Soul of Furies (Book Three)

Epilogue

22 Years Later

I never wanted this day to come. In fact...I sooner believed that this was all a dream and that it wouldn't really happen, but unfortunately, that's not the case.

It feels like just yesterday, Thora and I were seated on this outlook dubbed "Itchy Armpit". I spoke to her about my worries and she comforted me, and although we were little more than strangers...a bond began that day that can't simply be broken.

Thora lays in my arms, her chest rising shakily with every breath. I purse my lips and hold her closer to me, her body resting sideways over my lap with her head resting on my shoulder. Every now and then, I feel one of her especially long breaths against my neck.

"Hiccup?" she whispers, her voice soft with weariness.

"Yes?" I ask, trying to keep the edge of desperation from my tone.

Her brown eyes stare up at me with a sort of hidden amusement that, even to this day, only I can ever truly get out of her. Thora never shows a lot of who she really is around the others. That side of her remains as a secret between her and I.

Secrets...we have far too many, if you ask me.

"You're nervous," she notes, making me roll my eyes. "I can feel your heart racing," she adds, before coughing. "You don't have to feel like this."

"It's hard not to, milady," I say.

She laughs softly, a sound that is rarely heard and precious to my ears. "Milady..." she muses over the word. "I haven't heard you call me that in a while."

I run my hand along her arm, stuck in a sort of disbelief. "Thora, how can you be so calm when..." The words catch in my throat and I have to force them down. "When Valhalla will be calling you home at any moment?"

She doesn't answer right away, giving me the time to look at her. Despite being in her mid-fifties, like me, she still retains a sort of youthful glow to her. Her freckles are still prominent and her eyes haven't lost their depth, although a few grey hairs have appeared amongst her auburn strands. Her lips lift into the barest trace of a smile.

"I have done all I can, and I feel at peace," she says. "I did my time. Destin and Runa have grown up and found their own paths, the Night Furies are regaining their old numbers, and Berk is the peaceful place I have come to enjoy." She shuts her eyes for a moment, taking a slow breath in and out. "It feels...okay."

I can't help but smile just a little bit, amazed by how my wife, my wife with tendencies towards pessimism or at least negativity, is seeing such a happy life now. Now, when her time is ticking away little by little.

"Hiccup..." she breathes, her lips brushing against my stubbled jaw as she lifts herself slightly, her arms draped on my shoulders and almost at my neck. "I don't think I've ever truly thanked you for everything."

"Thank me?" I laugh shortly. "I don't think I need thanking."

"Oh, but you do," she retorts with a loving smirk, albeit she's looking more tired by the second. "I want to thank you for everything you've done for me since the day I showed up on the back of that Night Fury. You're...you're the one person whom I didn't have to hide from, and that's something that should never be taken for granted." Her smirk melts into a simple smile, no teeth, just an upward turn of her lips. "And, of course, you deserve to be thanked for all those times I lied or kept the truth from you and yet you never left me." She laughs as she hugs me a little tighter. "You're either very loyal or very foolish."