Page 50 of Midnight Sun
Jamie doesn’t answer. He takes a few shuddering breaths instead. Then he leans back to study Finn’s face. The intensity of his gaze feels a little unsettling.
“Are you really okay? The thing scratched you. You won’t turn into a zombie, right?”
Finn kisses him again, trying to reassure him and to soothe Jamie’s fears. “Don’t worry. It was adraugur, a revenant.I won’t catch some kind of zombie virus.”
“Okay,” Jamie says, sounding suspiciously close to tears, an appropriate reaction given that they’re kneeling in Finn’s destroyed bedroom between broken furniture and the shattered remains of the sink and next to the rotting corpse of a Viking warrior risen from his grave. “Shit,” Jamie sniffles. “For a moment, I thought it would kill you.”
“I’m fine. You saved me,Jamie minn.”
“Okay,” Jamie repeats. “Because you aren’t allowed to leave me just like that.”
“I have no intention of leaving you.”
“Good.” Jamie looks so relieved that Finn wants to cuddle and kiss him some more, just to reassure him. But something in Jamie’s gaze changes, his eyes lighting up with an angry fire. Jamie punches Finn’s arm none too gently. “You didn’t tell me!”
“Ow!” Finn yelps, taken by surprise by Jamie’s sudden swing of mood. “What was that for?”
“Don’t believe I’m not angry with you just because you almost died! I may be relieved this thing didn’t eat your brain, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just brush over the fact that you conveniently forgot to tell me that magic is real!”
“I don’t know if it’s magic technically–”
“Thorfinn Troll-Burster,” Jamie growls.
“That’s not–” Finn flounders. “That’s what theHuldufolkcall me.”
“The what now?”
“The elves.”
Jamie glares at him. “How many trolls did youburstfor theelvesto call you that?”
“Jamie, it’s not like that. What you call magic is extremely rare these days. I would’ve never expected to come across adraugurin my lifetime.”
“How many?”
“Two,” Finn grits out. “And a half, if you count that thing at Dimmuborgir.”
Jamie glares, then he bursts out laughing. It’s a little hysterical, but Finn loves the sound nonetheless. Finn has never allowed any of his previous boyfriends to see this part of his life. It’s too crazy, too hard to handle. Even those who have looked into the otherworld, who possess some kind of abilities of their own, rarely talk openly about it, not even Dagur orAmma. But Jamie takes everything in stride, and Finn adores him for it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Finn says, meeting Jamie’s eyes. “But you realize why I didn’t, don’t you?”
Jamie sobers and looks away. “Yeah. I would’ve thought you were crazy. Well, crazier.”
Finn hums. “Do you accept my apology? I can only promise to keep no more secrets.”
“Deal.” Jamie kisses him with fervor. He pulls away reluctantly after some long moments. “How do we get rid of the corpse?”
Finn grins at him. “Later. First, we’ll see if we can find this stalking bastard.”
Jamie freezes. “Wait. You think the stalker summoned this thing?”
“Who else would have summoned adraugurand ordered it to abduct you?”
Jamie pales. “I don’t know. You really think whoever it is has this kind of power? Why not use it earlier?”
“I think he’s learning. It started out quite mundane with the photos and the stolen items, didn’t it? But there was something ritualistic about the ram’s head. The corvids he had crashing into the windows must have been a spell,” Finn says.
Jamie shudders. “Oh God, this is crazy. Okay, let’s get the horses and see if we can find this sorcerer.”