A Valkyrie's Apprentice: Book Two

Until Dawn

– K Á R A –

I had countless opportunities to hold Tayah in my arms while we slept in the past. But last night's was especially memorable. The kind that scorched into your mind so that you could draw back on it again and again. Even before when I had tried to keep myself from getting attached. When we had acted out our desires on that horrific boat journey... I took longer than I should have to leave that bed in the morning before her breathing became lighter and she woke.

Presently I couldn't see myself ever letting her go. Seeing her chained to that dark wall before those mortals–the first thing that gripped my heart was cold. That I had somehow been too late, that I had lost her down there entirely. 

I'm not sure what my actions would result in if that had happened. I tried not to think on it but I somehow pictured myself doing something far worse than Anselle ever has. My fingers subconsciously tightened around her and I felt her sigh beneath my chin. A light smile touched my lips as I traced the strands of her dark brown hair down her face with my eyes.

She had always looked so innocent in dreams. I could practically see the woman she would have become had it not been for the horrors in her beginning. Young farmer's girl with the stern and stubborn nature who found the tales of the Valkyrie so impossible yet wonderful. She would have likely gone onto the King's army and respectable royal guard in no time.

She mumbled something in her sleep into my skin and pushed her arm further into the sheets. I pulled them higher over her exposed back before continuing to watch the morning sunlight play on her skin.

Perhaps she would have found someone with less death in their path to have a life with. My thoughts flashed back to that Lara Rensbrooke mortal and I smirked ahead.

Something else told me that reality would never play out. That there was a fire in her born long before the mercenaries had burned it hotter. Staying in one place and not moving forward were two things Tayah Ashrive's nature went against. One of the many reasons I loved her so.

"What are you giggling at." She mumbled into my neck without bothering to open her eyes.

"Nothing. Sleep." I ordered her.

She opened one eye and smiled. "Now you have my attention. Was it something naughty?"

I sighed and pushed some hair out of her face before answering. "It was about the past. Yours in particular."

"I guess it is laughable at the best of times." She agreed, closing her eyes again.

This made me smile and flick her on the nose. She scowled before seeing my own smile and returning it with a kiss. But she didn't linger on it.

"Tell me then."

"I thought of what your life would have been as a farmer's daughter... or a king's guard." I admitted, hoping her reaction didn't linger on the darker parts of that past.

She took it well of course. Propping up on her elbow and leaving her other arm draped across my stomach under the sheets. "Well, I certainly wouldn't have the two kids and chickens to look after as I can see where your imagination went."

I snorted and she took on a devilish look. "Farmer or not I am quite demanding of my life and this sense of humour wouldn't be going anywhere."

"The world would truly suffer without it." I answered dryly, earning a slap on the arm. My eyes burned brighter in response and she rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't want it anyway." She finished, taking me off guard. "I was running on borrowed time as a mortal. Not only do I get a lot longer now, I also get stuck with you. It's just a shame that you get that face for eternity–"