Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“So, why isn’t the book in Reva’s belongings?”
Skars shook his head. “I don’t know. Reva asked me to keep it. Perhaps the memories are too strong for her to bear they are gone.”
“You think she blames herself?”
He nodded. “Já.”
Raine didn’t think she would want a reminder in her possession every day that she could have stopped a catastrophe from happening.
Slowly, she pulled out another drawing, and her breath caught in her throat.
The picture was of Thorsen, Skars, and an older version of Thorsen—their father. The three men were shirtless, their tattoos similar yet different. Seeing the tattoo in the drawing gave her a better perception about how they had once been where the scarred flesh was now. The tattoo was very similar to the drawing which Skars’ grandfather had drawn of the Yggdrasil. In the inner circle was a tree with sprawling branches growing from a trunk. Underneath the trunk were roots. On the limbs were leaves. The tree sizes varied between the three men. Skars had the smallest tree with the least amount of leaves, Thorsen’s tree was larger in height and size, and his had less leaves than his father’s and more than Skars’.
“Why didn’t Thorsen have the same amount of leaves as you? Your dad has more leaves than either of you? Why don’t you have any leaves on your lowest limb?”
“I don’t have children. Thorsen had three.”
Sadness arched between them when she looked up from the picture.
“Thorsen had children?”
“Já.”
“He lost his wife, too?”
“Wives. He had two.”
She pierced him with her eyes. “How many—”
“I was unmarried.”
“How many wives are you allowed to have?”
Skars slid his hand behind her neck to pull her to his sensual mouth. “It seems just one.”
She grabbed his hair to put more distance between their mouths. “Do Vikings have premarital contracts?”
“Neinn.”
“They do now. I want it in writing that you’re only allowed one.”
Skars arched a brow at her. “Then I get to write something into this contract.”
“I only want one husband. I couldn’t handle two Vikings. I barely have enough stamina for one.”
Skars laughed. “Viking women aren’t allowed more than one husband.”
Raine made a face at him. “Of course not,” she scoffed. “I see Martian men are the same as human ones. Okay, so what do you want written into our contract?”
“You can’t divorce me.”
Damn. He was asking for a biggie, but she was kind of asking for a biggie, too. If she were a man, who wouldn’t want two women to cater to him?
“All right, fine. But you better not make me regret my decision.”
“I won’t.” Ignoring her hand in his hair, he gave her a kiss that spun what they had been talking about right out of her head.
Breaking the kiss, Skars placed the drawing back in the chest then carried it to his bigger chest. Plopping down next to her, he rolled on top of her.
“You make me very happy that you agree not to divorce me.”
“You made me hella happy you won’t be marrying another woman.”
Her hand went back to his tattoo, seeing a small detail that had escaped her before. The barely perceptual symbol would have been missed if she weren’t so close to it.
“I can see a symbol next to your scar.”
“Thorsen’s symbol,” Skars explained.
Twining her arms around his neck as her legs circled his hips, Raine lifted her lips up to his. “There’s no hiding when you’re connected to someone, is there?”
“No, there isn’t. Our tattoos will show the connection the moment we are touched.”
Raine’s head fell back to the pillow in surprise. “What do you mean, when we are touched? Do you mean when we have a child and you hold him, the mark will appear?”
“No, the mark will appear when she is conceived.”
“I take it you want a girl.” The man was full of surprises tonight. She would have thought all Viking males would desire a son.
Skars dipped his head to nuzzle her neck. “I want her to have your eyes.”
Every bone in her body melted, wanting nothing more than to feel the heat of Skars inside of her as something nibbled at the back of her mind to ask.
“What did you mean a symbol will appear when you’re touched if you weren’t referring to children?”
“When we touch … the ones we are meant to love”—Skars continued to nuzzle her neck—“our wives or our husbands, the symbols of their names will appear on both of them, marking that they belong to the other.”
Raine arched her neck back on the pillow, becoming afraid of losing him. “What if you touch someone after you marry me and her name appears on your chest?”
“It won’t.”
“But … what if it does?”
“The woman would have to be Viking for it to be appear, and there aren’t many left. Reva told me long ago that I would marry a human woman.”