Page 100 of Rune

Meanwhile, Tova stood still as a greattree in a wild storm.

Njal paused to lift his axe toward our glass dome. His mouth shouted something that looked like, ‘For the gods!’

Then he threw.

I screamed.

The axe flew, and Tova’s finger pulsed once. It came upon her within a heartbeat, aimed true to her head. Her feet couldn’t move thanks to her binds, but at the last moment, she tilted slightly to the left and snapped her hands up. The haft of the axe collided with her palms. The axe stopped, right beside her head, a few inches from her neck.

Njal stumbled back. Tova hurled the axe back at him.

It landed in his chest.

She slipped a hidden dagger from her shirt and freed her feet, then hopped down. She tossed a look our direction as if to say, you didn’t think I’d let myself die, did you? Then she charged at Njal.

He rested on his knees, breathing fast. Predictably, as soon as Tova drew near enough, he produced a dagger to swing at her, but she swatted his hand away and buried her own blade into his body.

The kill was slow, and we watched every second of it as he died.

I spoke his name into my mind. Njal, the one to be feared, and whose death would not be forgotten. I’d tell his clan of his strength and how he was the last one standing.

But the celebration would be for Tova, as she was returning to Danmark as the champion.

Screams of celebration pounded from the domes around the city. Flaming lanterns burst to life throughout the town, lighting it up until every fallen blade glistened and every dead body was seen. Odin clapped a hand to my shoulders to say the words I’d been desperate to hear. “Congratulations. Your sister lives.”

ThirtY-TwO

I WATCHED AS Tova retrieved her weapons, looking them over and deciding which to keep. The axe was one of them. “When will she return home?”

“We celebrate her where it all began, in the arena,” Odin replied. “Then she is free to go and your clan will be blessed for the next decade.”

Thanks to the blessing, our lands would be plentiful and wombs fertile, and perhaps a season of peace was in order. If Tova had been loved before, she’d be absolutely adored now. But all I cared about was shelived. I couldn’t run to the arena fast enough. Ve was by my side, sprinting down the stairs and out the doors, soaking in the fresh air as if tasting life for the first time. As soon as we made it into the trees, he pulled me against a trunk.

“You did it,” he breathed into my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You kept your sister alive.”

“I’m not confident she needed me.” My laugh was nervous, part of it taking away the fears I held and the other tightening them up to remind me it could still go wrong. I’d been living in constant worry ever since I arrived in Asgard, it was hard to believe things were okay. But Tova had won. She and Trig and her would go home. I had Ve. Things just might be good.

It was a precious moment, and slowly the fragility began to harden until it felt like something I could tangibly hold in my hand without breaking.

In the midst of it was Ve’s steady breathing against my shoulder. “Go to Danmark with me,” he said softly, the words like dainty kisses on my skin.

“Yes,” I replied. My fingers wound through his hair. “That’s the plan.”

“No.” He backed up until he could see me. “Now. Let’s sneak away before sunrise. It’ll be believable that you wished to see Tova home safe, and I don’t think any can doubt our connection. When the morning comes, we will be in Danmark.” He was kissing me now, speaking between kisses. “Building a home together,” another kiss, “finding land and shelter and food,” another kiss, “and a gothi.”

I sucked in a breath at the mention of a priest.

His nose rubbed against mine. “Rune, come to Earth with me tonight, and marry me.”

My skin was alive with heat, and my smile so wide it could crack. I buried myself into him, kissing his face as tears ran down my cheeks. This was what I’d wanted—to leave today. And if he was offering, then he’d have a way out.

It wasn’t just that my problems were solved, it’s that my heart’s greatest desires were fulfilled, and every one of them pointed back to him.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I’ll go to Danmark with you; I’ll do it all with you. A life, Ve. We are going to have a life together.”

“A very long life.”

I heard the meaning in his voice. Eons. Long might mean fifty years to a Viking, but it meant ages to a god, and that’s what he was.

---