Page 45 of The Rake OR The Orca Who Met His Match in a Selkie Desiring Revenge
“Thank you—for the warm welcome.” Elspeth’s voice was a little shaky, but her lips turned up at the corners.
Catrin ushered them inside to a sumptuously decorated living room. Though the house was built in a dwarven fashion, carved into the mountainside, the interior was decorated in an eclectic style that reflected their family’s varied heritage. Near the fireplace, a collection of pillows in orcish patterns sat in a pile, ready to be pulled out.4 Closer to the center of the room, four chairs, clearly built by Catrin’s brother Berne, were draped with blankets showcasing the vibrant colors of her sister-in-law’s island homeland. While nothing specifically depicted anything of Movereath, the other continent that housed the Compact of Nations, the signs were there for those that knew the style.
With a sigh, Aegir dropped his pack near the doorway and helped Elspeth with hers. Taking the chair closest to their bags, Aegir was instantly surrounded by children once more.
“Can I help you?” he teased.
"Aegir!”Ursule scolded. “You know you have presents for us!”
"Do I?” he asked.
"You always have presents!” Halsten said. Little Bjorn nodded emphatically and tugged on Aegir's shirt.
"Well, yes, but this trip was quite sudden, it wasn’t planned and I just didn’t have time—"
"But I did!” Elspeth leaned over to dig through his pack, and while he loved seeing her in the clothing he’d picked out for her, he acknowledged that it covered more of her glorious ass than he’d have liked.
The children cheered and Elspeth beamed as she dispersed the gifts. This was a much better scenario. Seeing his family react to her in such a warm way gave him a bright pinch in his chest. She giggled and showed the children different aspects of their surprises and when he looked over, Catrin was seated in Torsten’s lap, both of them smirking knowingly back at him. Torsten winked at him and Aegir rolled his eyes.
Smug bastard.
Only a few years ago, Aegir had complained about the two of them and how annoying they’d been during a trip on his ship. Torsten had countered that he’d be just as annoying when he met his mate. Clearly they’d decided the time had come and planned on gloating.
After giving them ample time to ooh and ahh, Torsten lifted his wife and gently set herin the chair. “All right, all right,” he said, “give the lady some room.”
He waved his hands around, shooing his children from the living room horizontally into their playroom next door. They’d still be visible, but it would offer the adults a modicum of privacy to talk.
“So then, what brings you to Berggeheimnis all of a sudden?” Cat asked.
Torsten fussed at the fire, pouring hot water from a kettle into cups for tea. To him, raised in Sanctuary, the question of tea wasn’t even posed, it was what was done.
"It’s quite the story,” Aegir said, settling back in the comfortable chair, preparing to tell the tale.
"Aegir bit me, accidentally bonded me, and now he’s helping me find my brother, and figure out if we are stuck like this.”
Well, that about summarized it.
Torsten let out a raucous laugh, still facing away from them. “You’re telling me Aegir got leg shackled by accident?”
"Seems so,” Aegir answered.
"I’m sorry, are we simply going to ignore the part where he bit her?” Catrin interjected, arms flailing about.
"She’s a selkie, so I thought she was a seal. A very lost, very sick, veryerratic seal at that.” Aegir said, spying Elspeth giggling behind her hand out of the corner of his eye.
"An orca and a seal? That’s rich!” Torsten bellowed. It was a wonder he wasn’t making a mess of the tea with the way he was carrying on.
"Lost?” Catrin prompted, fishing for information despite her husband’s laughter.
“I was quite a ways from home.” Elspeth left it at that and Aegir found himself quietly pleased that she’d not divulged the reason to his friends before he’d had the full tale from her. It’s not that he didn’t want them to know per se, he just wanted to be the person she felt most comfortable with.
"We’ve reason to believe her brother has been forcibly bonded to a Navigator, likely the one that oversees the northeast Wirrmeer. We mean to find him and free him.”
“And to see if there’s any way to break the bond, the only way I know of is death…” Elspeth trailed off.
"Which, while perfectly acceptable in the case of the officer, I’d prefer to keep my life intact.”
Catrin looked between them, absently accepting a cup of tea from Torsten. “You mean to break it? Yours, I mean.”