by Nelson, JD
I brightened. “Yeah, there is that.”
“Good girl. Now, let us call Kristian.”
I started to panic. “What? Now?”
“Of course! There’s no time like the present.”
“Uh…How are we going to call him? I don’t have his number and I somehow doubt he’s listed in the phonebook.”
She pointed at her head. “You have the nearly all-knowing over here.”
“Oh…right.” My disappointment was apparent. “What am I going to say to him?”
“You’re going to say that you will commit to the marriage as promised.”
“What if he doesn’t want me anymore?”
She sighed. “It matters little in your case. Kristian is desperate to stop this war. Don’t forget that he has suffered more than most because of it.”
That was true. He had seen his world literally turn to darkness, and the deaths he’d seen—how many elves had died in this pointless war only because I wasn’t old enough to marry yet. He’d also lost his own Fated mate in my mother’s bargain.
“So, there is no way either one of us can afford to back down from the marriage, even if he has turned to the dark side.”
“You’re getting quite good at this figuring it out thing.”
“Oh, you’re hilarious.” I sighed. “Do you think Kristian will protect me from the doppelgänger? Soren said that he was hiding out there.”
“I think you can protect yourself.” She huffed. “That ‘Freyr’ would be wise to never cross any of my family.
“Grandmother, you have a temper—I like it.”
“I may not be able to interfere in your life, but this Freyr thing and I have history. No one would be surprised if I made sure he disappeared.”
Note to self: Don’t piss off grandma.
“Alright sweetie, I have to go. Soren’s coming.”
“What about the phone call?”
“Later. Love you!” She blew me a kiss and was gone in a blink.
“Love you, too.” I mumbled.
A tap on the door made me jump. “Come in, Soren.”
When he came into sight, my heart started to race out of control. I couldn’t take my eyes away from his face; his cruel red eyes were tinged with lustful hunger and madness.
He growled—actually growled, and tried to make small talk. “Are your quarters satisfactory?”
Nervously, I answered. “Very, aren’t you sharing them with me?”
Sighing, he closed his eyes, unable to meet my own gaze. “Emelie,” he started.
“Don’t bother Soren, I know.”
He opened his eyes and scrutinized my face. “You know, do you? Then you know how much I still want to share your bed, to rid you of the only gift that you have to give your husband, so he will never have the opportunity to take it? Do you know that I’ve considered killing him?”
“Killing him would be selfish Soren. Too many people have died in this war already.”
“When it comes to you Emelie, I will always be selfish. You are everything to me.”
I met him halfway across the room. “As you are to me.”
My body was screaming for him, as if it knew, he would finally take me. Tonight we would do what we had always been meant to do.
He wound a fist in my long hair and pulled me to him. Harshly he whispered, “Take your clothes off,” into my ear, before biting into my neck. I cried out and fumbled with the buttons on my shirt, eventually ripping the fabric open to expose my breasts.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he took off his shirt and pants and palmed his erection. “I’m dying to be inside of you.”
I slid my panties and skirt to the ground, and climbed seductively on the bed. Instantly, he was behind me, turning me over and kissing his way from my breasts to my core. The first time I felt his tongue intimately, I screamed out his name in orgasm until I could barely breathe.
Pulling himself up my body, he laid his heavy erection between my thighs. “Are you ready for me?”
Between sharp breaths, I answered. “Yes...Soren...please.”
He took my mouth and slid against my welcoming wetness, positioning himself against my entrance. I braced myself for the delicious intrusion as he started to push.
A banging on the door startled us both.
Soren groaned and muttered. “Someone better be dead.”
Yelling erupted from outside the door. “Soren, come out of there or I’m coming in to get you!” It was Jakob.
“Come on out Soren, don’t do this.” And Viggo.
“Fuck them. If you don’t do this, I will!” Nils added.
He moved from above me and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m coming out.” He looked back at me regretfully and started getting dressed.
Sighing, I went to the bathroom to take a cold shower.
I knew Soren had left the house as soon as I stepped out of the tub. Hurrying into my robe, I ran to the living room to find somber and guilty faces. “Where is he?”
Jakob stood, but couldn’t look me in the eye. “He has gone. He will not return.”
My heart stopped. He had left me. After the years of dreams and fantasies, it was all gone—he was gone. It was for the best, I knew that. It still made me wish that he had left me to die alone in my house that night. I could never love anyone the way I loved Soren.
I spent most of the day and night alternating between crying, screaming, and staring at the number that had magically appeared on my bathroom mirror that afternoon.
The guys all tried to get me to come outside of the room. First, Viggo brought me breakfast, but I chased him away. Nils knocked on the door at lunchtime, I didn’t even answer. His perverted mouth was the last thing I wanted to hear.
Jakob knocked well after dinnertime. I decided to answer this time, only to have him slyly put his boot in the door and push his way in, tray in hand.
“Good evening, Emelie. I’ve brought you dinner.”
I politely inclined my head. “Jakob, I’m sorry, but I’m not hungry.”
“Are you sure?” He questioned. “You don’t even know what it is.” Whipping the cover off, he revealed a massive hot fudge sundae.
“You are fucking evil! I hate you.” I cried and burst into tears, burying my face in his shirt. “No, I take that back, I love you. Thank you.”
He gently pried me off of him. “I’m going to go, Emelie.”
“Fine, I’m used to it.” I wailed, as he swiftly backed his way out of the room.
Grabbing the spoon, I dug in, griping to myself about pansy males and bullshit wars between bites. My sorrow was turning to anger; it was time to move on. I made up my mind that the phone call to Kristian couldn’t wait. Soren wasn’t coming back—he couldn’t, and it was childish of me to hole up in my room. It was time to plan my wedding.
—Chapter Seven—
I carried the phone outside to avoid eavesdropping and dialed Kristian’s number. It rang twice before a female answered—a female who wasn’t Viveka.
“Kristian’s phone.”
“May I speak to Kristian, please” I asked, as politely as my temper allowed me to.
Her voiced hardened. “Just a moment.”
I could hear knocking, a door opening, and then Kristian came on the line. “Hello?”
“Hi Kristian.”
“Emelie.” He breathed.
“I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“You did, but it’s time I rise anyway. Where are you?”
“Álfheim…will you meet me?”
“Name the place.”
I racked my brain for somewhere close, but secluded. “Can you be at the Álfheim Cemetery in twenty minutes?”
“I’ll be there. Thank you for giving me a second chance.”
I barely managed to muzzle the tart reply that was on the end of my tongue. He has some nerve saying that after one of his harem answered his cell phone. No doubt, he left his phone there last night.
“You’re welcome, Kri
stian. See you in twenty.” I hung up the phone, and ran to get Jakob.
I found him reading in the living room. “Hi.”
He closed his book and looked warily at me. His demeanor was so teacher-like that if I didn’t know he was thousands of years old, I’d have said he’d been a professor or scholar in a past life. “How are you feeling today?”
“Productive.”
Cue skeptical tone. “Oh?”
“Okay here’s the deal, I need an escort.”
“Ah.”
What was with these one-word replies?
He got up and walked into what I was now calling the viewing room, and I followed. “Kristian?” He asked.
“Yes, I told him I’d meet him at the Álfheim cemetery in twenty minutes.”
“I see. I will do more than escort you Emelie. I’ll go with you to stay.”
My jaw dropped. “At the castle? That’s an option?”
“It’s an unwelcome option, but I cannot with a clear conscience let you go to that castle alone. I’m afraid of what Viveka’s jealousy will bring and Kristian’s alliance with Odin makes me certain that they will try to exploit you somehow, especially if he finds out you are a Norn.”
“I really appreciate this.” I couldn’t believe Jakob was willing to do this for me. This was the kind of thing I would expect from Viggo.
He breathed a very typical impatient sigh and said, “I hope that you do, going back to the castle will not be easy for me.”
I wish Jakob was friendlier—I desperately wanted him as friend, but he’d always seemed to dislike me. “I do, Jakob. I’m not half as bad as you think I am.”
“We shall see.”
Disheartened and tired of wondering what I’d done, I blurted out, “Why don’t you like me?”
“I do like you, Emelie. It’s just that your lack of self-control with your magic and personal life is dangerous. It puts us all at risk.”
I was stunned. I hadn’t expected him to put it so bluntly. I couldn’t deny any of it, of course. I did connect Cedric with Katrine who eventually had a hand in his death. Everything that had happened at Soren’s house had been my fault. Tears started slipping down my cheeks and I turned away from him. I was ashamed.
“Emelie, don’t cry.”
“This is my fault.” I sobbed.
In an uncharacteristic move, he enveloped me in a hug. “It is not your fault. It is your mother’s. You wouldn’t even be involved with any of this if not for her and you did not intentionally do anything to hurt anyone. Soren is your true-mate, your attraction to him is only natural, and Cedric and Katrine were a good match. You didn’t know she was allied with the doppelgänger. You are still an innocent. It’s what you do from here on out that counts. Just be careful not to make the same kind of mistakes again.”
“Thank you, Jakob. That means a lot to me.”
He kissed my forehead the way Viggo always did. “You’re welcome.”
I smiled broadly at him.
“Now, you had better go fix your makeup. You only have fifteen minutes to be at the cemetery.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I ran to the bathroom to get cleaned up and was surprised to see Nils perched on my vanity table. “What are you doing in here?”
“Wondering if you are going to invite me to the castle with you.”
“Can I even do that?”
“He will be expecting you to bring maids, servants, and friends of the royal family when you move in. It is customary.”
“I didn’t know.”
“So,” he growled. “Can I come?”
I laughed nervously. “How do you manage to make me feel safe and in danger at the same time?”
He hopped gracefully off the table and glided toward me, looking ready to pounce. “Scared, little elf?”
“Nils that is enough.” We both jumped at the sound of Jakob’s sharp tone. “Yes, you can come to the castle, but you will let her decide who she wants to take on as a lover.”
“Uh…I’m not planning to sleep with anyone.”
Nils gave me an incredulous look and ignored my statement. “Jakob, you can’t let Kristian be her first. You know what he does to those females. Can you honestly subject our Emelie to that?”
“We don’t have time to talk about this now. Emelie we have to go.”
I quickly wiped the mascara from below my eyes and followed Jakob out the door.
We arrived at the same time Kristian did. His face was a mixture of shock and confusion when he saw his brother as my escort.
“Brother, it has been too long. How have you come to find my bride?”
“I happened upon her with the son of Odin, brother. Cursed and not herself, she bit him and almost became unchaste.”
I looked down shamefully. Why was Jakob outing me like this? What happened to that moment we’d shared twenty minutes ago?
Kristian was obviously suspicious. “And you stopped her from being unfaithful?”
“Yes, knowing how long you have waited for your betrothed, I knew you would want her untouched. I’ve just today, convinced her to return. She is afraid that you will not forgive her, but I assured her that you have had many more indiscretions since the two of you have been Fated. It would be hypocritical of you to harbor anger for an attraction to a true-mate.”
I decided to look appropriately chagrined and let Jakob spin his yarn, though I couldn’t believe the lies coming out of his mouth. He was completely full of it.
“You have done well indeed, brother. You are right. A husband should have the right to a wife’s virtue.”
I tried to not get pissed at his statement, and failed. “I only wish I could have had yours. Are the females of the harem still in residence?”
“I am weak, Emelie.”
“Yeah, and you obviously think me an idiot, if you think I’ll believe that line.”
Jakob laughed. “She has you pegged, Kristian. This one will be a good mother to your young. She has a strong will.”
Kristian smile gleamed in the moonlight. “Think of how beautiful our children will be, Jakob.”
Jakob grinned at the thought of our children and I thought I would throw up.
Kristian held a hand out to his brother. “Thank you, Jakob. I don’t have to tell you how much this means to me.”
“No, you don’t. We both strive for the same outcome—peace for our people.”
“Come,” Kristian said. “We will go to the castle and make the necessary arrangements for your arrival. How many servants will you be bringing?”
“None,” I answered. “I can attend myself, but I will be bringing friends of the royal family—your brother Jakob, and the Fenrir Wolf.”
“What? The Fenrir Wolf? He is said to be an untrained barbarian.”
“He is my confidant.” I said simply.
“Love, you may bring who you wish. I only fear for your safety.”
“I’ll be fine. Should we get going?”
He produced a pale blue stone and transported us to the front entryway of my new home.
As soon as we were admitted into the castle, we heard screaming.
“You fucking incompetent bitch! I’ll kill you for this!”
Viveka towered over a cornered maid in the parlor. An overturned tray on the floor was the apparent cause of her anger. Kristian hurried over to the pair.
“Viveka, we have guests. Let Minka get on with her duties.”
Viveka’s eye fell on me and she sneered—until she spotted Jakob. Her disposition changed instantly. She aimed a beauty queen worthy smile at him, and straightened her posture. “Jakob,” she purred. “You’ve returned.”
I was horrified. She was hitting on her brother, her saintly, too good for her brother. Yuck.
Jakob ignored her, and offered his hand to the maid. She took it and bolted from the room. I hoped she would leave and never look back.
Finally addressing Viveka, Jakob replied. “I have returned as a guest of the future que
en. I see a hundred years have not cooled your temper.”
Her simpering facade dissolved into a scowl and I felt the need to escape.
“Uh…Kristian, can you show me to my room?” He readily complied and we left Jakob and Viveka to continue their stare-off. As soon as we were out of earshot, I blurted out the question that was burning a hole in my mind. “Do Jakob and Viveka have a history?”
“Yes, a romantic one.”
“Really? That is…awkward. He’s her step-brother.”
“More awkward than our situation?”
“I think sex with siblings trumps any situation in awkwardness.”
He pretended to give it some thought. “Yeah, you’re right.” Grinning he opened the door on his right and showed me in. “I hope this is satisfactory.”
The decor was much like his room, which was next door. Mine wasn’t as large as his, but you could still fit four regular sized rooms into it. “This is more than satisfactory, Kristian. Thank you.”
“I am relieved you like it, but I hope in time we can try to continue the happiness that we shared on our first meeting, and that you will one day feel comfortable enough to share my bed.”
“I hope so, too.”
It was hard to believe that he was capable of the things he was accused of. If someone were to judge by his handsome, sweet-natured face, they would never believe him able of such evil; especially when he said things like that. Curious, I asked, “Kristian, why are you so perfect one minute, and so despicable the next?”
He sat on the bed and frowned. “Do you know how many people have asked me that question?”
“No.”
“Thousands and I can only tell you what I told them—the truth. I just don’t know. It’s the only answer I have to give, honestly.” He paused to gauge my reaction, but I kept a neutral face and waited for him to elaborate. He sat silent for so long that I decided to get comfortable.
Kicking off my shoes, I climbed up onto the bed and stretched out. I was exhausted and it felt like heaven. “Kristian, this bed is perfection.”
Kristian watched me snuggle in the pillows for a moment, and then he kicked off his own shoes and lay down beside me. “I’m glad you approve. I had it commissioned for you a few years ago, with the direction of your mother. She and I wanted to make sure you had every comfort you would desire after your move.”