, probably wondering if the risk is worth it.
“If I leave now, I might be able to find Jorvik before he reaches Bjorn and Harald. We are taking three of our fastest riders.”
The two men and one woman that Oslo mentioned come around me, saddled and ready to go, leading our two reindeer.
“Thank you.” I keep my voice low and mount the reindeer beside the horses.
“When we hunt during the dead of winter, we stick together. We take turns sleeping and watching each other’s backs.
I need all of you to stick together. I’ll be back, I promise,” Rasha calls while mounting her own reindeer.
The group on horseback leads the way out of the Beaivi Clan with our reindeer trotting at an easy pace.
Some reach up to hand Rasha or me wrapped loaves of bread and flasks for our journey.
Out of ear shot, I bring my reindeer close to hers, letting our legs bang together.
“I don’t know if you can come back once you’ve crossed over.
” I can no longer lie to her. Keeping her gaze forward on the rounded curves of the antlers in front of us, she tightens her jaw without answering.
“Rasha, I don’t want to lie to you. The group coming with us will have to go back in a day or two.
They will need to relay what they’ve seen. ”
“I know. But I will find a way to do both. Help you and help my people. I cannot let them kill Jorvik, even if he is wrong all the time. Vidarr traveled through the Vanheim, so why can’t I?”
“I am coming with you!” Joanna’s voice sends Rasha’s reindeer into a run, and she yanks the reins to bring the creature around.
“What are you doing?” Rasha yells, her face flush with the effort of controlling the reindeer.
“I can’t let you kill him. I love him.” Joanna’s solemn tears have dried up and been replaced with determination.
“I wasn’t going to kill him. Joanna, this is crazy.” Rasha moves her reindeer against Joanna’s horse.
“Katrine is better than me in every way at managing the clan. She doesn’t need me to stay. You, Shaw, are trouble.” Joanna steers her horse around my reindeer.
“I have done nothing but keep Rasha alive,” I reply. She’s upset and heartbroken, which I understand.
“You would sooner see Jorvik dead and Rasha lost to wherever she was when you arrived at our doorstep,” Joanna spits the furious words at me. Rasha’s bond ignites through my veins.
“Joanna! That is not fair!” Rasha yells, but Joanna is already moving her horse to the front of the group.
The party greets her, but the solitary woman glances back to make a shocked face at Rasha.
Shrugging it off, I keep us riding at a steep incline over swaths of melting snow and the sounds of rivers being brought back to life.
When the group stops to let the animals take a drink, I walk my reindeer over to where Rasha is scooping fresh ice water into her hands. The two women haven’t spoken since Joanna blasted past us. I bring my reindeer close to hers and slide off.
“Talk to her?” I ask, unaware of how female arguments work.
“She has her mind made up.” Rasha turns behind the reindeer’s large antlers to see Joanna fixing the straps on her horse’s saddle.
“Do you think Jorvik cares for her?” I try another route of conversation.
Rasha’s chest rises and falls in a sad breath. “I have known my brother to rotate women in his bed quicker than the changing seasons. Though, Joanna asked me if I was okay with her pursuing him to keep her siblings cared for and to give herself a better position with the clan.”
“You gave her your blessing?”
“I did. That was before all of this.” She raises her arm to jiggle the bracelet between us.
I take her hand, bringing her closer, and let my fingers explore the skin down her wrist. I shouldn’t be thinking about taking her pants off while she’s deliberating over her friend’s love life, but our bond is overpowering my common sense.
“Do you regret promising me your life?” I ask like a nervous boy who trembles when given his first axe. Rasha steps closer, bringing her body into my embrace, and leans her beautiful face to mine.
“No, not for a second. Shaw, I am not ashamed to admit I like who I am becoming. I want to sit by your side and do more good than I could have done by staying here.” She leans in, sealing her words with a kiss.