Page 19 of Bound and Betrothed. Vol. #1-3

EPILOGUE

Beneath the velvet canopy of night and the winking eyes of a thousand stars, the island’s occupants are safely tucked under the bed-furs.

In the longhouse, the embers of the fire-pit are burning low. Hedda is dozing with her arm thrown over the chest of the man she loves. Eldberg snores gently until a nudge in his back persuades him to roll over.

Elsewhere, new lovers are spooned tightly, with more than one manly leg thrown possessively over that of his mate.

The door of one hut opens, and a figure emerges into the moonlight, having slipped away from her bed. Barefoot, she makes her way across the dunes onto the beach, where she stares at the waves of the incoming tide.

The air smells different tonight, and the breeze seems to whisper a warning.

Change is coming—and, with it, something unfathomable.

Something frightening.

Something unstoppable.

A lone bird passes over the low-hung orb of the moon.

As the woman watches, another dark silhouette follows, and another, each gliding on outstretched wings, flying out across the vast sea, away from the island that has been their home.

There is no chill in the air, but the woman trembles.

And far beneath her feet, something else, unseen, gives its own shudder. For though the night is calm, a great force is awakening.

We hope Hedda and Eldberg’s love story made you sigh in all the best ways.

But, of course, their journey is just beginning.

Can Eldberg truly forsake his desire to return to Skálavík if Hedda asks him to remain?

Will his men ever make their own return?

And what of the islanders, whose fate is now bound to that of these fierce Norsemen?

Follow them as the series progresses.

Ready for Frida and Gunnar's story?

Read on…