Page 31 of Heart of Fire
“But?”
“Mostly I was angry. And hopeless.” She threw the smooth rock she’d been toying with. “There is a point one sometimes reaches that is beyond endurance, and I reached it the night you stole my ram. You are big and scary, and could have killed me. But a part of me simply didn’tcare.”
He fell into those eyes. Freyja had such depths to her he wondered if he’d ever see the entirety of them.“Now that tastes more like truth. A fulltruth.”
Freyja sucked in a sharp breath, as if uncomfortable. “Which means it is time for myquestion.”
“Proceed.”
She frowned. “I intend to, but first I have to think of... the question that makes me most curious. I don’t want to waste mychance.”
Rurik laughed, a rumbling purr deep in his throat.“So very female.Rest assured I have more questions for you. This doesn’t end withone.”
“Oh.” That little knot between her brows furrowed and she dragged her knees up to her chest, her skirts falling around her ankles. “Can you changeshape?”
The one question he’d been dreading.“What is wrong with thisshape?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes,”he conceded, scratching his head against a rock. “I can change forms. It is part of the goddess’s gift to us. But why would I? Humans are fools. They smell. And most of them are like brainless sheep. Then there are men here who wish to kill me, and I am slightly more vulnerable in humanform—”
“Morevulnerable?” she broke in. “I thought it was one of adreki’sgreatest weaknesses—the only time you can be easilykilled.”
“Easily is a matter of opinion,”he growled.“I am powerful beyond your comprehension, and my magic is available no matter what form Iwear.”
“How often have you changedforms?”
He dipped a wing—the human equivalent of a shrug.“That is like asking me, how many times have I eaten? I do not count such things. Often enough when I was younger, because I was curious, but not very often since. There is little reason to doso.”
“Have you ever seduced a humanwoman?”
“No.”Not yet, anyway.“And,”he forestalled her,“you now owe me three answers, for you asked four questions and I answered all ofthem.”
Freyja frowned. “You answered with somequestions.”
“But they were rhetorical, were theynot?”
If he could smile, he would have, for she looked utterly captivating with frustration written all across her face. “I do not think that is entirely fair, but I’ll allowit.”
“How kind of you.”Turnabout was fair play. His eyes narrowed.“What type of creature are you? For it is clear you are nothuman.”
“Of course I am human,” she shot back, opening her arms wide. “Do I not lookhuman?”
“You look human,”he admitted.“You smell human, though you smell better than most of them. But you are not human. They have no powers, nor magic, unless it is god-given, and you do not bear the stamp of anygods.”
“You can sensethat?”
“I once met a man in Norway,”he admitted.“He used to chew berries and send himself into a trance, where he could communicate with his god. The strain showed on his aura, and I was... wary of crossing him. He smelledwrong.”
“That is a very oldpractice.”
“It is. But then, I encountered it when I was in myyouth.”
“How old areyou?”
“Hundreds of years,”he replied, with a faint shrug of his wing.“Drekithink in terms of cycles, not years, so I am not entirely certain. I am in my tenth cycle, however. How old areyou?”
“Four-and-twenty.”
