Chapter 24 #3
The bridge in the sky hadn’t been from our gods either. I didn’t know what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. It couldn’t bode well for my entering the gods’ halls. Would they even acknowledge me as an heir if I hadn’t been accepted by one of the Aesir?
My eyes dipped.
“Eyes on me, heir.” Darcke’s fingers were soft, gentle even, as they tilted my head up again. “It’s almost over.”
“How do you know?” I whispered.
“Don’t you feel it?”
Something in Darcke’s face softened when I pulled a breath. I did feel it. A strength that wasn’t mine gave me more control over the body that had tried to betray me and turn to the god. A sense—an awareness—filled me, and I knew Darcke’s fingers would splay over my cheek before they did so.
My breathing stuttered when guilt, anger—so much fucking anger—and something even darker, pure hatred, touched my mind until I shivered from its intensity. The water spinning around us slowed, the presence faded, and all the time Darcke kept his hand on my cheek, his eyes on mine.
“Nearly there,” he said, and I might have almost described his voice as kind when the water stopped, then exploded, leaving us dripping and drenched.
I shook my head. We were in a glen on Nordoen, right above the waterfall, the moon hanging beautifully over the mirror-like water in the lake beneath us.
The air was warm again, but I still shuddered as whatever heat there had been in Darcke’s gaze drained.
When he released me, the disgust I’d gotten used to returned to his harsh features.
“That was weird,” I said as I took a step back.
An anger that wasn’t mine—a frustration that caused urgency to rush over my skin—beat into me.
That was even weirder.
Darcke didn’t respond, only glowered at me.
Something else joined the rage, and I frowned as I tried to understand what it was.
It wasn’t longing, it wasn’t sorrow, it was…
melancholy? No. I took a step toward Darcke as I tried to read him.
My hand involuntarily flew to my chest when I realized what it was.
A void. An empty void where the sense of home should be.
“Are you ever going to get dressed?” he snarled.
I wanted to ask more about that strange emptiness, but the darkness in his eyes made me decide not to risk my neck today. Not after everything that had happened the past few days.
I was too tired anyway.
I turned away from him and picked up the damp clothes. I grumbled to myself as I fought the fabric with my exhausted hands. Then Darcke bent over, a groan flying from him.
“Are you all right?” My vision was swimming with dizziness, but I tried to blink it away as the warrior straightened, his large hands covering his gut.
His eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this fucking hungry last night?”
“I—” My leg got caught, and I would have fallen forward if Darcke hadn’t caught me, his arm snaking around my waist and his fingers spreading over my stomach as he held me upright.
“Well?” he demanded.
“Would you have cared?” I shot back.
It was quiet for a long while, and I wrangled myself into my trousers.
“You can let go now,” I said.
Darcke’s breath fanned over my neck, and I stiffened as his finger ran down my rib cage, counting each protruding bone.
“How long since you ate?” he asked as he spun me around to face him.
My cheeks burned when I looked up at him and felt a twinge of pity.
“I don’t remember,” I mumbled.
His hand lifted, and when I recoiled, more of that cold, crawling feeling squeezed my chest. “I’m trying to help.” Darcke’s voice was low, but there was nothing of his usual threatening edge to it. He pointed to my wet tunic. “Do you want this off?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop the moment of panic running through me.
His eyes creased before he let out a shocked, short laugh. “That’s not what I meant.”
I only nodded. It was better he believe I’d thought he wanted to see me naked than understand I couldn’t have him seeing the bleached rune on my chest.
Something else crossed his face, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
I swallowed as Darcke lifted my arms, then slid his own jacket down them. His tongue peeked through his teeth as he buttoned it, and when I looked up, he stilled for a second before reaching out to adjust the collar that had gotten stuck.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”
I blamed the tiredness as I dutifully followed him through the woods, but when he took the path leading down to the harbor, I ground to a halt. “Where are we going?”
He didn’t turn around. “My ship.”
“I thought you said that was a one-time thing.” I had no idea why I argued because his ship sounded far better than trying to sleep in a tree again.
“I guess it’s a fucking two-time thing, then.” Darcke waved at me.
“Why?”
“Now you ask all the questions?” he retorted.
I stayed silent.
Darcke sighed deeply. “You’re starving, and I already told you, watching you slowly perish isn’t something I’m interested in.”
Despite my tiredness, I scoffed. “Right. You only wish to kill me yourself?”
I swore he hid a grin as he turned and started stalking down the path to the ships. “Exactly.”