Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
I reach up, running my fingers through his hair, feeling the silken strands against my skin. His breath quickens at my touch, and when our eyes lock, I can see the raw need in them, a need only I can sate.
With a low growl, he thrusts into me, filling me completely. I gasp at the stretch, so thick and deep and right that it takes my breath away. He pulls back slightly then thrusts again, each movement sending shockwaves of pleasure through me like an electric current.
I wrap my legs around him tighter, feeling his muscles ripple with exertion. His eyes latch onto mine once more, his gaze deep and intense, silver glowing in the moonlight. He thrusts harder now, desperate for release, desperate to take me with him.
My body responds to his urgency, matching his fervent desire with equal intensity. We move together as one, each movement perfectly synchronized. The sound of our ragged breaths mingle with the rustling of leaves and the gentle whine of wind passing through the forest.
The heat between us builds until it bursts like a supernova, washing over me in waves of pure, blinding pleasure, followed by a rush of emotion that swells, threatening to spill over. I can’t find the words to express what I feel in this moment, so I press my lips to his, pouring all my love and longing into the kiss. The world falls away around us, leaving only the echo of our heartbeats and the whisper of the branches overhead.
As we break apart and he pulls out, lowering me back to the ground, a rustling in the underbrush startles us. Tuoni tenses, his hand instinctively reaching for his sword, but instead of an enemy lurking in the darkness, a small fox of fur and bone emerges, its golden eyes curious as it regards us.
I can’t help but let out a soft laugh at the unexpected visitor. Tuoni relaxes beside me as it runs off into the night.
“We might have scarred that poor fox for life,” I tell him. “Think of the things he’ll tell Tapio.”
“Animals understand it better than anyone,” he says to me, doing up his pants and helping me smooth down my dress before he takes my hand and leads me back to camp.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
DEATH
Morning in the Hiisi Forest comes quietly and bitterly cold. Our makeshift camp rests in a glen where the ancient trees, at Tapio’s urging, have bowed their great limbs to shield us from the skies. I hunch over by a low-burning fire, the smoke locked in place by a ward Ilmarinen placed over the campfires, carefully nursing a tin cup of coffee between my gloves, a small luxury that makes camping in the wild worthwhile.
Hanna sits across from me, perched on the broad root of a gnarled tree. My wife. My queen. The Goddess of Death and the Sun, ruler of Tuonela at my side. It still jolts me to think of her fully like this, after everything we’ve been through.
But I see the hesitation on her face, the way her fingers hover over the cup I offered her. She put on a brave face, but now that the morning is here, she’s afraid—afraid that if she calls too strongly on her powers of the sun, the gift that makes her so formidable, it might strip away her true self again. Her mind, her love, her identity—fragile things balanced on the edge of that divine fire.
She sips the coffee anyway, her dark lashes lowered, chestnut brown hair braided loosely over one shoulder, ends tied together with vines courtesy of Tellervo. The greenish light of the Hiisi Forest canopy makes her look pale, but I know how much strength she carries inside.
I wish I could take that fear from her. I’d carry it myself if I could, but even Gods have limits.
Lovia has gone for a walk with the Magician. I trust Lovia, and I trust the Magician, in his own cryptic way. Still, their relationship concerns me a little. I noticed it before, back at Castle Syntri, and thought nothing of it, but since we’ve come to the forest, they’ve been inseparable. Perhaps the two of them search for answers, for a path through the Kaaos threatening Tuonela. Or maybe it’s something more than that. If that’s the case, I should talk to her, because the last thing I need is for my daughter to lose her head over…well, I don’t really know what the fuck the Magician is. It doesn’t matter—she needs to keep her focus on what’s at hand, like the general she is.
The rest of our small army stirs quietly in the dawn. Soldiers rake coals back to life, sharpen blades dulled by too many battles, check their guns, and whisper hopes of winning any next battles. Still, I think they’re happier here than they were at Castle Syntri—if you can call their stern, glum faces happy. Then again, they are Finnish and hard to read.