Page 125 of Storm of Fury
“He did. Each and every day afterwards.” Tormund flashed a grin and then lifted the hem of his shirt. “Did you think these were earned from some dashing adventure? I used to tell the ladies a vicious wolf attacked me when I was a child, but the truth is, I tripped and fell against a scythe when I was sixteen. Damn near gutted myself.”
Bryn shook her head and threw her bag at him. “You would.”
He caught it with a laugh, but as he lowered it, the laughter died. “He did save me, Bryn. He saved a sad and lonely boy from thinking about just jumping in that river and letting it wash him away.” His eyes grew distant. “He told his mother about me. And the next thing I knew, I was moving into their homestead and living in a set of rooms over the stables. Haakon put a sword in my hands and told me that if I was going to get into fights, then I’d best damned well learn how to defend myself, because I couldn’t throw a punch for shit. And so he taught me. I can never repay him for that.”
Shefeltthat pain echo through her.
All along she’d thought that he had never known true loneliness.
But it was clear he still worshipped his “cousin”. And now she knew why. Because when you grew up with so little to call your own, you cleaved to those who gave you the barest scrap of love.
“I swore then that I would somehow repay the favor. I promised myself that if Haakon ever needed me, then I would be there. And so I have been. I am his shield when he needs someone to watch his back. I am his axe when his arm is faltering. I am the one who guards his sleep when he is too deep in his cups to guard it himself. And I was the one who never let him lose hope when he realized Árdís had abandoned him.”
It was more than she could have ever hoped for from her sisters.
This. This was love.
And not the love that she’d heard in all the stanzas, but the kind of love that burned like dragon fire. It was sacrifice, not passion. It was putting another before your own needs.
“Everyone is a little lost at some stage of their lives. And sometimes all you need is a helping hand to guide you through those stormy nights. Haakon thinks he failed me? He never failed me. Hefoundme. He helped me find myself. And so, when his wife vanished without a trace and his heart broke, I decided he needed me to bear his burden for a while.” Tormund gave her the sweetest smile she’d ever seen on a man. “And so I did. My shoulders are broad enough to carry any weight.”
It turned everything she had ever known about this man on its head.
No wonder he was so loyal.
“And then, of course, without him, I had nothing else to stay for.”
“No pretty girls?”
He flashed her a smile. “Many. But none who stirred more than my fancy.”
She wanted to ask,Why me?
But her tongue wouldn’t let her.
And yet, as always, he saw right through her. “Do you know what first caught my eye about you?”
Bryn’s lips thinned. “I’m fairly certain I know exactly what caught your eye.” After all, men had been drawn to her figure for centuries.
He shook his head. “Oh, you’re pretty. The kind of pretty that punches a man in the throat and sets his balls on fire. But no. That’s not what made me realize there was more to you than first assumed.”
“When I slew the draugr?”
“Aye, you near on ripped my heart out of my chest with such a move,” he admitted. “But no, not that either.”
She honestly couldn’t think of a single thing.
“We were leaving the inn in Grøa that first morning,” he said. “And there was a girl begging in the village square, and you reached into your pouch and dumped a handful of coins into her cup. I caught a glimpse of her face, Bryn, and I saw those coins. They were solid gold, and here you were, telling the world how much coin meant to you. You’ve spent weeks telling me how heartless you are. How mercenary. You’ve told me a thousand times not to trust you. That you know no mercy. But I never forgot that moment.”
Nor had she.
A girl shivering in the cold. It reminded her so much of her past that she’d barely bothered to count. She could always earn more coin, but for that girl, the gift was one of life.
“It caught my eye, because that’s what I want in a wife,” he continued. “I want someone who will guard the weak. I want someone who doesn’t even hesitate when it comes to gifting others. I want someone who’s going to stand between me and an enrageddrekiqueen who can breathe fire, and give no quarter.”
“Tormund—”
“And maybe it won’t be you. But one day,” he told her, his voice roughening, “I will have my own wife. My own family. And I will beheraxe. Andhershield. And the one who guards her whileshesleeps. My children will never suffer a single nightmare, for they will know their father watches over them. And should an enemy seek to harm my family, I will make them wish they had known the mercy of Fenrir.”
