Chapter 68
The sound of running water is calling to me. As soon as I hit the riverbank, I remove my earbuds and jog along with the stream. Once I find an open area, I climb down the side of the hill to rest. It’s been a very long time since I’ve run through the vineyard, and I have to admit that I missed it a whole lot.
Coming home felt like coming home for the first time in a very long time. Longer than my failed mating. My grandmother’s staff welcomed me home as if I had been with them my entire life. They prepare all my favorite food and desserts.
I shiver when a cold flash rushes through my body, and for a moment, my ears ring. My nose catches onto something, and I take a deep breath, preparing for a sneeze. My entire body feels like I’ve just been slapped when the sneeze comes out. I scream and scramble away from the water when a massive air bubble bursts out of it.
I try to catch my breath, but the force of my sneeze has left me gasping for air, and for some reason, my body is stiff all of a sudden.
“Sophia?” I look up through blurry eyes to see someone running towards me. “Hey, look at me. What happened?”
“Ragnar?” I clear my throat. I feel very cold for no reason.
“Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay?”
As soon as his bare hands meet my skin, the fuzziness in my head starts to clear out. I blink my eyes a few times and look back at the water, seeing that nothing is wrong anymore. I pull out of his hold and look around, wondering what the hell that.
was.
“What the fuck?” I steady my breathing and allow him to lift me up.
“What happened?” he asks, dusting my sweat pants off.
“I don’t know. I felt sick for a moment, and I sneezed. There was an explosion in the water,” I walk over to the edge of the riverbank and crouch down.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a water affinity awaken in the castle,” he says and comes to stand next to me. I’m up straight before I can even think.
“What?”
“A water affinity. You made the water explode,” he smiles down at me. “Take your shoes off. Get closer.”
“It’s freezing,” I shake my head.
He sighs, rolling his eyes, and begins to remove his shoes. Not wanting to look like a coward, I follow suit. Slowly, I dip my toes into the cold water to find that it doesn’t feel as cold as I expected it to be. In fact, my entire body reacts to it the way it does when I’m with him. My senses all come alive to the sound of the water flowing.
“Come here,” he says and crouches down. I stand beside him, and he motions for me to get closer. I crouch with him as he takes my hand. “Affinities are fun in the beginning. They hurt, but it’s worth it. Kind of like working out and feeling sore the next day. You know it’s getting stronger.
“It makes perfect sense that you’d have a water affinity, Soph. Healers usually have an affinity that helps them help others, and yours is no different. It’s a part of you,” he tugs my sleeve up my arm and holds our hands out together. “I want you to close your eyes. Tell me what you felt right before you sneezed.”
“Um.” I take a deep breath. “I felt a shiver go down my spine when I got close to the water. My ears were ringing, and there was a sort of metallic scent in the air. It’s what made me sneeze.”
“Okay, take a deep breath. Relax and just listen to the flow of the water, he instructs quietly.
I shut my eyes and take a deep breath to calm myself. The sound of the river flow beckons me the way it did when I was running through the vineyards. That’s never happened to me before, and I thought it was because of my new senses.
It takes me a moment, but I don’t just hear the sound of the water flowing. I can also hear my blood pumping through my body, as if it were trying to keep pace with the water. I gasp when my fingertips dip into it.
“Open your eyes, little wolf, I hear Ragnar whisper.
I open my eyes to come face to face with a wall of water. I follow it all the way up and stand. I step closer, until my arm is fully inside the wall I’m creating. I move my hand, and the flow of the water inside the wall moves with me. I laugh and step back. The wall falls, creating a huge splash.
“I did that?” I ask, turning around to face Ragnar.
“Don’t look at me. Water isn’t my affinity,” he smirks.
“What is your affinity?” I ask, shaking my arms out, so I can put my shoes back on.
“This,” he says and snaps his fingers. A fireball spins to life in the palm of his hand. He shakes it out and tucks his hand into his hoodie.
“You have a fire affinity?”
“Correct,” he nods. “Only a handful of people know. It’s not something we should reveal to just anyone.”
“I understand,” I say, tucking my socks into my pockets. I turn my attention back to the water.
“Your affinity is very strong,” he says, scooping me up into his arms.
He walks over to the water and cleans my feet. A warm sensation moves over my skin, drying my feet and legs. He sets me down on the edge of a cliff and takes my socks out of my pocket to slip them on. All I can do is laugh because that was some cool shit.
“Are there any more secrets you’d like to share with me, my King?”
“I can’t show you everything all at once, Little Wolf. Learn to love a little mystery,” he smirks and slips my shoes on before going to clean his feet, and puts his shoes back on. I jump off the edge and wait for him to catch up.
“What were you doing out here?” I ask.
“I’ve learned to run through here since we started training together. I come up from the castle. It’s about the same distance both ways,” he says, pointing back the way he had come from. “I didn’t think you would venture out this far. I’m not stalking you or anything.”
“Liar, I know about your guards,” I laugh. “It’s fine. I get it.”
“That’s not stalking. It’s protecting my assets.”
“That sounds so much worse,” I roll my eyes.
I look up at him, taking him in properly. He still looks just as tired. I’ve become accustomed to him being nearby when we sleep. His cot was right behind mine during training. And the year before that, he slept in my room almost every night. I find it just as difficult to sleep now that I’m home and he’s nowhere in sight. It gets to the point where I feel sick.
“Do I have something on my face?” he asks.
“Why is it so difficult for us to be apart?” I ask. He’s taken aback by the question.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not sleeping, and neither am 1. I can’t without you being close by. I just lie there with my eyes shut, but I don’t storp. That didn’t happen to me before. I went months, then weeks, without Santiago being close. It never made me feel physically sick like this.”
“Lycan bonds are different,” he shrugs. “It’s not the union of two spirits. It’s the reconnection of one. It is believed that we are descendants of the Makhai.”
“I don’t know what that is,” I admit, embarrassed.
“In Greek mythology, we have Titans and Gods, right. Titans are parents to the Gods. There is one particular Titan that consists of two bodies attached back–to–back. It is believed that Zeus felt so threatened by the immense power of this Titan that he split it in two. Cursing it to spend the rest of eternity looking for its other half.
“Our history starts there. There is no recorded history of our kind before that. It is said that we were used in battle. It’s taught to end our kind if anyone ever came across it. It’s why there aren’t very many of us. For a Lycan to find a mate, it’s considered a gift from our creators themselves.”
“The Gods?”
“No, the Gods are a bunch of fucking assholes. The Titans. Bringers and takers of life and creation. It’s believed that one day. they’ll return and take back what was taken from them.”
“At the expense of everything in their way,” I remind him.
“Yes, well, the world has forsaken us as much as the gods,” he smirks. “F**k ‘em.”
“I need some rest before I start work tomorrow. The last thing I need is to be all tweaked out on coffee my first day.”
“Are you inviting me over for a sleepover, Sophia?” he grins.
“I am, so don’t make a big deal about it.”
“It’s a big deal to me,” he shrugs.
“Okay, well, don’t show it. My grandma is already obsessed with the idea of us getting together.”
“So is my father,” he sighs.
“You told him?”
“I had to,” he says begrudgingly.” Someone blabbed about me attacking that General idiot.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
