Dark Passions at Death's Door

34 - Peeping Valkyrie

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How long had she been staring at these stones? Nїx thought perhaps she'd been enjoying the pretty things for far too long.

But when she looked around, she didn't see anything threatening her. The realm's star had been hanging overhead when they'd first arrived. Now it had begun setting.

She must have been out of it for a couple hours. Some small part of her considered leaving. The rest discarded the idea immediately.

She'd made a promise, and if nothing else, she'd keep that.

The river was placid, and most of the gnats seemed to have figured out she was a swift bug-splatterer. So many of the little things had died off, they were now keeping a distance. There was that, and the smoke from the fire appeared to keep them under a sort of sedation. An aroma from the tree bark, perhaps?

She shook herself.

Where the hells was the reaper?

She cast her senses out. Most Valkyries relied on their five senses, but ever since she had felt the jolts the last couple months, she'd begun to realize she could sense beings with more clarity through their vibrations.

Within less than a second she found him. He was over by those cliffs. What was he doing? Valkyries being engineered for curiosity and investigating, she was off in an instant.

After all, hadn't Regin's favorite phrase been, 'Fuck it.'? Sating one's curiosity wasn't a sin.

But it had been so long since she had dwelt completely in the present. Since she'd let her skin soak in the sunlight through the tree canopies without being haunted by her mate's vision.

Following the vibration of the reaper was simple. Without his cloak, it was effortless to discern. His was unique out of most immortals.

She went over it, slowly coming to understand him. Soothing, lulling, but with a brimming edge underneath. What others perceived as spooky or creepy, she recognized deeply suppressed desires.

There was that, and wrath. He hated evil and arrogance.

The sound of the waterfall thundering grew, the foliage more spread out.

A clearing ahead opened out to a vast pool, five football fields wide. The waterfall fed the massive river to her left.

If the star in this realm rotated the same as Earth, then the river flowed east to west.

The waterfalls from the cliffs were cascading, some in hard sheets, others in sprinkles.

Nїx's jaw dropped.

Byron stood on one boulder in the center.

That particular sheet of water was pounding. Hard enough to sting even an immortal. For his young age, with that kind of hypersensitivity, it had to hurt like hells. Like ice knives striking every inch of his torso.

Yet he remained still.

It was one thing to take a shower, but his skin was turning a tint of red.

She drank the sight of him in. Now she could get to peep a little and enjoy. When her conscience reminded her of what she'd said about him stalking Valkyries, she pushed Jiminy off.

This wasn't the same! Not entirely.

Maybe just a little... ooooo, whatever! She was going to enjoy it, damn it.

He'd stripped himself of everything. She could see those legs and that ass perfectly. Those muscles weren't rock hard but toned enough to show he had strength there. More than just strength, he was flexible.