The Viking Wants Forever (26 page)

Reese waited patiently as Gurta fixed her a wooden trencher. Famished, she was almost finished with her morning meal when the kitchen door swung back on its hinges and cracked against the wall.

Eirik’s mother, Brita, stood framed in the doorway —her pale blonde hair plaited into two braids twined around her head, and a spotless white apron tied over a burgundy-colored tunic dress. She would be considered handsome, even by modern standards, but her sour disposition marred her exterior.

Normally, they were civil toward one another since the change in her and Eirik’s relationship, but still neither of them spoke more than a sentence to each other. It wasn’t for Reese’s lack of trying —the woman simply didn’t like being around her.

Praying the other woman’s business in the kitchen had nothing to do with her, Reese continued with her morning repast. But as luck would have it, the other woman sought her out.

“God morn —” Reese tried, but the older woman waved aside her attempt at politeness.

“I have no idea how you have the stomach to eat anything considering the trouble you have caused my son,” she hissed.

“What are you talking about?” Reese kept her voice calm with effort; her insides were clamoring.

“Eirik has defied King Haakon’s edict to marry Ivar’s daughter! Not only will we lose everything, he will be hanged for treason!”

Hands clammy with sweat, her spoon dropped from her hand in a loud clatter. “Eirik told me Ivar’s daughter was not agreeable to the marriage. She is in love with someone else.”

“Of course he would hide the truth from you. Something this serious is not meant for a woman who...who is nothing but his pincushion.” Affected by the woman’s insult, Reese felt her cheeks blossom with heat. “Everything we built and fought for is for naught, and all for a...a... slave!”

“What do I have to do with this?”

Spittle gathered at the corners of Brita’s mouth. “Are you daft? My son sniffs around your skirts like a stag around a doe in heat. He gave you your freedom, so you have to be the reason why he did not take Inga to wife. Because of you, we have fallen out of grace with the gods! Brita wailed. “Mighty Loki, we are lost!”

While Eirik’s mother continued with her litany of gloom and doom, Reese slid off the three-legged stool and ran out the back door. She didn’t stop until she reached the training field, now empty because of the late hour and Eirik’s current incapacity. So, she had no audience as she upped the contents of her breakfast.

Reese knew he’d hadn’t told her the complete story behind his returning empty-handed. But not once did she think he’d sacrificed himself and the lives of his own people to keep her! Overwhelmed with despair, Reese fell to the ground in grief. There was only one solution to her present predicament.

Loki looked on as the woman doubled over again, his nose wrinkling in distaste when she purged the contents of her stomach onto the snow. She appeared to be in pain, but he felt no pity for her. She’d allowed a cock to divert her from her mission.

Those two fools had almost ruined everything by succumbing to their lust. He’d been so infuriated with their rutting like common beasts he’d been tempted a time or two to burn the whole settlement down. But he held himself in check, preferring to rely on his web of mischief. And if it worked as planned, in less than a fortnight, the female would be gone and the black tourmaline in his possession.

His work done here, he walked in the opposite direction of the main hall. As he passed the barn, the cumbersome feminine clothing he wore fell to the ground, replaced by a pair of wings. He flapped them once, twice, and launched himself into the air. In the form of a raven, he circled overhead and then headed home to Asgard.

R
eese rose before dawn.

Her preparations over the past few days completed, she now stood at the threshold of their bedchamber, but she could not make herself step over it. Her thoughts drawn to the lover who’d come to touch her heart, Reese looked back at him. The fire’s dying embers highlighted the breadth of his wide shoulders, the slimness of his narrow hips. His pale locks looked like spun gold in the muted light.

In sleep, the hard planes of his face were softened, making him appear angelic. Unable to resist, Reese walked back over to the bed and sat down. She reached out her hand and brushed the fine locks of his hair from his forehead. Since this would be the last time she would see him, she threw caution to the wind and bent over and grazed his lips with her own. He sighed, she drew back in fear. She scanned his face for any signs of having awakened him. Yet, to her relief, he did nothing more than snuggle deeper into the feather-stuffed mattress.

Since the sun would be up soon, along with Eirik and the rest of the village, Reese pushed away from the bed. She threw the sack over her shoulder and made her way across the room. When she reached the door, she yanked on the door strap to open it, and then closed it softly behind her.

She entered the main area, and noted her surroundings. Various household members lay asleep on benches lining the wall. The kitchen would have been the more obvious means of escape, so as not to draw attention to herself, but at this early hour, Gurta was already up preparing the morning repast. Reese drew the heavy winter cloak around her as she crossed the length of the hall.

She approached the keep’s double doors and cursed under her breath. She’d forgotten they were reinforced by a huge beam every night, fortifying it against attack. Sighing in resignation, Reese set her sack aside. She clasped the beam, bent her knees, and pressed all of her weight against the heavy piece of maple. At first, it wouldn’t budge. So she repositioned her hands, dug her heels in deeper, and shoved once more. Inch by inch, the joist slid through the iron braces.

Once the beam cleared the first rung, providing her ample space to slip through, Reese snatched up her travel pack. Her feet hit the ground, and she was off and running.

Even though it was the middle of winter, she remembered Eirik telling her the Sognefjord remained ice freeze all year round. So she made her way to the docks and selected the first fishing boat she came across. She slipped inside, unlooped it from its mooring and then used an oar to push off.

“Steady as she goes,” she whispered, settling into the hull. She grabbed the other oar and gave both a healthy tug, propelling the boat backward.

For the sake of self-preservation, Reese dared not look back at the tiny settlement because if she did —demigod be damned —she knew she would turn the boat around, return to shore and head straight into Eirik’s arms.

* * * * *

E
irik watched the small fishing vessel cut its way through the dark waters and, with each lift and fall of the oars, his anger mounted.

“Here are your things.”

He looked down at Thoren, and not even the sight of his young brother’s rumpled red locks could bring a smile to his lips as he took the provisions he’d asked the youth to pack for him while he’d dressed.

Eirik gritted his teeth. He’d awakened the moment she slipped from the bed. Thinking she’d gotten up to feed the dying fire, he’d become uneasy when she’d crept around the room, dressing and packing a travel sack. She’d left everything behind except for the black tourmaline.

And when she sat next to him on the bed, it took everything in him to remain still. Her actions spoke a thousand words. She was like all women —they coveted material things over love. Unlike Oona, Reese would not get off easy. She would pay.

“Are you sure you do not want me to go with you?” Thoren asked, pulling him out of his black thoughts.

“
Nei
. I will track her down on my own. Plus, if I do not return you will lead in my stead.”

“Do not talk such nonsense,” Thoren balked.

“As soon as you stop talking about going with me,” Eirik rebutted. “Now come and help me shove off.”

In silence, they pushed the boat into the frigid waters of the inlet. Eirik held onto the side, and then hoisted himself in.

“Once you catch up to her, what do you plan on doing?”

Eirik turned his head to look out at the Sognafjord stretched before him like a blue carpet. “I will grant her lover a quick death. She will die slowly.”

* * * * *

R
eese spotted the other boat, while breaking camp on the second day. Beached on the opposite shore, about a half mile back, she assumed the vessel belonged to a local fisherman. So, it wasn’t until mid-afternoon when she spotted the same tiny boat and its lone occupant again and curiosity grew into a deep-seated suspicion.

“Come on, girl, get a grip! If it’s Eirik, he would’ve overtaken you already and dragged you back to his keep.”
If only
.

The next morning, Reese rose before the sun in hopes of thwarting her unwelcome escort. But by midday her stalwart companion had fallen in step behind her once more. Fortunately, the mouth of the fjord loomed ahead. It would take her no time to locate Loki’s cave, and she would be back in her own bed by the time the sun set.

If only she was comforted by that thought.

By sunset, exhausted and suffering from calluses, Reese reached the point where she’d joined up with Bjarni and his men. Without bothering to anchor the boat, she jumped out and waded to shore.

“Crap!” Her unwanted company was heading straight for her. Still, she didn’t falter. She threw her pack over her shoulder and scrambled up the embankment. She topped the hillock, and spotted a familiar outcropping of rocks. Without any further hesitation, she launched herself forward.

* * * * *

“C
ome on, girl, you can make it!” Reese chanted to herself, willing her sore muscles to keep moving. She scrambled up the steep shelf leading to the cave, despite the burning in her legs and the cloaked figure dogging her steps.

Did Eirik send him to retrieve me
? But if Eirik had, why didn’t her pursuer end this cat-and-mouse game and just overtake her? He’d had many opportunities over the past day and a half. But still he continued to maintain his distance.

It almost seems as if he’s waiting to see what or who my final destination will be
, she mused.
Well, it doesn’t matter, because by the time he catches up with me, I’ll be gone.

“Damn!” she grunted, losing her footing. She knew it wasn’t from exhaustion alone, but because of the distracting thought that she would never see Eirik again.

Reese reached the entrance of the cave, but hesitated. She looked back one more time.

“Well, I can’t knock him for his diligence,” she muttered, watching him pick his way up the mountainside. Unwilling to taking any changes, she entered the dark recesses of the cave. She slung the pack off her shoulder and reached inside.

“Here goes nothing,” she whispered, looking up at the ceiling, the tourmaline in hand. “LOKI!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “I have done what you asked. Now come and get it...you bast —”

“No man or god could save you from what I’m going to do to you...”

Reese swung around. She knew who the voice belonged to, even though his features remained shrouded by the hood of his cloak.

“Eirik...I can explain.” He crossed to her, and Reese held up her palms.

“What is there to explain?” He tore the hood from his head and his long locks spilled around his shoulders. Despite the quiet fury contained in his voice, she yearned to run into his arms. “You left like a thief in the night with no word of good-bye...nothing,” he growled.

Reese gasped when he grabbed hold of her arm, snatching her to him.

“I
had
to leave!” she pleaded.

“You lie!” he snapped. He held onto her upper arms and shook her so hard, her teeth rattled. “And to think I was going to make you my wife, the mother of my children. I cannot believe I allowed you to cuckold me thus!”

“Don’t you see I’m trying to save you?”
In more ways than one!

“Save me?” His hold on her loosened, but he didn’t let her go.

“Brita told me the real reason behind your refusal to take Ivar’s daughter as your wife. She said you committed treason for defying Haakon’s edict. So I felt if I left, you would be free to marry Inga and your life would not be forfeited.”

Okay, so she left out her deal with Loki. She couldn’t tell him she had to leave because a Norse god was going to turn his village into the set of
Waterworld
.

“You silly, silly fool.” He pulled her into him and kissed a trail from her mouth to her ear. “Don’t you know I would die a thousand deaths to make you mine?”

“Eirik, don’t talk like—”

Not allowing her to finish, he covered his mouth over hers in a rough hard kiss filled with the promise of sex. Love-starved, Reese reacted instinctively. She ate at his mouth, nipped at his lips.

“Blessed Odin! Even death could not keep me from you.”

His aqua blue eyes were hot for a hovering moment, and then his hands spanned her waist, backed her up against the cave wall. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he directed as he lifted her.

Like a dutiful student, Reese obeyed, hooking her legs at the ankles. Panting in anticipation, she bunched her skirts, while he fumbled with his britches. Eager to have him inside her, she stared at him, her eyes glazing over with passion, her juices pooling at the juncture of her thighs.

His fingers dug into her buttocks, rising up slightly, he guided his erection home. He pressed upward, sliding inside her just an inch. “How much do you want it?”

“Desperately,” she whispered, an ache of longing pulsing through her senses. She wanted him with an irrational craving. “Two days feels like such a long time ago.”

“An eternity.”

He pushed deep, and she met him in a wild, feverish melding of body and soul. His powerful thrusts were almost painful, but Reese welcomed them because she’d feared she would never experience such bliss ever again.

There was no explanation for the ravenous need he incited in her. No instructions to handle the overwhelming sensations pulsing through every nerve and receptor. All she knew was that she didn’t want it to end.