Excerpt: Bargaining with the Lady of Merewood

1072 Northumbria

 

He traced the arch of her brow with his fingertip, then kissed it. His finger swept along the curve of her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw, and ending in the hollow at the base of her throat.

Her eyes drifted closed, and she softly smiled.

“Eyreka.”

She opened her eyes and their gazes locked. The embers of his passion, still glowing, softened his stormy-gray gaze. By Odin, she loved him! He traced an X over her heart; it beat strong beneath his touch.

“Now and forever, Eyreka.” He dipped his head and kissed the spot with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes.

She knew then he was leaving, but the thought of never seeing him again, never touching him, formed a knot of anguish in her stomach. It tangled tighter and started to burn.

Though she knew it was hopeless, she held on with a grip of iron.

“I cannot come to you again.” The softly uttered words tore a gaping wound in her already aching heart. “’Tis time for you to let go.”

She gathered up the remnants of her tattered courage, knowing it would be the last time she saw him. Her hand shook as she traced an X over the ugly scar—the barrier that stood between them—the impenetrable wall between Valhalla and Earth. She tasted the salt of her own tears as she placed her lips where a Norman arrow had pierced the heart in her husband’s breast.

“Now and forever, Addison,” she whispered.

Her vow broke the hold she had on him. But this time he did not just disappear, a shaft of bright white light speared the darkness, glowing around him like an aura, making his broad warrior’s frame look even larger.

She reached a hand out to touch him one last time.

He shook his head. “Nay, love. ’Tis time to go on with your life. Change is coming to Merewood Keep,” he warned. “Do not let it defeat you. Remember your heritage, my Viking princess and meet it head on.”

“Aye,” she rasped.

The light flared behind him and went out. She bolted up in bed, reaching for him; her sleeping gown clinging to the curves of her sweat-drenched body. Her mind struggled to surface and broke through her dreams, only to face the stark reality that Addison was truly dead and gone, and the king had granted their home to a Norman baron.

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