She took a step forward, rose on tiptoe and kissed him; the whole length of her body was abruptly against his own, flesh to flesh. Restraint, then, became an impossibility for both of them. They had waited a long time for this, and the urgency of it was no less than last time, when each had felt death hovering near. Eyvind came close, for a little while, to forgetting what Signe had taught him and surrendering himself too early to the flood of desire, the dark urge to completion. But this was Nessa, who had captured his heart and freed his spirit, and he did not forget. So they came together in laughter and longing, and moved together in passionate joy, and in the end, reached together a blinding, shattering moment of fulfillment, which left them weeping and trembling in each other’s arms.

“Did I hurt you?” Eyvind whispered, easing his arm so she could rest her head more comfortably on his shoulder, and drawing the blanket up over her.

“You could never hurt me, Eyvi,” she breathed against his sweat-dampened skin. “Never. You should not need to ask me such a thing.”

They lay awhile in silence then, overwhelmed by what was between them, the fierceness of it, the strength that was both wonder and terror. If such a bond were ever broken, how could one hope to survive it?

The lamp burned steadily. Eyvind fell asleep with his legs entwined in Nessa’s and his arm across her, his fingers twisted in her hair. His breathing was slow and peaceful; there would be no dark dreams tonight. Nessa lay wakeful awhile, watching the shadows as they stirred and shivered in the secret space of the ancient cairn. And although the two of them were alone in that deep place, it came to her that they were not truly alone, for through the narrow entry, and again through the tiny opening in the roof, a faint blue light came and went in regular sequence, as if outside in the darkness a dance took place, a ritual of greeting, of welcome. And from the shore, over the endless roar of the western ocean came a sound of voices, wordless, fluid, singing recognition, a hymn of sisterhood telling of a bond deeper than blood. As for the dark voice of the earth, that remained silent, and perhaps would forever. Nessa had made her choice. For everything, there is a price to be paid.