Not wishing to play into his games, I lift my chin slightly and look down my nose at him. “I wish to go to bed, Aaric,” I hiss.
“Go, then.”
“I don’t know where my room is. I haven’t really been here very long,” I snap.
His lips twitch. “Gunnar will take you.”
Nodding my head once, I release my fingers from his arm. Gunnar appears, and I stand to my feet, swaying slightly when I do. He reaches for me, sliding his arm around my waist, and quietly leads me away from my wedding celebrations.
I wish that Gunnar understood anything that I said. He doesn’t, so I don’t bother speaking. There’s no point to it at all. Besides, he loves his king and I am just this woman who somehow fell from the sky, who traveled to another world to fulfill some prophecy or some shit.
It doesn’t take us long to make our way through the party, the crowd, and the huge-ass room. We’re in front of the door that I slept in last night and got ready in.
“No,” I whisper, shaking my head.
Gunnar lifts his chin, reaching for the handle. He pushes the door open. I stay put, not moving. Lifting my hand to my chest. I ask him, “Where is my room. Me? Mine?” I ask.
“Minn?”
“Yes, minn,” I nod.
He shakes his head saying something, that if I’m reading him correctly is along the lines of no, this is you and your king’s place.
“No,” I snap. “Minn.”
His lips curve up into a small smile and it’s obvious that he thinks I’m being cute in my stubbornness. He doesn’t realize that I’m not being cute at all, in fact, I’m completely and totally serious. I do not want to be in the same room as that big fucking asshole.
“Nei, dróttning,” he rasps.
He dips his chin toward the empty room and I stomp my foot, childishly, before I brush past him and make my way into the space. Only when the door is closed, do I turn around to face it.
My lips curve up into a smile when I spy the piece of wood that is leaning next to the door. It looks like it will fit perfectly in the piece of wood that is nailed to the back of the door, and the other next to it on the wall. It’s a lock of sorts, one that would bar anyone from opening the door and coming inside.
“Perfect,” I hum.
Lifting the heavy piece of wood, I push it against the door and let it fall down until it fits perfectly against the wooden pieces. Grinning, I slowly undress and unpin my hair.
There is a small table where I sat to have my hair done earlier. It doesn’t take me long to release my hair from the braids, the twists, and pins.
Wearing nothing but a very thin white gauzy undergarment dress, I search for something more for bed. The wardrobe has one dresser and is otherwise filled with men’s clothes and furs. With a heavy sigh, I decide to go to bed in nothing but the see-through gauzy dress.
Slipping between the mattress and the over sheet, beneath the two furs, I let out a heavy sigh as I close my eyes.
The room spins, but it doesn’t matter. I’m exhausted and soon I’ll be fast asleep in dreamland. Maybe I’ll even wake up at home, in my apartment, and all of this would be nothing but a bad dream.
A girl could only be so lucky.
AARIC
Gunnar grunts behind me. I know that it’s him, because I can feel his disapproving gaze on the back of my head. Lifting my hand, I motion for him to come next to me. He takes a seat in Liv’s vacated chair.
Without turning to him, I ask him what his problem is. “You ignore your bride, then do not even take her to your room, on your wedding eve? Aaric, this is not the man that I know you to be.”
I shrug a shoulder, knowing deep inside of me that Gunnar is not wrong. I am not the Aaric that he knows, not when it comes to this woman. She drives me berserkr. I don’t even know what to do with her. I want to like her. I want her. But I feel as though the gods have deceived me.
“I have not made a decision on her yet,” I lie.
My decision was made by my böllur the second I locked my eyes on her. Gunnar arches a brow at me, he is obviously not believing my words. I don’t blame him, I know them for what they are, complete lies.
“You need to make it right. Warriors do not go without on their wedding nights.”
He doesn’t allow me to respond to his words. Instead, he stands and walks away. Turning back to him, I focus on the young woman next to me. She is the daughter of one of my wealthiest farmers. She’s lovely, young, and judging by the way she leans forward with each word she says, she would be easy to take for the night.
Liv is waiting for me and Gunnar is right, I need to go to my wife. Instead of leaving immediately, I stay longer than I should, talking to the farmer’s daughter. She’s spoiled, entitled, and immature.
Without excusing myself, I stand to my feet and turn away from her as she babbles about something that I have no interest in. I am more interested in staring down her dress than listening to anything she has to say.
She reaches for my hand, wrapping her fingers around my wrist and tugging. Turning my head, I look back over my shoulder and dip my chin down to look into her eyes.
“Where are you going?” she asks, pouting her bottom lip.
Lifting my eyes, I look around the room. The men and women that are left are all naked and participating in orgies. I snort, then flick my gaze back to her.
“To my wife,” I mutter.
She licks her lips and shakes her head, her blonde hair moving around her shoulders. “She is old and foreign. Come to my bed, my Konungr.”
My eyes search hers for a moment. I grunt, then take a step back, shaking her grip from my wrist. “Nei, I will not go to your bed. You’re disrespectful to my dróttning, therefore disrespecting your konungr. I recommend you remove yourself from my sight.”
Without another word or a glance, back, I walk away from her and through the crows of writhing bodies until I come upon my bedroom door. Pushing against the wooden door, I expect it to open easily.
It doesn’t.
I push harder and it still doesn’t budge. I grunt, pushing it again. I hear the wooden barrier move against the other side and growl. She has locked me from my own bed. I grunt, then Gunnar appears from nowhere and I hear his chuckle next to me.
“Need to sleep with your warriors tonight?” he asks.
“She will pay for this,” I snap.
He laughs, lifting his hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Yes, I have no doubt that she will. Hagen will stand by her door all evening and act as her watchman.”
“He better,” I grumble.
A few moments later we are walking away from my wedding bed. Gunnar has two jugs of spirits in his hands and we are no doubt going to ofrqlvi.
Chapter Fourteen
LIV
I probably shouldn’t have slept the best sleep I’ve had in years. I totally locked my brand new husband out of our room and promptly passed the hell out. Now, that it’s the next morning and I feel somewhat refreshed, I’m sure that I should feel guilty for doing what I did.
The problem? I don’t.
Maybe it’s not a problem, though. I highly doubt that Aaric feels guilty for forcing me to sacrifice a defenseless animal, then ignoring me the whole damn night. I’m sure that the women that came up to him in droves comforted him thoroughly.