TheElskerSagaBoxedSetIBOOKSdec2014 Page 10

  “Sorry.” I ducked my head.

  Ull raised a corner of his mouth in a smile. “Why, Kristia, you are blushing.”

  “And?” I lifted my chin, and took a step back so I stood against the wall.

  “It is sweet.” Ull paused and lifted a finger to my cheek. My knees buckled and he grabbed my arm to steady me. The touch sent shockwaves straight to my head, leaving me with the unnerving sensation of being underwater. I lost my bearings again and Ull wrapped both hands around my waist to stop my fall.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed. “Must be the shoes.” I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. They almost looked nervous.

  “Must be.” He ran his finger along my jaw, stopping to grasp my chin between his thumb and forefinger. His eyes focused on my mouth and my heartbeat accelerated. He ran his thumb lightly over my lips. They parted under his touch. A wave of heat shot from my lower lip straight to my abdomen, creating a slow burn that wasn’t altogether uncomfortable. I watched as his eyes slowly moved down then back up, lingering at the neckline of my dress. Victoria had been right about the push-up bra.

  “Must be,” I repeated.

  Ull drew his eyes away from my cleavage and took a step closer. He leaned one forearm against the wall, leaving me enveloped between the cold stone and his warm chest. I was suddenly very dizzy.

  “Kristia,” he spoke in a whisper.

  “Yes?” I whispered back. Ull was looking at me with an intensity I wasn’t prepared for. He stepped in, closing the last inch between us.

  “Look at me.” He spoke again, lifting my chin so my lips were tilted towards his. If his body hadn’t been pressed against mine, I would have collapsed in a heap that instant. Instead, I took a shaky breath as Ull dropped his head. He ran his nose along my jaw line, pausing when he reached my ear. He breathed in, the cool air sending a shiver down my neck. With painstaking slowness he drew his nose across my cheek until our lips were almost touching. Now when I looked into his eyes I saw something entirely different. He was strong. Confident. And very much in control.

  I let out a small sigh and immediately he covered my mouth with his. It wasn’t a gentle kiss – it was commanding, almost forceful. I melted against him as he claimed my lips, moved down my jaw to consume my neck. My insides throbbed. In that moment, I would have done absolutely anything he asked me to.

  “Kristia,” he whispered again.

  “Mmm.” It was the best I could muster by way of response.

  “I think we need to stop.”

  In God’s name, why?

  “Will you be joining the rest of my tour, or shall I leave the two of you here?” The guide stood at the end of the corridor, literally tapping his foot. Oops.

  Ull placed his hands around my waist to right me. I smoothed my hair and straightened my dress, my cheeks burning the whole time.

  “Great timing,” I muttered. Just when things were getting good.

  “Do not worry Kristia.” Ull winked. “We have all the time in the world.”

  I sure hoped so.

  “Kristia, oh my sweet Kristia.” The keening voice was back. I was shaken from a very pleasant dream. None too willingly, I might add. Thanks to my flat’s flimsy curtains, I could see the Elf Man clearly this time. I immediately longed for the cover of darkness. Creepy Elf sat in a chair next to my bed, gently stroking my hair. I sat up, incensed, gathered my blankets, and held them up to my chin.

  “Get your hands off of me! Who let you in here, anyway?” I demanded, feeling a pittance of the pluck I was trying to put off. I ducked as his hand reached out again. “For crying out loud, stop touching me!”

  “Let me in? Oh, poor human. I can go anywhere I please. Nobody lets me in.” He hissed through a row of perfect, white teeth. I’d never met anyone who could be both sinister and sexy at the same time. It was disorienting.

  “Why are you here?”

  “To gloat.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You no longer threaten me. He will leave. You are not what I feared.” His smile stretched from ear to ear.

  “What are you talking about?” I inched farther from him on the bed, trying to get some distance. At the same time, I wanted to reach out for him. I wasn’t usually this indecisive.

  “Nothing of consequence, sweet Kristia,” he seethed. He snapped his fingers and without warning I was on my back, staring up at his glowing face. “But if he comes for you again, if you try to join our world, you will join me instead.”

  “If who comes for me again? What are you even talking about?” My words fell on deaf, pointy ears. With another snap of his fingers, he was gone. I looked wildly around the room, but there was no trace of Elf Man. This time, I was only half sure it hadn’t been real.

  I tried desperately to go back to my happy place, to the enjoyable dream I’d been having before I was interrupted. I failed. And I didn’t get much sleep that night, either.

  “Oh my gosh! Tell me! What exactly happened at dinner? Don’t leave anything out!” It was Monday afternoon and my Archaeology study group had just gotten out. Since I’d gotten home too late to debrief the night before, I stopped by Emma’s class with a vanilla latte. Though judging by her pitch, a double shot was the last thing she needed.

  “Shh.” I sipped my Earl Grey. “What if he hears you?”

  “Ull’s not in Statistics,” Emma sighed. I glanced over her shoulder and saw Henry approaching, textbooks in hand. He gazed at my flatmate with an adoring look, but Emma continued talking, oblivious. “The only guys we get in there are total dwee–”

  “Hi Henry,” I interrupted loudly. “How was class?”

  “Good, good.” Henry smiled at Emma as he walked up the path. “What do you think Emma, should we hold study group tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow evening?”

  “Evening,” Emma voted. “I’ve got heaps of problems to work through before I could even begin to analyze today’s notes.”

  “Excellent. I’ll send the e-mail. See you then.”

  “See you.” Emma waved cheerfully and turned back to me. “So. After dinner. You. Ull. Did you go back to his place?”

  “Emma! No! It was our second date!”

  “Victoria would have closed the deal in one.”

  “She would do no such thing,” I argued.

  “For a guy like Ull? Are you kidding? Anyone would. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” I sighed. “Okay, something I guess.” A lot of somethings. What was wrong with me?

  “So, what happened?”

  “We ate dinner. That hall is amazing by the way. All wood-paneled and hand-painted and everything.”

  “Serious?” Emma took another drink of her latte. “I’ve never been in it. It’s not part of the regular tour. It’s just for banquets and events.”

  “Oh.”

  “Enough about the room. Did he kiss you?”

  “Yes.” Thinking about it made me dizzy all over again.

  “And?” Emma bounced on her toes.

  “It was amazing. Everything you’d think a kiss from Ull Myhr would feel like. I literally forgot where I was. And then the tour guide came back all annoyed, and Ull said something like ‘we have all the time in the world’ and–”

  “Oh my gosh!”

  “I know, right? So after dinner, I figured we’d pick up from there and… we did. Sort of.”

  “What do you mean ‘sort of’?”

  “We drove out to this other castle that was built for one of the Marquesses that lived at the first castle.”

  “Castell Coch,” Emma sighed. “So pretty.”

  “It really is.”

  “But it closes super early. How’d you get in there?”

  “We didn’t go in, we just parked on the road and walked into the park.”

  “But the guards?”

  “I wondered the same thing,” I shrugged. “But you’ve met Ull. People don’t generally tell him no. Plus the guard was a girl, so that helped.”

  “Okay, so your date fli
rted his way into the Castell Coch grounds after hours. What did you do?” Emma tugged at my arm.

  “We… well…” I blushed.

  “Yes?” she grinned.

  “We totally kissed again. It was fantastic. He backed me up against this tree and he just…” What should I say? That he’d grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head back so he could ravage my neck? That I’d had an uncharacteristic moment of indiscretion and let his mouth wander just south of my collar bone? That I had been strongly considering asking him to move an inch lower when another guard found us and made us leave?

  “And he just what?” Emma was beside herself.

  “And he just… kissed me. I can’t describe it.” I couldn’t. Not without turning five shades of red.

  “Oh, Kristia,” Emma sighed.

  “I know. But another guard told us we had to leave, so we got in Ull’s car. And he was really sweet and held my hand on the drive home and walked me to the door and everything. But then he just kissed me on the cheek and said good night and that was it. He didn’t try to come in. I didn’t ask him to.” I wasn’t a total slut.

  “Well.” Emma chewed her lip. “Maybe he had an early morning. Or maybe he’s a gentleman and he didn’t want to steal your virtue.”

  “He didn’t have to steal my virtue.” I blushed. “But another couple of kisses would have been okay.”

  “I’m sure that’s coming. When are you going to see him again?”

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “He didn’t ask me out again.”

  “He will.” Emma finished her drink and tossed it in the trash.

  “I hope so.” I heard a muffled ringing and dug around in my backpack until I found my phone. I checked the screen. “It’s him!”

  “You still have a flip phone? Good Lord Kristia, join the twenty-first century.” Emma shook her head.

  “Hello?” I stuck out my tongue at my iPhone-toting flatmate and answered Ull’s call.

  “Hei hei Kristia.”

  “Hi Ull,” I breathed. Emma did a poor job of hiding her laughter.

  “I like your sweater. That color looks nice with your hair.”

  I spun around and saw him across the quad. He sat on a bench, his ankle resting on a knee. One hand held his phone while the other arm stretched lightly along the back of the bench. He was the epitome of relaxed. A slow smile spread across his face as he stood and pushed a button to end the call. As he walked towards me, my insides turned soft.

  “I cannot believe you got to kiss that.” Emma followed my stare.

  “Shh.” I elbowed her in the side. “He might hear you!”

  “So?” She rubbed her ribs.

  “Kristia.” Ull pulled me into a hug once he’d crossed the quad. “What a nice surprise.”

  “Hi.” I tried not to throw myself at him in a desperate attempt to relive the best moment of my life. All the time in the world, all the time in the world. “Ull, this is my roommate Emma.”

  “We had a class together last year. You probably don’t remember me–” Emma babbled.

  “Emma. How nice to see you again. You study math, correct?”

  “Yes. Yes, I do.” Emma flipped her hair and stared adoringly. At least I wasn’t the only one who forgot their sense around Ull.

  “Emma, may I steal your flatmate for a few minutes?”

  “Of course.” she giggled again. “See you at home, K.”

  “See you.” I waved. I turned to Ull. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  “My class just let out.” Ull jutted his chin towards the humanities building. “But I did not think you had classes on Mondays.”

  “I don’t. Archaeology study group.”

  “How was that?”

  “Fun. I’ve never taken anything like it, so some of the material is a little over my head. But I’m enjoying it. Professor Copp is a great teacher.”

  “I’ve heard good things about her. I think Gunnar took one of her classes.”

  “Gunnar?” I sipped my tea. Great name.

  “My best friend.”

  “Ah. How’d you guys meet?” I wanted to know everything about Ull.

  “We met in primary school. My mom had just married Thor and I was the new kid. Gunnar was the first to be nice to me.”

  “Your stepdad’s named Thor? Like God of Thunder Thor? Who names their kid that?” I shook my head.

  “Uh, right.” Ull became very interested in his shoe. “Crazy parents, you know.”

  Immediately I felt dumb. Thor had nothing on Ull in the tough name department. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. That’s probably a really popular name where you’re from.”

  “Yes, very popular,” Ull spoke quickly. “There are lots of men named Thor, does not mean they have any relation to the Thor. They are just normal men. Not gods at all.”

  “O-kay.” That was a weird reaction. Either something was up or he really did have an early morning. I shifted my tea to my other hand. “So how long did you say you’ve known Gunnar?”

  “About eight hundred years.”

  “Excuse me?” I paused mid sip.

  “You know,” Ull tugged at his sweater. “I mean it feels like eight hundred years. Because we live together, and we get on each other’s nerves and all.”

  What was going on? “Are you feeling all right?”

  “Yes. Feeling fine. Just tired – you kept me out late.” Ull treated me to a rakish grin, and I forgot all about this strange conversation. The only thing I could think about was the way his lips curved up in a smile. And what I wanted those lips to be doing right now.

  “I think you could use a cup of coffee. My treat,” I offered.

  “Thank you Kristia, but I have to meet a professor in five minutes.” Ull checked his watch. “May I call you this evening?”

  “Any time.” I hoped I didn’t sound too desperate.

  “Excellent.” He bent to kiss my cheek. My knees buckled and he caught me. “We can make plans for this weekend.”

  “I can’t wait.” I watched his denim-clad backside make its way across the quad, and I hugged myself. The weekend couldn’t come fast enough.

  Chapter Six

  THE EVENING CAME AND went, and I didn’t hear from Ull. He didn’t show up to Mythology on Tuesday either. At first I was worried. I tried calling him, but his voicemail was turned off – and I didn’t have his home number. I didn’t know where he lived, so I couldn’t stop by to make sure he was okay. Not that I would have; he didn’t need to know how obsessed I’d become.

  But a few days passed, and I started to think Ull might not be sick at all – what if he was avoiding me? He knew how to reach me if he wanted to see me again. And my phone was silent. Ugh, I was so naïve. Ull told me what I wanted to hear to get what he wanted. He’d been a jerk for a whole week, and when he’d needed to borrow my notes, he suddenly got all nice. Then he made out with me in a couple of castles and just disappeared. How did I not see this coming?

  The unavoidable truth hit me in full force on Thursday morning. Ull got to know me and he just wasn’t that into me. I might not have known a whole lot about dating, but I did know he’d have called by now if he wanted to. There was no way around it. I’d opened myself up to a guy I barely knew, and he didn’t like me back. Humiliation washed over me in waves.

  The problem was that Ull wasn’t the kind of guy you could just stop thinking about. Spending time with Nice Ull had been pretty fantastic. And now that I knew how great he could be, how was I going to go back to just ignoring him around campus?

  I was going to have to cancel my pity party if I didn’t want to flunk out of Cardiff. My first class of the day was Mythology, and it started in less than an hour. “Of course,” I moaned, indulging in one last moment of misery.

  Mythology. He would be there. I briefly contemplated staying in bed, but the semester was long and I couldn’t avoid him forever. It wasn’t like I’d fallen in love or anything. Besides, Mormor hadn’t raised me to get all wrapped up in a guy. With a groan
, I rolled out of bed and took extra care getting ready.

  I used almost all of the products in my new Clinique bag, from tinted moisturizer to lash curling mascara. With great care, I utilized the big and the small barreled curling irons and teased my hair into the style from the back cover of Victoria’s fashion magazine. There was no point in looking as pathetic as I felt.

  It took tremendous effort not to drag my feet as I walked to class, and I slunk into the lecture hall and hid behind my perfectly curled hair. I permitted myself a glance towards his usual seat, but it was empty again. With a sigh, I headed to my row. Henry was waiting.

  “Kristia.” He nodded.

  “Henry.” I nodded back, not having the energy to fake a good mood. Thankfully, he was an easy seatmate.

  “You look nice today. Going somewhere after class?”

  “Nope. Unless you want to get a cup of tea.” I booted up my laptop.

  “Rough morning?” Henry typed the date.

  “You have no idea.”

  “Well then, tea’s on me.” He patted my forearm, a brotherly gesture.

  “Thanks, Henry.”

  “Don’t mention it. Hey, do you think you could e-mail me your notes from Tuesday? I accidentally deleted part of the lecture on Jotunheim.”

  “Sure.” I tried not to think about the last guy I’d shared my notes with. Look where that had landed me.

  “Good morning, class,” Professor Carnicke took the podium, her sandy hair swinging behind her. “Let’s begin. On Tuesday, we talked about Jotunheim. Asgard had enemies in almost every realm. These enemies worked together to defeat the gods at Ragnarok, but each realm also launched regular attacks on Asgard.

  “The gods were divine – giants, dwarves, and dark elves wanted to see them fall. So Odin developed an intricate series of defenses to preserve his world. Today we’re going to discuss the Warriors of Asgard and how they relate to Odin’s bloodline. As heirs to the realm, Thor, Sif and their descendants played a vital role in Norse myths.”