EIGHT
ANNABEL
I meant it.
I wished Bjarni had been the one to claim me—the only one. And the thought wracked me with guilt and tore at my chest where my bonds to Magni and Saga were linked.
I loved them. Stars help me, I did. But it wasn’t love alone. It was fear and anguish and fury as well, and everything in between, and I resented them for how they’d forced their claim on me even if I understood why. Even if I could forgive them, because Fate had f****d us all over, and I’d do anything to save my family too. I was doing everything to save them.
But Bjarni…
I lifted my head to look up at his bearded face. His eyes were closed, the arm not wrapped securely around my back resting against his forehead while he purred to comfort me. He was… so much simpler. Kinder.
He was still every
