Bride of the Sea (The Prophecy of Sisters #2) - Hayley Faiman Page 0,40

shrug a shoulder, knowing deep inside of me that Gunnar is not wrong. I am not the Aaric that he knows, not when it comes to this woman. She drives me berserkr. I don’t even know what to do with her. I want to like her. I want her. But I feel as though the gods have deceived me.

“I have not made a decision on her yet,” I lie.

My decision was made by my böllur the second I locked my eyes on her. Gunnar arches a brow at me, he is obviously not believing my words. I don’t blame him, I know them for what they are, complete lies.

“You need to make it right. Warriors do not go without on their wedding nights.”

He doesn’t allow me to respond to his words. Instead, he stands and walks away. Turning back to him, I focus on the young woman next to me. She is the daughter of one of my wealthiest farmers. She’s lovely, young, and judging by the way she leans forward with each word she says, she would be easy to take for the night.

Liv is waiting for me and Gunnar is right, I need to go to my wife. Instead of leaving immediately, I stay longer than I should, talking to the farmer’s daughter. She’s spoiled, entitled, and immature.

Without excusing myself, I stand to my feet and turn away from her as she babbles about something that I have no interest in. I am more interested in staring down her dress than listening to anything she has to say.

She reaches for my hand, wrapping her fingers around my wrist and tugging. Turning my head, I look back over my shoulder and dip my chin down to look into her eyes.

“Where are you going?” she asks, pouting her bottom lip.

Lifting my eyes, I look around the room. The men and women that are left are all naked and participating in orgies. I snort, then flick my gaze back to her.

“To my wife,” I mutter.

She licks her lips and shakes her head, her blonde hair moving around her shoulders. “She is old and foreign. Come to my bed, my Konungr.”

My eyes search hers for a moment. I grunt, then take a step back, shaking her grip from my wrist. “Nei, I will not go to your bed. You’re disrespectful to my dróttning, therefore disrespecting your konungr. I recommend you remove yourself from my sight.”

Without another word or a glance, back, I walk away from her and through the crows of writhing bodies until I come upon my bedroom door. Pushing against the wooden door, I expect it to open easily.

It doesn’t.

I push harder and it still doesn’t budge. I grunt, pushing it again. I hear the wooden barrier move against the other side and growl. She has locked me from my own bed. I grunt, then Gunnar appears from nowhere and I hear his chuckle next to me.

“Need to sleep with your warriors tonight?” he asks.

“She will pay for this,” I snap.

He laughs, lifting his hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Yes, I have no doubt that she will. Hagen will stand by her door all evening and act as her watchman.”

“He better,” I grumble.

A few moments later we are walking away from my wedding bed. Gunnar has two jugs of spirits in his hands and we are no doubt going to ofrqlvi.

Chapter Fourteen

LIV

I probably shouldn’t have slept the best sleep I’ve had in years. I totally locked my brand new husband out of our room and promptly passed the hell out. Now, that it’s the next morning and I feel somewhat refreshed, I’m sure that I should feel guilty for doing what I did.

The problem? I don’t.

Maybe it’s not a problem, though. I highly doubt that Aaric feels guilty for forcing me to sacrifice a defenseless animal, then ignoring me the whole damn night. I’m sure that the women that came up to him in droves comforted him thoroughly.

I shouldn’t care what he does, especially since he won’t be doing anything with me. I’m going to be gone as soon as I possibly can. As soon as I have my sister by my side, we are outta this crazy world. Pink sand, neon green water, ancient everything. We are gone.

Climbing out of bed, I’m thankful that even if I have to pee in what is essentially an outhouse, it’s at least attached to the bedroom. Walking down the small hallway, I use the bathroom, then the basin of