Frey stared into her animated face as it settled in his gut that this magnificent creature in his bed bravely voyaged from a whole other world for reasons of her own, reasons which weighed in his stomach, but also because their destinies bound them together.
And there she was, after he’d deserted her in his filthy cabin and left her for weeks, angry at her twin for her proclivities and frustrated that he was greatly attracted to her beauty regardless of them, thinking, but not much caring, that she would struggle.
But she did not.
Not his Finnie.
She fed on the challenge, bested it and ended up enjoying herself immensely.
Something about this humbled him as his eyes moved over her face.
“Frey!” she cried, her hand at his chest pressing in to get his attention and he lifted a hand, pulling back the thick, unbelievably soft curtain of hair and tucking it behind her ear.
When this was accomplished, her body gave a small, surprised jerk but her lips softened and her eyes warmed in that way he was getting used to and he liked very much.
“They needed to explain a situation to me and ask for my command. They did, I commanded and hopefully,” he lifted his hand again and tugged at the ends of her hair, “they’ve executed my command.”
“What was the situation?” she asked then didn’t wait for an answer before asking, “And what was your command?”
“This I cannot tell you, my new wife, not now,” he said softly and watched her face fall.
Then, as he was becoming accustomed, she did not give up.
“Why would they need your command?”
“So they would know how to proceed.”
“And how do they proceed?”
“With magic.”
Her eyes got wide as did her smile. “No joke?” she whispered and his body shook slightly with his laughter.
“No joke, Finnie.”
Her face grew dreamy, a look nearly as endearing as her delighted surprise as she whispered, “That is so cool.” Then she focused on him again and asked eagerly, “Do you get to watch?”
“If I wish.”
Her eyes got big again. “Did you watch?”
“No and I never do.”
Her face fell again right before it immediately brightened.
“Did you ask if I could come next time?”
“No, but I don’t need to. They are at my command. Sometime in future, when it is appropriate, I will take you to meet the elves.”
Her smile got so big, it seemed to light the space as she cried, “Awesome!” Then, almost immediately, she asked, “Would it be okay if I talk to them?”
“I’m certain they’d enjoy that.”
She smiled down at him before whispering, “Thanks, Frey.”
“You’re welcome, wife.”
She kept smiling and he lifted his hand, hooked her behind the neck and brought her closer. As he did so, her smile faltered but her eyelids lowered, her cheeks started to pink for a different reason and he heard her breath catch with anticipation.
He liked that, all of it, very much, but she mistook his intent.
He brought her close but stopped her when her face was an inch away and then he whispered his order in an attempt to soften it, “It is not wise, my wife, to sleep with the candles burning. Do not do this again.”
She stared in his eyes and she whispered back, “I was trying to wait up for you. I was so excited about the… uh, return of the elves I didn’t think I’d fall asleep.”
“Well you did,” he pointed out and she bit her lip. “They’re easily relit, Finnie. Extinguish them next time. I like you as you are, that is to say, alive and breathing not burnt to a cinder.”
Her eyes locked with his, hope flared before she hid it and then she whispered breathlessly, “You like me as I am?”
By the gods, he’d been a bastard.
Then again, in his defense, he did not know she was who she was and all that she was.
“Yes, Finnie,” he replied gently.
She pulled in a breath he felt as her chest contracted against his.
Then she said, “Well, I’m with you. I like myself alive and breathing and not burned to a cinder so I promise to blow out the candles next time.”
He pulled her close enough to touch her mouth to his then loosened his grip to allow her to move back an inch.
Then he muttered, “Good.”
Then he used his hand at her neck and his other arm around her to settle her at his side, cheek to his shoulder and ordered, “Cradle my thigh.”
He felt her body still even as her hand drifted to rest on his chest. “What?” she asked.
“I wish to sleep and do it with you curled into me as you did last night. Cradle my thigh.”
She hesitated.
Then she whispered, “Sleep?”
Frey felt his mouth twitch as he looked at the firelight flickering on the ceiling. At the same time he gave his bride a squeeze.
She’d enjoyed what they shared earlier, very much, and wished to have his mouth back, his hands and likely more.
He liked that she wished this and he would give it to her.
But after he gave her a few more meals in order for her to be comfortable with her new husband.
“Yes, wife, sleep,” he gave her another squeeze. “Your husband is weary,” he lied for he would be dead before he’d be weary, lying with her next to him not having taken her at least once. “Now, do as you’re told and cradle my thigh.”
She hesitated again. Then she lifted her thigh and rested it on his, her weight settling into his side.
However she did this muttering, “Apparently, Raiders are bossy.”
That earned Finnie another squeeze and a, “Bossy?”
“Domineering. Dictatorial. Imperious. Commanding. Bossy.” The chuckle that caused was both audible and physical and Frey knew she heard it when she grumbled, “I wasn’t being funny.”
“No,” Frey replied after he contained his mirth, “but you were talking and I told you to sleep.”
Her body tightened then it relaxed with a sigh.
Then she muttered, “Whatever.”
“You’re still talking, Finnie,” he noted.
Her body gave a small jolt but her mouth didn’t make a sound.
Frey grinned at the ceiling again.
Then he lay in his bed with his wife and he did this deciding he would take her home to see her parents very soon.
After sharing a few more meals with her, he’d be certain to see to that.
He knew she slept when her weight settled into him, curling deeper, her arm wrapping around him, holding close for a moment as if tucking him into her body before she relaxed and gave him her weight.
Then, Frey Drakkar fell asleep.
Chapter Ten
Jumping from First Base to Third
Three days later…
I stood in the kitchen, frozen, staring at Penelope sitting on the kitchen floor by the door.
Then she did what she’d done only moments before, opened her mouth and meowed but in my head, I heard, “Let me out.”
Clear as day. I heard the words, “Let me out.”
But out of my cat’s mouth, I heard, “Meow.”
In all the time I had her, she didn’t make a mew. She just purred.
Now she’d meowed twice and twice I’d heard it like I understood it in my head.
I stayed frozen and staring and she did it again.
“Meee… ow,” which I heard as scary, freaky, cat-can-talk-to-you, getting really impatient, “Let me out!”
I dropped the dish cloth and ran straight out the backdoor Frey had walked out not five minutes ago.
Then I kept running straight to the hot spring where he’d told me he was going to bathe.
And I kept going as fast as my booted feet would carry me, freaked way the hell out. The hot spring wasn’t far but it wasn’t a two second walk around the side of the house either and I ran hell bent for leather
all the way there.
Frey heard me crashing through the trees toward him, I knew this because he had his sweater off, his breeches on and was pulling on his boots which meant he’d already taken them off.
I ran straight into his arms without slowing and his body rocked back a foot on impact but his arms locked around me as he asked urgently, “What’s given you a fright, Finnie?”
I was sucking in breath and I pulled back a bit to wheeze, hand pressed into my chest (like that would help) and then I forced out, “Penelo… Pen… the cat… my cat…” I pulled in a deep breath the pushed out, “I know… this is going… to sound… nuts… but I think… my cat… is possessed.”
I stared up at him to assess his reaction to this dire news as he gazed down at me, brows knit.
“Possessed?” he asked.
“Possessed!” I cried. “By Satan, demons, pure evil, I don’t know! She said, ‘meow’ and in my head I heard, ‘let me out’ and I know,” I shook my head and waved my hand between us, “I know, Frey, that sounds utterly unhinged but I kid you not, that is exactly what I heard not once, not twice but,” I leaned into him, grabbed onto both of his biceps and got up on my toes, “three times. I’ve had that cat for nearly a month and not a peep, not the barest mew and now this! Maybe there’s evil in this world…” Oh shit! “I mean, uh… this forest. Maybe people come here to devil worship or hatchet men live out there!” I swung an arm out to the trees then back to slap my hand on his chest. “Or maybe the ghost of a murdering hatchet man who killed dozens of villagers before they caught him and strung him up lives out there and he’s pissed and he’s possessing my cat!”
Frey’s face got that look I was getting used to, like a weird sort of understanding (of what I did not know and never really did but at that moment I did not care because my fat, ginger cat was possessed by the ghost of a murdering hatchet man) and he said softly, “Finnie, take a breath and calm yourself.”
“I can’t calm myself when my ginger cat is possessed by a murderer!” I shrieked and I swear, I swear to God, Frey looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh before he spoke again and I knew he was trying hard to quell his laughter when his voice trembled with it.
“Wife, as you know,” his face got closer to mine, “women can understand cats, deer, rabbits, mice, small birds and other such animals.”
I blinked at him as my body locked in shock.
Frey spoke on. “And men can understand horses, snakes, hawks, falcons, other birds of prey and predatory or animals used in work or war, for instance, wolves and ox.”
I blinked again.
“Apparently, considering you’ll jump at any indication that Penelope has the merest whim, you didn’t move fast enough and she felt the need to tell you she wished to go outside. Since she actually had to tell you rather than you stuffing her full of chicken and fish before she got the least hungry and gathering her close to nuzzle before she even knew she wished a cuddle and moving to let her out, or in, before she shifted her great bulk fully toward the door, she hasn’t had to share her desires. If you were busy or not paying attention, she would do so. I’m sure you’ve heard the call of a variety of animals.”
I kept blinking.
So Frey finished, “Perhaps, out here in the forest where animals do not near the house due to our activity, you’ve forgotten since you haven’t heard it in some time.”
“Right,” I whispered, “I’d forgotten.”
His mouth twitched then he muttered, “That’s what I thought.”
My gaze on his mouth unfocused as this news hit me.
Holy freaking moly! They had elves and animals talked to you in this world.
That was just… plain… freaking… cool!
“Now are you all right or do you wish for me to find a witch who will scour the forest for traces of ghosts and expunge them?” Frey asked and now he was smiling so I knew he thought I was highly comical.
That was when my brows knit (though, I kinda wanted to hear about witches who could expunge ghosts).
“I’m glad to see my cat scaring the beejeezus out of me causes you such mirth, husband,” I snapped.
His arms gave me a squeeze and his mouth moved to kiss my forehead.
Once he’d done that, his lips still against my skin, he muttered, “You cause me much mirth frequently, wife.”
I blinked at his throat as his words caused my heart to flutter and he let me go and moved away.
Then what he said next caused my belly to drop and my heart to clench.
“Since you’re here, disrobe and join me in the spring.”
I stared at him as he pulled his boots off and I tried to get my heart started again, and, I might add, my lungs working because panic had filled me.
The last three days with Frey had been good. So good, I’d added so many things onto my list of why I liked him, I quit bothering to add them.
I just liked him.
First, he laughed at my jokes.
Second, he had a really fantastic laugh.
Third, he smiled or grinned at me, like loads. It was like he was a whole different person. He still wasn’t exactly Mr. Conversation but in the last three days he’d said not one thing that pissed me off or freaked me out.
Fourth, he was the kind of guy who was busy a lot, had his own things to do and he did them. He was in the stable or shed quite a bit when we weren’t in town. But even so, when he was with you, he was with you. You had his attention and his concentration and you had these in a nice way. He didn’t lie when he said he liked to see my mouth move, he listened to me talk and although he didn’t pour forth bountiful information, he answered questions about the elves, himself, his travels and all sorts of stuff and he was a really interesting guy. In fact, he was way more informative than any of the books Sjofn had left for me, telling me stuff about my Mom and Dad (of this world) in a way that was nice, like he was sharing memories with me though he couldn’t know they weren’t my memories and that he was giving me insight into my parents. And it was cool to know that, although they seemed off with me, they were well-loved by their people, they were known to be a love match even though their marriage was arranged like Frey and mine, they were both respected not only by their citizens but by rulers of other lands and Frey held my father in high regard considering he thought he was intelligent and a fair and just monarch.
Fifth, he wasn’t a great kisser, he was a great kisser and I knew this because he kissed me lots, during the day (everything from lip brushes to quick, deep wet ones to mini-make-out-sessions) and we totally made out in bed every night. He never let it get hot and heavy (okay, so it got heated and the petting was relatively heavy and very nice but not out-of-control). Then, he’d stop, hold me, stroke me and chat with me quietly for awhile until I was relaxed and drowsy then he’d order me to cradle his thigh and go to sleep.
In other words, if we were in my world, Frey would totally be in there and I wouldn’t make him wait the couple of weeks of dates my personal philosophy dictated happen prior to serious hanky panky that involved the exchange of bodily fluids. Then again, when I started seeing a guy I didn’t fall asleep in bed with him every night and make him breakfast, lunch and dinner when we weren’t in town having dinner at a pub, where Frey had taken me last night so I could have a break from the stove, that was.
I’d figured out on day two what he was doing and what I’d figured out made me like him even more (and, incidentally, that was when I stopped making my mental list).
And what that was was that he saw I was nervous that first night, I told him straight out he and his size scared me and he was being cool about taking some time to let me get to know him and get used to him before we got down to the nitty gritty of marriage business.
And, by the by, on top of all that, he seemed to like me too. And, since I’d decided I liked him, I really liked that.
So now, I had to admit, I was stunned he wanted me to get naked and get in a hot spring with him. That was like jumping from
first base to third without even buying a girl dinner.
I mean, I could think he was in there when I was making out with him in our bed by the light of a fire but out in a frozen forest by a hot spring when I had breakfast dishes to do and I was terrified of him seeing me naked, uh… not so much.
“Um…” I mumbled as he dropped his last sock, straightened and his hands went to the waistband of his breeches.
Eek!
“Finnie,” he called gently and my eyes shot to his. “You sneak to the springs every day after I’ve returned from my bath in order to take your own. You’re already here so we might as well bathe together. Strip and join me.”
I blinked.
Then I protested, “But I don’t have my soap here, a bath cloth –”
“Use mine.” His head jerked to a cake of soap and a large towel sitting on a rock.
I looked to it and looked to him, scrunching my nose. “But your soap smells like boy.”
Not that that smell smelled bad, not at all, it smelled good, especially on him. It was a fresh, clean smell, not much to it except it somehow was entirely masculine and this was probably because it didn’t smell like flowers or fruit like most of my stuff did.
At my words, or perhaps the look on my face, Frey burst out laughing and his hands shot out to me, gripping me at the waist and pulling me to him.
Then he dipped his still smiling face so it was close to mine. “Even smelling like a boy, it’s impossible for you not to be appealing.” I blinked as his words again caused my heart to flutter and then he lifted up and kissed my forehead before looking in my eyes. “Now, I’ll give you my back and twenty seconds to strip and join me in the springs. Don’t delay,” he cautioned, letting me go, “I’m starting to count now.”
Then he turned his back to me and his hands went to his breeches.
Shit!
I looked down at the water to see what I always saw, steam coming up where the heat of the spring hit the frigid air. This was good. There was also a constant bubble as the spring renewed the pool, agitating the water. This was good too.
I heard water splash and noticed out of the corner of my eye that Frey was entering the pool.