Tro (Elsker Saga Book 3) Read Free Page B

his eyes as he laid a plate of jerk chicken on the table, and I caught a whiff of that impossibly heady, woodsy smell from his bare chest. I was torn between my desire to eat the delicious meal he’d prepared and an altogether different and much more embarrassing desire.
    If Ull sensed my mood he was too refined to say anything. We were starving after our long flight, so there wasn’t much room for conversation anyway.
    Ull was a good cook, and I quickly finished two portions of chicken. When I set my utensils diagonally across my plate, he stood with a slow smile.
    “Shall we?” He reached out, and I took his hand. Fingers entwined, we walked down to the beach. A mild breeze caressed my skin, soothing the burn brought on by Ull’s touch. I sent calming thoughts to my palms, and the burn went away. My new Asgardian skin was going to get a stern talking-to if it didn’t stop overwhelming me with every touch. But I had a feeling Ull’s touches would always overwhelm me. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
    We kicked off our sandals and waded just far enough in the ocean so it lapped against our calves. The water was bath-temperature, despite the setting sun, and I relished the feeling of warmth that settled over me. Ull and I stood hand in hand, our feet buried in soft sand beneath the waves. We watched in silence as the sun dipped below the horizon, and the stars came out in the darkening sky. The full moon reflected off the water as Ull slowly turned his body to face mine. My heart accelerated to twice its normal pace and I shifted from one foot to the other. Ull’s eyes smoldered beneath unnaturally long lashes, leaving no doubt as to his intentions.
    I dropped my gaze.
    “Ull, I…” I broke off. I had no idea how to do this.
    “Hey.” Ull lifted my chin with one finger. I had no choice but to look at him. “It is just me.”
    “I know, but…” I bit my bottom lip. There was absolutely no accounting for my sudden anxiety. It made zero sense that the thing I’d spent months all but begging for was the thing that suddenly had my palms sweating.
    “I get it,” Ull whispered. He put his hand on the back of my head and pulled me against his chest. “Me too.”
    We didn’t move for a long moment; we just stood knee-deep in the water, Ull’s hands cradling me to him while I took slow breaths to stop the jackrabbit executing a tap routine in my chest. When it became apparent the jackrabbit was planning several encores, I balled Ull’s shirt in my hands. Get a grip, Kristia .
    “How about I tell you a story?” Ull rested his chin on the top of my head.
    My lips moved against his chest. “Okay.”
    “Once upon a time in Asgard, there was a god named Freyr. Freyr was the god of, among other things, fertility.”
    I blushed. “I remember.” Ull’s grandmother Olaug had given me a mildly inappropriate wedding gift in Freyr’s likeness. Something about wanting grandbabies…
    “Right.” Ull chuckled. “Well, in time, the god of fertility got lonely. He moped around Asgard, and made everyone around him miserable. Our sea god, Njord, could not take it any longer, so he asked Freyr’s servant, Skirnir, to find out what was wrong. Freyr answered that he had seen a woman—one so beautiful that when she raised her arms, the light bounced off her skin and the whole world brightened. Skirnir asked why this made Freyr sad, and Freyr answered simply, ‘Because I cannot be with her.’ The woman was Gerd, the daughter of mountain giants, and relationships between the races were deeply discouraged.”
    Boy, oh boy, had I been there.
    “Freyr was consumed—he thought of nothing but Gerd, and he knew he would die if he could not have her. He was far too infatuated to be bothered with something as trifling as Asgardian law, or proprietal convention, so he asked Skirnir to bring Gerd to him. Skirnir agreed, on the condition that Freyr lend him his sword.”
    “That doesn’t seem like a huge deal,” I