Page 172 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
“It’s not like that.” I sighed and licked my lips. “When I came here, all I wanted was to get out. When I came back, I could barely hold on. Now I’m finally coming back to myself.”
He nodded, though the coldness didn’t leave him.
“Fair enough,” he said, sounding like he didn’t consider it fair or enough one bit. “So it’s just a coincidence thattodayI met with the Northern Clans for the first time in years andtodayis the day you bring them up for the first time while revealing you saw Solkar’s Raysandheard Solkar’s Song?"
Solkar’s Rays. So that’s what those bothersome lights were called.
“Hey, I didn’t plan this. Any of this.” I hadn’t even planned to be here tonight. “Why did you even meet the Northern Clans if you despise them so much?”
His chin jutted out. “Answer the question, Huntress.”
Huntress? I tilted my own Vegheara pointy chin up as high as I could, the first thunder of the storm thudding in my chest. “That wasn’t a question, that was an accusation. You have no reason to distrust me.”
He chuckled, but it sounded icy and wrong. “You almost set fire to the sweets shop and escaped the crater, remember?”
Right.
One of the worst mistakes of my life.
“I did and I’m sorry. But that was before, when I was trying to get back to where I thought I belonged.” I clenched my jaw. “Can you seriously tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if you’d woken up in Aquila?”
His lips tightened, but no sound came. So yes.
Ryker and I seemed to have been carved out of the same stubborn, resilient rock.
“And even then, it had nothing to do with you or against you,” I said. “I didn’t hurt anybody and don’t plan on doing it. I haven’t given you a reason not to trust me since I came back, now have I?”
“You’re the one who loves to keep saying we used to be enemies.”
“Yes. Used to be. But you’re trying really hard to bring us back there right now.” I pressed my fingers against his uniform. “I don’t know what you’re imagining I did or plan on doing, but I don’t have anything to do with these rays or song or danceorthe Northern Clans. You have plenty of real mistakes to choose from to blame me for or rub in my face, you don’t need to invent any. I won’t stand here to be accused of shit I didn’t do. I’ve already lost too much, I won’t lose my reputation as well. Not to lies. Nobody messes with my name, as frail as it is now. Got it?”
By the end of that little speech, I was breathing heavier. I hadn’t even noticed getting myself so worked up, but I’d meant every word of it.
I’d expected more frowns from him.
Maybe clenching that sharp jaw of his until I heard his teeth grind together.
Perhaps more cursing at the heavens.
Instead, a surprised, triumphant smile slowly spread on his face. Even the ice in his gaze thawed.
“What?” I asked, sharper than I’d intended.
“Love to see that fire,” he muttered, his gaze drinking me all in. “Welcome back, Huntress.”
This time, my name sounded like a caress tumbling out of his mouth, rich and praising.
For a few moments, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I just knew my finger was still touching his chest, our bodies were so close together his heat radiated into me, and that unmistakable pull was burning between us.
“Yes, well, I’m not fully back. But thank you.” I cleared my throat. I also didn’t move that finger, pressing right above his heart. “Do you believe me?”
He was quiet for a few beats. Then his brows furrowed. “Yes. For some godsdamned reason, I think you’re not lying.”
The reply deflated me more than I wanted to let on. “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“With everything that has happened, can you blame me?”
Godsdamnhim, no. “I get it. Trust is a fickle thing.”
