Page 106 of The Viking in the Vault
“‘Most beloved,’” I recite. “‘We welcome you to this hearth, to be loved and worshiped.’”
“Is that what they all say?” she asks.
I shake my head “It’s a personalized message given to each child of a Skoll family—forged by my father, inscribed by my mother.”
She takes it with reverence. “I wish I could have met her. Did she…did you leave her behind?”
I shake my head with a sad smile. “She died before I even left Kanin…but she would have liked you.”
“Are you supposed to put it on me or…”
“You put it on yourself,” I tell her. “Only if you wish to. And you are entitled to take it off when you please.”
Elena swallows and nods, her fingers trembling just slightly as she lifts the torque. I rise only to push her hair back to make room for it, to unzip her coat just so. I watch as she angles the band over her throat and settles it into place.
The sight nearly brings me to my knees.
My mate wearing my vowband.
She doesn’t look like she’s wearing something ancient; it looks like it was made for her. The curve of the torque fits perfectly along her collarbone, the inscription catching the light.
“I’m…I’m warm,” she says, as if she needs an excuse to undress before me when all I want is to have her naked before me. “Can I…”
Now, I do fall to my knees—reaching for the zipper of her coat as I go, helping her shed the bulky garment. I took off my own coat long ago, warm enough even in the cold with my Skoll blood, but Elena is still swathed in colorful, modern fabrics. Her sweater comes next, the two of us pulling it over her head, then she is unbuttoning my shirt to push it from my shoulders.
I take her hand to slow her.
“Reverence, Elena,” I tell her. “I want you—badly—but this moment requires reverence.”
I guide her hands away from my chest and press them to her sides instead, not to force her…but to ask her to let me do thework. Her breath hitches, pupils wide in the low light, but she nods, hearing me.
Reverence.
This is not just rutting. It is a rite.
A covenant.
I return to the crate and pull out the next piece: a stack of jeweled bracelets that jingle as I take them into my hands. I move to Elena and take one hand to extend her arm, then I slide them one by one onto her wrist.
“These were my sister’s,” I tell her quietly. “Passed to me when she chose to live alone, unmated. She wanted them to find a new home.”
“And you want me to have them?”
I smile. “Only if you wish to be adorned as mine.”
Elena lifts her other hand, and I take it in my hands, pressing a kiss to the inside of her wrist before sliding the final bracelets into place. They sing softly as they settle, the delicate sound echoing in the tent despite the soft walls.
She swallows. “This is…pretty serious, huh?”
I nod. “There is nothing more serious to me than this.”
The bracelets shimmer in the light, catching against the etched torque at her throat. She looks radiant. Marked by my people, by my lineage, by my love.
I draw the last piece from the crate: a fine drape of chain and silk, worn low on the hips. The silk is remarkably well-preserved, bright cerulean that matches my tattoos with gold threaded through it.
“May I finish undressing you, Elena?” I ask, my cock already painfully hard.
“Yes,” she whispers, smiling slightly…as if there’s a laugh on the tip of her tongue. “You may.”
