Page 50 of The Viking in the Vault
Maybe it’s that I feel like I do too.
Page tilts her head slightly, resting her chin in her hand. “It’s a lot,” she says, her voice softer now. “I get it.”
I exhale, rolling my cup between my hands. “Do you?”
She nods. “Yeah. I do.”
I shake my head, trying to gather my thoughts. “I’m not—I mean, I shouldn’t be thinking about this. I just met him. I should be focused on my research. I have deadlines, funding I can’t afford to jeopardize—this whole thing with Ragnar is just…a complication.”
Page hums like she’s considering that, then asks, “Do you really believe that?”
I flinch. “What?”
She doesn’t let me dodge it. “That this is just a complication. That it’s something you can walk away from.”
I hesitate, staring down at my drink. The words are right there, the logical ones, the ones I should be saying. But they feel wrong. My fingers tighten slightly around the warm ceramic.
Page nods, like she already knows. “Yeah,” she says, sighing. “I thought so.”
My throat tightens. “It’s not that simple.”
“No,” she agrees, “it’s not.”
I don’t expect the empathy in her voice. I expect her to tease, to needle, to smirk at me like she has all the answers. But she doesn’t. Her gaze is steady, calm—like she’s been here before.
Which she has.
“You don’t have to decide anything right now,” she says. “But don’t lie to yourself about what’s happening. If you feel it—even a little—you owe it to yourself to figure out what that means.”
I swallow, something heavy and strange settling in my chest.
What does it mean?
For all my research, for all the history I’ve studied, I don’t have an answer for that.
Page watches me for a moment longer, then takes a sip of her coffee. “And don’t worry about the university, by the way.”
I blink. “What?”
She grins. “I’ll put in a good word for you…and so will Davina. Let them know you’re working on something important.”
I gape at her. “Page?—”
She holds up a hand. “Hey, you’ve got a literal Lost Expedition survivor. If that doesn’t count as an academic breakthrough, I don’t know what does.”
A laugh slips out before I can stop it. “I doubt the funding board is going to approve ‘historical alien soulbonding’ as a research focus.”
Page winks. “Not with that attitude.”
I shake my head, but warmth spreads in my chest, easing some of the tension knotting there. For the first time since I woke up tangled in Ragnar’s arms, I feel like I can breathe.
Maybe I don’t have the answers.
Maybe that’s okay.
Maybe…I just have to figure it out.
One step at a time.
