by Alice Wilde
“Hold me,” I said, and he did.
Now, here we are, alive and unharmed in the dying light of the fire.
“We can leave now,” I say.
“I know,” Ero says, his eyes not moving from my face. “I’m pretty sure we’ve been able to since the ropes burned away, princess.”
His tone is gentle and teasing, but not in the way he used my pet name in the past. The same word, but now there is an entirely different feeling behind it. A feeling that sends my heart racing and brings a smile to my face.
Ero steps carefully down from the pyre through the remaining flames, not a single hair on his head singed—although we’d both be needing new clothes.
“It looks like Li and Roan have decided to join us,” Ero says with a nod toward them.
I look in the direction he’s nodding and sure enough, two leopards are sitting stoically watching us. The crowd has moved back and is standing silently a safe distance away from them, watching on. As soon as Ero and I are safely out of the fire, the stunned silence turns into excited murmuring.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“Aside from the two of us surviving a fire unscathed,” Ero says with a laugh, “I think you just proved me to be the rightful heir.”
“I did what?”
“You may not have noticed, but I was not in the best situation when you arrived.”
“Seriously, Ero. Just tell me what is going on.”
“I think we should carry on with this conversation at a later time,” Ero says. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not stand around in the nude discussing my past and present with the whole village watching on.”
I blush deeply at the thought and suddenly realize that although naked, I no longer have any open wounds on my skin.
Ero turns toward the man with the yellow hair and says something in a commanding voice, and I watch as the other man grudgingly nods his head and motions for us to follow him. As we make our way up a path toward a large building, Ero continues his tale.
“My father was the jarl here a long time ago, when I was just a boy, before everything went wrong. I wasn’t the first in line to rule as I had several older brothers, but that hadn’t bothered me since I’d always preferred the idea of being a Viking warlord. But the day my family was murdered, I was found sitting alone, the sole survivor, holding my young sister’s body in my arms. At first, they had compassion for me, but compassion soon turned to fear and suspicion.”
“Oh,” I whisper, my mind trying to make sense of everything he’s telling me. Suddenly my own life doesn’t seem nearly as bad as it once did.
“The people soon wanted a new jarl, and one of the berserkers, the man you see in front of you, stepped forward. Stories about madness and a curse spread through the village, and I was driven out of town. I was told never to return lest they leave my fate up to the spirits. So, at barely fourteen years of age, I fled the only home I’d known with nothing, no one, and nowhere to go.”
“But how would they have recognized you after all these years?” I ask.
“You’d be surprised how hard it is to hide your identity with a face like mine,” Ero says with a wink. “It’s not as common as you think to have hair as white as this. Even Bjarke here doesn’t have naturally blond hair.”
“Is that why it’s so yellow?”
“He used to be a redhead,” Ero says. “He must have changed it sometime after he became jarl.”
“So, what happened after you left?”
“I joined a group of rogue Vikings. We’d sail back and forth, raiding and plundering goods to sell back home or to other, richer cities. It’s not something I’m proud of now, but it was all I had, and it kept me alive. I learned how to fight, to lead, and to sail. I wanted for nothing and had riches and women to spare…among other things.”
“Why did you come back alone?” I ask.
“I knew coming back here would be a risk, but I didn’t know how much of a risk we were really taking,” Ero says. “When I saw that the three of you had fallen asleep, I took my chance. I may not have many redeeming qualities, but I wasn’t about to put your lives at risk until I knew what we were up against. Although I have to admit I didn’t realize they’d quite so literally put my fate in the gods’ hands.”
“Do they think I’m a god?”
Ero looks down at me with a curious expression.
“Have you normalized what you’ve just done already?” he asks. “Annalise, you just walked through fire unharmed and saved me in the process.”
It’s not that I’ve forgotten, but I just don’t know how to accept what I did. I don’t even know how I did it, and I’m too tired to think about what any of this might mean.
“I just can’t wrap my mind around it right now,” I say. “None of this seems real, let alone possible.”
Ero frowns, but nods his head in understanding.
“We should focus on getting a bite to eat and a good night’s rest first anyways.”
“Clothes first,” I say with an uneasy laugh.
Ero shrugs. “I don’t mind being naked so much now that we’re away from so many eyes.”
“Well, I do.”
“Suit yourself,” Ero says before saying something to Bjarke, who grunts in reply.
We’re led down a hall to a bedroom where a servant lays out two sets of clothes for us before leaving the room. Bjarke has called for several guards, who all stand towering on either side of him in the doorway. He says something and gestures toward Roan and Li, and I look up at Ero nervously. Several words are exchanged, and then I watch anxiously as Roan and Li are practically dragged out of the room, the door to the room shut tightly behind them.
For the second time, Ero and I are left alone, and I can feel myself beginning to panic. Ero sets me down on the bed, and I quickly snatch the garments meant for me and put them on. They’re far simpler than the dresses I’d worn in Scotland, and easy enough for me to manage on my own. Ero doesn’t dress immediately, but sits down on the edge of the bed, resting his head in his hands.
I watch him warily as I slowly edge myself away from him. I can’t help but worry that he might be experiencing one of Damien’s links by the way he’s currently behaving, especially now that we’re alone. And then I hear a quiet whimper and my heart stops in my chest.
“Ero,” I say quietly, “are you all right?”
Ero doesn’t move or raise his face to look at me, and then I see his shoulders tremble. He’s crying. Without a second thought, I rush to his side and fling my arms around him, my heart aching for him. For the next half hour, I hold this gorgeous, giant of a man in my arms as he weeps into his hands.
When Ero finally manages to control himself, he wipes his eyes with one hand and looks up, staring straight at the wall opposite us. His eyes, lips, and cheeks are flushed a soft pink, but it somehow makes him look even more attractive than ever.
“Sorry about that,” Ero says as he clears his throat in embarrassment. “I don’t remember the last time I fell apart.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” I say.
“You don’t mean that. I’m a terrible person, and I’ve only reiterated that time and again over the past several weeks—no, the past several decades of my life.”
“I don’t know everything about your past, and I have blamed you for things that have happened recently,” I say. “I genuinely believe you have good in your heart, but you have to be willing to let people in.”
“I can’t,” Ero says, his voice hardening.
“Why not?” I ask. “You’ve let Roan and Li in.”
“That wasn’t a choice.”
“You’ve let me in,” I say, but I see Ero grow tense as the words leave my mouth.
“I have not,” Ero snaps. “Just because you saved my life doesn’t mean you’ve managed to capture my heart.”
Looking down at my hands, which are now resting in my lap, I sigh.
“I didn’t say anything about capturin
g your heart, Ero.”
We sit in awkward silence for a long moment before I suddenly feel two giant hands on either side of my face, and before I can react, Ero’s lips are pressed hard against my own. I stare at Ero’s face, so close to my own, my eyes wide with shock and sudden dread, but when he pulls away and opens his eyes, they’re still a stormy blue.
“Ero?”
“I want you, princess.”
“What?” I say in complete and utter shock. “You know we can’t. Is this another trick of Damien’s?”
Ero lets go of me and turns away. “No. I don’t think that will happen again.”
“How could you know that?”
Ero rubs his forehead as he tries to think of what to say to me. “I haven’t let anyone get close to me since the day my family was slaughtered. I’d never experienced a pain anywhere near what I did that day, nor have I since…until the day on the ship when I thought I’d hurt you, and again when I found out I had a daughter…and finally, when I thought you were going to join me in death on the pyre.”
I lightly place one of my hands on his arm, but turn my head away quickly as I am visually reminded that Ero is still completely naked.
“I shouldn’t have snapped at you just now,” Ero continues. “It’s just that…you’re right.”
“What are you trying to say, Ero?” I ask, my eyes flitting to his face.
Ero clears his throat once again. “I…um…I felt the connection that Damien had made with me break when you stepped through the fire and came to me,” Ero says nervously, “and I felt something else fill that dark hole in my heart.”
“As though a fire had been lit,” I murmur to myself.
Ero turns to look at me curiously. “That’s exactly it. How did you know?”
“I saw it,” I say. “Whatever magic was at the pyre, it let me see that even with all the darkness, there was still good in you.”
We look into each other’s eyes silently for a moment before Ero grabs me and pulls me into another kiss, this one fierce and passionate. The world melts away around me, and I know instantly that what Ero has said is true. This is unlike anything I’d experienced with him on the ship. This is all Ero.
My hands, little by little, rise to touch him.
A loud knock on the door startles me and I push against Ero’s broad, bare chest to signal him to let go, although I do so reluctantly.
Ero kisses me softly once more before letting me go and slipping on his clothes and shouting something to whoever was on the other side of the door.
“Looks like it’s time for supper,” Ero says. “Although I’d prefer if we just stayed here.”
I blush and remove myself from the bed, smoothing out the dress. “I think we’d better eat.”
Ero raises his hands in defeat and then heads toward the door and opens it. “After you, princess.”
I roll my eyes at him as we exit the room together.
Sixteen
Roan & Li
Li
I don’t like the idea of us being separated from Ero and Annalise. Not just because of what happened on the ship, but something about the jarl makes me uneasy. From the little I’ve heard of Vikings, I’m not about to trust any I’ve just met, and definitely not any who have just tried to burn one of us at the stake.
Hopefully the stables are comfortable enough for us to get some much-needed rest. All I can do is hope. I don’t even know if our exhaustion is what’s caused us to be unable to shift back into our human forms.
Roan and I are led to a kennel inside the stable and locked inside. No wonder dogs bark so much when they’re forced to stay in these things. I have to focus on what’s important right now and get some rest. Whatever happens, I won’t be of much use if I can barely move, let alone think.
Roan
If I had any strength in me, I would have fought to stay with Annalise, but I can barely manage to walk straight, let alone fight. Li has been trying to calm me down enough to sleep, but I can’t, not after what the lass went through on the ship.
I promised never to let anything like that happen to her again, and now here I am, locked in a kennel like a dog with no way out. Li is right, we need rest to continue, but I can’t stop worrying about her. Nothing about this is right. Why didn’t I fight them? I should have insisted on staying by Annalise’s side. I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to her.
I can feel myself starting to doze off and shake myself to stay awake, but almost immediately, I doze off once again.
Seventeen
Ero
Supper was far from comfortable, and I was hesitant at first to eat any of the food that was offered to us. The table was laden with more food than I’d seen in years, far too much for the number of people at the table. But I couldn’t detect anything wrong with it, and I made sure to give Annalise and myself only food that came from dishes the jarl chose directly from as an extra precaution. I had hoped this would be a chance to discuss what I really wanted, and to assure Bjarke that I had no intention of usurping him, even if I was the rightful heir, but we had been seated so far apart, and with so many guests between us, there was little chance for a conversation.
Annalise and I finished our meals quickly and excused ourselves to our room.
“What about Roan and Li?” Annalise asks.
“They’re being kept in the stables,” I say. “They’ll be well taken care of, don’t worry. Thankfully they’re not wolves.”
“Why?”
“The Norse aren’t too keen on wolves. They’re said to bring only danger and destruction. I don’t think they’re thrilled about leopards either, but at least we don’t have any legends that directly relate them to bad luck.”
I shut and bar the door behind us as soon as we’re both inside the bedroom we’ve been given and check the room thoroughly for any secret doors or possible threats.
“Is everything all right?”
I look over at Annalise and realize how suspicious my behavior must seem.
“You can never be too cautious,” I say. “Especially when dealing with Vikings and warring states.”
“Do you think we need to be worried?”
“I hope not, but that dinner was not altogether friendly. And Bjarke seems to be set on the idea I’m here to take back my throne.”
“We’ll just have to talk to him in the morning,” Annalise says with false confidence. “Let’s try to get some sleep. I can barely think anymore.”
She’s brave, I’ll give the girl that. I still don’t know how she’s talked herself into being able to stay alone with me in the same room again.
“You’re right,” I say, rubbing my temples. Exhaustion is setting in harder than I had expected.
I try not to watch as Annalise removes her outer garments and slips under the quilt, but I look.
A voice at the back of my mind tells me I should offer to sleep on the rug, but I push it aside as I walk across the room, remove my shirt, and toss it to the side before lying down on the bed next to Annalise.
I can sense tension rise in her immediately, but it’s not the same as before. Her heartbeat has sped up, and the scent of her skin is sweet and strong. I clench my jaw. She’s giving off every signal I used to track women long ago. Women who wanted sex just as much as I did…
Annalise is lying on her side, facing away from me, the quilt resting gently against the curves of her body. I’ve never had a woman in my bed that I wanted this badly but was forbidden to touch.
Touch. Was I forbidden from touching? I knew there were limits to what I could do to her, at least for now, but did that really mean there wasn’t pleasure to be had?
I try to divert my thoughts, but all I can think about is her naked body pressed against my own, the scent of her skin. How in all of Valhalla did Roan deal with this on a daily basis? No wonder he is so jealous. Thank the gods he isn’t here or he’d tear me to shreds—though he’ll probably do that later anyway.
“Annalise,” I say, my v
oice low, “tonight, you’re mine.”
Eighteen
Annalise
I turn toward Ero just as he yanks back the quilt and pulls me into a sitting position on top of him. I can already feel his arousal through his pants.
“Ero,” I gasp, “we can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You know why.”
“I won’t take you like that,” Ero says, observing my face carefully for a moment before letting his eyes drift lower. I can feel my body awakening beneath my nightdress as he does. Ero is holding me tightly around my waist. He lifts me ever so slightly and begins to move his hips. He rocks gently back and forth, pressing himself against me, the sensation sending shivers of pleasure through me.
“Ero,” I groan, not wanting him to stop.
“Say you want me.”
I try to think of an excuse, something, anything to make him stop. But I can’t, and I don’t want to. I want him to keep going. Ero had always been a flirt, but I hadn’t paid much mind to him. There’d always been a little tension between us, but I thought it was because he had some kind of distaste for me. But now I wonder if it was borne out of restraint.
There is something exciting about him, something barbaric, almost primal in the way that he wants me. It’s completely unique from the way Roan makes me feel. It isn’t better or worse, just different. It’s demanding, but in a way that doesn’t threaten me or my life. Consensual, but dominating. It is almost as if I need him to want me.
“Annalise, tell me that you want me,” Ero demands, his voice a soft growl.
“I want you,” I say nervously.
“Say you need me.”
I whimper, the sensations rippling through my body growing stronger than I can almost bear.
