Ellan only regretted that she could not see his face clearly as Aevir had said those precious things to her. When he kissed her, his hands moved over her as he took her mouth. They seemed to be everywhere at once. Her shoulder, her hip, her stomach, her breast, in a dizzying rotation that stole her breath.
‘You don’t know how often I’ve dreamed of you like this. Lying beneath me with your pretty breasts out.’ His breath was hot on her lips as he spoke between kisses.
‘Too bad you can’t see them,’ she teased, leaning up the slightest bit to recapture his tongue. She would take this now. Tomorrow was soon enough to worry about the future.
‘Aye, but I can feel them. I can remember how perfect they look.’ He smiled against her mouth as his large palm covered one of them. She arched into the touch and then he drew the nipple between the rough pads of his thumb and forefinger and tugged gently, drawing a moan from her lips and a pleased hum from him. ‘Do you like that?’
Of course she did. But he seemed to want an answer, so despite the fact that her face was flaming, she said, ‘I like it very much.’
His mouth moved down the column of her throat, licking and lightly sucking as he went. ‘Let me pleasure you,’ he whispered as he settled over the hollow of her throat, dipping his tongue inside it.
‘Aye,’ she said over and over in small breaths.
He pinched her nipple, drawing out another ragged moan, before he cupped the underside of her breast and lifted it to his mouth. She could barely comprehend what he meant to do before he had taken the tip into the blazing heat of his mouth. She nearly came off the ground as he sucked at her, making pleasure pour through her body. They both shifted, him more fully over her, and she parted her thighs as he wedged his knee between them. His hands moved to cup the hollows at the back of her knees, drawing them further apart.
‘Wider,’ he whispered.
She relented and let him position them so that he could settle into the cradle of her hips. His manhood was hard against her. She wasn’t bold enough to try to take hold of him there, so she arched upwards towards him, experimenting with the heaviness that lay against her centre. He groaned in response and pushed into her, effectively grinding his length against her. She wasn’t prepared for the answering wave of need that moved through her, making her ache to receive him.
‘Aevir,’ she pleaded.
‘I want to touch you.’ His voice was a harsh whisper.
‘Aye, please.’ Her breath came in gasps, like she’d just taken a run across the moors.
His hand moved between them and his fingers found her over her leggings. In nimble strokes, he moved up and down the length of her, giving her just enough to crave even more. Her hips bucked as liquid heat fed the ache so that it seemed nearly unbearable.
‘Not enough,’ she whispered as she moved restlessly, her fingers twisted almost savagely in his hair as she held him to her breast. ‘Please.’
He drew her other nipple into his heat, bathing the peak with his tongue before he let it go and moved up to look at her. She would have given anything to see the wicked expression he wore when he said, ‘Unfasten your leggings.’ And then, twining his fingers in the plaited hair at her nape to pull her back for him, he took her mouth in an unforgiving kiss.
Her hands shook and her fingers were clumsy as she tugged at the ties. For one heart-stopping moment she thought the knot wouldn’t give and she wondered if he could cut it with his knife. But then it loosened and his hand was skimming over her belly to disappear down the front of her leggings.
‘By the gods,’ he whispered against her mouth as his fingers found her damp and aching centre. The pad of his longest finger circled her and then moved down, savouring the liquid heat he had created and drawing it up to where she was swollen and sensitive for him. He circled her again and then swiped over the flesh, drawing another cry from her. Moving back down, it seemed that he let each finger explore her, feeling her, learning her, until he cupped her in his palm and held her.
‘You are such a gift to me.’ His mouth had moved to her ear, both of them too lost in the other to keep up the kissing.
‘Please, Aevir. I ache for you.’ Her body clenched and throbbed, searching for more. She found it when he gently parted her flesh and eased first one, and then a second broad finger into her. A moan tore from her lips when he moved them in a slow rhythm as his thumb traced over the swollen nub he had found earlier.
Pleasure rose in her, both hotter and fiercer than she had ever felt before. This was more than she had imagined was possible. ‘Please, please, please.’ It was a mantra as she twisted beneath him, searching for something she did not know.
His mouth found her nipple again and she might have jumped out of her body. Everything was sensation and want. There was no cold, no hunger. Nothing but Aevir and his hands and mouth.
He rose over her, leaning on an elbow placed on the ground above her head. He stared down at her and she might have had the presence of mind to be embarrassed if she thought he could see her face. His fingers slipped out of her, but she didn’t have time to mourn her loss as they came to rest on that aching part of her.
‘I love you,’ he whispered.
‘Aevir.’ She shook her head, trying to find breath for what she wanted to say. ‘Join with me. Please.’ She did not want this night to end without becoming one with him, even if it were only for the night.
His fingers stopped teasing her, holding firm pressure against the swollen ache. ‘When I join with you, Ellan, it will be to make you my wife.’
Her breath came in desperate, gasping breaths. Elswyth had explained to her that the Danes did not believe a man and woman were truly married—even after their wedding—until the couple were joined...one body...and they share the special honeyed mead. She didn’t want to go home without knowing what it was like to be with him in that way. No matter what happened—if Lord Vidar somehow found a way to keep them apart, if Aevir decided not to choose her after all—she wanted this to hold on to.
His breath stopped, as did his fingers. ‘Ellan.’ The thumb of the hand near her face stroked her brow in reverence as he asked again, ‘Do you want to be my wife?’
‘Aye,’ she whispered. She wanted it. She simply did not trust that it would happen.
He let out a breath as if he had been uncertain of her answer and fell over her. She almost cried out, bereft as his fingers left her aching body. ‘There are stories from the old days,’ he said, ‘that if a bride’s parents disapproved of the match, then her warrior would take her away for a month, filling her belly with his seed and sharing his mead with her every day and night. They could return in a moon and everyone would acknowledge them as husband and wife.’
‘It sounds barbaric,’ she whispered. ‘And lovely.’
He smiled and she imagined the crinkles forming near his eyes that she loved so much. ‘If you’re to marry me, then you should know that I’m only half-tame.’ The hand that had been between her thighs came up to cup her breast, giving her nipple a loving pinch.
‘Half? I wouldn’t have guessed so much.’
His smile widened. ‘I’ll take you beneath me tonight, but it will mean you’re my wife. Do you want me?’
He ground his hips against her, driving his hardness against her need. With only the cloth of his trousers between them, the pleasure was nearly unbearable.
‘I love you, Aevir. I want you as my husband.’
He groaned and kissed her again. Reaching down, he took hold of her leggings and pushed them down her further. She practically vibrated with anticipation as she helped him, kicking them down her legs until she could free one. His own hands were shaking. She could feel them brushing against her as he tore at the fastenings of his own trousers. And then he was free. That part that she had wondered about so much rose up hot and hard against the inside of her thigh.
Reaching down, she took him in her hand, marvelling at how smooth he felt in her palm. He let out a soft groan of what she hoped was pleasure.
‘Guide me to you, love.’
So she did, amazed at how her body had readied itself for him. He seemed so large, but the moment she notched him at her opening, he eased inside a bit and she stretched to accommodate the invasion. Her hands went to his shoulders, holding on as he took her thigh in his hand and opened her wider. Drawing back, he eased in a little more. She felt full already, the stretching becoming slightly painful.
‘I don’t think I can take more of you,’ she whispered.
Face in her neck, he said, ‘You can take it all, but I’ll stop for a moment.’ He sounded distinctly pained and she started to wonder if this had been a mistake. The earlier pleasure was fading and, while she very much wanted to finish, she was doubtful. His thumb found that place he had worked earlier, the one she hadn’t even known existed until he’d touched her, and made slow circles, gently fanning the flames of her earlier pleasure.
She let out a little moan as her hips raised to ask for more. He slipped inside a bit deeper. His thumb kept up the pleasure until he was fully seated within her.
‘How do you feel? Did I hurt you?’
How could she tell him that there was pain but there was also pleasure? The dual sensations twisted and tightened until she couldn’t figure out where one started and the other ended. All she knew was that she wanted. Needed. Had to have everything he could give her.
‘Aevir.’ She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to her.
‘Ah, Ellan.’ His breath warmed her neck as he pulled back his hips and gave a little thrust. Testing her.
‘More,’ she demanded.
He chuckled and pulled nearly all the way out, so that when he pressed forward he drove the pleasure budding within her higher. Her nails bit into his shoulders, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
‘You feel so good,’ he was saying. ‘I knew that it would feel this way with us, but I didn’t know...’
He drove in again, robbing them both of breath.
‘I didn’t know it would be so perfect.’
Another thrust. The pleasure twisted even higher, getting tighter, definitely outshining the pain now.
‘That we would be so perfect.’
‘I knew.’ She gasped at how he filled her, so tight, but so good.
‘Aye, you did.’ He looked down at her, so close that his nose brushed hers. Buried deep inside her and holding himself still, he said, ‘My sweet Ellan, I take you as my wife. I offer you my protection and loyalty. I pledge to you that I will give my life before allowing any harm to come to yours. From now until eternity, we are one.’
Those were the ceremonial words a warrior said to his wife. Rolfe had said them to Elswyth when they had wed. Her fingers slid into the hair at the back of his head, pulling him close, and she repeated the words she knew she was meant to say. ‘I accept you as my husband.’ Then she added her own. ‘I love you, Aevir.’
A groan escaped him as he covered her mouth with his. There was no talking after that. Everything was too much. There were no words, only sounds. She moaned as he settled into a rhythm, rocking into her with near desperation. She could only hold on to him, riding the wave higher and higher until it crested and crashed. The pleasure burst open inside her in white-hot pulses. She might have screamed his name, she didn’t know if the echo was only in her head. But then he was saying her name and it was followed by Norse words she couldn’t understand. His hands tightened on her hip and her hair, holding her down as he pumped into her. Finally he let out a harsh, guttural cry as he pressed his face hard into her neck and spilled his seed within her.
In the aftermath, they lay there too overcome and breathless to move. His grip on her was so tight that it was very nearly painful, but that was fine because she had wrapped her arms and legs around him just as tight. Her body hummed still as she tried to comprehend how something so amazing and beautiful could exist in the world.
‘Aevir.’ Her voice was filled with awe.
He raised up as if to see her and she cursed the fact that he couldn’t. She wanted to see his face clearly, to see more than a shadow looking down at her. Touching his face, she tried to see his expression with her fingers. He kissed her palm and said, ‘You are mine, Wife.’
It still didn’t seem real, as if she’d wake up in the morning to find herself on the back of the horse and this had all been a dream. ‘I’ve always been yours.’
He gathered her against him and rolled to his side, slipping out of her. Kissing her again, he fumbled with his bundle of clothing and ripped off a small section of his linen undershirt. He reached down and gently cleaned her before pulling her leggings back on. Then he saw to himself and fastened his trousers, holding her close again after.
‘Sleep, love. I’ll watch over you.’
‘How can I sleep now?’ But already her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. His heart beat below her ear. ‘Can we do that again?’
His hands stroked up and down her back, one of them moving further down to cup her bottom. Heat curled through her belly. ‘Every day for the rest of our lives.’
‘Promise.’
‘Aye, nothing can keep me from you, Wife.’
‘Husband.’ For once, she felt peace. For once she felt as if she were exactly where she was meant to be.