Page 4 of Heart of Fire
Her fingers itched to take just enough to buy a dozen ewes and several rams to replace what had been stolen. The gold meant little to her, but the concept of what she could buy with it was incrediblytempting.
She could buy a future for her and herfather.
As if sensing her thoughts, a warning rumble smoked its way through the tunnel. Freyja tore her gaze from the glittering piles. Thedrekiwere possessive of their treasures, it was said. To even think of taking but one coin was to bring her own death down uponher.
It was warmer here; sweat trickled down the back of her neck and between her bound breasts. Freyja held the sword in front of her, sweeping the darkness with the lantern. He was here. Somewhere. She could feel the dark energy of his power, dwelling in the shadows like some enormous smolderingvolcano.
“So now they send my tithe tome?”
The thought-whisper almost crushed her, and her fingers clenched around the sword hilt as she ground her teeth together. Pressure built behind Freyja’s left eye; a stabbing ache that promised to make her head throb for days. She drew her focus in on herself, creating a shield against the immense presence. The pressureeased.
“I’m not your tithe,” she called back. “The village pays you its tithe! And you have stolen myram!”
A husky chuckle rumbled in the darkness, like a cat purring. Movement shifted, diamond-hard scales rasping over the polished stone floors. Freyja took a step back, her breath catching as she raked the darkness for signs of thewyrm.
Don’t be afraid. He can’t kill you. We pay the tithe, she told herself. Still the sensation of thedrekiwatching her made her nerves thrum with anticipation. She held the sword low, sweeping it in front ofher.
“Tithe?”the dragon whispered.“Your village has not paid its tithe in three moons. So, I will take what is owed. Your ram was…delicious.”
Freyja’s lips pressed tightly together.Too late to save Henrik. Something hot and impotent burned at the back of hereyes.
Then she realized what he hadsaid.
The tithe hadn’t beenpaid.
The dragon was no longer bound by his word not to harmher.
Freyja placed the lantern on the ground and crept behind a stalactite, sword held at the ready, her heart thumping in her ears, drowning out all other sound. What had she done? Trapped herself in here with a creature that might just eat her? A creature that was near invincible with its plated scales and impenetrableskin.
The only place that showed any vulnerability was the smooth skin under its jaw or behind its forearm, where a sword justmightpierce it, if she believed theeddas.
“You tremble?”His voice echoed with hisdelight.
Shadows of a long sinuous neck and the devilishly shaped head shifted on the wall. Freyja spun back around her stalactite, breathing hard. She darted a look to the left, and then ran, her boots silent on the stone floor. The shadowy head whipped around and Freyja threw herself onto her knees in a slide, spinning behind a larger stalactite, and pressing her back toit.
“Do you know how many have ever dared enter here?”A whisper slid hot along her nerves. He was hunting for her, his mind darting overhers.
Freyja pulled her senses in small, trying to hide, limning herself in shadows, and wrapping them around her. Pressure washed over her, as thunderous as the storm outside, but her small shadow-shield protected her from the worst of it and the storm rolled over her, searchingelsewhere.
“Do you think you can hide?”Another rustle in the darkness.“I can scent your skin, your hair… the soap in your clothes.Did you think to come here to steal fromme?”
“To steal—? The only thief here is you! I came to take back that which was mine!”The thought flew from her before she could stop it. Freyja’s grip tightened on the sword hilt. What a fool she was. Always her temper got the better ofher.
She’d expected the wyrm to lunge for her, but only silence greeted her. Silence in which she sat with breath held, desperate to track him through thecave.
“To take back yourtithe?”
She wouldn’t be drawn. Not this time. Freyja glanced toward the opening, and froze as she saw the liquid shadow of a tail lash against the cavewall.
Curse him. He was waiting by the entrance for her. She looked to the right, deeper into his lair. But perhaps there would be more tunnels there? A way to escape that he would not expect? Levering to her feet, she glanced around the rock, and slowly stepped toward the nextone.
“Come out, little mouse. I will not hurtyou.”
The same tone she cajoled her ewes with when she led them for slaughter. She had to get out ofhere.
“Even if you do escape, do you think I will not know where to findyou?”
Freyjafroze.
