Page 66 of A Spark So Bright
He could take back his family home and let her rest there. But Ragnar and Maia were so happy in the house, and really it was his brother's as oldest, anyway. They should have a space for their wedded bliss. Away from everyone else.
Still, Rose deserved better than the barracks. He needed to get her a home. A safer place. A quiet sanctuary where she could read and paint and do all the other activities she might like to do. Maybe she'd be interested in learning how to make jewelry, like what he had given her.
Knocking on the door, he waited to hear her invite him in. But he didn't hear her voice say a word, and that was odd. It was nighttime in Trollveggen, after all. She was usually diligent about her rest.
"Rose?" he asked, leaning a little closer to the door. "Are you all right?"
Footsteps came careening around the hall, rushing toward him. He turned just in time to see a blonde head running at full force, and for a moment, he thought it was her. He hadn't ever seen Rose run like that, though. That's when he realized the color of her hair wasn't right. That hair wasn't nearly white. It was golden.
"Astrid?" he asked just as she almost ran straight into him.
"Gunnar," she breathed, out of breath from running she didn't do all that often. "Thank the heavens you're here! I didn't think you'd be back yet. I need your help."
"Why?"
"It's Rose. I think she went wandering, and I couldn’t find her. Someone said they saw her climbing the cliff near Gild Water but that can't be true, can it?" Her eyes were so wide it made his heart break to see the fear in them. "She's never climbed anything when she went wandering. She's never... She'll fall, Gunnar."
He could already see it in his mind's eye. Rose had never learned how to climb, as far as he knew. If she had maneuvered that sheer cliff all the way to the top, then she could fall. Her little body would tumble to the rocks below, and there would only be pieces for him to find.
He was running before he replied. Astrid would know that he was heading off to help her sister, and that he wouldn't let her fall. He couldn't.
There were other paths to that waterfall. Paths that didn't require anyone to climb cliff walls. Stupid woman. Why would she do this? The caves there were dangerous. Fissures had split recently near the falls. The water at least didn't spill back into Trollveggen, but he had no idea where it disappeared to. So many areas of this mountain had not been traversed. If she wasn't careful, she'd end up deep in the belly of this mountain with no one knowing where to find her.
His feet flew across the mountain. Deeper and deeper, until he found the path that he knew would bring him there.
His thighs burned with the incline. His lungs strove for air so fiercely that he could taste blood. And still, he didn't slow down. Not yet. Not until he could see her glowing hair at the top and know for certain that she was alive.
He didn’t even catch a glimpse of her until he’d made it to the top of the cliff. At the very edge of that dangerous precipice, looking none the worse for wear. But her toes were off the edge, enough that it made his heart skip a beat in fear that even a stray wind would knock her off and then he wouldn't be able to saveher. No ropes held her down. Nothing to keep safety in mind while she stood there, flirting with death.
"Rose!" he called out, barely able to get the word to pass his lips because he was so winded. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
He was always so gentle with her. Babying her, almost, knowing that the wrong words would make her retreat into herself, to a place he could not follow. But anger burned in him so hot right now. He was exhausted, tired.
He'd missed her! So much. All the while he was trying to be a good soldier for his king, and she'd been here, toeing death. Thinking that she could take her own life, as she had done countless times and it made him want to scream.
Was he not enough to keep her here? No, he knew that thought was making it about him. But he had worked so hard to make her life safe and comfortable and happy, and now this was how she repaid him. Once again standing on the precipice of a sharp fall that would end in a death that came far too swiftly.
She didn't even look at him. She just stared down at the drop that would lead to her doom. "Looking," she replied.
"Looking at what?" he asked, too harsh. Too sharp.
"There is so much that many don't see in this mountain. The colors, the depths, the magic. I'm not sure anyone knows how to look at it like I do." She shrugged. "I like coming up here and seeing all of it through the eyes of someone who can."
Gunnar didn't have time for this. "Rose, I have been away for a very long time. I have been trying my best to be patient with you, but you need to come away from there or I will make you."
"Make me?" She snorted. "If you make even one wrong move, Gunnar, it's very likely that I will fall. You don't want to do that, do you?"
"Is that a threat?"
"Perhaps. I don't want to die, but it would be an adventure." She glanced over her shoulder at him, and he was frozen by her beauty.
There wasn't any fear on her face at all. Just the quiet acceptance of the world around her. He’d gotten so used to seeing fear in her expression. She was languid in her movements, slow and precise, letting him know that she was not, in fact, trying to kill herself. She just liked to know that she could. Just in case.
Some of the anger and fear drained out of him. "Your sister is worried about you."
"Astrid is always worried about me. I think she likes to be worried, honestly. It gives her something to do."
"That's not the reason, and you know it."
