Page 45 of The Viking in the Vault (Galactic Librarians #2)

RAGNAR

T he ice sings beneath our feet.

A song of home…of return, of life born anew. Not the home we left behind, but a new home.

Almost my entire crew, kept safe by the Stormcaller for thousands of years.

I glance over my shoulder as we move from the cavern and back into the frostglass tunnel, beneath M’mir’s arctic sea.

The Skoll—about fifty of them—move behind me in loose formation, many blinking up at the leviathans swimming above us, mystified.

Skarnhounds trot along with the group, Fenrik at the front with me and Elena.

All eyes are on me, waiting for instruction.

For some word as to what we’re meant to do next.

And for them? I don’t know. But for me…I know exactly where my future lies.

Elena reaches over to squeeze my hand, looking up at me. “You’re frowny,” she says. “You okay?”

I hum.

“I am not frowny,” I murmur, though of course—I am. I want to be strong for my crew, for my mate…but I feel weak. Being with Elena has made me softer, wishing for relief, for guidance?—

“Hey,” she says, interrupting my thoughts and squeezing my hand harder. “You don’t have to be tough, okay? You have a Vethari now, remember?”

Her bracelets chime as if to remind me of what she is.

I smile.

“Right,” I say. “I remember.”

She leans into my side as we walk, Fenrik matching our pace and looking up at me, tongue lolling.

I think he’s just as happy to have found her as I am.

Back in Snowveil, the previously quiet hospital where I was kept as the doctors examined me is pure chaos.

Medical drones hover overhead, Archive personnel coordinate the arrival of our crew.

The Skoll have split into smaller units, each assigned a temporary bunk while they’re examined for ‘ancient pathogens’.

They move with curiosity and caution, watching as their vitals are scanned, translators implanted, and clothes—not armor, but proper, modern clothes—distributed in modest bundles.

A few of them tug at the sleeves and wrinkle their noses, but they take it with dignity…

particularly Axl, who seems utterly charmed with Cosmia.

I remain at Elena’s side, letting the others acclimate while I remain nearby. I want to be available…but Elena is too, particularly as the crew gets their translators. She doesn’t mind being their guide, eager to help.

And Fenrik is unbothered; he’s discovered the source of the warm air in this place, and is currently sprawled across a vent, utterly boneless. I suspect he will be hard to dislodge.

Elena’s cheeks are flushed from the bustle of activity, but she moves confidently through the storm of medical equipment and bright lights, answering questions from the crew. When one hesitates at the sight of a scanning drone, Elena is the one who steps forward with an assuring smile.

“It’s okay,” she tells them. “It’s not Borean tech—just wants to make sure you’re healthy.”

They nod, reassured, and I watch the way she eases them…not with authority, but with presence.

She makes people feel safe.

She made me feel safe.

“Elena,” Ves calls, jogging over with a tablet in hand. “Sorry—can you come confirm the log on the last twenty units? I’m getting some conflicting tags from Kallisto.”

Elena tucks a curl behind her ear. “Yeah, of course. Just one second.”

She glances back at me.

“You good?”

I nod. “Go. I’ll be here.”

She leans up on her toes and presses a kiss to my cheek, then hurries after Ves.

Cosmia brushes past me with a datapad, muttering to herself as she updates something in the intake logs.

Behind her, Rishik is checking readings from a mobile med station.

Across the room, Axl is speaking animatedly to one of the Archive researchers.

When Cosmia glances their way, they give her a rakish grin.

She stares for a second too long before rolling her eyes and turning back to her work, but her antennae are pink.

Perhaps I was not the only one who had a fenvarra waiting in the distant future.

I smile.

This place…it’s strange. Loud. Bright. I’m not certain that I will ever become fully accustomed to it. But Elena…she is the most perfect mate I could ever have asked for.

She helped me find my crew. My people. They are already learning how to live in this strange world.

And I am watching my future bloom beside me. In every gesture, every laugh, every time Elena puts her hand on someone’s arm to steady them or walks one of my clan through the basics of a translator implant. She never pretends to be something she’s not. She merely is.

Elena comes back a moment later, her eyes wide. Her curls are bouncing as they fall free from her ponytail, her steps almost clumsy with excitement.

When she reaches me, breathless, I take her into my arms. “What?”

She smiles. “Dr. Kallisto just wanted to tell me something about what they found in that buried archive,” she says. “It’s…it’s big. Huge, actually.”

I raise a brow. “Is it a beast?”

She laughs. “No, Ragnar—it’s a discovery.”

It takes her a moment to realize I was being sarcastic. She shoves my shoulder gently.

“Now…come here, smartypants.”

She takes my hand and tugs me toward one of the quieter corners of the facility, just far enough that the noise fades to a hum.

“You remember the archive tech we were looking at before we kept going to find the crew?” she asks.

“It was recording stabilization patterns…atmospheric regulation, oceanic filtering protocols. Stuff that was meant to preserve life, not just sustain it. Ragnar…it’s terraforming tech that the Borean Empire buried, and it’s functioning .

Kallisto thinks that with the right calibrations, we might even be able to scale it. ”

I stare at her. “You mean…”

Her voice goes quiet and awestruck. “I mean Earth, Ragnar,” she says.

“My home. The coast I grew up on, the town…if we can adapt this, we could stop the hurricanes. We could stabilize sea levels. Maybe not right away…but this could change harm that was done way before the Convergence even happened.”

She blinks rapidly, like she’s trying not to cry. Her voice wavers.

“This is what I’ve been working toward for years. Not the fantasy of saving the world, but just…making it possible for people to stay. To rebuild. To not have to leave the places they love.”

I take her hands in mine, feeling the tremor in her fingers.

“And you found it in the wreckage of a ship older than your planet’s current maps,” I say, soft with wonder.

She lets out a shaky laugh. “Yeah. We found each other, and we found this.”

I pull her into my arms and press a kiss to the crown of her head before releasing her only to entwine my fingers with hers.

“So what happens next?” I ask.

She blushes. “Well…I guess it’s probably time to introduce you to my family, huh?”

I squeeze her hand.

“Do they know about me?” I ask.

She nods, then hesitates. “Sort of? I told my sister we were kind of having a thing. I may have also said you were, um…a little overprotective.”

I huff a quiet laugh. “Accurate.”

“And I definitely mentioned your antlers.”

“Also accurate.”

She exhales, leaning her forehead against my shoulder. “They’ve been through a lot. My hometown—Santa Rosa—it’s barely holding on. Every year, another storm. Another evacuation. My family’s been trying to help keep it standing, but…”

She trails off, then lifts her gaze to mine.

“If this tech works—if we can adapt it—it’s not just theory anymore, Ragnar. I could bring it home. I could help stabilize the coastline, give them a future there again. I know it’s a long shot, I know there’ll be red tape and politics and a million obstacles, but I want to try. And…”

She takes a breath, her voice small but steady.

“I want you to come with me.”

It takes a moment for the words to register. “To Earth?”

She nods quickly. “Just for a while. I want you to see where I come from. I want you to understand why this matters to me. I want you beside me—not just here in this new life, but in the parts of mine I left behind.”

I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss her fingers.

“Then I will go,” I say. “For your ocean. For your storms. For your sky.”

She exhales shakily, smiling with wet eyes. “You’ll love the stars there,” she whispers. “They’re different from M’mir…but just as bright.”