Chapter fifteen
Eisa
“I’m sorry, he wants you to do what?”
It was Branka who asked the question as we gathered around the table in the sitting room with Arne the next morning for our own small council of war.
I had slept for a day. The ache was still a dull throb when I woke with Arik’s arms wrapped around me, his hand pressing delicious warmth into my abdomen.
I fidgeted uncomfortably in the wooden chair, the cotton rags Branka procured for me bulky and uncomfortable beneath me.
Do you need to lie down, Kjaere? Arik stroked a thumb over my lower back, and I could feel the warm pulse of Baldur’s magic as he shared his power. It didn’t take away my pain entirely or stop the bleeding, but we had discovered it took the edge off enough that I could function.
I’m fine, and stop that. You’ll use up all your magic on me.
Arik shot me a wry look, his brow raised in exasperation. You are a worthy cause.
“Hello, lovebirds, we’re still here!” Branka snapped. “He wants us to invade the fae lands?”
Arik and Arne had already told Jorgen about the Althing last night. They’d stayed up far too late drinking too much wine and trying to come up with a way to stop the king’s mad plan.
Branka’s reaction was a mirror of my own.
“And be king,” Jorgen reminded her, yawning and popping a grape into his mouth. “Don’t forget that pleasant nugget.”
I’m withering away, Idunn whined irritably. My appetite had finally returned somewhat, and I had dared to stop eating for a whole minute. I am hungry and I hurt. I do not think I like sharing a mortal body after all.
You enjoyed it well enough the night before this, I reminded her, feeling heat of a different sort creep up my body at the memory of Arik beneath me, writhing at my mercy.
Hearthmother save me, now was not the time to be thinking about Arik’s naked body.
“I’m not going to be king,” Arik declared, his face impassive. “Nor are we invading the fae lands. It would be suicide, and we barely have enough drage to hold back the odemarksdyr as it is.”
“And how exactly are ye going to avoid it, lad?” Arne asked. He looked as tired as Arik and Jorgen did, dark shadows purpling his eyes, which were a duller shade of green than when I last saw him.
I supposed he could say the same about me.
Arik sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face, looking like the weight of the entire kingdom was on his shoulders. “I have no fucking idea.”
“What did you tell him about the Rift?” I knew Arik wouldn’t tell his father about my suspected power, but I had no idea what lie he had concocted instead.
“I said it was a theory. Based on the cave.” Arik sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t want to mention the Book in case he decided to hold it over me as more leverage. Or you, obviously.”
I squeezed his hand. Smart.
It would have been smarter to keep my damned mouth shut about the Rift. If I’d let him go on, I’d know more about his plans for this suicidal war.
“Okay, so,” Jorgen drawled, looking around expectantly. “What now?”
“You get the fuck out of here,” Arne replied. “Sooner, rather than later. Once yer back in Ironholm, there’s not a lot he can do to you.”
“Agreed.” Arik looked at me, and I knew the fear I sensed across our mental bridge was not for himself.
Arik had told me that most dragons would rather die than live without their mates. That if the heartbreak didn’t kill them, they would take their own lives by jumping into the Rift.
I knew deep down that Idunn wouldn’t suffer Baldur’s loss. If Arik’s father killed him for his refusal to lead the drage in this war, it would mean my death, too.
If we didn’t leave, I had a feeling that the king would find a way to force us into his war, or kill us when we disobeyed. He may want Arik for his heir, but he didn’t need him.
“Then we should go today,” Jorgen said, thunking his goblet on the wood table. “All of us. Now. If Eisa can’t fly, we’ll carry her.”
Arik flattened his palm against my lower back as he shook his head. “We can’t leave yet.”
“Yer not staying for this farce of a handfasting, are you?” Arne looked incredulously between us.
Arik looked down at me, waiting for me to decide. If you still wish it, Kjaere, I will find a way to make you my bride. I swear it.
“We leave today,” I agreed, looking at my mate and fighting the urge to tell him how utterly in love with him I was. But now wasn’t the right time. “After we get the Book.”
“Thank fuck,” Arne growled, pulling something from his pocket and slamming it on the table. “Ye’ll need this, then.”
It was a small brass key attached to a chain that looked to be centuries old. Arik pocketed it with a nod of thanks. “That was some fine sleight of hand.”
“Got ye these, too.” Arne shrugged dismissively and dropped a pile of blue fabric on the table before him. “The skalds wouldnae know treachery if it punched them in the throat.”
Jorgen choked on his drink, and Branka gave him a firm whack on the back. “What’s the plan then?” she asked. “I assume that’s the key for the Book?”
“It’s the key to the archives,” Arne corrected. “And robes from the laundry. I have no idea how the Book is guarded, but ye’ll be able to get to it at the very least. The rest will have to be up to you lot.”
“To you two, actually.” Arik nodded to Branka and Jorgen as he squeezed my hand. “We need to have a final word with my mother.”
As we waited for Branka and Jorgen to finish their preparations, Arne left to meet with some of the less warmongering jarls. It was unlikely he could convince them of the king’s folly, but he had insisted on trying before the Althing took a formal vote.
“Take care of yerself, lass.” He embraced me as he took his leave, his green eyes full of emotion. “And yer stubborn man.”
“I’ll try,” I promised, smiling up at him. He looked pale and tired, clearly too old to stay up drinking with the younger men, but I didn’t know him well enough to suggest he see one of the palace healers.
If he was anything like Arik, he’d scoff at the notion.
“And you. Be careful.” He shook Arik’s hand, a wealth of meaning passing between their gazes as he took his leave of us.
“Have you slept?” I asked, studying my mate. His beard was more unkempt than usual, and I lifted my hand to trace his scratchy jaw with my thumb.
Arik caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my palm. “I’m fine, Kjaere.”
He has not slept, Baldur confirmed, his voice quieter than usual. Probably exhausted like Arik. But we will be fine. He was concerned for you.
Scaly traitor, Arik huffed without rancor, pulling the key to the archives from his pocket and examining it.
The silver chain made me think of the one Sigrid had placed around my neck. “You really think your mother has a necklace like Sigrid’s?”
“I do.” He took my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. “Or she did. I need to know how Sigrid got it, and if it was the same one or if there are several. I’m hoping she’ll know something about it that could help us.”
“And you want to say goodbye.”
Arik sighed and pressed his forehead to mine. “She would be furious if I didn’t take you for a final visit.”
“Probably. I am a delight, after all.”
Arik smiled, and I felt the urgent need to protect this man at all costs.
“So, we have a tiny problem,” Branka drawled as she and Jorgen emerged from their room. Branka was wearing one of the blue robes Arne had pilfered, but Jorgen was wearing full battle attire as if ready to fight off a horde of draugr. “Or rather, a big problem.”
“The robes are too fucking small,” Jorgen growled. “Can’t get it over my shoulders.”
“Which means…” Branka tossed me the other robe. The fabric was horrible and scratchy, and I frowned down at it as my mind tried to catch up.
“Absolutely not,” Arik growled, plucking the robe from my hands and tossing it back at his friend. “Try harder.”
“If you want me to tear the damn thing, I’m happy to.” Jorgen crossed his arms, pinning Arik with a serious look. “I don’t like the idea much either.”
“What idea?” Three sets of eyes met mine, and realization hit.
Me. I would have to go.
“I can do it.”
“No.” Arik’s tone was so final, I almost didn’t argue.
Almost.
Kjaere—
No, Eisa. You are not leaving my side.
Idunn bristled, torn between annoyance and desire. No human man will order me around. I knew my eyes must be glowing blue.
“We’ll give you two a minute,” Branka suggested, tugging Jorgen a short distance away.
Careful. Baldur growled in both our minds, and I knew the warning was for Arik as much as it was for me.
“I can do this,” I repeated aloud, crossing my arms over my chest. I knew perfectly well what Arik feared, but Idunn’s defiance was leaking into me.
“We will find another way.” Silver shone from Arik’s eyes, his voice laced with the edge of Baldur’s growl. “End of story.”
“There is no other way,” I insisted, cupping his face to force him to meet my gaze. I know that you’re scared. I know. But I am not her.
Before I could say another word, Arik pulled me into an embrace and buried his face into the crook of my neck. I can’t lose you, Kjaere.
You won’t. I reveled in the scratch of his face against me, the feel of his silken hair sliding through my fingers. Life had tried to beat this wonderful, caring man down, and I would be damned if he would lose one more thing. You won’t, Arik. I swear it.
Arik nodded, but he didn’t release me. I know you can do this. I know you’ll have Branka and Idunn and Bryndis to protect you. But if something were to happen—
Nothing will happen!
But if it did. He raised his head, his eyes fierce as he cupped my face in his strong hands. I would tear this world apart, Kjaere.
I smiled despite myself. I’m sort of counting on it.
He groaned, pulling me closer as he pushed one final pulse of Baldur’s magic into me to ease my pain.
I told you to stop that, I chastised as he captured my mouth in a fierce kiss. And Jorgen and Branka are watching.
I don’t give a fuck. He pulled me tighter to him, sweeping his tongue over mine once in a silent command. If you can’t get it out, or if you get caught, just leave it and fly back to the coast. I’ll find you.
But—
You are more important than the damned Book. Than everything else in this world. Arik held my face as he pulled his lips from mine, Baldur shining faintly silver through his eyes. Promise me, Kjaere. Get yourself out. I don’t care if you have to burn it all down to do so.
His arms were tense, and I knew he was fighting the urge to fly off with me and hide me away safely in his cave at Ironholm. I wrapped my arms around him just as tightly, trying to soothe his anxiety. I’ll have Branka. I’ll have Idunn. What’s the worst that could possibly happen?
Arik groaned again. Don’t fucking tempt fate, Kjaere.
You don’t believe in fate.
He squeezed me more tightly. I shouldn’t be letting you out of my sight.
Nor I. I felt the words stick in my throat, my own anxiety bubbling to the surface. What if you get caught?
Arik’s beard twitched, and he gave me a sardonic look. Saying goodbye to my mother isn’t illegal.
No, but defying your father is. I pressed a final kiss to his lips. If you see him or your brother, punch them in the throat for me.
My violent little mate. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. I see Arne rubbed off on you.
We pulled apart, and I turned to the side of the room where Branka and Jorgen had fled to give us privacy. Jorgen was watching skeptically as Branka shuffled around the room in her robes.
“You’ll never fucking pass for a skald if you stand like that,” Jorgen said irritably. “You need to slouch at the very least.”
“Like this?” Branka pulled the hood so far over her head that her face was completely hidden. She slouched her shoulders and back and shuffled forward, attempting to imitate the elderly skalds we’d seen in the hallways.
“Better,” Jorgen admitted, watching her with his arms folded over his chest. He looked up and frowned at Arik. “Maybe this is a bad idea.”
“No, we’ve already decided.” Branka tossed me the other blue robe once more, eyeing it with distaste. “Get dressed. I plan to wear this for exactly however long it takes to steal the Book and not a second longer.”
I grimaced as I pulled the scratchy fabric over my own head. “Ugh. How do the skalds wear these daily?”
“Without undergarments,” Branka said, doing a little twirl as Jorgen groaned, muttering something about innuendo at a time like this. “How wonderful it is to be short.”
Branka was right, though. The robe was barely large enough to cover me, but her feet were visible beneath the hem. Neither Jorgen nor Arik would have been able to get one over their shoulders, and even if they had, it would have been obvious who they were to anyone with half a brain.
Arik withdrew the key from his pocket and looped the chain around my neck. “Stick to the shadows and move quickly.”
“Not too quickly,” Branka corrected, her voice pitched low like a man’s. It wasn’t convincing. “The skalds shuffle.”
Jorgen eyed Branka’s boots skeptically. “Maybe don’t talk, love. If you can help it.”
Branka pouted at her mate, who laughed and pulled her into an embrace.
“Where do we find the Book?” I asked, turning to my own mate to give them a semblance of privacy.
“I’m honestly not sure. I only saw it once, and I was a boy.” Arik tugged my hood up over my head. Anxiety rolled off him, but he didn’t try to change my mind. “But it’s full of Chaos. Idunn should be able to sense it.”
I nodded, remembering my first landing at Ironholm and how badly the Chaos affected me. “I’ll try not to bleed all over it.”
“What if there are guards?” Jorgen asked, withdrawing from his mate slightly as he cast a worried glance at Arik.
“Not a problem,” Branka said confidently, rising to her toes to peck him on the cheek. “We’ll just seduce them with our feminine wiles.” Jorgen rolled his eyes as Branka grinned at me. “Shall we?”
Arik nodded, stepping away from me and pinning me with a hard look. “Get to the courtyard as soon as you have the Book, then head to the coast. We’ll find you.”
Branka clapped her fist to her chest. “I’ll protect her with my life, Dragehersker.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Jorgen said, sweeping her into a final, desperate kiss.
It was the work of a moment for Arik and Jorgen to incapacitate our guards, then tie them up using bedsheets we had torn into strips.
“That will have to do,” Jorgen muttered as he locked them into the room he had shared with Branka. “I suppose we really have to leave now.”
“Then let’s not waste time.” Arik gave my hand a final squeeze, his silver eyes catching mine. I’ll see you soon.