Page 26 of Storm of Desire
The world around her remained silent. Someone had cleaned her rooms, and the silk spread on her bed gleamed. She barely sawit.
She wasalone.
She'd been beaten down, the queen showing her just how easily it was to cut Árdís's rage out from under her. She'd seen the price of failure. Would they do that toher?
No.
A spark of hidden defiance beat within her chest likewings.
You will do yourduty....
The words swam through her, like careless hands that tore through her will power, shreddingit.
I'm sailing home. Forever. Unless you give me a reason tostay....
Haakon didn't know how much those words destroyed her. She couldn't go to him. She'd get him killed. She'd get them both killed. She'dseenwhat they did to those who thwarted them. If she mated withSirius—
Icannot.
Silence finally reigned in her head. The press of all her conflicted emotions thickened in her throat. Thedrekiwithin seemed to hold itsbreath.
"I cannot stay," she whispered, so softly she could barely hear the words herself, but they filled her from within, smoothing out all of the wretched hollows within her. Flooding her with certainty, with rage, with a sudden decisiveintention.
The words seemed to break some sort ofspell.
Suddenly, it was all soclear.
If she died, then was it not worth it, for the merest taste of freedom? She couldn't go on living like this, and it had taken both Haakon's reappearance in her life, and the scene in the throne room to make her realizethat.
The cage walls seemed to shatter around her, and suddenly she felt like she could take on theworld.
Árdís broke into action, stripping her shimmering dress down her body, and tearing open her trunks. She dug through them, discarding silks and velvets, hunting for her fighting leathers, for something warm. She couldn't wear the leathers when she left court—if anyone saw her they'd wonder what she was about—so she dressed herself swiftly in a green wool dress that wouldn't draw any eyes, nor rouse any suspicions. Spare clothing went into the pack she carried when she flew, so she'd have something to wear when shelanded.
Once she got this braceletoff.
What else did sheneed?
A sword. Marduk's sword. The one he'd left for her when she helped him escape, knowing that her brother's defiance had caught the eye of theiruncle.
Didn't even say goodbye....Árdís bared her teeth. She hadn't been ready. She'd been afraid, drawing the cage door shut herself. No more. She was done with hiding her hopes and dreams. Done with bowing to her mother'swhims.
She couldn't stay here. She couldn't mate with Sirius, knowing her husband was out there somewhere. And she couldn't throw herself into Haakon's arms with her mother's threats whispering in herears.
She'd never forgive herself if her actions led to Haakon'sdeath.
But perhaps there was a middle path. A chance for freedom from Sirius, and a means to live her lifealone.
There was one place she could flee to, where her mother would not darefollow.
She turned to gather the sword, when the portal opened and a hooded figureappeared.
Malin paused, her brown eyes widening when she saw the pack. Then she swiftly closed the portal that led to the court behindher.
"You'releaving?"
"I can't.... I—" Árdís's shoulders slumped. "I cannot go through with this. I cannot mate withhim."
Malin hurried toward her. "You saw what she did to Marek! If you'recaptured—"
