Page 41 of Her Viking Master

“Very well,” Sven said at last, his voice tight with emotion. “We will begin their specialized training this evening. The mission cannot wait.”

As the implications of Astrid’s announcement sank in, I felt a strange mix of emotions wash over me. Fear of the unknown, certainly, but also a thrill of excitement. We had been chosen, deemed worthy of this crucial task—whatever it might prove to be.

“Unbind these worthy steeds, my brothers,” Sven commanded. “MorAstrid, please take them to the bath.”

Swiftly, my master freed me from the saddle, and picked me up from its back as if I weighed nothing at all. He placed me on my feet in front of him and gathered me into his arms. I felt tiny, helpless—but also protected.

“Mary, you amaze me,” he murmured, cradling my head against his muscular chest. Then, to my astonishment, he moved me gently away from him so he could bend down and kiss me deeply on the lips. I had thought my body too exhausted to respond, but I found myself yielding to the strong hands that roamed over my naked back and my sore bottom, clinging to the strength of Sven’s limbs. I whimpered up into my master’s mouth as he tightened his embrace for a moment, his tongue working against mine.

Then he broke the kiss, and held me more tenderly before he let me go and stepped back, holding both of my hands in his.

“There is much in store for you,lille en. But I know you will show your quality.”

CHAPTER21

Mary

That night, after dinner in the mead hall, Sven and Erik led Camille and me to what they called the situation room. As we walked through the winding stone corridors, I couldn’t help but marvel at how quickly my perception of this place had shifted. Just the day before, these passageways had seemed like a labyrinth of captivity. Now, they felt almost like home.

When we entered the situation room, I gasped audibly. The contrast with the rest of the cavern complex was stark and jarring. Gone were the roughhewn stone walls and flickering torchlight. Instead, we stepped into a space that looked like it belonged in a high-tech spy thriller.

The room was dominated by a massive circular table, its surface a gleaming expanse of what appeared to be some kind of advanced touchscreen. Holographic displays hovered above it, showing maps, data streams, and satellite imagery that shifted and changed as if by magic. The walls were lined with banks of computers and monitors, their screens alive with scrolling information and complex algorithms I couldn’t begin to comprehend.

“Welcome to our command center,” Sven said, his voice tinged with pride. “This is where we coordinate our efforts against the Pretorian Guard and their allies.”

I exchanged an awed glance with Camille. Her dark eyes had gone wide with wonder, reflecting the blue glow of the nearest monitor. Despite everything we’d been through, I felt a thrill of excitement. This was real. We were about to be part of something far bigger than ourselves.

Sven led us to the central table, his large hand resting on the small of my back. The touch sent a shiver through me, a reminder of how thoroughly he had claimed me earlier. Camille and I were still naked, while our masters wore trousers and shirts. I tried to push aside that blush-inducing awareness, but my status as a bed thrall threatened to intrude at every moment.

“What you’re about to see,” Erik said, his voice uncharacteristically serious, “is highly sensitive intelligence acquired by our allies inGroupe Synergistique.”

With a few deft movements, Sven called up a series of satellite images on the table’s surface. They showed a vast expanse of ice and snow, broken only by the occasional rocky outcropping.

“This is the northern end of Hudson Bay,” Sven explained. “Just inside the Arctic Circle. For years, it’s been a blank spot on our maps. The Guard, with help from Selecta, has been able to jam most satellite imagery of the area.”

I leaned in, fascinated. The images were crisp and clear, showing details I would have thought impossible from such a distance.

“Recently, however,” Erik continued, “GS developed a workaround for the jamming technology. And what they found was… unexpected.”

With another gesture, Sven zoomed in on a particular area of the map. My breath caught in my throat. There, nestled against the icy shoreline, was what could only be described as a construction site. But it was like no construction site I’d ever seen.

Massive metal structures rose from the frozen ground, their skeletal frames reaching toward the sky like the ribs of some colossal beast. Intricate networks of scaffolding crisscrossed between them, creating a web of activity even in this desolate landscape. But what truly caught my attention was the way the structures seemed to plunge downward, disappearing into the earth itself.

“It looks like… like they’re building something underground,” I murmured, voicing my observation aloud.

Sven nodded approvingly. “Precisely,lille en. This worksite appears to be the entrance to a massive subterranean complex. But that’s not all.”

He manipulated the image again, bringing up a string of code that meant nothing to me. “GS wouldn’t normally have alerted us to this discovery,” he explained. “But their analytic algorithms caught something interesting. The coordinates of this worksite matched a set of numbers in an intercepted communique between the Pretorian Guard and Selecta.”

My mind reeled at the implications. “So this is definitely a Guard operation?” I asked.

Erik nodded grimly. “It seems so. We’ve been searching for Guard activity in the Arctic for several years now. This may be what we’ve been looking for.”

“But why?” Camille interjected, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What could they possibly want to build all the way out there?”

Sven’s expression darkened. “We believe the Guard is trying to build a fusion reactor,” he said gravely. “If they succeed, it would destabilize the already volatile energy markets so greatly that both the North American and European power grids would collapse.”

“Leaving Selecta in complete control,” I finished, the pieces falling into place. The enormity of the situation hit me like a physical blow. This wasn’t just about dominance and submission anymore. This was about the fate of entire civilizations.

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