Master of Umbra (The Valhalla Series)

by Poppet

  “Liah, I do not wish to offend those men whom I so greatly respect. I alone have the power to safely extract your kin from Leug's lair. I need to make haste, before any of them have an inkling of my actions. I can trust no one right now because someone has betrayed me, meaning I can trust no one at all. No one but you my darling, my little fierce poppet, with a heart that needs many moons of love before it will feel safe and secure in my arms.”

  His stressed expression cracks, betraying his emotion, tugging me to him, pulling me roughly onto his lap, kissing me with the desperation of his need.

  His breathing is chaotic, shaky, when he breaks the kiss to cup my face, resting his forehead on mine, “I love you. We have a holy seal on our hands, which means I can communicate with you if you remain in a state of relaxation. I want you to hole up in here with Bella, tell the buffoons you're taking a bath if they enter, tell them I am indisposed and you don't know where I've gone. Then cuddle with Bella and just doze, get your rest, and I will call you frequently with news of my soiree with darkness.”

  It hits me that he's abandoning me again. Now when I need his strength most.

  I don't think I'm strong enough to watch you walk away from me again, with uncertainty and fears as my companions.

  Caressing my cheeks with his thumbs, he says in a fierce tone, “Love comes back. That's what love does.”

  Closing his arms around me he hugs me so tight, as if to press me right inside his body. “I'm never going to disappoint you. You need a hero, this is your hour of need, and this is my calling. It is my duty as your handfast.”

  Kissing the top of my head, then my cheekbones, he looks at me by ducking his head to my level, “This is the best gift I can give you. The gift borne of love to my beloved. To return someone you love to stay at your side where I can keep you both safe. Trust me Liah, I will never abandon you. Not ever.”

  I nod, tears washing away the world, an ache seizing my heart.

  “Kiss me, please? Send me on my way with a token of your taste, let me savor your bliss in sanctified communion.”

  I don't even have to think about it, clasping my hands to his prickly stubble and planting a tender kiss on his perfect mouth, closing my eyes and committing it to memory, inhaling his scent, savoring the muscles around me and the strength of his thighs on which I sit.

  Then desperation possesses me and I kiss the living daylights out of him, needing him to know I do love him, so much that if he doesn't return I will lose the will to live. It will destroy me.

  He takes my left hand, pressing his onto it, sending fire dancing up my veins, breaking our kiss just long enough to promise soul to soul, “Love returns. I will always return to you, because that's what love does. It comes back like a boomerang. No matter how many times an eagle flies, it always returns to the nest, to feed its young, to protect the mate it bonds to for life.”

  He squeezes me again, crushing me with cherishing strength and heartfelt intensity.

  “I will come back, Liah. I promise you my poppet, with all I am, and all I ever will be, I will never leave you, your love will call me back even when I am lost. You are my gata home.”

  I am his road home.

  It's the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.

  Swallowing my anguish, I nod, needing to support him in this, knowing it's the first step to reconciliation for his clan and his people. He freed me of Dias, he has shown me in every way what I mean to him. I owe him my trust.

  Nodding, I whisper back, kissing the palm that handfasted with mine, “Love comes back, because I will call you back from the second you fly out that tunnel.”

  Tears glimmer my vision, and I whisper against his lips, “I love you, my love will ride the winds with you and anchor your journey home.”

  And you will bring Lara back because I love her too.

  His words are my mantra, love comes back, you will return to my side.

  He kisses me again, and I know it as a certainty, he's my best friend, my lover, and the bond we share goes beyond my understanding.

  Love comes back, because that's what love does.

  ~The End~

  Glossary:

  Alrekr – ruler of all

  Ambot – person not of sound mind

  Ari – Old Norse meaning eagle

  Arnlaug – eagle devotee

  Arr – warrior

  Banka – knock, pound, beat

  Berserkr – proper spelling for berserker. (Ber - Bear / sekr – coat

  Beuckle – the great herdsman of Etive

  Böðvar - battle

  Buachaille Eite Mòr - is ten miles outside of Glencoe.

  Búri: The father of all the Norse gods (all of them). He is the first (He is Odin's father).

  Draugr (haugr dweller) – cairn dwelling undead person.

  Also called hogboon (trows/ howes), this dead person may wander from his burial mound at will. The dead live on as the benign undead. Considered 'spirits', they are equated to the modern day zombie / vampire version of undead. The Norse version make these undead, guardians of the living.

  Eagle - live in the Blackmount Forest in the Argyle highlands.

  Eoghan (Ewan) – noble / born of the yew tree

  Fenrir – Loki's son, the wolf

  Finfolk – Dark sorcerers from Orkney, master boat builders and seafairers, they were shapeshifters with amphibious skills and ability, often leaving Orkney for Finfolkaheem. They have the ability to render themselves completely invisible, and keep themselves hidden from mortal eyes. They may also be considered the shapeshifting bodach (faeries).

  Finfolkaheem – an island known as Hildaland – a vanishing island off the coast of Orkney encased with a fog bank and very much described as a far north paradise where the sun always shines.

  Frith (friðr) - peace and goodwill

  Galdr - Old Norse word meaning to sing a charm / incantation

  Gata - road

  Gunn – from the Norse-Viking word for "warrior" (gunnr meaning war)

  Guthbrand – god's sword

  Hamask – change form / shapeshift

  Haug-bui – original Norse spelling of Hogboon – mound dweller native to Orkney

  Haugr – mound / hill / cairn

  Herað – Old norse name for Harray (Harris)

  Hlaðguðr – her name translates as Swan White (the original snow white). A Valkyrie.

  Hræsvelgr

  Innangarth - those within the tribal enclosure - the trusted inner circle

  Læraðr – the golden apple trees of Asgard outside the halls of Valhalla, the orchard of the deathless acre.

  Loki – The brother to Thor, his real Norse name is Leug (which means 'to break')

  Maes/howe - burial cairn on Orkney dating back to 3000BC.

  Serpentarius (Anguitenens) – known today as Ophiuchus and Serpens

  Ulfhednar (Úlfhéðnar) – Norse berserker

  Utangarth - outside the enclosure - not of your immediate tribe

  Vinr - friend

  Vithar – forest warrior

  Vlaenderen - The island of Mayda, also known as Hy Brasil (Breasal). It still exists, but it is submerged due to rising sea levels. Recorded on the Piri Reis map, and the Catalan Atlas in 1375. It was so advanced with such technology that it's also known as 'the other Atlantis'.

  Now that you have read Deliah's full circle journey, you have the culmination to look forward to as you go deep into the Wolf's lair on 21 December 2013.

  The battle is nigh, brothers will fall in conflict, and three woman join together to exact revenge none of their ruthless mates could anticipate.

 

 

 
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