Page 21 of Storm of Desire
Roar's fingertips settled, just lightly, upon herskin.
"Get your hands off her," said a coldvoice.
And Árdís sucked in a sharp breath of relief, despite the fact thedrekiwho appeared was littlebetter.
At least he keeps his hands tohimself.
Sirius melted out of the shadows, almost as if he wore a cape of puredarkness.
He towered over the pair of them, his shoulders broad, and his long brown hair tied back with a leather thong. A warrior, dressed from head to toe in strict black. Cool eyes the color of a glacial spring locked on the pair of them, but it was Roar he gave his attentionto.
"Of course.Brother." Roar gave a smirk and held his hands up as he backed away. "I know what I'm not allowed totouch."
Sirius paused but an inch from his bastard brother. "And yet, you keep taking risks. Árdís is mine. See you rememberthat."
"For now." Another faint, mocking smile. Roar took a step back. "Let us see if you can keep her. She has a frightening tendency to bolt when least expected." Sirius watched Roar stalk away, and the cold glitter of his eyes indicated a storm brewing between the pair of them. The very air seemed to chill with his temper, until it burned her lungs. Roar slipped through the doors into the throne room, and Sirius finally looked down ather.
"Sirius," she murmured, tipping her chin up. "As bleak and grim as usual. Killed anyonetoday?"
"Árdís," he replied, glancing around as he offered her his arm. "As frustratingly stubborn and painful as usual. And no, not yet, though the day's stillyoung."
Neither of them looked in the direction Roar hadvanished.
She could keep up thispretense.
But it seemed he was not going to allow her to doso.
"You should be careful not to be alone at the moment," he said, turning his attention toward her. "The bastard's starting to show histeeth."
"Perhaps he'd like to meet myclaws?"
Sirius stared down at her. For a second she thought he was going to make some flippant remark. But his lips thinned. "Don't underestimate him. He's grown bold since Magnus died. He's always hungered for power and for father's attention, and without Magnus at my side, Roar sees a chance to take what he wants. And he wantsyou."
She'd spent most of the year avoiding Sirius. When they met, they traded careless barbs, but he didn't offer her warnings. This wasn't how the game was played. "You're the Blackfrost." Half of the court feared him. The other half dared not look his way. "Surely you—of alldreki—are not frightened ofRoar?"
He'd never challenged his brother, but sometimes Árdís had seen even Magnus look at him in a speculativeway.
She could rank every singledrekiwithin the court on a scale of how dangerous they were. Except for Sirius. He didn't fight challenges. He didn't make idle threats. He bowed to his father's will. But the other males in the clan didn't challenge him either, and she'd seen unease in their eyes as they skirted aroundhim.
That was almost an un-dreki-likeaction.
To bedrekimeant one was arrogant to the bone. To be a maledrekionly emphasized such atrait.
Sirius is a storm of ice and rage, she'd heard the servants whisper.They say he single-handedly destroyed theGerman clans when they flew north to take what was ours. He turned their own storm against him. Ripped them from theskies.
He'd earned the title of the Blackfrost years before she'd been birthed into thisworld.
"Frightened?" he mocked. "No. But wary. Roar knows he can't face me. Not one-on-one. If he makes a tilt at me, I know I won't see it coming. You should always watch an ambitious coward with both eyes,Árdís."
"Is that why you turned all snarly andoverprotective?"
Hard eyes narrowed. "We're to be mated. Isn't that how I'm supposed toreact?"
Ten years ago he'd tried to claim her, before she fled the court and fell into her husband's hands. It had been a power play, she suspected, for he'd never looked at her the way some of the otherdrekidid.
And he'd shown little interest in hersince.
She snorted, resting her hand lightly on his arm as he turned them toward the throne room. "For adrekimale who's supposed to be mating with me, one could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Or are the rumors true? They say you keep a coldbed."
