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I smiled and shook my head. I had no idea when I would wear something like this. I changed into my more practical blue linen dress.

I braided back my long, wavy hair with some difficulty, given the state the activities of the previous night had left it in, then made my way down the spiral stairs to the sitting room. As I reached it, Byrgir came in the front door. He dropped the empty sack he was carrying and rushed to me, sweeping me into his arms and spinning me around in a tight hug.

“Good morning, my Little Lamb,” he said, and kissed me.

“Good morning, my Big Bear,” I replied.

“Big Bear?”

“Your bear hugs.” I shrugged. “And size.”

“Size of what?” he asked coyly.

“All of you,” I said, sliding a teasing hand down his torso.

“Be careful,” he growled in my ear, “or I’ll carry you back up to that room and you won’t get breakfast.”

“I’ve been through worse,” I said. The haunting voice of my dreams still echoed in my subconscious, but I smiled. I would not ruin this day with grim revelations of problems not yet solved.

“You have, which is why skipping meals is not an option for you. Come on.” He took my hand and led me to the kitchen, where hunks of smoked salmon were piled on a plate on the kitchen island, their deep orange flesh turned a darker red with the smoke, beads of rich orange oil glistening on their surface. My stomach rumbled. A tray of muffins also waited, and a bowlof apples. Byrgir pulled some cold porridge from the fridge for me and started to retrieve a pot to warm it on the stove, but I stopped him.

“I think I need a break from porridge. For a while, at least,” I said.

“Ah, of course.” He looked down into the bowl and a dark shadow passed over his countenance. But then he put it back in the cold storage and was already smiling again when he turned back to me. Nothing ever soured him for long. “Extra salmon then. You need to rebuild those muscles.” He squeezed my too thin arm, then put on the kettle and began preparing tea for us.

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“El went straight to Celestine’s this morning and they’re likely speaking to the rest of the Council now, preparing to send an ambassador to Astruiath to ask them to let in our refugees. Crow is putting together a few teams of Rangers to map out the best routes for them, and then planning our extraction efforts for Eilith.”

“And what are your plans today?” I asked.

“I’m all yours today. And training, of course.”

“Can I join you?”

“Only if you eat enough breakfast,” he said.

I shoved a large chunk of smoked salmon into my mouth with exaggerated obedience.

∞∞∞

“Byrgir, when we got out of the Temple, you asked me about the Blood Oath,” I said. We were in bed again, in the late afternoon after training in the rain, limbs entwined and sheets tangled as he stroked my hair.

“I did.” He waited for me to continue.

“Did you mean that?”

“Of course I did,” he said. “I got the idea the first day after you were taken, and I haven’t been able to get my mind off it since. But it’s a big commitment, Hal. The rest of our lives. I don’t expect you to be ready to take that step right away. You should take some time to think about it.”

I was quiet a moment, then said, “The world feels so much darker than it did before. I have never felt pain like I did when I was trapped there. When I had lost you. It fractured my soul to miss you like that. Split me in two. I never want to feel that way again.”

“And you never will, my love. I will always be by your side. Until Aed takes me to the Underworld, and then even after that. I will find you in every rebirth, every life.” He squeezed me tight against him, and my throat ached with threatening tears I tried to swallow.

“I’m not interested in an eternity without you. I want no life that doesn’t have you in it. Human lives are too short.”

“I will always come back to you, my eternal queen. I swear.”

“Will there be war?” I asked. A simple question, but the weight of it hung in the air like a curse.