Midnight Eclipse (Paranormal Viking Romance, Completed)

Chapter 4: Blackberry Bush

Beside him sit a girl I can't mistake for anyone else either. I should have known it would come to this. Ivar was never discreet about his longings unless our father was around. But I never knew his feelings were reciprocated.

Her braids are smooth and so black that the strands shine in blue and purple when the morning sun hits. A survivor of that last battle, when I hid in a crevasse. Because as I crawled out, I saw her in the water. A girl about my age. I pulled her out of there, and into my father's claws.

Her name is Aakkulukatut but we call her Aakku. After the battle, she became a träl at my father's house, obeying his every order. She cooked our food and cleaned our dishes. She mended our clothes and swept our floors. She worked day and night.

I wonder sometimes why she doesn't just leave, now that she's of age and can take care of herself. Her people know the way of the lands. She could walk away forever across the ice to find her kind.

Aakku leans her head on Ivar's shoulder and I know why. My brother is why. He who tried to engage her in our games when our father didn't look. He who passed along food scraps into her bowl to increase her meager rations. He who once took a beating from our father for a bowl broken by her hand.

He was always braver than me. As the second son, he could get away with more, and he knew it.

I leave them alone, hand in hand. They deserve to have this time alone because I know it can't last. Our father would never allow their union.

It's not much he does allow. Keeping everyone around him under strict control seems to be his way of handling the hardships of our lives. He didn't use to be like this. Not before our mother died.

Making sure not to disturb the couple below, I duck into a shrubbery of blackberry bushes. I pick a few ripe berries, purple as the approaching morning light, and pop them into my mouth. The sweet juices energize my sleep-deprived mind.

As I feast on the summer berries, I see something else down by the water. A golden sheen, like the sun when it rises. But the sun can't rise without setting first, so it's another glimmer of red that illuminates this morning.

Gudrun walks with her skirts hoisted up to her knees in the shallow waters. Looking back and forth, she appears to search for something.

I know something that was lost in those waves. Because I threw it there myself.

Carefully, I approach, curious whether she will find what she's looking for. Perhaps I threw the symbol of our lost love too far into the cold waves.

It warms my heart that she still wants it, even as she tried to give it back to me.

"I can see you, Björn!" she calls out with glee in her voice.

It appears my approach wasn't as hidden as I thought.

Realizing it would be silly to keep hiding, I stumble out of the bushes, thorns getting stuck on my clothing on the way. I fight a losing battle with the bush for a few seconds, before admitting defeat and leaving with threads unraveling from my pants. I have to ask Aakku if she can mend them later. Not because she's obliged to do it, but because she's the only woman in our household except for Gudrun, who I refuse to treat as if she was my stepmother. Unfortunately, men aren't taught such skills, or I would do it myself.

"That bush getting the best of you?" Gudrun snickers. She always was so cheeky. It reminds me of the carefree days of our youth. Before the winters grew endless and hope froze to death.

"Damn thing won't let go!" I reply, realizing that my shirt is still stuck. I try to limit the damage by carefully guiding the thorns away from me. Thinking I've succeeded, I turn, only to get smacked in the face by a branch. I recoil from the impact of the prickly bush, trying to act brave in front of Gudrun even as my cheek stings.

Still nursing my wounded face, I walk down toward the shore. Gudrun giggles at me. "Will you survive?" she asks in feigned sympathy.

"Remains to be seen," I mutter, wiping some blood away. I sit down on a cliff right where the water breaks and observe her moving gracefully through the waves. Her feet are bare and her sleeves are pulled up to her elbows.

"I'm looking for-" she starts, nodding toward the dark waves.

"I know what you're looking for," I say. Of course, I know. The very rock I sit on is the same one I threw the damn thing from.

A silence builds between us. Because when there aren't prickly blackberry bushes left to talk about, what is left to say? So many things need to remain unspoken. I want to tell her everything but nothing can be divulged.

Soft waves splash against her forearms as she keeps searching relentlessly.

Why does she want the damn thing so bad? I want to ask but I cannot. Because the answer can't be uttered by her lips.

I know the answer, yet I want to hear it.

I want to hear her say she loves me.

Gudrun doesn't say those words. She probably never will. Instead, she calls out excitedly from the shallow waves. "I found... something!" she exclaims.

"What is it?" I ask.

She doesn't reply. Instead, she stares in front of her, as if someone's there. She holds out her hand toward nothing as if she's stuck in a dream.

Or a saga.

"Gudrun!" I call out, worried she's going mad from the exposure to the cold waters.

Still no response. However, I can hear her mumbling something.

Unable to hold myself back, I throw myself in the waves, without a care in the world about my clothes getting wet. They're already torn and stained with blood anyway.

"He's here," she calls out to no one, ignoring my hand that's shaking her shoulder. "He's right here."

Is she talking about me? I can't tell, as her gaze is still fastened in the distance.

"Gudrun, what's the matter?" I ask.

Still, she doesn't answer.

As if worshiping the sun itself, Gudrun reaches her hand out in front of her, revealing the item she found in the waves. It's not the pale surface of a beartooth that the morning sun hits, but a glimmering golden ring. It looks like she's trying to hand it to an invisible entity in the water.

Becoming scared she will fall into the sea face first, I place my hands around her waist. Red curls that smell of pine and salt tickle my face. Suddenly, she turns, facing me. Her eyes once again peer into this world. She sees me, like she's always seen him.

"Björn?" A wrinkle forms between her eyebrows. She appears confused to see me. "She asked for you."

"Who?" I ask, trying to not think too much about how close Gudrun's face is to mine. Tiny freckles dot the skin above her lips, each one unique like the stars in the night sky.

"The woman in the sea," she replies like it's obvious. "She called for you to hurry."

"I'm right here," I assure her, fastening the grip around her hips. "I'm not going anywhere."

All notions of mysterious women in the water are forgotten as Gudrun presses her lips to mine.

"Please, never do," she mumbles, parting her lips slightly into a deep embrace of my own. Tingles of warmth rush through my submerged limbs as our tongues nudge against one another.

Salt from the ocean mix with lingering blackberry juice into an alluring brew. We've kissed before, when we were young. Just kids playing around in the bluebell-covered fields. Innocent and pure as snow. But this is different. This is wild and dangerous as the dark sea itself.