Master of Umbra (The Valhalla Series) (19 page)

Kissing the top of my head, then my cheekbones, he looks at me by ducking his head to my level, “This is the best gift I can give you. The gift borne of love to my beloved. To return someone you love to stay at your side where I can keep you both safe. Trust me Liah, I will never abandon you. Not ever.”

I nod, tears washing away the world, an ache seizing my heart.

“
Kiss me, please? Send me on my way with a token of your taste, let me savor your bliss in sanctified communion.”

I don't even have to think about it, clasping my hands to his prickly stubble and planting a tender kiss on his perfect mouth, closing my eyes and committing it to memory, inhaling his scent, savoring the muscles around me and the strength of his thighs on which I sit.

Then desperation possesses me and I kiss the living daylights out of him, needing him to know I do love him, so much that if he doesn't return I will lose the will to live. It will destroy me.

He takes my left hand, pressing his onto it, sending fire dancing up my veins, breaking our kiss just long enough to promise soul to soul, “Love returns. I will always return to you, because that's what love does. It comes back like a boomerang. No matter how many times an eagle flies, it always returns to the nest, to feed its young, to protect the mate it bonds to for life.”

He squeezes me again, crushing me with cherishing strength and heartfelt intensity.

“
I will come back, Liah. I promise you my poppet, with all I am, and all I ever will be, I will never leave you, your love will call me back even when I am lost. You are my gata home.”

I am his road home.

It's the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.

Swallowing my anguish, I nod, needing to support him in this, knowing it's the first step to reconciliation for his clan and his people. He freed me of Dias, he has shown me in every way what I mean to him. I owe him my trust.

Nodding, I whisper back, kissing the palm that handfasted with mine, “Love comes back, because I will call you back from the second you fly out that tunnel.”

Tears glimmer my vision, and I whisper against his lips, “I love you, my love will ride the winds with you and anchor your journey home.”

And you will bring Lara back because I love her too.

His words are my mantra, love comes back, you will return to my side.

He kisses me again, and I know it as a certainty, he's my best friend, my lover, and the bond we share goes beyond my understanding.

Love comes back, because that's what love does.

~The End~

Glossary:

Alrekr – ruler of all

Ambot – person not of sound mind

Ari – Old Norse meaning eagle

Arnlaug – eagle devotee

Arr – warrior

Banka – knock, pound, beat

Berserkr – proper spelling for berserker.  (Ber - Bear / sekr – coat

Beuckle – the great herdsman of Etive

Böðvar - battle

Buachaille Eite Mòr - is ten miles outside of Glencoe.

Búri: The father of all the Norse gods (all of them). He is the first (He is Odin's father).

Draugr (haugr dweller) – cairn dwelling undead person.

             
Also called hogboon (trows/ howes), this dead person may wander from his burial mound at will. The dead live on as the benign undead. Considered 'spirits', they are equated to the modern day zombie / vampire version of undead. The Norse version make these undead, guardians of the living.

Eagle - live in the Blackmount Forest in the Argyle highlands.

Eoghan (Ewan) – noble / born of the yew tree

Fenrir – Loki's son, the wolf

Finfolk – Dark sorcerers from Orkney, master boat builders and seafairers, they were shapeshifters with amphibious skills and ability, often leaving Orkney for Finfolkaheem. They have the ability to render themselves completely invisible, and keep themselves hidden from mortal eyes. They may also be considered the shapeshifting bodach (faeries).

Finfolkaheem – an island known as Hildaland – a vanishing island off the coast of Orkney encased with a fog bank and very much described as a far north paradise where the sun always shines.

Frith (friðr) - peace and goodwill

Galdr - Old Norse word meaning to sing a charm / incantation

Gata - road

Gunn – from the Norse-Viking word for "warrior" (gunnr meaning war)

Guthbrand – god's sword

Hamask – change form / shapeshift

Haug-bui – original Norse spelling of Hogboon – mound dweller native to Orkney

Haugr –  mound / hill / cairn

Herað
– Old norse name for Harray (Harris)

Hlaðguðr – her name translates as Swan White (the original snow white). A Valkyrie.

Hræsvelgr

Innangarth - those within the tribal enclosure - the trusted inner circle

Læraðr – the golden apple trees of Asgard outside the halls of Valhalla, the orchard of the deathless acre.

Loki – The brother to Thor, his real Norse name is Leug (which means 'to break')

Maes/howe - burial cairn on Orkney dating back to 3000BC.

Serpentarius (
Anguitenens
) – known today as Ophiuchus and Serpens

Ulfhednar (
Úlfhéðnar)
– Norse berserker

Utangarth - outside the enclosure - not of your immediate tribe

Vinr - friend

Vithar – forest warrior

Vlaenderen - The island of Mayda, also known as Hy Brasil (Breasal). It still exists, but it is submerged due to rising sea levels. Recorded on the Piri Reis map, and the Catalan Atlas in 1375. It was so advanced with such technology that it's also known as 'the other Atlantis'.

Now that you have read Deliah's full circle journey, you have the culmination to look forward to as you go deep into the Wolf's lair on 21 December 2013.

The battle is nigh, brothers will fall in conflict, and three woman join together to exact revenge none of their ruthless mates could anticipate.