“I don’t care what you say,” she asserted, despite him contending he couldn’t. “Those look like roots to me.” Tapping a finger over them, she glowered at him. “Don’t you see them? They’re right under our baby’s bud.”
Skars loved how serious she was at trying to prove she was right.
“I believe you.”
He was in too good of a mood to ruin it by arguing with her about something he knew wasn’t there. From his vantage point, he couldn’t see the roots under the small limb.
Giving up trying to convince her, he rolled over toward her when her hand on his chest slid sideways to smooth down his side.
“Today isn’t the wedding day I wanted you to have.” Twining a curl around his finger, he tugged on it. “I’m sorry.”
“You weren’t the one in the fault … I was the one who turned our wedding into a bartering session.”
Skars rubbed his finger over her lip to keep her from biting it.
“When will you go get them?”
“In the morning,” he told her truthfully.
“Can I go with you?”
“Neinn. I won’t endanger you or our child. We don’t know what weapons they have.”
Raine frowned. “Noah never mentioned weapons.”
Skars tenderly caressed the naked curve of her hip before sliding to her belly.
“You aren’t going, but I will bring him to see you as soon as I bring him aboard.”
“Don’t.” She shook her head. “It will be better to wait a few days. He’s going to be angry with me. We aren’t as close you and Thorsen.”
“Or as close as Piper and Lucas?” he probed.
“Yeah.” She shied her gaze away from his. “Noah grew up in a different house than I did. He had a different father. We really didn’t have an opportunity to bond, especially with him being older than me.”
“Then this could give you a chance to grow closer.”
“He’s going to hate me for telling you where they are hiding.”
“Why did you?” he asked curiously. “You saw how bad Earth has gotten in just the short time you’ve been away. Why fight for it and expose those hiding?”
“Because someone has to. There’s no one left, other than the ones who are like my brother, who the government deemed worthy to survive while the rest of us are left in the carnage left in their wake. Their time of hiding in their doomsday bunkers, buried twenty or however feet deep they dug for themselves, is over. They helped to destroy Earth; they can help fix it.”
“I knew you were a shield maiden when I saw you.”
“I’m a coward,” she whispered into his neck.
“The woman who climbed that statue is no coward. She is a fierce warrior. You make me proud to call you my wife.”
“I am a coward. I haven’t told you I love you.”
Skars turned his head on the pillow. “Do you?”
“Já.”
“Then tell me.”
“I love you, Skars.”
“I love you.” He grinned. “Now neither of us are cowards any longer.”
“You aren’t just saying it because I said it?”
“Neinn. I told you because I mean it. I love you with all my Viking heart.” Skars saw the doubt in her eyes. “Why do you doubt me?”
“Just because you don’t take part in the ceremonies, doesn’t mean they aren’t your tru-mate.”
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you about tru-mates. I don’t want you to spend years wondering if I have one. Sooner or later, the seed of doubt will destroy our marriage, Raine. You are the only bride I will ever want. You want to know how I know this?”
“How?”
Skars climbed out of bed to grab his wedding pants he had left on the floor. “I will be back.”
Hurrying out of his bedroom, he messaged to Bjorn that he was on his way. He met his clansman, took Raine’s gift from him, then rushed back to his wife.
Holding the gift in his hands, he saw Raine had tumbled off the side of the bed as she tried to get away from him.
Skars rushed to the other side of the bed, wishing now he had waited to put it back on the platform in the morning.
“Wife, are you okay?”
Raine pointed a finger a what he was holding. “What is that thing?”
Skars frowned. “My gift to you.”
“Take it back. Get me a piece of jewelry or something else. Something that doesn’t creep me out.”
“This is a crinda that I told you about. Their eyes remind me of yours. I bought you one for a wedding present.”
“How is this supposed to convince …? How could you have known I had grey eyes?” she asked disbelievingly.
Skars set the furless animal on his bed to go to his chest to take out the drawings he had shown her. Finding the drawing he was looking for, Skars turned the lights on brighter so she could see what he wanted to show her.