Nika woke up suddenly in her own bed, lying in Erik’s arms. She sat up in confused disorientation and pressed a hand to her feverish brow.
Was it all a dream?
She looked at her sleeping lover, and the owl tattoo across his chest told her that it had all been real. She touched the two stones inked into his skin, reading the Elder Futhark runes that were written there. One was Uruz, the other Thurisaz.
She identified the meanings of the runes. Masculine energy. Sexual potency. Regeneration.
As she looked at him, she realized that she, too, had been marked by the sacred fire. Runes were tattooed into both of her inner arms, and she identified Perthro and Sowilo.
Female mystical power. The sacred sword of fire. Protection from evil.
Beside her, Erik opened his eyes. He looked up at her with such love on his face that she wanted to weep.
He touched her cheek and smiled, and she went into his arms for a tight embrace. Everywhere her skin touched his, she felt a tingling of power, as if she was filled with mystical fire that burned brighter when he was near.
“What happened? How did we get here? The last thing I remember, we were at the house, and everything had just burned up.”
“We prevented the Draugr from raising Hakon,” he said simply, as if that explained it all.
“But...” She touched the tattoos on his chest and on her arms. “I don’t understand. What is this?”
He sat up and took her hands. “You remember me telling you about the old gods, how they could only continue for as long as they were melded with the souls of the Draugr. Right?”
She nodded.
“The gods with whom we were merged all those centuries ago rose up to help us, along with the All-Father.”
“Odin.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand.”
He smiled. “You’re still trying too hard to think with a modern mind. Not everything makes rational sense. In the world, remember, there is as much of the spirit as of the physical. Mortal minds cannot measure both.”
Beside the bed, leaning on the wall with its point in the carpet, the Rune Sword sat placidly. The Soul Stone was quiet and dull, no light shining in its depths. She looked at it in confusion, then back at him.
“You, my darling, have taken a big step into a world you ever knew existed, but which has been waiting for you since you were reborn into this life.” He smiled. “Do you believe me when I say that I love you?”
She smiled back, slowly. “Of course.”
“Then believe me now when I say this: because you are Chosen, and because you have drunk the dreyri, you will never be the same.”
Nika touched his arm, running her hands along the skin and the well-formed muscles beneath. He was distracting just by being there.
“Am I truly a Draugr?”
“Yes. You truly are.”
She put her fingers to her teeth, but they felt no different than they had before. He chuckled.
“Some changes haven’t taken hold yet, but they will do so as time goes on. The important thing is that your soul has been awakened, and the power that you have always had has been set free.” He pressed his hand to her chest, resting his palm above her heart. “You and I, Nika… we are meant to be. We are soulmates.”
“This is all so hard to understand,” she said, shaking her head. Her scarlet hair fell over her shoulder, a curtain over her face that he brushed away, tucking it behind her ear.
“You need understand only this: we are immortal, and you are my love, and the gods have blessed us.”
She pulled him into her arms, kissing him. He bore her gently down to the mattress, rolling her onto her back and leaning over her, his hand still cupping her head.
“I love you,” she told him. “You are my Chosen.”
“You are my life,” he told her.
Her moved closer, and they were soon entangled in one another again, their physical loving echoed by the pulsing power in their breasts. Their souls united even while their bodies connected, making love on two levels.
As he moved within her, he breather, “You are my soul.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him as close as she could, giving herself to him, body, heart and spirit.
Against the wall, the Rune Sword glowed.