Aksel fell silent for a moment, his erratic motions morphing into a sudden calmness as he buried his face in the full plush of her neck. Solvi was much smaller than he was, but the blade’s crown held a heavy weight as he leaned against her like a pillar of support. She was real.
I believed you to be gone, that I would never see you again,That he had failed her and all of the Sólskin wolves. The man’s tail tightly curled around his haunches, ears splayed as he remained entangled with the golden honey-bee. Logic was reaffirming that she was here, but the doubts taking root were relentless. What if she was taken away from him again? Aksel felt a sensation similar to a knife stabbing him repeatedly in the belly, knots of fear and uncertainty making their home in the deepest parts of him.
An exhale escaped him, Aksel’s breath released into the dense, winterized coat of his ward. How could things feel so familiar yet fictitious? A part of him was bracing for the moment he would be forcefully awoken from this dream. It was Solvi’s voice that finally drew his ears forward and beckoned his head to rise. Ylva and Brynhild were here, too. Aksel was but one of many missing pieces, and Solvi was collecting them without pause.
I—Aksel swallowed thickly, his eyes wavering as emotion crept in like a brewing storm. Had they told her? Did Solvi know of Isúlfr? Of Sólskin? Perhaps they had not wanted to taint their reunions with such grievous topics. What was he meant to say? What was right to say?
I will never lose you again, Solvi. I will stay by your side until your last breath, and into the next life. Until you grow sick of me, I will be your shadow.The blade’s toes dug into the snow, clenching tightly as he reclaimed his sanity with an oath of devotion, one he had already failed at before.
A foreleg lifted to drape around her, his heart still hammering from their previous running and uncontrolled rushes of emotion.
Ég elska þig og ég er svo stoltur af þér fyrir að hafa stjórnað öllum þessum tíma ein.Aksel allowed himself to embrace her, his tongue scattering kisses across wherever he could reach.
Solvi was his everything — Aksel owed his life to her family, and he owed his entire reason for living to Solvi.
