A Valkyrie's Apprentice: Book Two

You

"Immor–Kára." He rumbled, glancing at her soaked, dark clothing and wry smirk.

"Kaden Nafferion." She quipped, before flicking her eyes behind him and catching John's heavy scowl. "–and his loyal dog."

John swore in her direction and puffed out his chest. She chuckled and turned before Yanu not bothering to drop to a knee but speaking like he were of equal status in the other tongue. Yanu nodded his head eagerly and pulled on her dark cloak in response. He said something else quickly before she sighed and dropped to a knee before him. I frowned watching the exchange curiously as he patted his hand along the soaked furs on her shoulders and giggled profusely.

She rose quickly and nodded in the direction of an alley between orange sandstone. Yanu nodded back and pulled me forward by the cloak leading us. The men threw questioning glances but followed without delay.

"You're lucky I don't kill you now." I grumbled in her direction.

She dropped back behind Yanu to stand alongside me and slipped her arm casually behind my back, under the cloak. Her hand rested on my hip. It tore fire through every inch of me and made me want to lean into her touch forever. But I gave nothing away.

"Nothing is stopping you." She murmured with a grin.

I refused to meet those eyes and held my ground as we walked under the shade of tall structures and floating cloth tied above.

"You're late." I muttered instead.

She chuckled and her grip under my cloak tightened making my heart skip louder. "And you look tempting." She stated bluntly, making my body feel the heat all over again. I glanced at her face keeping my expression neutral and seeing the water had already dried off it. Her silver eyes practically glowed as they watched mine.  "Was that the purpose of buying such... a garment?" She drawled.

I glared back and shrugged. "Maybe I have other suitors now." I quipped.

She grinned wickedly and the light in her eyes brightened a touch. "This again. Is it another mundane mortal with a name like Rensbrooke?"

Despite it all she got a laugh from me, easily dancing around my lie and mocking it. I prodded her side under the cloak and became more serious. "What took you so long this span?"

"I made some friends upon docking in this ridiculous land." She said in a low voice with a lethal glint in her eyes.

"Do those friends still breathe?" I asked lightly.

She gave me a flat look. "They were wasting my time–but no I did not send them to the Underworld."

It made my body relax under her and she threw me an amused look. But my mind was still in a strange state. I stared at her more openly as we made our way down the dusty paths between sandstone and foreign tongues. Her heat, her eyes, her hands–she was really there next to me. The last time I had seen those eyes they had grown flat and lifeless.

I tore my eyes off her and she noticed my discomfort. It made her pull me to a stop and call something to Yanu. The boy rushed over and she spoke quickly and assertively before glancing in the direction of John and Kaden who closed in towards us. He nodded his messy hair up and down before pressing a little fist to his chest in the Uccellon custom making me stare in disbelief.

Kára gave him a small smile before Yanu turned to the men and started pulling John's hand away. John cast me one knowing look with a small smile before giving my immortal the finger and sauntering off with Kaden. I shook my head staring after them.

"Come." She told me.

She dropped her hand from me and took my fingers in her own. Leading us through a maze of orange stone and dust. Through smells of spices and herbs. But the only scent I really noticed now was that pure and wild scent of her. The one that had haunted my dreams and teased my being. I stared at her hand in mine then watched her dark hood with the furs on her shoulders that had almost dried.