Ragnar found her tucked away in a quiet corner of the library, a book opened across her lap. She looked utterly absorbed in its contents, eyes moving swiftly across the page, her brow faintly furrowed in concentration. She was so intrigued that she barely noticed him until his shadow stretched over her and dimmed the light she was reading by.
When she finally became aware of his presence, she blinked up at him curiously, as though momentarily pulled from another world.
"You're back," she said, her eyes brightening at the sight of him. "How long has it been?"
Circe smiled, and for a fleeting moment Ragnar found himself almost blinded by the beauty of it. There had been a time when he had wished for moments like this, moments where she would look at him with warmth in her gaze, when she would share her smiles with him freely. Now that he had that and more, he knew there were very few things in the world that compared to the feeling it stirred within him.
