Then I whispered, “Why aren’t you cold?”
His head tipped slightly to the side for a second before he quickly righted it and replied, “I do not suffer the cold, Finnie, this you also know because everyone knows it. I do not suffer in heat either.”
Uh.
Wow!
And.
What?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask because clearly I was supposed to know. And also unfortunately I had to cover.
“Right,” I said quickly. “I forgot.”
He examined my face while repeating, “You forgot,” in a way that said he didn’t believe me and in a way that said he either thought I was slightly unhinged or highly untrustworthy (or both).
“Uh…” I started to cover further, “I’m kinda freaking out about the elves being back after centuries, Frey. It slipped my mind.”
He stared at me. Then he whispered, “Right.”
Totally didn’t believe me.
So I covered more by smiling at him and I did it big. That worked. His eyes dropped to my mouth, his arms convulsed and the tension went out of his big frame.
I gave him a light push with my hands and said, “You better go. The cool-as-shit elves are waiting.”
That got me another hitch of one side of his mouth then he nodded and let me go.
When he did, I turned and looked around the room, saw his stuff tossed on a trunk and hurried to it.
He followed me and I handed him his sweater. He took it and pulled it on while I blathered.
“When you get back, I want to know everything. This is so cool. I love this. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.”
“Finnie –”
I handed him his socks and cut him off. “No. Don’t say you can’t tell me. If you hear what they say and you can’t tell me, okay. But maybe you can. Don’t burst my bubble now. You can burst it later if you have to.”
He took his socks but didn’t put them on. He just stared at me.
Then he hooked me with an arm around my waist and I was suddenly plastered against his body and his mouth had crushed down on mine. He gave me a short, hot kiss (with tongues) then let me go.
Then he ordered, “Loft, wife, I’ll be back soon.”
I smiled at him and agreed, “Okay.”
Then I rushed to the ladder and up.
Once in, I stuck my head out and called to my husband as he tugged on his boots, “Have fun with the elves.”
His head tipped back and his eyes caught mine. Then he shook his head. Then he grinned.
I grinned back and slapped the curtains closed.
Then I rushed to the bed, sat cross-legged in the middle of it and listened to the door open and close.
Then I giggled.
Holy freaking moly! This world had elves and I was married to their lord, a man who, for some reason (magic?), didn’t suffer cold or heat.
How… freaking… cool!
This adventure was totally worth a million dollars.
Totally.
Chapter Nine
The Message
Tyr’s hooves pounded through the snow taking Frey Drakkar over the rise behind his hunting cabin and beyond, through the trees that grew thicker and thicker and into the heart of the forest, the part that was so dense, even Tyr and The Drakkar had to slow to navigate it.
Then they entered an opaque, drifting white mist that only The Drakkar and his steed could penetrate, any other human attempting it would be cast back.
The elves were present.
Tyr and The Drakkar moved through the thick stand of trees and heavy vapor and saw the light of the adela tree piercing the mist and shafting around the dark trunks of the forest well before they arrived at the clearing that held the wide, tall, sparkling adela with its many narrow branches rising straight from the stump, its bark glittering, its twirly-ended twigs profuse and shooting out to the sides and straight into the air.
The Drakkar pulled back on Tyr’s reins at the edge of the fifteen foot circular clearing surrounding the adela and dismounted. The elves were already there, moving to the adela, touching it’s bark at the base where the tree rose from the earth, instantly transforming from their diminutive size to human size – stopping at a height not near as tall as The Drakkar, but as tall as his winter bride.
Drakkar approached with Tyr’s jaw close to his shoulder and stopped halfway to the glittering, magical tree.
Nillen, Speaker of the Elves, moved instantly to him, stopping two feet away from his lord.
Then he bowed his head by tucking his chin to the side of the neck before his ice blue eyes, Drakkar’s new bride’s same eyes, moved to his lord.
“Thank you for coming, my lord, Frey Drakkar.”
“This had better be good, Nillen, I was ten minutes away from consummating my marriage when your elves arrived.”
Nillen’s lips tipped up at the ends and his eyes sparkled like icicles. “We have bad timing,” he murmured.