“Is something wrong, Ailsa?” Vali asked.
She offered him a reassuring smile and shook her head. “Just nervous.”
He picked up the dagger and pulled it from its sheath, the only thing brighter than his smile was the reflection of the flames on the blade. “Me too,” he said. “I’ll go first if you’d like.” When she nodded, he took the tip of the dagger and dragged it along his index finger, wincing slightly at the pain. Ailsa watched as the skin peeled open and dripped blood into the small basin.
As it collected in the bowl he spoke, “The rune is born from the combination of our blood because it is a sacred part of our bodies. Together it binds what used to be two separate threads into one. And from its joining, a new rune is created along with our new thread.” When he was satisfied with the amount in the bowl, he grabbed a hand towel and wiped his finger clean, healing the cut in the process with his magic.
“My turn,” she said, feeling a bit giddy. “But I need you to make the cut. My hands aren’t steady.” She was shaking worse than her breath and hoped he didn’t interpret her trembling with fear. But Vali only cradled her hand in his large palm, pressed his thumb to still the base of her ring finger, and quickly made a sharp cut along the side.
She flinched but bit back her cry as the blade sliced her deep enough to spill her blood and join his own in the basin. He milked her finger to speed up the process. “Usually,” he said, “this would be done as a ritual in the Temple of Light for all to see. My mother will not be pleased with me when she hears we kept our ceremony intimate.”
“Then why aren’t we going to the Temple?”
“Because I don’t want to share this with anyone else. And I know everyone will have an opinion about our decision. Before they talked you out of it, I wanted to seal the deal.” His mouth turned up in a smile as he grabbed the hand towel and wiped her finger.
“You are devious,elskan min.And I will not go down with you when Lady Rind finds out.” But Ailsa was glad he chose to keep this private. It felt too special to share with anyone else. Too pure to allow the world’s opinions to taint this moment.
Vali appeared as if he were going to kiss the slice, but instead sucked her entire finger into his mouth, and Ailsa could hardly breath as he slipped his hot tongue along where the cut ran. When he released her finger, the wound had disappeared. Her skin completely healed and free of pain.
“Thanks,” she said, wiggling her hand. “Now I draw the rune on your hand?”
“And I’ll draw yours,” he said, outstretching his arm to give her the best angle.
Ailsa took a steadying breath. The air in the room suddenly heavy and thick as she dipped her pointer finger into their blood still warm in the basin. Everything seemed to slow into silence around her until the cracking of the fire was worlds away, and the sound of her heavy breath was all that grounded her to this place in time.
“Ailsa?” she heard Vali’s voice split the quiet consuming her. She looked up from her focus on his hand to the sunlight in his eyes. They were forgiving and warm, a feeling she wanted to wrap herself inside and never forget. “You know we don’t have to do this. I love you no matter what.”
She took his hand in her free one and brought a bloody finger to his skin. “I know,” she whispered, and completed their rune like she was painting his soul instead.
When she was finished, Vali briefly admired her work before moving on to her. No hesitation, no time for pause, his finger sure and steady as he drew their mark on the back of her hand. As he came to the final line, he spoke, “I take you, Ailsa Ledgersdóttir, to be myFraendi,to be the flesh of my flesh and the blood of my blood. To bind my thread with yours and walk eternity with you. For to me you are the sweet whisper of the tides and the secret in the starlight. I love you now, and I will adore you always.”
A jolt ran through her wrist as he spoke his vow over their mark. She spoke them back, hoping to seal this connection between them and begin the next tale of their story, to continue their saga. “And I take you Vali, Son of Rind, High Lord of the Elves, and demigod of revenge and redemption, to be myFraendi. The one I will love until my last breath and beyond, for all the eternal years that follow. I will forever seek to know who you are and love you like a mystery, sharing with you every sunrise and sunset, every happiness and sadness. Because I love you, and I will never stop.”
He squeezed her hand back, and Ailsa felt the charge between them, a strange sensation humming inside their bones where they clasped. “It is done,” she whispered, feeling her eyes brim with tears.
“We did our part, yes.” Vali smiled. “It is up to the fates now,sváss.” He tugged her arm to pull her closer, claiming her lips in a reverent kiss. Ailsa parted his mouth with her tongue, deepening their connection as she crawled into his lap, straddling his waist.
“I say we take fate into our own hands tonight.” She let go of his shoulders to slip her night shift over her head, leaving nothing to separate their skin except the thin undergarments Ailsa still wore and the cursed pants still hiding all of Vali from her sight. But that would change tonight.
Before the male could get distracted with her own body, Ailsa pushed him hard on his back. Surprise marked his grin as she used their positions to loosen the ties around his waist. Heat bloomed in her hips as she brushed the suggestion of his arousal with her fingers, needing to see him, needing to feel him inside her and know him fully.
Vali did not stop her this time, only relaxed against a pillow as she pulled the drawstring free and shoved his pants lower. “You are mine tonight, Vali,” she said as she pulled his cock free. The fae lord hissed as she stroked him once, already alluringly stiff and rigid for her to prime. “Fortunately for you, I am feeling quite impatient.”
And she already felt a slick coolness between her legs as she stroked her center along his shaft, grinding her pleasure out to please them both. Ailsa used both hands to pump his length against her, feeling hard veins full beneath her thumbs. So thick around her fingers, she squeezed him from his base to the tip, his cock already spilling a bit of his release. She gathered the small bead with her thumb and brought it to her lips, where she rubbed it like a balm across her mouth before licking his seed away. His eyes locked on her as she tasted him, savored him as she rolled his essence across her tongue, moaned at the salty-sweet taste that made her grip on him tighten—begging for more.
“I’ve wanted to taste you for so long,” she purred.
“Fuck, Ailsa,” he choked out, his head falling back as she rubbed the tip of his hardness against her swollen entrance. “That feels incredible. Every inch of you is perfect.” He was torn between watching and writhing, every push of her hips against his base threw his head back and a worshipful moan from his chest.
He reached down and ripped her thin underwear from her hips, tossing them in the fire. The evidence of her own desire covered him in a wet heat. Ailsa felt him kick off his pants and bend his knees, place his hands over her hips bones to feel the motion of her body, to pull her down harder against him. She let out a shaky breath, practically dripping from the want coiling into something more frenzied between her thighs.
“Ailsa I am burning for you,” he said between panting breaths. And she ached for him as well, the tension between them building like a ball of snow pushed down a hill, gathering speed and force, threatening a sweeter crash the steeper the slope.
“Shall I have all of you at last, Vali?” she asked in a voice that sounded foreign to her own ears. The male beneath her only rocked his hips against her hands in reply, his face strained, the muscles in his neck taut like bowstrings ready to snap.
“Yes, my love. Please,” he finally begged.
Ailsa shifted to her knees and guided his shaft where she needed it. Vali didn’t move himself, even as she slowly lowered onto his cock, letting her walls stretch and accommodate his size, appreciating how much he filled her. When she felt certain she could take him, she slammed her hips down, sheathing him completely inside her.