Epilogue
Liam
I could not believe we were having this conversation. Nor could I believe it had taken Gunnar this many weeks to come see me, not when he’d been portaling to the gates of Thornewood nearly everyday since Raina and I left Ephandor.
Then again, he was a male obsessed.
Leaning back in the chair, my wheels turned, puzzling out what he wanted from me. As far as I knew, Gunnar and Mirrelle had been getting along fine.
Both of them still had all of their arms and legs and I hadn’t heard any shouting or death threats echoing through the castle.
Maybe that was the problem. Their fighting was like a twisted form of foreplay to them.
“Have you fucked her?”
Gunnar’s eyes narrowed. A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Do not talk about her so crudely.”
I scratched my jaw as I studied his reaction. “Alright. Did you sleep with her, then?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know, Gunnar,” I sighed.
“Once.”
Ah, so they had done the deed. I wondered if Raina knew. “I take it things didn’t go well?”
“Well? It was fucking mindblowing. Life altering. The highlight of my entire existence. My beast surfaced and she called him a naughty little bear and bopped me in the nose. In the afterglow, I took a page out of your playbook.”
“What did you do?”
Gunnar looked away. “I called her wifey. She argued and I told her we would marry as soon as I could arrange it.”
“I’m sorry, you did what?”
“You heard me.”
“Gunnar, you’ve known her for a matter of weeks. You barely spent a handful of days with her in Ephandor.”
“I don’t care. She’s who I want.”
The look on his face didn’t sit well with me. I was starting to feel sorry for the asshole, something I never felt when it came to my older sibling. Then again, he’d never had an issue like this before.
“How did Mirrelle respond?”
His mouth curved. “The she-devil told me to fuck off with my bullshit order and left. I think she wants me to chase her. It’s quite maddening, really.”
“Then why are you smiling?”
“Because I’m going to give her what she wants.”
Gunnar leaned forward, his berserker peeking out from the glow of his eyes. “And brother, I’m an exceptional hunter.”
I prayed the gods would have mercy on him because Mirrelle was going to kick his ass in a hundred different ways—and I couldn’t wait.