Page 53 of Blood of Wolves

Bjorn lay as she’d left him, on his back, taking up entirely too much of the mattress, covers pooled around his waist so that the flame from the single candle she’d lit slid orange and sinuous over the hard lines of his torso.

She felt a low, deep, automatic clenching between her legs as she rested a knee on the edge of the mattress and hovered there a moment, looking her fill. She could do that, now; didn’t have to steal glances and fill in the parts that were covered with her imagination. She’d never been very good at being patient like that, or meek like that. It was so much better to have the chance tostare, like she’d always wanted to.

He was far from the rangy, awkward youth he’d been once upon a time. Back then he’d been all too-big shoulders, feet, and hands, comically skinny and so tall he’d sometimes hunched his shoulders to better blend in with his friends. In the years since, training, fighting, working, he’d filled out in a delectable way: all hard-earned, solid muscle and healthy fat. A strength clearly seen – and one she’d now felt, up close and personal, his bulk over her, between her spread thighs, pressing her down into the mattress.

He grinned, slow and lazy, eyes half-lidded, as if he knew exactly which path her thoughts were traveling. “Enjoying the view?”

“What view?” she grumbled, face heating. “There’s a bloody bear in my bed.”

He laughed.

Revna climbed the rest of the way in, lay down snuggled up against him – and socked him in the arm. Which only made him laugh harder. A low, deep sound that vibrated through her – gods, it had been so long since she’d felt that. Since she’d raked her nails through chest hair and felt a man’s ribs shifting against her own while he laughed, low and true.

She’d missed that, those small intimacies. Sex, yes, but also waking up together, and lying tangled in bed first thing in the morning, in those quiet hours before they had to dress and don their royal roles for the day. She’d missed them in general – missed Torstan – but that wasn’t what this was about. Getting to share those things with Bjorn was a thrill and an unimagined comfort all at once. She had always loved him like family, as a surrogate brother, someone to be trusted completely…but now she knew what his mouth tasted like; knew how much pleasure he could give her, and it was all hopelessly, gloriously tangled in a way she’d never expected, but now couldn’t imagine doing without.

His arm pushed between her shoulder and the mattress; his hand settled on her far shoulder and pulled her even closer. She didn’t think of herself as a small woman, but he made her feel tiny, and she was enjoying that more than she’d expected. He made her feelsafe, protected; like she could rest a moment, and let someone help her shoulder the burden.

“I need to get up,” she said, but made no move to do so. Once she got up, it would be nothing but go-go-go until well past nightfall. If she stayed here like this, she could pretend they weren’t waiting on a war to unfold.

He hummed a disagreeing sound. Trailed the big, callused tips of his fingers down and back up her arm. “It’s too early for that.”

“It’s never too early for the lady of the palace,” she argued, and then yawned so wide her jaw popped. She frowned, frustrated by the failings of her own mortal body. “Tessa’s already up.”

“That’s because Tessa is trying to impress a boy. Whereas yours truly is already impressed plenty, so you don’t have to go getting up early to work on that front.”

A laugh built in her throat, unbidden, and she let it out in a quiet huff. “Gods. I’ve created a monster, haven’t I?”

“I was already a monster, love,” he said, easily.

She pressed her face to the hard swell of his chest. “My monster.”

His hand stilled a moment; his swallow was audible. “Yours,” he agreed.

A simple declaration, and one that should not have been more stirring than anI love you. She knew that he loved her, had known a long time, and now had it confirmed. But something aboutyoursleft her heart soaring. The thought of someone as big, and fierce, and strong as him placing his heart in her hands and giving her ownership…it left her more than a little breathless.

All those sensations were chased immediately by guilt. How could she find anything to smile about in their current circumstances?

Bjorn’s hand slid up over her shoulder, and his fingers raked carefully through her hair. “You’re thinking very loudly.”

“There’s a lot to think about.” When he stilled a moment, she realized how he might have interpreted that, and added, “Do you think Él reached them? That they know?”

His fingers resumed their slow drag, working through pillow tangles with surprising dexterity. “She got past the vultures. If Leif was anywhere between here and Dreki Hörgr, she found him.”

It was what she’d told Tessa when she’d asked; the words of assurance she’d offered the guards, and ladies, and maids alike. But she didn’t have to be sure, here now with Bjorn; she could doubt, and worry, and he could pet the tangles from her hair and offer assurances of his own.

She exhaled, smiling when she saw the way it stirred his chest hair. She scratched through it with her nails, and said, “Whatever happens, I’m glad about this. About us.”

His hand cupped the side of her skull, big enough to encompass nearly her whole head. “Me, too,” he murmured.

And then the morning was shattered by the blast of a horn on the wall.

~*~

“There. Just like that.” Rune was strong and warm at her back, his hands dwarfing hers where he helped her grip the arrow, and draw back the bowstring. Her muscles didn’t quiver, and the bow didn’t shake, and she knew it was all down to him; that he was the one truly controlling the weapon, and she was just letting him move her. But she tried to focus – tried not to think too much about the way his warm breath stirred her hair, and whispered past her ear. Tried to ignore the warm, steady thump of his heartbeat between her shoulder blades. “Ready?”

She nodded.

“And…loose.” They let go together, and, with Rune’s other hand steadying hers on the bow, the arrowsnappedforward, a straight shot that landed in the yellow-painted center of the target.

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