44. Erik

My fate had been balancing on the edge of a blade, all the light in the world had extinguished and now, impossibly, the love of my life was handed to me once more. The scales of fate had tipped in my favour, and I could hardly dare to believe it was true.

I drank in every inch of her pearly skin, her dark eyes like two liquid pools of bronze, her crimson lips and the tumble of her hair which was as black as midnight.

“Rebel?” I asked because I was still suspended in disbelief. That fate couldn’t possibly offer me this now, not after everything. And yet here she was: my reason to live. And fuck I wanted to live. I wanted to breathe and grow and share everything I had to offer with this beautiful being. But we were still just two souls in the deepest realms of the afterlife.

She nodded, reaching for me and I lifted a trembling palm to meet hers in the space parting us. I wanted to grab her, bury my nose in her hair, drink in the cherished scent of her, but I was still afraid. Afraid that this was some mirage to drive me mad, afraid the gods had their claws in me once more, afraid that if I blinked she’d vanish and I’d never lay my eyes on her again.

Our palms pressed together and I released a shuddering breath.

She’s here. She’s real. She’s not going away.

Where our skin touched, our life forces flowed between us in the same way the rune of partnership had allowed. The fear in me was washed away by a flood of relief, so powerful it swept through every corner of my body. I sighed, the aching grief in my heart finally parting, chased away by all of the love that rolled between us.

She released a whimper of pain, excitement and hope, then threw herself at me, winding her limbs around me in the tightest embrace.

I crushed her against my body and every fibre of my being met her like our nerve endings were joining, our souls truly united.

Her mouth found mine and I groaned with absolute bliss over a kiss I’d never thought I’d have again. Her lips were as warm as sunlight, her skin as soft as cotton.

She’s here and I love her so powerfully my body’s going to break apart.

“You saved us,” she breathed as she pulled away, brushing her thumbs over my cheeks as she held me.

My heart beat and beat and beat and I almost felt as human as I had before I’d shed my mortal skin.

“You saved me,” I whispered. “Everything I am is because of you. I exist because of you. And you didn’t just save me, you and your sister saved the entire world by making the greatest sacrifice.”

Tears slid from her eyes and pure light glimmered within them. I kissed them away, shaking my head because I didn’t want her to cry ever again. This woman deserved so much more than an eternity in the afterlife. Her time on Earth had been cut too short. She’d passed on long before it was fair and she’d barely seen a glimmer of what life could have offered her.

“I’m sorry,” I sighed, resting my forehead to hers. “I wish I could give you more than this. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

She wound her fingers around the back of my neck as another tear slid from her eye. “Don’t be sorry,” she begged. “We have each other now, that’s all that matters.”

I nodded but a weight hung over me. We were surrounded by this dark world and I didn’t know where in the afterlife we’d be able to reside. How could this be where the child of the moon ended up? She was the most divine, merciful, compassionate woman I’d ever met. The gods knew that. And yet they were still allowing this. I hated them for that more than I’d ever hated them for anything.

“You deserve more than this,” I growled, clutching her to me.

She brushed her fingers into my hair. “Oh Erik,” she sighed. “So do you. Don’t you see what you’ve done? You and Magnar have changed everything. You faced death itself and won. You destroyed the creature who cursed the entire Earth. And you’ve saved Callie and me from an unspeakable fate.”

“Did he hurt you?” I choked, cupping her cheek. “When he took you, did he…”

“No,” she whispered. “There was no pain. Only the pain of knowing I’d never see you again.” She took a slow breath. “It kills me that you gave up the human body you spent a thousand years waiting for.” More tears fell from her eyes and I willed them away with all my heart.

“I thought I was waiting for that, rebel, but I wasn’t. I was waiting for you. I was waiting for a love so fierce it thwarted even death. There’s no boundary, no realm on Earth or otherwise that I wouldn’t cross to find you. And if there’s a life after this, I’ll find you there, and again and again.” I took her hand, pressing my lips to her knuckles and she inhaled deeply before her mouth met mine once more.

“But I still wish I could give you more than this,” I said heavily as I drew away.

“We have each other,” she said earnestly. “And that’s more than we ever could have had if you hadn’t killed Andvari.”

Montana was right; this was more than I ever could have dreamed for just moments ago. Perhaps that could be enough. Any place in life or death was a sweet gift so long as I was in her company.

I kissed her again to take away the sting in my heart, to know how deeply wronged she’d been. That the full wrath of the prophecy had fallen on her and her sister’s heads. That they’d had to make a sacrifice too big.

It wasn’t fair, or good, or just. It just was. And there was nothing I could do to make it right.