Page 62 of Heart of Fire
“Friends?”A dark shiver rolled through her at the sudden pressure that pushed at her mentalshields.
Freyja clutched her temples. “You’re hurtingme.”
Instantly the pressure was gone.“I’m sorry. But I know those names, Freyja. And they want me to know them. They’re not dragon hunters. They’re dreki, in mortalform.”
“Dreki?” She knew she’d sensed something strange from Magnus, a predatory intensity that made her feeluneasy.
“Don’t go near them,”he suddenly warned, and all of his courtly charm evaporated.“Don’t welcome them into your house, nor challenge them. They’re not like me. Or Magnus certainly isn’t, and if he thinks you have my interest he’ll hurt you to get atme.”
“I have no intention of drawing his ire. What are you going todo?”
Silence.
“Rurik!” She took a step toward the barn doors. “Rurik, you’re not going after them, areyou?”
It was a long time before he answered, and she felt the distance between them, as though he was flying away from her.“Would you care if Idid?”
She knew what the sensible answer ought to be. But she couldn’t for the life of her utter it.“Yes!”Freyja threw the thought back at him.“Please be careful. I don’t want to see you hurt, even though I cannot allow this to continue betweenus.”
There was only a grim sense of acceptance in the link between them.“I’ll be careful. After all, I am not finished with you yet. I will see you later. You can thank me for my giftsthen.”
And then he cut the connection and she found herself alone in the barn, her heart thundering in her chest as she wondered what he was doingnow.
Courting aside, nothing could chill her more than the thought of Rurik indanger.
* * *
Rurik meltedinto mortal form in the small village near Freyja’s homestead. Picking up the bag he’d dropped, he shook out his clothes and put them on, and then he wenthunting.
A forlorn shape sat in the taproom, holding his head in his hands. From the smell of him, Haakon had finished several ales, and possiblymore.
Rage smoldered in his heart, rage at all Freyja had endured. Rurik let the door shut behind him with an audible click, grateful the dragon hunter wasalone.
Haakon’s head jerked up, and weary blue eyes met his, devoid of emotion. Shadows bruised the man’s eyes, and his face looked gaunt, as though something had stripped him of the vitality he’d worn on the docks inAkureyri.
“You,” Haakon said in a toneless voice. “I thought you’d headedsouth.”
“I heard what happened,” he growled. “I know what you did to her. What type of man can you callyourself?”
He stalked the man through the warm shadows. Haakon’s breath caught as Rurik prowled closer, but he moved before the man could evenblink.
Shoving Haakon against the wall as he tried to stand, Rurik pinned him there, one hand around the man’s throat. Haakon tried to break his hold, but Rurik simply lifted him higher, until the man’s boots dangled off the ground. Haakongasped.
“I can abide challenges to my territory,” Rurik admitted, feeling heat fill his eyes as he let thedrekislip its skin, just for a moment. Haakon kicked dramatically as he no doubt saw the cat-slit pupils and the golden haze of thedrekiin Rurik’s irises. “I even find myself feeling sympathetic for your foolish quest to hunt and kill me. But still, that does not give me an excuse to swat you like the fly you are....” His grip tightened until Haakon’s face began to mottle. Rurik leaned closer, until their noses almost touched. “But if you ever go near Freyja again, or threaten her, or let her be tied to a fucking stake like you did, then I will make your death a slow one, do you understandme?”
Releasing the man, he stepped back as Haakon sagged against the wall, clutching at his throat and coughing air back into his lungs. Haakon’s eyes were wide with fright. “You,” he sputtered, finally understanding what hefaced.
“Yes, me,” Rurik replied, stepping back out of reach before the hunter did something stupid, like reach for hisknife.
Haakon lurched to his feet, and then stayed there, shaking against the wall. “You were there all along,” he rasped. “Right under mynose.”
“For a man who huntsdreki, you are quite terrible at spottingthem.”
Haakon threw himself at Rurik, his fist swinging. Rurik sidestepped, and then flipped the hunter onto the table, slamming him flat on his back on the timber. The breath whooshed out of Haakon, and Rurik stepped away, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “Don’t make me killyou.”
Haakon rolled upright, his eyes bloodshot and swollen. “Why don’tyou?”
He came again, and again Rurik drove him down, hammering an elbow between his shoulder blades. Haakon grunted on the floor, trying to rise, but his arms gave out, and he slowly rolled onto his back. A bitter laugh exploded from his lungs. It sounded like it came from a man who’d lost all trace of himself, and it stopped Rurik from making anothermove.
