Swirling darkness, hostile anger that didn't belong to her, her heart racing in her chest, and then, finally, golden hues everywhere.
She'd run toward the gold, run toward that feeling of safety. Then, there was nothing— until now.
She glanced over her shoulder to find Herrick asleep, his breath tickling her ear as his dreams held him under for a little while longer. Turning slightly in his arms, Maude traced his features with her eyes before gently running her fingers over his cheekbones and then over the coarse hair that he'd started keeping a bit longer than usual on his square jaw. She rested her fingers on the pulse in his throat, the steady beating under her fingertips matching the cadence in her chest as threads of gold seemed to swirl around them.
Hjartparan. Could she and Herrick really be bonded by fate? And if they were, was any of what she felt for him real?
She tried to categorize how she felt about him, how her chest seemed to swell whenever he made her laugh or when he gently tousled her hair or when he stood at her back, ready to defend her if she needed it but always letting her handle it first.
She thought about how in their shared moments of quiet, the warmth of comfort would overwhelm her to the point of tears burning at the back of her throat. She thought about how he would grip her fingers in his when he noticed she was picking at the skin around her nails when her nerves overwhelmed her. She thought about how he would always give her the last piece of cheese when they shared a meal without her asking because he knew she developed a deep love for the chunks of herb and garlic cheddar her father had served them in Nida.
Maude loved him. At least, she imagined she did. She had never loved someone who wasn't her family, had never wanted someone to stick around long enough for her to love them.
But Herrick had burrowed his way under her skin and into her heart.
He knew her; every quirk, every tick and habit she had, every preference and love. He understood her.
When she brought her eyes back to Herrick's face, she found him watching her. She ran her thumb over his lips, and he parted them, catching the soft pad between his teeth and biting down gently.
"I didn't mean to wake you," she whispered.
The afternoon sun was grey and dreary as the storm from earlier finally passed, casting the inside of the tent into darkness that only the small hearth in the center of the space kept lit.
"I will never mind waking up to your touch,minn eldr," Herrick whispered as he leaned forward and caught her lips with his.
Even when just waking, he still tasted like bright berries and sunshine. She opened for him, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to taste her. She groaned, the sound reverberating through him as he greedily tasted her. Just when her body started to relax, the aches disappearing from her muscles, Maude remembered what had happened in the cave with the prisoner before everything went dark.
She pulled back, her eyes widening in alarm. "What happened to me in that cave?"
He pressed his lips together in a tight line like he was deciding how much to tell her.
"Herrick," she said quietly, feeling small. "Please tell me what happened. All I remember was rage and then cold nothingness."
Before he answered, he sat up from the cot they were asleep on and scrubbed his face with his hands a few times. She followed his lead, sitting up slowly as the aching had returned. When he still didn't respond, she got to her feet as her body buzzed with nervous energy. He watched her pace for a few moments before he finally responded.
"Hela's grip on you is getting stronger," he explained gravely. "Bryn seems to think it has something to do with the number of kills; I think it has more to do with the fact that she feeds on your rage. I'm not sure we'll ever know the how behind her interference, but we need to know the why."
"What did I do?" Maude asked, keeping her eyes on the ground as she pulled her leggings on.
"You tore up the sergeant's brain with your healinggalderuntil he bled from every opening, then you created a vortex of wind and fire that was ready to take us all out. I got close enough to stop you, but you broke my nose first."
Her eyes flashed up to his face again as he moved to stand in front of her, his large hands gripping her elbows. She eyed his nose, its straight bridge as perfect as it had been before. He must've seen the question in her eyes because he snorted.
"Dahlia healed me up afterward," he explained.
"I must have gotten you good if she had to step in and fix it before yourgaldercould," Maude huffed, a small chuckle leaving her despite the horrifying news.
"Eh, it was only a small fracture," Herrick replied as he smiled at her.
He was radiant when he smiled this way, fully and completely at ease. It usually worked to rid her of her worries, not that she'd ever tell him that. The goddess of Hel was quickly worming her way into complete control over Maude with every moment that passed, all because she'd been carrying and using that dagger for ten years since her mother gave it to her.
She tried to be angry about it, tried to place the blame on her mother for not explaining what it was and how dangerous it was, but found that she couldn't do it. One of the last journal entries from the time that Sylvi had spent with Aeric flashed into Maude's mind.
The time to act on my plan has arrived, and I'm not ready for it.
This time that I've spent with Aeric and the things he has shown me in the short months we've known each other have been the greatest and most exciting months of my life. This was the last trip I'll ever take to Nida— the hunting ruse has worn out its worth to the citizens of Hallifel, and there have been reports of Flame Soldiers in the areas around the Chasm. It's time to draw them in.
But I don't want to. I want to stay wrapped in Aeric's arms forever. I want to live out my days among the Elven. I want to raise our child here.
