Chapter 44
Njall
My heart ached for Elva. I now knew the scars she bore and the burden she carried.
As a brother, I could imagine what Sindri felt, knowing it happened and being unable to stop it.
Had someone hurt Hulda like that, I would have killed him with my bare hands.
I looked across the fire at her brothers; Sindri slumped to the ground and crossed his arms in frustration, but Leifur smacked him on the head.
“I told you to let her be,” he scolded.
“She’s my sister, not yours,” Sindri retorted. “I should be allowed to speak my mind without her storming off.”
“You’re lucky she stormed off; otherwise, she might have torn you apart,” Leifur said.
Determined to check on Elva, I stood up and brushed the dirt from my clothes,
“Don’t bother,” Sindri grumbled. “When she’s in a mood like this, she won’t come back tonight. Thought someone as educated as you would have figured that out by now.”
“I’ve dealt with my share of monstrous royals,” I replied, gathering our blankets into a satchel. “I can handle your sister and her siren.”
Leifur handed me a large burning branch for light. Luckily for me, Elva did not leave gracefully. Her stomping away in rage had left deep indentations in the soft dirt, making her trail easy to follow.
As I walked through the underbrush, the forest's silence surrounded me. Why am I hunting for this woman—this siren, selkie, or whatever else she might be? It is the middle of the night, and the forest is dangerous. Recent experiences had taught me how easily sirens could ensnare men with their song. Yet none of my feelings for Elva felt forced. We’d shared a connection since our first night together, and I couldn’t explain it away by mere enchantment.
I'd seen what her song did to men, and having experienced a siren’s lure myself, I knew that what I felt for her was all my feelings.
I certainly wasn’t attracted to her the night she saved me.
I’d been furious that my father thought so little of me to not even try to send help for me, while my sister received the efforts of the entire army.
My anger had been misdirected at her, and yet she hadn't wavered in keeping me safe.
As I walked, another thought occurred to me: was her affection for me genuine or merely part of the cycle she struggled against?
The way her body reacted to my touch, and how hard she’d trembled in my arms when she came—I didn’t believe she faked that, and there would be no reason for her to fake it, once she'd gotten what she needed from me.
Still, it was hard not to question her motives.
After all, she had saved me to get enough gold from Baldr to buy her home.
A branch snapped nearby, jolting me from my thoughts. I raised the torch, casting a circle of light around me. The forest was still, no eyes gleaming in the darkness. I held my breath and listened. When I heard another crack, I spun toward the sound.
“Elva?”
“Can’t I just get some peace?”
I pushed aside the foliage and found her sitting on a fallen log, head hanging low with frustration and pain.
I balanced the torch on some rocks, then pulled out her blanket, draped it over her shoulders, and took a seat beside her.
Elva pulled the wool around her and looked at me with her beautiful blue and green eyes.
“Well?” she asked.
“Well, what?”
“Aren’t you going to say something?”
“You wanted peace,” I said carefully. Her siren had gone, and I didn’t want to bring her back out.
“You’re probably the only person to ever take that seriously.”
“I know better than to push my sister when she’s mad, so you deserve the same respect. I just didn’t want to leave you alone out here.”
Elva leaned her head on my shoulder, sending an electric heat coursing through me. After our tryst this afternoon, any touch from her sent my body into a frenzy. As she placed her hand on my thigh, I had to bite back a moan. I didn’t want her to think I followed with ulterior motives.
“Njall?” Her whisper barely reached my ears, but the gentle kiss that followed was unmistakable.
Desire coursed through me as I pulled her closer to me until her body was pressed against mine.
A soft moan left her mouth, and my lips moved to kiss her neck.
The next thing I knew, she was straddling me as we once again surrendered ourselves to one another beneath the stars of the forest.
I woke up on the cool forest floor, my body stiff after a night spent on the hard ground.
I heard a soft sigh. Elva was sprawled across my chest, naked and asleep, her skin glistening in the morning light like dew on fresh grass.
I eased my hand out to gently run it along her back and over her curves.
I smiled, recalling that my dream was real—I had feasted on her before taking her against the felled tree where we now rested.
When I kissed the top of her head, I smelled her sea scent, my potent musk, and a great deal of sex.
As Elva stirred, she stretched and let out a long, sharp squeak.
“Good morning,” I said as she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
She blinked her eyes a few times. “Morning,” she said as she stretched, emitting a melodious song’s worth of cracks from her body. “How’d you sleep?”
I grinned, leaning in for a gentle kiss. “Amazing. You wore me out, so I slept like the dead.”
Elva chuckled and returned my kiss with gusto. For the first time ever, the idea of only sleeping with one woman for the rest of my life made sense. If I had to tie myself to a single one, then only Elva would do.
The small fire we’d made from the torch had burned out hours ago, but the blankets and our bodies had kept us warm.
I stood to follow her, suspecting she was looking for our clothes.
I found them behind the log. Brushing away dirt and leaves, I handed Elva her garments and was rewarded with a grateful smile and a touch on my chest. She looked up at me, licking her lower lip.
“None of that,” I chided playfully, moving out of her reach to put my pants on. “We need to go find your brothers and keep traveling. As fun as it is to take you in the woods, or a hot spring, I’d rather have a bed.”
Elva pulled her shirt on and glanced down at her bruised and dirty knees. “Fair.”
We returned to the camp where Sindri was just waking.
As Leifur prepared breakfast, Elva hugged her brother.
Feeling awkward, I left them to tend to the horses.
By the time I returned, Elva was sitting next to her brother, and it seemed both siblings had made some efforts toward reconciliation. I counted it as a small victory.