Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Wóden would never allow Regin to wed a mortal berserker.
    And the ohalla Aidan sought? She’d only ever heard of one berserker in all of history who’d earned it. The rest died in battles long before their two hundredth one.
    A fact that the cunning Wóden well knew.
    “I am certain we will, little wife.” Finished with his meal, Aidan rose and crossed to his bed, dividingthe furs into two pallets on opposite walls. He waved her to one, then took the other. Easing to his side, he propped his head in his hand. “When you are older you’ll come to see that every woman needs a man, even a Valkyrie.”
    “Why?” She plopped down across from him.
    “You’ll understand when you go through the change.”
    “You mean when I become immortal?” When she would change from a growing, vulnerable girl to a nigh invincible woman. Her sisters spoke of this time in whispers, but Regin didn’t know why. Mayhap this male would tell her.
    “Those months will be sweet.” He lay on his back, his hands behind his head. In a knowing tone, he said, “You’ll definitely want me around then.”
    “Why? What happens?”
    “You’ll become a woman. And you’ll need me as much as I will surely be needing you.”
    “Would you try to kiss me?” she asked slyly.
    “Depend on it.”
    “And?”
    “And now you should go to sleep. We’ve a long journey ahead of us.”
    “Warlord, tell me!” She crossed her arms over her chest and lightning struck outside.
    He
chuckled
.
    “Why should I choose
you
to kiss, then?”
    He turned on his side again, his gaze holding hers. “Why
not
me?”
    “All you do is war.”
    “True, and I’m damned skilled at my trade. Which means I’ll always be able to protect you. And by the time you’re grown, I’ll have accumulated enough loot to spoil you.”
    “You’re not noble or refined.”
    He nodded easily. “I possess no refinement. But that also means I’ve no guile—you will always know what I’m thinking.”
    “And you believe
you
are entitled to a Valkyrie for your bride?”
    “I am the most powerful berserker
ever
to live,” he said, not with conceit but as if he merely stated an indisputable fact. “So if not me, then who?”
    She shrugged. “I remain unconvinced of your charms, Aidan.” Also an indisputable fact.
    “There is another reason. …”
    “Tell me.”
    His voice gone gruff, he added, “You should choose me because … I will love you, Reginleit.”
    Her heart seemed to skip a beat. “How can you say that? You cannot know the future!”
    “I know because, at twelve years of age, you’ve won me with your wit and bravery. Your staunch loyalty, too.” He leaned back once more, grinning up at the roof of the longhouse. “When you have your wiles about you, I’ll be no match. I concede defeat well in advance.”
    “When I’m grown, others will vie for my hand.”
    “Undoubtedly. But you belong only to me.”
    Lightning struck again from her frustration. He truly believed he had the right to take away her freedom, to keep her as his untouched prize while he continued his debauched lifestyle. Perhaps that was the way of things with mortals.
But such is not good enough for the likes of me.
    “Berserker, hear my words,” she said. “I vow to you that I will stay as true to you as you do to me.” That would shut his mouth. He couldn’t go a week without a Birgit. “Every wench upon your lap means I sit upon a warrior’s. Every woman’s mouth you kiss is a man’s lips upon my own.”
    His fierce gaze met hers, his eyes ablaze once more—as if the mere thought of her with another sent his ire spiraling. Seeming to struggle for control, he grated, “Then I give you my oath that I’ll not touch another. Now are you satisfied, little wife? Any more demands?”
    “I have to go with you to find Lucia.”
    “In this I will not bend, Reginleit. You are vulnerable. You can be harmed. And that I could not abide.”
    Before he doused the candles, he leaned over to press a quick kiss against her hair, then chucked her under the chin. “Brightling, the time till you’re grown will pass slowly for me. Every night, I will dream of the woman you’ll become.”
    He returned to his pallet, and in the dark she saw his eyes closed and his lips curled, as if with anticipation.
    She inwardly sighed.
You will never see me grown, warlord. But from time to time, I might think of the stubborn mortal who was kind to me.
    -ii-
    Nine years later
    “What are you doing,