Climbing up behind her, I wrap one of my hands around her waist, reaching for the reins. Guiding Viggo toward camp, I’m not surprised to see that everyone is packed and ready to head out.
I make a clicking noise with my mouth and move us toward the front of the farmr. Gunnar, Fiske, and the rest of my trusted soldiers are already there. Gunnar looks over and his lips twitch into a smile as his eyes drag down Liv’s dress.
“Thank you, Gunn,” I grunt.
He laughs, shaking his head. “She’s quite a sight to see, Aaric. You are a lucky man.”
Nodding my head once, my fingers flex against her belly. I am lucky that the gods have bestowed this creature on me. Dhuis, the Allfather, has blessed me with this creature, but I am not above giving thanks to the goddess Unir for gifting me with such an attractive woman as well.
“The gods have smiled down on me, that much is true,” I admit with a small shrug.
Gunnar tilts his head to the side, then chuckles before he turns forward. “Judging by the noises coming from your tent, I have a feeling this one is quite fun.”
I could be offended by his words, but I am not. Fundr is natural and men often boast about it amongst themselves, especially warriors such as we are and since my woman cannot understand us, she will not be offended by the raucous talk of what transpired between the furs last night.
“Very much so,” I smile. “Very much,” I rasp, dipping my chin to touch my mouth to the side of her neck. Liv relaxes against me and I can’t stop the smile from playing on my lips at the slight shift.
We’re quiet for a few moments, then Fiske speaks. “She is not pure, is she?” he asks.
Narrowing my gaze, my head whips to the side to look at my brother. “Fiske,” I say in a warning tone.
He shrugs a shoulder. “You are a konungr, Aaric. You should be bringing in a pure wife to keep your bloodline intact and traceable.”
I throw back my head in laughter. “How many pure women do you know, Fiske?”
His mouth opens then closes and I watch as he grinds his teeth together, gnashing them. Gunnar chuckles beneath his breath, along with Hagen and Kjeld who are riding directly behind us.
“It’s as I thought, bródir.” I do not offer more conversation.
I have not asked Liv how many other men have been inside of her body. If she was married, and I killed her husband, or what her circumstances are, it matters not. I couldn’t even if I wanted to anyway, since we cannot understand one another.
LIV
I’m in awe, so much so, that I don’t even attempt to try to eavesdrop on the conversation that the men are having around me. This morning when I woke up beneath the warm furs, I thought for sure that I was still dreaming, I even pinched myself.
The pinching didn’t wake me up, so I went in search of Aaric and then took a bath in a river of freezing ass water. I’m definitely not dreaming anymore, not in the slightest and I’m really scared shitless at this point.
I’m not in New York, I know that much. I have no clue where I am, because the world around me is nothing like I’ve seen before in my life. My breath hitches at the sights that surround me.
The sky is a greenish hue, something that I’ve only seen pictures of right before a tornado is about to hit, except there isn’t a cloud in the sky. It’s cold, and definitely not any kind of tornado weather that I’ve ever heard of before.
The sky isn’t the only thing that is totally freaking me out. There’s the simple fact that the leaves of the trees are all red and not just red, but blood-red. I’ve never seen anything like it before. They almost sparkle as we pass them one by one.
I want to ask Aaric what the fuck is going on, but even if I did, he wouldn’t understand a word that I’m saying. So far, I know mine, sleep, eat, and better. I don’t know how we can have any kind of conversation together, this whole thing is beyond my wildest dreams.
Letting out a sigh, I lean back against his strong chest. I don’t know why I’m putting all of my trust in this stranger, this gigantic, sexy as shit, stranger, but I am.
It’s not like I have much of a choice, though. He’s claimed me and my body has claimed him right back, even if my head is screaming that this may not be quite right.
We’re riding toward the sea, I can smell the salty air, practically taste it too. Glancing down, I gasp, unable to hold in my surprise. There is sand, but it’s hot pink. Not just pink, like the pink sand in the Bahamas, but this is almost neon-colored.
“Aaric,” I shout.
He tugs back on his horses’ reins, stopping the beautiful creature. Looking back at him, I tell him that I have to get off. His brows pinch together, he shakes his head in confusion, but I point to the ground.
Without another word, I slide off of the horse, falling flat on my ass, but I don’t care. Aaric calls my name, but I ignore him as I run toward the beach, toward the hot pink sand. It’s too beautiful to ignore.
I don’t know how it got here, and I’m now one hundred percent convinced that I am not in New York, not even in the United States. That should terrify me, but I’m too mesmerized by the sand beneath my feet.
Sinking down to my ass, I dig my fingers in the sand, letting it sift through them. It’s so soft, almost like refined sugar. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It’s amazing. I hear footsteps crunching through the sand behind me and I know that it’s Aaric, probably angry with me for the way I flew off of the horse and ran toward the beach.
“Liv,” his voice rumbles.
Taking a handful of sand, I lift it up as I turn to look at him. “It’s amazing,” I breathe.
He tilts his head to the side, then shakes it a couple of times as his eyes search my face and he realizes that this is not an act of defiance, but rather of wonder.
“Koma,” he murmurs, holding his hand out for me, palm up.
The sand falls from my hand and my lips twitch into a smile as I reach up for him. “Come,” I say, glad that I can add another word to his strange language that I understand.
He dips his chin as he tugs me up to my feet. I expect him to guide me back to his horse, but he doesn’t. Instead, he turns me around in his arms, pulling me back against his chest. I hold my breath as his hand wraps around the front of my throat, and forces my gaze to lift straight ahead.
I gasp at the sight of the fleet of ships in front of me. There aren’t just one or two, there are at least a dozen. They are huge, wooden, and from what I can tell carved with details that I can’t make out. They are gorgeous, they cannot be real and there is no way that they will float let alone sail in the ocean.
Then my eyes flick to the water and I let out a scream. Aaric turns me around to look into my eyes, but I know that what he sees is nothing but wild terror and that is because the water is bright green. Not just gross, mildewed funky water green, but green-green.
Lifting my hands, I grip his shirt and hold on to it tightly. “That water is green Aaric not just a little green, but it’s really really green. What the hell is going on, where the hell am I? You kidnapped me, I was falling for it all, but what the fuck?” I scream during my entire rambling session.
Aaric stares at me, half-horrified and half-curious as I rant and rave about the color of the ocean. “Aaric,” I sigh. “You can’t understand me.”