Page 95 of The Viking in the Vault
Fenrik trots ahead, the rest of our group saying nothing. We are all exhausted—especially Elena, who continues to tell me she’s fine when I ask if she would like to be carried. I’m certain she would benefit from it, but my fenvarra is strong, and will not be carried.
Eventually, she will let me carry her everywhere.
It would be the highest honor.
I watch her as she walks ahead of me, her gloved fingers trailing along the ice walls, her breath misting in the dim light. She is tired, yes—but still curious, still searching, always seeking the story buried beneath the surface. My mate is made of stardust and questions, and I can imagine no better match…a miracle of fate.
Fenrik pauses.
We follow his gaze through a narrow channel, where a familiar glint of metal peeks through the frozen mist.
“Do you see that?” Ves asks, glancing over at us.
“Yeah,” Elena whispers. “Is it…is it alive?”
“No, I think it’s a structure,” Kallisto says—then gestures at the channel. “Be careful; we don’t know about the structural integrity on the other side.”
She goes through first, turning sideways to fit, and I watch as she moves into the mist. Ves is close behind her, smaller antlers barely fitting through, while Davina and I hang back, Elena and Fenrik at my side. I’m not sure if Skoll can fit through the gap; our antlers are too large.
Then I see something familiar…and it sparks a memory of when I first woke in this strange world—scrape marks along the upper walls of the narrow space.
Marks from antlers.
“Ragnar!” Kallisto calls back from inside. “I think this is where you woke up!”
Elena looks up at me with wide eyes.
“I know,” I rumble. “I, too, am shocked that I was able to fit through such a small space.”
She blushes, shaking her head. “No, Ragnar…I was actually just going to ask if you’re ready for this.”
I look past her, into the haze where my pod waits—the place where I first opened my eyes in this strange new era, Fenrik my only companion. That moment changed everything; it broke the world I knew, fractured the mission I swore to uphold, and set me on a collision course withher.
With Elena…my fenvarra.
I reach for her hand, feeling her warmth even through our gloves. “I am,” I say, “because you are with me.”
She squeezes my fingers, just once, and then nods. “Let’s go then.”
Fenrik huffs and then goes through, head ducked as he easily slips into the gap. I follow, angling my body sideways, antlers scraping against the walls. I grit my teeth as I remember more of these first moments…sensing that I needed to go this way tosave my mate, enduring the discomfort for her sake. I’m trapped in that narrow space for a moment before I look to the side–and I see Ves extending a hand, ready to pull me through.
I am not alone.
Not just because I have Elena…because she has brought me into her circle of friends.
She is ablessingfrom Yrsa herself.
I take Ves’s hand.
They grunt, clearly not expecting the force they’ll need to yank me through to the other side, but they brace and tug and ultimately guide me the last few inches through. When I finally stumble into the chamber beyond, Fenrik is waiting, wagging his tail and pointing toward the glint of metal we saw from the other side.
I already know what it is.
My cryo-pod.
The pod is tilted at a strange angle, still partially encased in ice at its base. I move toward it, taking in the shimmering runes carved into the sides: blessings and messages from my clan before we left Kanin. A thin layer of frost now covers the interior, but I can make out the white and pale blue fur left from Fenrik as we slept all those years.
Elena comes up beside me, wide-eyed with wonder.
