Midnight Eclipse (Paranormal Viking Romance, Completed)

Chapter 26: Until Spring

Gudrun doesn't seem surprised to see me, which surprises me. So at least one of us is surprised. Seeing your former lover--who you saw die before your eyes--alive and well should at least cause a raised eyebrow. At least that's what one would expect.

"The forgotten gods have come out to dance tonight." Gudrun gazes at the night sky as she sits down beside me, holding her layers of warm skirts with one hand. The lights in the sky illuminate her hair, making it sheen like gold. The blue runes on her cheeks glow as if lit by an inner fire. Surely it's just my eyes playing tricks on me though? A magical illusion concocted by the merge of beauty: Gudrun's astounding presence and the theater of the night sky.

"You're not going to ask if I'm real?" Frustrated by her stoic response to my presence, I throw a pine cone into the sea. It bounces off the frozen surface. "You saw me perish by my father's hand."

A gentle smile appears on her features. "Does it matter if you're real or a dream?" she replies. "You're here. Just like the gods told me. That's what matters."

"What gods?" I ask. I'm surprised about the statement because she's never talked about gods before. My people never believed in gods, even if we told their sagas at night. But perhaps they're the ones who have granted her powers unknown.

"The old gods," Gudrun replies like it's all so obvious. Well, it's not obvious to me, who seems to be the victim of some kind of prank on behalf of a trickster god. "They're the ones who tell me of the past and present. They're the ones that saved you."

I can't help but scoff. "I'm not saved. I'm cursed."

"You're here. With me." She kisses my cheek, which causes my insides to flutter like the glowing lights above. Despite everything that's happened, I still feel like the young boy who put a delicate bluebell behind a young girl's ear when Gudrun's lips graze my skin.

"I came here to save you," I say. "To save you and our child. I can take you to where Ivar and Aakku are."

Gudrun shakes her head. "I'm glad you helped them. They will be safe among her people. They were never part of my dreams and now I know why. " With a look of determination, she gazes across the frozen sea. "But I've told you I can't go, Björn. I need to save everyone."

"You need to save our child. Aakku told me you're expecting." My eyes drop to the small bump under her cloak. "My father... who knows what he'll do to it once it's born. You need to get away from here, Gudrun."

"I will save everyone." Her tone tells me she won't waver from her conviction. "And we will all get away from here. I've seen it in my dreams. The visions are even clearer now. In the spring, we will sail from these shores, toward lands unknown."

"Vinland," I whisper, for a moment caught up in the dream. My people have lived on this island, forgotten and frozen for generations. But perhaps there is a place for us. A place where the sun shines even in winter. A place where grapevine grows in spring. A place beyond ice and suffering.

"Vinland," she confirms. "Where the fields are green and endless. It could be ours. I've seen it. I've seen us disembark on a foreign shore made of white sand. You, me, and our daughter."

She takes my hand and puts it on her belly. To feel the roundness underneath my fingers makes the child who is growing there become tangible and real. We made that life, together.

"It's a girl? How do you know?" I ask even though I know what her answer will be.

"I've seen her," Gudrun, of course, replies. "Her name is Signy. She'll have my hair and your eyes."

Signy... like my sister. Just hearing the name makes reality come back to me once again. It's impossible to leave these shores. That's why my sister died in the cold of winter. And that could very well be the fate of my child as well. Dreams of Vinland are just dreams.

Even if Gudrun could leave, I can't follow. My curse binds me to these shores. In spring, when she says we'll leave, I will be all predator. The sunlight will trap me in my other form.

"It's just a saga." The words come out like a growl, not unlike the sounds I make when I walk in the daylight. "It can't be true. I can't believe it."

"You must believe, Björn," she replies, taking my hand. She's so warm, while I'm so cold. My veins have frozen in the absence of sunlight. "If you don't have hope, then what is left?"

That's a question I wonder myself all the time when I'm tucked away in my lonesome in a dark cave. That cave might be all there is for me. For eternity. "There is nothing left." I disentangle our hands. The sense of warmth and care is too painful on my skin because I know it can't last. "You don't know... what I've become."

I don't want her to know. I want her to remember me like this, not like a beast with jagged teeth.

"Then tell me, Björn. I can't know if you don't tell me."

I shake my head. "I can't tell you. And it's not like you tell me everything anyway. You didn't tell me that my father never bedded you. You kept things from your visions away from me. You still do, because I don't believe you've told me everything you've seen."

Her fingers dance along my leg, teasing me with their enticing warmth. "Whatever I don't tell you, I keep to myself for your own safety. If I had told you about your father, then you would have revealed your feelings. And if I tell you everything I've seen, there's a risk it won't happen. There are obstacles ahead for you, and if I tell you what will happen, you might try to take a shortcut. All I can tell you is that it will all work out in the end. I promise." Having traveled from my leg across my torso, her fingers nudge my chin, begging me to look at her. I can't deny the request.

Her eyes flicker like the lights in the sky, mysterious and vibrant in a shade between the sea and the forest. The runes below glow as bright as I remember the sun shining on a warm summer day, of which there will be no more for me. There's no doubt in my mind now that the light is coming from within her spirit and not from the world outside. Her magical powers are shining through her skin and enhancing her beauty. The sight takes my breath away, making me momentarily forget everything else.

"Do you believe me?" she asks, shaking me out of my beauty-induced trance.

I'm afraid to hope. I'm afraid to face the obstacles she's talking about. I'm afraid I'll be left behind. But I can't resist the glow of hope when I look into her eyes. It's undeniable and alluring. So I nod softly, "I believe you," I reply, against my better judgment. Because with hope comes disappointment. But without it, there's nothing, only eternal darkness. I rather look toward the flickering light of hope, even if it will burn me.

"Then you need to wait until spring," she says, still stroking her fingers across my chin. Every tap feels like a kiss from the sun. "On the day of the summer solstice, that's when we'll leave. On that day, the moon will eclipse the sun, besetting us all with darkness despite the sun's never descending path. The veil between our world and the world of the gods will fall when darkness descends. Time itself will falter. Curses will weaken. Anything will be possible."

Her lips touch mine and I feel it. I feel hope. I feel that everything is possible. I just need to wait until spring. Then, she will be able to break my curse and we can sail away together. It's a beautiful saga, but all sagas are born from truth to begin with. "I'll wait," I promise. "I'll wait until spring." Leaning in for another warm kiss, I add, "I'll wait as long as I have to."

Gudrun parts her lips from mine, cupping her hand over my cheek. There's a hint of something I can't quite decipher in her eyes. She looks down for a moment, breaking the connection with my gaze. It seems as if she wants to tell me something but she's unsure if she should. Then she looks up again, "Just never lose hope, Björn," she says with emphasis. "Never. No matter how hopeless things may seem."

Looking toward the sky again, pondering her words, I realize that the Northern lights have seized their wondrous dance. Which means that morning lights will arrive soon. And with the light, my other self will appear.

"I need to leave," I say hastily rising from the cliff. But before escaping into the wild abyss of winter, I bend down once again, pressing my lips to Gudrun's. Hopefully, the heat of the kiss will last me until spring.