Page 84 of North Is the Night
I fight a sad smile, thinking of Lilja. No doubt she would have cooked him in a pot if he had been too slow to get away.
“But you gave everything away,” he goes on, pride in his voice. “You shared your food and your fire, your stories, your laughter. Even when you were scared, even when you felt hopeless, you always had a smile for me, your raven.”
This is impossible. I can’t think with him this close. Can’t breathe.
His thumbs brush the tears from my cheeks as he lowers his face towards mine. “You had so little to give, yet still you shared more. You shared your bed and your warmth. You shared the comfort of your touch. Even trapped as I was as the raven, you came to need me... as I needed you. I need you still. I ache with it, my love.”
My cheeks warm at his words, even more so at the memory of stroking his feathered back in the dark of my room, seeking out his comfort. I cannot lie to him, not with this surge of feeling humming along the threads of our blood bond. But I try anyway. “That’s not fair, my lord. I didn’t know who you really were—”
“But you knew the raven was more than he seemed. You knew, Aina. You’re far too clever to have doubted who and what I was. The moment you saw me in the tree, you became resolved. I saw it in your eyes. You could have walked away, but you stood before the alder tree as my equal, a queen before her king. Will you now deny what we both know hides in the center of your tender, beating heart?”
My heart dares try to stop. “What do we know?”
A smile curves his mouth as he brushes a thumb over my parted lips. “We know you want to kiss me. You’ve had a taste of power, and now you want more. You’re desperate for it—”
I slap his hand away. “I have no power, my lord. I have nothing.”
“Is that really what you think?” He looks almost amused. It riles me still further.
“You say I gave you everything, and it’s true,” I reply. “I gave the raven every story, every hope and fear, every dream. I kept nothing for myself. There is nowhere left to hide. You have all you need to destroy me, and I am powerless to stop you.”
“You’re wrong.” He takes me by the wrist, turning my hand palm up. “You want to know your power, wife?” Slowly, he traces a finger over the faint white scar on my palm. “You have the god of death in the palm of your hand.”
I shiver, too enraptured to pull away.
He lowers his forehead until it’s all but touching mine. “Mortals pray for rain and a good harvest. They worship Ukko and Tapio. The others are honored with festivals and sacrifices. Meanwhile, I am feared. Only feared. My name is whispered in the dark. My world is the setting of your nightmares. No one can escape me, mortal or immortal. Yes, I am all power and control... and I am yours.”
Holding tight to my wrist, he lifts my hand, pressing it flat against the thick wool of his tunic, just over his heart. “You need no weapons nor secret magic to destroy me, wife. Just keep recoiling from my touch. Deny me your love. Break me open with your indifference. You will devastate me.”
His words leave me breathless. The surety of them is reinforced through our bond. He is stone wrapped in iron, unyielding, steadfast. “You deserve a wife of your choosing—”
“Ihavechosen,” he counters. “I choose the mortal who clings to fragile hope like dew on the grass. I choose the mortal who resolutely sees the good in everyone. You saw it in me as the raven. You see it in the dead, in your fellow captives, even in my wretched daughters, so undeserving of the name. You are a light in the darkness that is my world of unending night.”
I tremble as his words bloom in my chest, spreading heat down to my very core.
He inches closer, his hand splaying protectively over mine on his chest. “In all my years of undying, I have never felt the warmth of the sun on my face... untilyoulooked at me. You say you are powerless, but it is the sun that feeds the grain. My goddess, my queen, I am at your mercy.”
I gasp, torn between pulling away and leaning closer. Tuoni stands before me, offering me everything—his home, his heart, a piece of his crown. This is dangerous.Heis dangerous. Gods, but this pull between us is so strong. I feel it down to my bones. In a fit of abandon, I lift up on my toes. Clutching his tunic with both hands, I tip my chin. He’s right, I have to know what it feels like, what it tastes like... just once.
Quivering with nerves, blood on fire, I kiss the god of death.
For the briefest of moments, I know I’ve caught him by surprise. He goes still, his lips unmoving against mine. Has he ever kissed a woman before? I feel his curiosity, his excitement and desire. Suddenly, his arms are around me. His lips are warm, and his beard bristles against my lips. Then he’s kissing me back, his mouth slanting open. It feels strange, even as the rightness of it coils deep inside me, fusing around my very bones.
My hands brush up his chest to grip his shoulders as his strong arms wrap around my waist, nearly lifting me off the ground. I open my mouth to him, deepening our kiss. I drink of him, taking every drop of passion and need he offers me. We’re both hungry and desperate, eager for more. But a snapping of branches has me breaking our kiss.
Tuoni holds tight to me. “Be at ease,” he soothes. “The curse is broken. They will not harm you.”
I press my back to his chest as I peer through the night. Trees loom all around. He wraps a protective arm across my chest, his hand at my shoulder. My free hand drops instinctively to the little knife at my hip.
“You won’t need that.” His fingers brush over mine wrapped around the knife hilt. “They’re just curious.”
“What’s out there?” I whisper. “I can’t see.”
“Come,” he calls out in his deep voice. “Come, meet my wife.”
All around us, shadows move. On silent feet, a horde of the waking dead come stumbling forward. Dozens. More than I’ve ever seen at once. Many are armed soldiers bearing swords and shields, bows and arrows, great, menacing axes. Women too—old women, hunched and ragged, emaciated women sick with fevers, young women carrying dead infants in their arms.
The god of death keeps me close, his hold on me relaxed as he lets the dead step towards us. “Welcome, friends,” he calls out. “Meet your new queen.”
