Page 5 of Storm of Desire
To be human meant pain, suffering, and wretched emotion. But it also lured her with whispers of joy and freedom, and the sheer warmth one gained from other humans. Árdís had been born from fire, but she loved this mortal realm with a curious heart otherdrekicurled their lipsat.
Picking up the leather bag she'd carried in her claws, she swiftly drew her gown on, lacing up the pale green wool dress over her chemise. Stockings and shoes followed, and then she looped around her throat the silver chain she always carried withher.
She could only ever wear it when she wore this form, and for a second her fingers fumbled on the plain silver ringhe'donce given her. It dangled from the end of the chain, and warmed against her flesh as if it were finallyhome.
She'd taken it off over a dozen times, and even managed to bury it once, before she’d succumbed and dug it back out of the earth. The only reminder of a moment when she'd given in to the whim of her heart, it was past time she finally put it away, but.... Her fingertips grazed the silver ring. To put it away forever meant burying her heart entirely, and she wasn't certain she had it in her to doso.
A flash of icy gray eyes lit through her mind. A smile. The shape of his mouth as he leaned down to kiss her.... She refused to speak his name, but the memory of his face would not leave her alone, particularly at night, when her thoughts wereunguarded.
He'd never smile at her like thatagain.
Árdís slid the ring inside her dress, and swiftly braided her hair. She'd made her choices long ago. She should never have married him. Never have given him her heart. She was adrekiprincess and he a mortal man, and she'd known from the start it would only ever end indisaster.
But sometimes the head did not rule theheart.
Enough. Árdís turned toward the town, shedding her foolish regrets. It always hit her hard when she first shiftedshape.
And she had emeralds to buy, and hopefully a certaindrekiprince tothwart.
In the streets of Reykjavik, humans began to close the shutters on their windows, faces turned fearfully toward the storm that was rolling over the edges of town. With her no longer in the skies it would fade, but they didn't know that. Brightly colored roofs gleamed under the stormy skies as Árdís made her way unerringly toward the small jewelers shefrequented.
Bells tinkled over the door as sheentered.
The jeweler looked up at the sound of the bells, his hands scattering the fine beads he'd been trying to separate as he saw her. Árdís breathed in the stuffy fumes of pipe smoke and oil, her gaze flickering over the dull gleam of brass and gold in the display cases, and the faint wink of rubies. Too small to capture her interest, of course, but Hjálmarsson always kept his finest wares behind the counter, or in hissafe.
"Good day, Master Hjálmarsson," she called. "I hear you have newemeralds?"
The jeweler set aside the small loupe he'd been peering through. His mustache quivered. "How do you always know? I've not breathed a word of it toanyone."
Because I can hear them whispering through the earth's crust, practically calling myname.
Everydrekiwas gifted with some natural affinity for one of the elements, and hers was Earth. Árdís smiled. "A lady cannot give up her sources, good sir. Please, may I seethem?"
"Aye. I put them aside for you, as promised," the jeweler stammered, as he unlocked his glass counter and lifted a tray from within. She'd offered to pay him good coin for the privilege of seeing his finest waresfirst.
He stank of nervousness, enough to make her glance up from beneath her lashes. If he tried to swindle her, then he would be in for a rudeshock.
Árdís's eyes narrowed, but then she saw what rested upon the red velvet nap upon the tray. An exquisite necklace of gold, with over a half dozen teardrop-shaped emeralds dripping from the collar. The smaller emeralds were the size of her thumbnail, but the one in the center... that one was almost a robin's egg, and surrounded by glittering diamond shards that winked in the light like the stars in the nightsky.
It wasbeautiful.
Regal.Stunning.
A queen's necklace, the likes of which she'd never seenbefore.
This was the only thing that captured both herdrekiand mortal hearts. Árdís had always felt torn between both worlds, but precious gemstones and gold were a dangerous addiction of both herselves.
"Bring the light closer," she whispered, her fingertips gliding over each polished stone in theset.
The jeweler obliged and the color of the gems warmed, as if there were a trapped spirit glowing within. Striations of green refracted off the counter as she turned the tray to and fro, painting her skin with faint oceanic ripples ofcolor.
"Where did you get them?" They were nothing like his usual wares. Iceland was the last bastion of life in these arctic straits, and ships rarely carried fine goods north likethese.
The jeweler hesitated, but the strange light within the emeralds, the one that called to her soul, capturedÁrdís.
"I was given them by a man several months ago. He told me...." The words continued, but Árdís had ceased tolisten.
A faint imperfection in the main stone caught her eye, running through the emerald almost like ascar.
