Page 17 of Heart of Fire
Her hand slid to a halt against Hanna’sneck.
“For few would describe it quite like that,” he continued, lightning turning his face stark for a moment, his eyes as intense as the storm as they locked on her. “You have seen thedreki.”
Freyja turned her face away, stroking Hanna’s velvety muzzle. “I just wanted my ram back. I paid little attention to thedreki."
“Liar.”
Freyja’s head jerked up. Rurik eased the door shut and turned to her with a smile in the near-darkness.
Moving toward her on graceful feet, he reached out and held his fingers for Hanna to sniff. The mare snorted and backed away, but Rurik never took his gaze offFreyja.
“Where did you see him, Freyja?” Soft words, barely a whisper, but oh, it set her body onfire.
And that was foolish, for she had never felt this way for aman.
She moved to step around him, but he reached out and shoved a palm flat against the partition between each stall. Freyja’s breath caught as Rurik pressed close, heat swimming in the air between them. She couldn’t stop a gasp from escaping; her hands came up between them as if to shove him away. Or perhaps not. She wasn’t certain. What did she know of him truly? Dark stables, no one else in the vicinity. Freyja’s eyes narrowed. If his intentions were less than noble, then he was about to get the shock of hislife.
Reaching out, she tasted the storm, feeling the coiling power within it.Come then, she dared him as she stared into those gleamingeyes.
“I would not hurt you,” he replied slowly. “You have nothing to fear, not that way. I told you this would be yourchoice.”
That voice. She shivered, her clenched knuckles brushing against the edges of his coat. Soft wool. So warm from the heat of his body. The desire to reach out and touch him wasstaggering.
I have everything tofear.
Rurik’s face darkened as he watched her. “You are so wary. Has a man ever tried to… to hurtyou?”
Benedikt. She shoved the thought away. It didn’t matter, and she’d proven she was hardly defenseless. Benedikt had stopped trying to force kisses on her years ago, and had begun to threaten instead.“You should be kind to me, Freyja. Your father is frail—who shall you turn to when he is gone?”Leaning close, hissing in her ear, “Perhaps I should tell him what his daughter has been up to? What man would want to defend her if I name herwitch?”
Rurik saw the truth in her face. His eyelashes fluttered down, obscuring those magnificent eyes, but for a second she thought she saw ragethere.
Outside, the storm suddenly broke over the town, wind screaming through the streets and tearing the shutters from their moorings. The horses spooked, even as a lash of sudden power swept through the air. A fierceness. A fury. For a second, she could almost believe his talk ofdrekithat rode the storm with their anger, whipping italong.
His face lowered, cheek pressed almost to hers, his lips not quite brushing her ear. “Tell me hisname.”
“He is nothing,” she replied, feeling strangely protected. The cage of Rurik’s arms, his body, sheltered her from the chill, and some part of her felt safe for the first time in years. It was insane. She barely knew thisman.
Hot breath against her skin made her shiver. “Tell. Me. His.Name.”
“He is a local landowner near my village,” she blurted. “What does it matter? You will never know him. You are a traveler and shall move on soon, andI—”
“Freyja.”
“His name is Benedikt!” she snapped, her chest heaving. “For all the good it shall do you. You’ll be gone in days, collecting your stories, your eddas. Seeking yourdragons!”
“Dreki,” he corrected again, thumb stroking her trembling lower lip. “They aredreki. Ancient spirits. Ancient power. And what makes you think I am goinganywhere?”
She could barely see, but knew he turned to look at her, for she felt the stir of his breath move across her heated skin. Her heart hammered in her chest. “Don’t pretend elsewise. I know men likeyou.”
“Oh, Freyja... you know no one like me. That I promise you.” Fingertips brushed against her other cheek. “Why do you always defyme?”
“You have not seen defiance yet. I barely knowyou.”
“You know me,” he replied. Fingertips brushed over her dress, between her breasts, the backs of his knuckles pressing against the racing thud of her heartbeat. “You know mehere.”
She had set him a challenge in the inn, to prove his empty compliments were not the only arsenal he had. And he had accepted it, for the words, his touch, burned through her until she could scarcelybreathe.
“I wish I’d never dared you,” Freyja whispered. A single beam of light from a hole in the roof cut across his face as it lowered to hers. Her heart erupted in a flight of dragon wings. She could have said no. She knew hisintentions.
