Page 74 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

Bryn poured out two finger lengths of the dark liquor into two glasses, walking one of them to Revna, who had placed her shield in front of the door to alert them if someone should enter the room.

“Skol,” Revna murmured as she clinked glass with Bryn’s.

They both drank deeply.

“What did you need me for, sir?” Revna asked once they each finished their drinks.

“Please, Revna, when we meet like this, you should call me Bryn,” she replied as she poured two more.

Revna only gave her a sly smile. “Okay, what did you need me for, Bryn?”

Revna reached for Bryn’s robe, long tan fingers sliding down the opening toward the tie at her waist. Bryn resisted her urge to let Revna continue since she really needed her here for a mission. Bryn placed a gentle hand on Revna's, stopping her actions.

“As much as I would love to enjoy you right now, Revna, I really did summon you for another purpose.”

“What’s going on?” Revna asked as she pulled her hand back and placed it on her ax.

“What I will tell you requires your absolute silence. This must remain between us,” Bryn said quickly, pushing thoughts of Revna’s naked flesh being pressed against hers away for the moment.

“Of course,” Revna agreed quickly, concern flickering in her light brown eyes.

Bryn took a deep breath and quickly explained thedalkr Hela, leaving out information about her mother’s diaries and true identity. As Bryn spoke, Revna paced around the room with a tense look on her face. WhenBryn finished, she told Revna of the plan she had been putting together these last few hours.

“The King cannot be allowed to find this weapon,” Revna said as she stopped to face Bryn, her stunning, angular face serious.

Revna had been working with Bryn these last few years to help families get smuggled out of Logi before the King’s soldiers caught them. Having come from a family that had been arrested and killed for theirgalder, Revna had decided she would join the army's ranks and work in secret to try to make a difference for the people she had grown up with and loved.

Bryn had accidentally run into Revna at Sigurd’s pub one night, and they pulled daggers on each other. Soldiers raided The Broken Bones Pub shortly after Bryn and Revna had faced off, and to hide from the raid, they holed up in the secret passage that led to Sigurd’s house. They spoke with each other and confessed what they each had been doing to work against the King and had been working together closely ever since.

To make matters more complicated, Bryn had become attracted to Revna the longer they worked together. One night, she had acted on impulse and found that Revna had returned the attraction. Bryn had been taking Revna to her bed for months now, finding pleasure in each other until the early morning hours. Safety was not a feeling Bryn was familiar with, but the hours she spent wrapped up with Revna must have been what it felt like. Their separate responsibilities pulled them apart once the sun rose, but most nights, they lay tangled together in ecstasy, unlike anything Bryn had ever known.

“The King is aware of this weapon's presence, that much is sure,” Bryn said, avoiding Revna’s gaze. “I need you to stick to the streets and see if there are citizens who are also aware of it. I need you to find out and report back. I’m being watched too closely by the General, or I would do it alone.”

Bryn felt Revna move closer to her.

“You don’t have to do everything alone, Bryn. Let me enlist some of the other shieldmaidens to help,” Revna offered, placing a hand on Bryn’s arm.

“I don’t want to trust anyone else with this. It kills me to ask you; I want you nowhere near this risk,” Bryn said and closed her eyes.

Revna brushed a loose strand behind Bryn’s ear as she spoke, “Okay, it'll just be us then. I like it better that way anyway.”

Bryn heard the smile in her soft words and opened her eyes to see Revna’s light brown eyes looking back at her— into her.

“We won’t let anything happen to this kingdom or anyone else's, love,” Revna whispered, placing her forehead on Bryn’s.

She melted into the gentle touch of her lover, the worries and tensions of the day slipping away to the gods who watched over them all. Revna’s soft fingers teased open Bryn’s robe, the two halves falling open to reveal her naked body to this soldier Bryn had found in the Helscape of Logi. Bryn lifted her hands to Revna’s face, threading her fingers through her silky black hair. Bryn’s long fingers tugged Revna’s face toward her and captured her soft mouth to her own.

They crashed together, teeth and tongues ripping into each other. Revna’s body became pliant under Bryn’s hurried touch, the smooth skin under her fingers torturing Bryn. Revna tossed her head back and moaned as Bryn placed hungry kisses down the column of her throat, pulling at the ties keeping Revna’s clothing in place. One by one, the cloth that separated Bryn’s hands from Revna’s skin fell to the floor. Never one to be patient, Bryn got to Revna’s leggings and shoved her hand beneath the waistband.

“Minnraven,” Bryn moaned as she dipped two fingers between Revna’s legs, finding her center hot and wet for her already.

They moved closer to the edge of the bed before Bryn pushed Revna down onto it and knelt in front of her, pulling her pants off and nudgingher knees apart. Before Revna could protest, Bryn ran her tongue up Revna’s center to her clit and sucked. Revna went molten under her fingers. Bryn worked her tongue around the sensitive nerves before she placed a finger into Revna’s opening, savoring how ready she was. Revna’s body bucked on the bed. When Bryn felt she had properly worshiped the woman who had an iron grip on her soul, she dipped a second finger into her body and curled her fingers, hitting the exact spot that would make Revna scream.

Smiling as she lifted herself to hover above Revna, Bryn captured her lover's mouth with her own so she could taste how thoroughly Bryn had pleasured her. Revna moaned into her mouth, the sound igniting Bryn’s very soul. Before Revna could retaliate and pin Bryn to the bed underneath her, Bryn ran her fingers over Revna’s breasts, watching as her nipples hardened under her touch. She lowered her mouth once more to kiss and suck at Revna’s smooth skin, biting down on her nipple as her other hand moved up to Revna’s face. Bryn slipped her fingers into Revna’s mouth, and she felt Revna suck on them.

Her center throbbing, Bryn’s hips bucked into Revna’s, who responded by running her hand down Bryn’s side and over her ass, squeezing the muscles and pulling Bryn closer to her. Before Revna could place her hands where Bryn needed her most, she grabbed Revna’s wrists and pinned them above her head. Bryn licked Revna’s sweat-slicked skin until she reached her mouth once more and moved Revna’s wrists into one hand.

Bryn placed one hand under Revna’s jaw so that she could hold her in place and said to her, voice heavy with desire, “You will not take unnecessary risks. You will not go or do anything that will put you in danger. I need you here with me. Yes, we stop the King, but not at the cost of your life.”

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