The Arctic Ch. 05

She knew he spoke of her as being the object he desired.

"I want to to fight," she announced boldly, eyes watching the children chase one another in a nearby yard.

"No." His response was immediate, not even a second of thought. Dark red flames blazed along her fingertips and she clenched her fists, trying to remember her breathing. In addition to the healing, Thora had given her a few techniques for trying to keep better control of her immense amount of magic. Since her magic had gone haywire the most when she was emotional, she was trying her best to control the ones that triggered the internal inferno.

"You are under the impression that was a question; perhaps I should clarify. I WILL fight, Nicholas. Whether I am trained enough or not, will depend on you; but I am not going to stand back and let everyone else fight for me."

"I will not risk it!" he argued, and the flames in her hands expanded, engulfing up to her elbow. They licked along her flesh, burning brighter, hotter; but she felt none of it.

"You do not get to make those decisions for me!" she growled in return. He stood closer, unafraid as his skin coated itself in a thick coat of ice.

"Our souls are forever connected Eira, you cannot burn me no more than you can burn yourself."

"I will fight and you cannot stop me! I will not allow myself to be weak to your kind ever again!" Maybe it was the way she said them, or perhaps the very words themselves, but Nicholas stopped, anger dwindling.

She had finally stuck a chord deep within him, and he took a deep shuddering breath, more than aware of the gathering audience they were attracting. He grabbed her hands gently, a loud hiss hit the air as fire met ice, the ice melting until just their hands were touching and both their powers seemed to calm, if only for the moment.

"Alright, you will start training first thing in the morning. It is not going to be easy," he cautioned. She glanced around as more Wolves exited their homes and she suddenly felt a little self conscious.

"Swear it!" she demanded. He scoffed but once he saw she was dead serious he sighed and nodded. He had not earned her trust yet, he understood her hesitation; so he gave her his oath.

"You have my word that I, Nicholas of the Arctic Wolf Clan, will start training Eira, Queen of Thirann, at first light tomorrow." Excitement rushed through her and she couldn't help but break into a big smile. Finally something was going her way! He had given her his word, and she knew he never did so lightly. Breaking your word was considered very dishonorable.

"Now, do you wanna reign this in?" He lifted her hands and she realized she was still call ablaze. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, focusing on pulling her magic towards her and shoving it back down inside herself. When she opened them again the flames were gone and it was just his hands holding hers. His thumb caressed her knuckles, his eyes staring deep into hers and she felt her cheeks burn before she pulled her hands free; scolding herself for allowing him to affect her this way? Why did she always seem to melt when he touched her? How was it he was able to make her feel this way with just a simple touch and a look? They had been apart for over a decade, she had changed from the young lady she had once been. Although clearly not as much as Nicholas had. And yet whenever he looked at her that way, she was suddenly an Elfling, falling in love all over again.

Before she could respond, the sky suddenly began turning dark, as though a dark cloud had swept in but when Eira looked up to the sky she saw instead the start of an eclipse. A loud blaring horn sounded, one after the other and everyone scrambled. Nicholas's eyes went wide and before she could object, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the origin of the sound. The roads cleared, chores abandoned as all able bodied men and women grabbed their weapons and rushed to the sound of the horn. Eira heard screams followed by the sound of clashing metal and Nicholas stopped, turning to face her.

"You need to go back to our tent and wait for me," he instructed. He shoved a small blade from his belt into her hands and pulled her close, locking her into a kiss that left her weak in the knees. She watched him disappear and traveled back to where she knew her tent was. Once inside she began to pace, the small knife still in her hand. She didn't know what the horns meant and Nicholas hadn't exactly taken the time to explain it to her either. What if it was more White Skulls? What if they were here for her? She heard the sound of fighting as it was getting closer and she began to feel nauseous. She wanted to help but she was afraid she would just end up getting in the way or taken hostage. It was a depressing realization and she briefly wondered if perhaps she could repeat what Astrid had said she had done to Ash and his men. She tossed the knife aside and conjured forth her magic and it blazed to life, surrounding her hand in flames, yet her skin felt not a lick of heat. She knew Astrid had been telling the truth because her powers had never felt like this before. She had unlocked something inside herself and now she felt like she had to learn to wield magic all over again.

She closed her eyes, focusing on drawing that magic back into her body, as though her very pores were drinking in the flames. She repeated the task, flexing her strength as she tried to let a little more magic out each time. It wasn't difficult to do either, all she had to do was think of something that made her angry; and plenty of things had made her angry over the past few weeks. She paced endlessly, stomach in knots as she waited for someone to tell her what the hell was going on. She didn't want to just wait around for them to fight her. When the tent opened she jumped, knife ready and a hefty blaze in one palm; but it was Astrid.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"My mother has requested your help."

"Nicholas told me to stay here." Astrid scoffed and shook her head.

"And since when did you start listening to him?"

"Alright, let's go." Astrid had been willing to die for her, she had at least earned enough trust that she was willing to risk Nicholas's wrath. They were only a few feet from the tent when she heard a loud roar.

"Jotunn," Astrid gasped. The monstrosity was the size of nearly 4 men, its giant limbs crashing through the trees, snapping the branches and tops off, littering the villagers with debris. Eira's knees felt weak and Astrid had to jerk her forward by her arm as wolves leapt onto the giant, arrows shooting into his flesh while others hacked away at its legs; all the while the sunlight was slowly fading away, torches were lit, fires started. The sound of men's bones crunching had her stomach in her throat but she followed Astrid and found Thora in the healer's tent, working by candlelight. She was bent over a soldier, her hands glowing brightly. She wore a few weapons strapped to her waist and Astrid pulled Eira closer.

"How can I help?"

"I need more magic." Eira nodded and settled her hand on the sweaty shoulder of the healer. She could feel the pull instantly as Thora began siphoning her magic, her hands glowed even brighter and slowly the wolve's wounds began to knit themselves shut. They moved from bed to bed, healing the worst of them while other healers managed the minor injuries.

Eira wasn't sure how long they spent healing people, some of them had run straight back into battle only to end right back in the tent. But nobody argued, as long as they were physically able, they would fight until the death. When Eira started seeing double Thora forced her to rest and went about healing others. She closed her eyes as the ceiling of the tent started spinning until eventually it all faded into the distance as unconsciousness claimed her.

When Eira opened her eyes she came face to face with Nicholas. He sat beside her on the couch, holding her hand in his. They were back in their tent, she was stretched out atop the coers.

"That was really stupid of you." he growled.

"Leaving the tent or helping Thora?" He glanced around, his voice lowered.

"Both, I told you to wait in the tent and I expected you to be there when I returned. Why do you insist on rebelling against me?"

"She needed my help, I gave her more magic; I will be alright," she insisted, waving the matter away with her hand.

"It was careless."

"What happened to the Jotunn?"

"It's dead, do not try and change the topic. You are still recovering Eira from unleashing enough magic that you incinerated several people; you could have hurt yourself!" He was angry, but underneath all that anger she heard the concern, the fear.

"It would have been better if I had." He grabbed her so quickly she gasped and he shook her as he stared deep into her eyes.

"Do not let me ever hear you say those words again. Why would you think that?" Eira looked away; there had been so many people, so many injuries and that had been all fighting just one single Jotunn. If the barrier were to truly collapse, hundreds possibly thousands of Jotunn would be able to come through. She had helped by giving Thora her magic, but she had been dragged here with everyone expecting her to fix it and she didn't have the first clue about her magic from Sol. She had no answers, only endless amounts of questions. Tears flowed down her pale cheeks and she wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug as she tried to control the overwhelming hopelessness she felt at the situation. Nicholas pulled her against his chest and held her there, his arms firm, strong and comforting. She leaned her head on his shoulder, mouth facing away as she confessed,

"I-I...I can't fix the barrier." He pulled her away so that they were facing one another again.

"What do you mean you can't fix it? It is made from your magic, Eira! You are the only one who can fix it."

"I don't know how," she admitted, sobs slipped their way out. She had come with the intention of simply learning to fight so that she could flee home. How could she flee to her Kingdom knowing what she did now?

"How can you not know how to use your own magic?"

"My mother died young and you killed my father before he could tell me. Everyone wants me to perform some miracle that I am not capable of and we are all going to die because of it." His hand cupped her chin and he kissed her fiercely.

"It's gonna be okay snowflake, we will figure this out, together. If we do not have the answers we will find the answers. I am sure the Elders will know, those old bats have existed since the beginning of time." Eira couldn't help it, she broke into a smile and he wiped a tear from her cheek.

"See, it is not quite Ragnarok yet snowflake. I am sorry that you are suffering from the loss of your father, but I am not sorry for killing him. There are things about him you don't know, and I would rather not taint the memories you have left of him. I will talk with Tyrst, when you are well, we will start training, and when the snow melts we will head back to the Elders."

"What about the barrier? Will it hold?"

"At the rate it has been weakening we have two summers before we are in any serious danger. The weakening only occurs when the moon covers the sun. We have plenty time before it happens again; it is going to be okay."

"What things do you know about my father?" She asked after she breathed a sigh of relief. So the Ragnarok was still approaching, just not as quickly as she had been led to believe.

"I told you, I would rather not taint the memories you have left of him."

"I will find out one way or another eventually, Nicholas...and I would rather hear it from you," she confessed. Despite their coarse past, he really did know her better than anyone else and of all the people in the world, it was his lips she wanted the secrets to spill from. Nicholas held her hands in his now as he took a deep breath as he tried to figure out the best way to tell her.

"It was your father who brought back the fighting pits." Short, simple and truth. Even as he uttered them, she didn't want to hear anymore. It was a barbaric tradition that her people had started hundreds of years ago; the rounded up wolves and forced them to fight like wild dogs. They were treated very much like the animals they turned into, even going as far as to breed them like horses. It had been banned by her Great Grandfather because of how inhumane it was, the idea that her father had been the one to bring them back was horrifying. When she looked up back to Nicholas she knew he wasn't finished.

"I wasn't 'banished' like your father would have you believe, further down the road I was ambushed and I woke up as one of his newest pets." His jaw was tense, and Eira couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nicholas lifted his shirt to reveal his

"Is that what the scars are from?" She had noticed them, several thick dark scars. The biggest of them ran from the right side of his ribcage down towards his hip before stopping. She had hardly noticed them before, she had been too intent on her hatred. Her finger reached out to trace the skin before she realized what she was doing and pulled her hand back.

"When we refused to shift they would heat hot iron and burn us until we shifted anyways." The heat had stopped the skin from healing properly, which suited him just fine. He wanted a reminder of the torture he had suffered at the hands of her father. The pain he had witnessed of his people, both his people.

"I don't understand...why would he do this?"

"You underestimate your father's hatred of wolves, snowflake. The night I shifted, I no longer became the young man your father watched grow up. To him I was nothing more than a savage animal." Eira felt the sharp pang in her chest, those were the same words she often used when she wanted to insult him.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"To be honest, I thought you already knew. Kris told me...well it doesn't matter because none of it was true."

"If I had known...I feel like I grew up in an entirely different world Nicholas."

"It's a lot to adjust to, but it gets easier." Eira realized how selfish she sounded, Nicholas had already been through this. He had gone from a noble Elf to a fighting Pit. Tortured by his own King, thought to be scorned by his own betrothed. How had he managed to not break entirely?

"When?" she demanded. Not a single day had gone by since this entire ordeal happened that she had been able to say she slept well or wasn't constantly on high alert for the next person or creature who wanted her dead. Nicholas sat back down beside her, his light blue hair had darkened from the blood of his enemies, his grey-blue eyes were calming.

"You are not alone in this, snowflake."

"How can you even stand the sight of me?"

"I was angry for many years, Eira; and for awhile the very thought of you would send me into a rage. But when I finally saw you again, after all these years...one look in your eyes and I knew that he had lied."

"What did you see when you looked at me?"

"Relief, grief, anger, confusion and...love." Her heart beat responded to his words, and Eira looked away.

"Is that why you were so cruel to me on our wedding night?" His eyes were sorrowful as he looked away with guilt.

"In part, yes. Partly being Wolf means sometimes I don't have control over my more primal instincts. The very sight of you, the smell of you...knowing you were mine." His voice took on more of a growl to it and she shivered; not from his wintry powers. It was heat that emitted from his half naked body, and she stopped him with one hand against his chest and he shook his head, pulling back.

"It is hard to keep my head when I am around you; I'm sorry," he admitted. She looked deep into his grey blue eyes and saw regret and sincerity.

"I can't lose you Eira. These last few days were torture and when I thought you were dead...your ability is not the only reason I married you Eira. I love you, I have loved you for over a decade, and I will continue to love you into the afterlife." And for the moment she believed him, she needed to

believe him. Eira leaned forward and locked him into a passionate kiss. He was taken by surprise but the moment her lips touched his all reservations died. He groaned her hand coiled around her neck, cupping the back of her skull as he kissed her back. Their tongues met and he leaned against the headboard as she moved across the bed on her knees. He pulled away from her, breathless.

"Wait...are you sure about this snowflake? I don't want there to be any doubt," he whispered, lust glowing in his eyes as he searched hers.

"Right this moment, it is the only thing I am certain about." Desire seemed to flood her senses, and she didn't protest when he pulled her closer so that she straddled his lap. She could feel his arousal straining against his pants and she ground her rocked her hips against his. The need swept through her body and she didn't bother to fight it. After everything she had recently gone through, she needed this. His hands slid their way up her shirt, pulling it off over her head and tossing it to the floor, with her breasts free he reached up and began to massage them. Kneading the soft globes of flesh while his thumb rubbed circles around her nipple causing a moan past her lips. Her hands began to caress his bare chest, fingers softly tracing the raised darkened flesh of his scars. They didn't diminish his looks, if anything they made him appear stronger. To see the pain he had endured and come out from was a whole other experience.

"I want you so badly," he breathed. Eira could feel the pressure growing between her legs and she squeezed her thighs tighter around him, pressing down harder, trying to satisfy the ache.

"Those need to come off," he announced, nodding to her pants. Her fingers fumbled with the drawstring and as she quickly pulled them down he grabbed his waistband, lifted his hips and pulled his down with practiced ease. She blushed as stood over him completely naked, his waiting member stood proudly, his hand wrapped loosely around it, stroking it as he stared up at her. Eira straddled his legs, hovering just inches above him as she reached down to line him up with her entrance. His hands gripped her hips as he guided her down with ease, his eyes closing in rapture at the feel of his throbbing cock sinking inside her. Her hands shook a little as she placed them on his shoulders for leverage as she started to ride him. Her hips lifted before slowly sinking back down and she discovered the new angles he reached in this position. His hands returned to her breasts, but he caught one with his mouth, using just the edges of his teeth, eliciting sweet noises as she continued bouncing up and down, her fingers digging into the muscles of his arms as she brought herself down harder and faster with each movement.

An urgency had take over and she arched her back as his teeth sank into the soft flesh of breast. She felt a slow tingling warmth spreading from the tips of her toes, up her legs and stopping low in her body. She could feel it building there, rising higher and higher; a fullness filled her as electricity traveled up her spine. And it ended in an explosion of hot white light that left her spent and twitching. Nicholas leaned his head against her chest, nuzzling her bosom as they both came down from their post climactic bliss. As reasoning slowly returned Eira finally looked at him, his cock slowly turning flaccid as evidence of their copulation slowly leaked from her body. Nicholas remained unbothered as he brushed her hair from her face, pulling her in for one last kiss before giving her a satisfied grin. Eira was astonished with her own boldness, she had never been the one in charge before and the power of it was exhilarating. She inspected her breast to find the faint imprint of his teeth but nothing that broke the skin and he smiled sheepishly.