Chapter 47 Freija
Freija
I rose from my stool as he strode across the room in what appeared to be a clean shirt, but I couldn’t tell nor focus on anything but the way he looked at me.
Stopping a hair’s breadth away, those sky-blue eyes devoured me, and my hope and happiness blossomed anew. His hands slid up my arms and tugged me closer, before cupping my head and tilting my face up to his.
“I don’t know how to say this,” he said.
“Use your words,” I said and bit my bottom lip to keep from smiling.
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Fuck. Freija, I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. You are everything to me.”
I sucked in a breath and felt as light as a leaf on the wind. He wanted me. It appeared as much as I wanted him.
“Queen, Princess, Fae, or anything else, Freija, I will protect you until my dying breath.”
“I want you by my side. Bloody history, distractions, companionship. I want it all, Halvar.”
He shrugged with a twinkle in his eye. “Bloody situations may happen around me. Especially if you keep me on as your Head Guard and General.”
“I have no intention of sending you anywhere, soldier.”
He brushed his thumb across my bottom lip. “Not going to give up that nickname are you?”
“Never, as long as you love me as much as I love you.”
“Every moment of every day. For fuck’s sake, Freija, I even dream of you and every morning I wake to disappointment when I find you not in bed beside me.
” His body shuddered and he rested his forehead against mine.
The smell of oak surrounded us like a cool autumn breeze had swept into the mountain and filled me with hope.
“I love you with every fiber of my being. I want to be the man who destroys your demons, the man who shares your pillow, the man who will bow at your feet and hold you up when you are feeling low. I want to be everything for you without ever hurting you.”
Gently, I brushed my mouth across his and sucked in a breath before retreating. His whole body shuddered again, like it was holding back. “Challenge me, Halvar, but know you could never hurt me as long as you love me.”
“Always,” he replied on a whisper. He pressed a quick kiss to my lips, as if testing me. Or testing himself.
I smiled against his mouth, my heart fluttering with joy. “You fool, Halvar Haraldson. See how well you actually handle emotional conversations when you open up?”
He chuckled. “You are the only person I will allow to call me that.”
“So, you’re not going to kill me for speaking out of turn?” I teased.
“No, I have other plans for that mouth of yours.” He swept his lips across mine and let out a feral growl. His other hand slid into my hair, and something in him broke. Crowding me against the wall, the cool stone biting into my shoulders, he tilted my head up and kissed me.
Passion flowed through every part of my body, filling me with a heat that would never be tamed.
I wrapped my arms around his back and welcomed the desire with an open heart.
Open for him and only him. Like a bud unfurling below a glittering sun, I rose onto my tiptoes and kissed him harder.
Shifting and pressing himself between my legs, he slid his hand beneath my skirt.
The material bunched around my hip as he caressed and kneaded my thigh, deepening the kiss with every touch.
A growl reverberated through him, and I drew back, staring up at him once more.
“I love you, Halvar. I will always love you.” I slipped my palm down and rested it on his chest, the thrum of his heart beating against my palm. “Until the ancestors call us home.”
He lifted my hand and pressed my open palm against his lips. Gently kissing the center, he said, “Until the ancestors call us home, princess.”