"Ah, of course," Herrick scoffed as he released her and took a step back. A wall went back up in his eyes as he continued to speak. "I see how you all tip-toe around the topic of my capture. Do you all think me so fragile now? I thought that we were always equals, but I suppose that means only when I have my full strength. Am I no longer a warrior to you now that can handle whatever truth you throw at me?"
Was that what he thought? He thought she didn't think of him as a warrior anymore because of his capture and the continued shackles that followed him to freedom? Not for one second did she think less of him because of his temporary limitations. But Herrick did not know what he was fighting for, and that would make him reckless with his strength. He didn't realize that by being close to her, close to her fate, she might lose him.
But if she didn't let him in, she would definitely lose him.
The reality slammed into her as he continued speaking. They had been so absorbed in getting lost in each other, in putting their focus on all the wrong things while ignoring what was festering in their souls. Now, both bare in both skin and soul, the truth was exposed— raw and unforgiving.
"Why am I not able to sacrifice for the woman I love, even if she may never love me back?" Herrick shouted, bringing her back to their conversation. "Whatever you are keeping for me, I canhandle—"
"You think I don't love you?" Maude cut him off, her eyebrows raising almost to her hairline.
Herrick did not respond; he only kept his wrathful gaze trained on her until her spine shivered. When he focused on her with this lethality, he could get her to admit anything, which was perhaps why Maude did what she did next.
"You say that I no longer see you as the ruthless warrior that you are," Maude whispered against his skin as she drew closer to him. "That I do not see you as an equal without yourgalder."
She trailed her hands down over his shoulders, her fingers catching on the iron band around his throat before feeling the burnt flesh that was smoother than the rest. Swallowing her outrage, Maude brought Herrick's pleasure to the front of her mind. He began to pull away from her fingers as they explored the various healed wounds, but Maude tipped her head up long enough to catch his eye and stop him.
"You say that I may never love you the way you love me," she continued, pushing the thickening of emotion from her throat.
Moving slowly so Herrick did not withdraw further, Maude placed a gentle kiss on the burn that stretched from his shoulder to his clavicle. She felt him shudder under her touch, but he did not move away, so she cautiously continued.
Maude treated each burn and wound he had received at Helvig's order reverently with her lips. Eventually, Herrick relaxed as Maude made her way down his bared chest that held the evidence of his abuse. Her hands moved to rest on Herrick's hips, fingers teasing the water that lapped around them.
It was her mission to replace each ugly memory with the memory of her mouth on his skin. Herrick's breathing quickly became more shallow, his hands moving to rove over her wherever they could reach her. His rune necklaces were the only things that remained on his strong body, the leather straps wrapped around his wrist skating over her skin as he moved. But she paused as her eyes took in the scars on his hips and groin that had not been there before.
Scattered over his hips and down to his thighs were more burns that had healed quickly despite thegalderblocking iron around his throat.
A blaze sparked in her chest from the anger that flooded her. Herrick's hand tilted her head up so she could meet his eyes. Though the shame that had been present in his eyes still lingered, lust now overrode any inner demons that Herrick might have been battling. His fingers wove through her wet hair, and the tight hold he had on her brought her back to her previous mission.
Dipping her hand under the water, she wrapped her hand around his cock, the velvet skin soft in her grip, and pumped her hand along his length once, reveling in how Herrick bucked his hips into her grasp.
"You say I don't trust you with the truth? Well, here it is," Maude repeated to him. He would need to see her face to know she spoke truly.
She paused as she held his attention fully now. The physical part of their relationship was easy, which was why Maude needed to get close to him like this so he would hear her when she spoke the harder words.
"I left you in Dagsbrun to protect you from Helvig but also to protect you from me," she confessed as she reached for Herrick's hand, which was resting on her hip, and brought it to rest over her fatemark. "I received a letter from Bryn the night I left. She had been reading our mother's journals and read about my fate telling, how Hildr had whispered to my mother what we thought was the last rune in my fate. She told my mother that I would enter into a partnership that would bring great sacrifice."
Releasing him, she took a step back, needing the space to continue her confession. The lack of his hands on her skin left her feeling empty.
"Of course, I thought of you. I was not going to sacrifice you or your safety. So I left," she continued. "And you were captured anyway. Tormented and burned under Helvig's orders. When I saw the evidence of what he had done to you, something in me begged to distance myself from you. At my side, you will get hurt, and Icannotwithstand that. Don't ask me to be witness to your downfall because the gods chose me for their twisted plans."
She tried to catch her breath and find a way to hide what she was feeling, but she had to force herself to remain vulnerable.
"On the ship, when you told me all I did was lie to you…you were right," she whispered, the words she spoke taking everything out of her. "I knew then that you were starting to see what everyone else saw: an angry, selfish brat who was not worth sticking around for."
She glanced up at Herrick, hoping to see whatever he was feeling written on his face, but she only saw a resolve that frightened her.
Letting the fortress she had built around her heart finally crumble to pieces, Maude met his eye and held it as she whispered, "You have my trust, Herrick, even if what you went through has changed you. Even if I am the reason for your transformation. If your darkness is surfacing, then we can live in it together because there is nothing we cannot handle. You say that I don't love you... You arewrong."
For a loaded moment, nothing happened. She had poured herself into the truth, let herself be vulnerable with him just like he had been asking of her, and it was all for nothing.
Then, Herrick took a step closer to her, his presence a balm despite how desperately she wished she could push him away. Arms wrapped around her waist, one hand grasping the back of her neck lightly before tilting her face up.
"Whatever the gods have planned, we can take it," Herrick whispered as his lips pressed lightly against her forehead before they traced her scar. "I don't care about what they chose for us— I choose us. I know this is right. We will make it out of this mess."
Earth shattering tenderness radiated from him as he surged forward to kiss her. Soft lips that tasted of berries molded to hers, intoxicating her faster than any mead or ale could. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Maude pulled him closer to her until their bodies were pressed together in the hot water. She was a coward who would take back what she had just revealed if she was pushed. Pretty words had never been easy to utter; she chose to show him instead.
35
