Page 67 of Heart of Fire
“Freyja, this was all planned, and not by Benedikt. After I broke out of the cellar and found them gone, I went to him and demanded some answers. He didn’t even know what he was dealing with, and had never seen Magnus nor Andri before in his life... but someone met him in Akureryi six months ago when he was trading, and offered him enough gold to sink a ship if he used half of it to offer a warrant for Krafla’sdreki.”
“Rurik,” she whispered in horror, before realizing what sherevealed.
“Rurik,” Haakon confirmed, a knowing look on hisface.
Freyja held herself between him and the house. “He’s not the goldendrekiwho stole your wife. I know he’snot!”
“I know.” Haakon’s stallion pawed the ground. He looked faintly disgusted with himself. “But he knows who did. Freyja, get out of theway—”
“I won’t let you hurt him,” she held her arms wide, and a tremor leapt from the ground at her feet, sending the stallion into a screaming whirl offear.
Control it.Freyja grit her teeth and reined her temper in. She couldn’t afford to give in to the power trickling through her veins. The storm pushed her in its wake, filling her with power she’d never feltbefore.
It had never been this difficult to control herself before. Nor had she ever slid so fully into that golden pool of molten power deep within her. Freyja saw the world through a haze of amber, before her vision suddenly cleared and the earthstilled.
Haakon stared at her, white-faced. Froth foamed at the stallion’s mouth and its eyes rolled, but it was obeying him.Barely.
“I’m sorry,” shewhispered.
“The rumors are true then.” It was not aquestion.
“That depends upon which rumor you listen to,” she shotback.
“I don’t intend to hurt him.” Haakon hesitated. “It is clear Magnus and Andri were using me for their own purposes, and I now know what that purpose is. They mean to challenge him and kill him. It’s a trap, Freyja. But if we get to him first, perhaps we could warn him? Or helphim?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “And why would you helphim?”
“To make amends.” He clearly saw her disbelief. “And because he has the information I need to find thedrekiwho took mywife.”
They stared at each other for a longmoment.
“You’ll get there quicker.” Haakon’s eyes seemed to soften, turning very blue. “You were right, Freyja. All I’ve done is cause harm here. Let me help. Please. Let me try and find my way back to the man I oncewas.”
Logic dictated she accept his hand. He was right. Speed was of the essence right now. Freyja jammed her foot into the stirrup he’d slid his boot from, and used his hand to haul herself up behindhim.
“Hurry!” she yelled, wrapping her arms around his waist as he heeled the stallion withboots.
* * *
Freyja burstthrough the door of her house, her skirts flapping around her ankles. Time was of the essence right now, but she needed to make sure her father was allright.
“Father!” she called, dragging on his old oilskin coat, and reaching for his stout staff. Any weapon was better than none, and if Rurik thought she was going to allow him to face two treacherousdrekialone, then he had another think coming. “I have to go out this night. Ineed—”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Her father appeared in the doorway, blinking and rubbing at his eyes. He lowered his hands, revealing clear blue eyes that locked on her face. “Rurik told me everything. And he... he has given me a gift, in exchange for promising to keep yousafe.”
Those eyes. She hadn’t seen him look at her like that inyears.
The floor felt like it swayed. “Father,” she whispered in disbelief, waving a hand in front of hisface.
“Yes, I can see.” Pressing a hand to his chest, his face lit up briefly. “It feels like such a weight has lifted off me, like my veins are filled with pure fire. I haven’t felt this way inyears.”
Blood warmed his skin, breathing new life into it. Her father’s spine had straightened, and he resembled the tundra in spring as winter finally sloughed away, revealing new growth. She felt like she might almost choke on her heart. His condition had weighed heavily on her too, and heat flooded her eyes as she realized her father’s long illness hadvanished.
Freyja slid a hand over his paper-thin cheek in wondering fashion. “But...how?”
“Thedreki,” he said. “He gave me agift.”
Rurik had done this? Given her father new life? It struck her then, like an arrow to the heart. All along she’d been wary of him, holding him at arm’s length even as she submitted to his touch. Guarding herself for the betrayal she knew wouldcome.
