Page 102 of Storm of Desire
* * *
The signal fireon the beach was dying down as Haakon leaned on the rail of the ship and stared across the sea. It winked on the edge of the horizon, before blinking once and vanishing in a snuff oflight.
"Well?" Tormund asked, joining him at the rail as the ship splashed through massivebreakers.
He couldn't see Árdís anywhere on the deck. He'd spent the last hour shouting orders and hauling rope, and she wasn't in her cabin where she was meant to be. Or in Marek's cabin, where she'd headed when theyboarded.
"Well," he repeated, knowing exactly what his cousinwanted.
Tormund grinned at him. "Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but wasn't your wife supposed to be free of her bracelet, and flapping her way through the skies rightnow?"
"It's a longstory."
"Not that I mind the detour. I mean, this is the most enjoyment I've had in years. I've made eighty kroner off Gunnar in the last week alone." He reached out and touched Haakon's throat. "And I think I'm about to make another twenty off Bjorn. Is that a bite mark on yourneck?"
Haakon growled, and slapped his cousin's hand away. "Leave italone."
He didn't want the men discussing their bedroomhabits.
"On one condition. I want the full story. She's still here, we're sailing for Akureyri, there's a bite mark on your neck, but you look like you've just buried your dog. Things don't add up, myfriend."
He stared out at the waves, the splash of salt water wetting his face. "She left me because she thinks her mother is going to killme."
Tormund's eyebrows shot up. "Somewhat shorter than I imagined, but intriguing. Goon."
He scraped a hand over the back of his neck. "And her mother is hunting her now...." He let the words flow out of him, feeling his shoulders soften as Tormundlistened.
It felt somewhat akin to lancing awound.
"Well," his cousin finally said, when Haakon had run out of words. "That makes my brother's mother-in-law sound like a saint. Can you killher?"
His head turned sharply. "What?"
"Thedrekiqueen is just another monster, my friend. Andyouhunt dragons." Tormund held both hands out, and then cupped them together. "The solution seemssimple."
"Have you been drinking? She's locked away in a court full ofdreki."
"Then lure herout."
"With what?" He saw Tormund's expression shift. "No.No. I am not going to put Árdís indanger."
"The same way she's afraid to put you in danger by letting herself loveyou?
Son of a— He'd never thought of it that way before. "It's not the same," he saidweakly.
Tormund scratched his jaw. "Do you loveher?"
"Ofcourse."
"Then you're a fool if you don't fight forher."
Haakon leaned on the rail and saw nothing. "Me fighting for her was never the problem. It's whether she'll fight forme."
"Perhaps you need to give her a reason to fight. And then let her do so, regardless of therisk."
He looked at his cousin sharply. "Is our love not reasonenough?"
"Loving you was never the problem. I recognized that the moment I saw her look at you when we tried to kidnap her in Reykjavik. She looked at you as if you put the moon in the skies—or no, as if youwerethe moon, but she knew she could never touch you." Tormund peered upwards. "I mean, look ather."
