Page 3 of Storm of Desire
The lady's more interested in emeralds, Haakon thought with a bitter smile.All the more to add to her hoard ofgold.
But none of his men were paying attention tohim.
Haakon's massive cousin, Tormund, snorted and shook his head. "Flowers? Sweep her off her feet and throw her over your shoulder. Make a woman ofher."
Which would work perfectly if the lady in question couldn't breathefire....
Bjorn snorted. "In myexperience—"
"What little there be of it," Tormundsaid.
Bjorn slammed his tankard down and shoved to his feet. "There's damned near enough to make your toes curl. When was the last time you saw a womannaked?"
"Last night, as a matter of fact," Tormundsaid.
The two men stared at each other, their chests almosttouching.
"Sit down, you bloody fools," Haakon's second-in-command, Gunnar, bellowed. "You break any of this furniture and I'll break yourheads."
Gunnar shoved the pair of them apart, even as Haakon sank his head into his hands. What was he doinghere?
Trying to getanswers....
Tormund scraped at his beard. "Mind you, when I was chasing Gertrude, she did likeflowers—"
Haakon faded out of the conversation. Loose timbers flapped against the inn's cladding as the storm outside began to drive through the town. He crossed to the window, peering through it. Light flashed in the distance. The heart of the storm hadn't arrivedyet.
But when it came, it would descend on the town with driving force. There was a crackle of energy in the air, one he'd slowly learned torecognize.
This would be no ordinarystorm.
Would it be her out there on thewinds?
He'd spent months camped out in this hell-forsaken traders town, hoping to lure her out. Months showing the townsfolk the portrait he'd drawn of herface.
Yes, one or two of them had declared.I've seen her. She comes to buy books every fewmonths.
She likes jewelry too, someone else had said.I think she made Ivar a very happy jeweler.... Bought a pair of emerald earrings off him without even blushing at theprice.
That sounded likeher.
Before his wife vanished in the middle of a storm, barely two years after they'd married, she'd been enamored of precious gems. Even the single wink of light on a set of rubies had caught her eye from across the room. He'd not thought anything of it at the time—except to think he'd like to buy her a set of her own one day—but in hindsight, there'd always been signs of thetruth.
Seven years given over to hunting the dragon who took his wife. Seven years oflies....
His only purpose since her loss had been to hunt for any news of such a creature, until he'd finally gotten word earlier this year of a golden dragon inIceland.
Well, he'd finally tracked down the goldendreki—as it preferred to call itself—only to hear the truth from itslips.
"You hunt the dreki who took your wife,"Rurik had said."There is only one golden dreki beside myself. Her name is Árdís, and she is my younger sister. She resides in the dreki court belowHekla."
"That dreki took mywife!"
"She did not steal your wife, you fool,"Rurik had hissed."Shewasyourwife."
And in that moment, he'd no longer been able to deny thetruth.
The storm rattled the shingles on theroof.
