Page 33 of Heart of Fire
Andri soared high over Krafla.“You’re a fool then. You’re my clan’senemy.”
“You’re my cousin,”he shot back,“And you were always mine, more than you were ever Stellan’s. You’re the one good thing he ever created, and you have more honor in you than any of yournestlings.”
Andri broke the thought-thread between them, veering away. Rurik ignored his distress and went after him. There were only two reasons Andri could have sought him out today. Either the youth meant to lure him into a trap, or his guilt had driven him to makecontact.
“And where’s the other dreki?”Rurik caught up to his squire swiftly.“Who did your father send? Vargur? Grimold? Magnus?T—”
A shock of connection betrayed Andri’s thoughts, and made Rurik’s heart thud in his chest.“Magnus,”he repeated.“Of course he sent hisheir.”
He and Magnus were of an age. Kits raised together, but never friends. Neverallies.
Magnus was everything Stellan hoped to produce. Adrekiwith a heart as black as his hide. When Stellan and Amadea married into Iceland’sZiniclan, they’d brought all of their Norwegian clan’s prejudices with them. The intermarriage was meant to be a treaty between theZiniandZilittuclans to broker peace, but all of Stellan’s sons—bar Andri—thought of themselves more asZilittuthanZini. And with Amadea sitting on the throne her husband, Reynar, once owned, it seemed the treaty had been more of a long-seeded plot than an honestreconciliation.
As Amadea and Reynar’s eldest son, Rurik was the onlydrekiwho could thwart their ambitions to rule both clans. His brother, Marduk, was too young to be a threat, and though Marduk was considered an adult, he wouldn't have the strength to combat Magnus. Wouldhe?
“Tell your brother I accept his challenge,”Rurik said slowly, thinking of his brother. Magnus would want his path to the throne to be unhindered, regardless of whether or not Marduk could ever actually beat him. Then there was Andri...“We can settle this between us. You don’t have to beinvolved.”
“He’s not offeringchallenge.”
Of course not. Magnus would consider himself the strongest male now, and hence the rightful heir, which meant Rurik was the one who had to offer. And he would let his cold dead body sink into the seas before he ever condescended to those who’d plotted against his father, then blamed Rurik for the king’sdeath.
“Even if you offered, he would not accept it,”Andri saidquickly.
So this was not to be an honorable duel.“Why are you here then? Does your brother know where youare?”
“I wanted to warn you,”Andri said, after a long hesitation.“And no, hedoesn’t.”
There was the hint of his old squire: Andri, whose sense of honor would forbid anambush.
“I knew you were here,”he replied.“But thank you. I had hoped they hadn’t corrupted youcompletely.”
The skies gleamed blue around them as Andri broke the mental connection between them. Even so, Rurik caught the faint mournful taint of the youngerdreki’semotions. This could not be easy for the youth. He’d followed Rurik around the court as a kit, like an enamored lass. The day Rurik took Andri as his squire had been the most joyful either of themshared.
The day his young squire lied and said he’d seen his prince in the king’s quarters the night the king was murdered, had been theworst.
“I don’t hold you responsible for my exile,”Rurik sent, in a thought-thread. He could almost feel Andri’s guilt through the thread.“You were never the sort to fall in line with your father’s plots, nor were you ever interested in his bribes. I know he must have threatened you with something in order for you to betray my trust.”Andri tried to shy away, but Rurik wouldn’t let him break the thread.“I forgive you,”he told the youth.“But you should have come to me the moment Stellan made his threat. I would have protectedyou.”
“You couldn’t have,”Andriwhispered.
“I would havetried.”
“Iknow.”
The smallerdrekibroke away, and this time Rurik let him go, hoping the words had been enough to sway Andri from thisfight.
Because if Magnus was involved, then this only ended one way... with someonedying.
Nine
BY THE TIME Freyjareturned home, Rurik was lying on a rug in the sun, reading a book. His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing tanned forearms, and he clasped one hand behind his head, muscles shifting in his abdomen as he craned his neck to watch her walk into theyard.
It wasn’t as though she’d suspected he was anything other than what he claimed, but a part of her hadwondered.
He knew so much aboutdreki, afterall.
But herdrekihad thundered into the south, and that was the last she’d seen of him. He couldn’t have beaten her back here, then changed form and waited for her, couldhe?
No. Not without Freyja seeing him in theskies.
