Page 33 of Storm of Desire
The pair of them glared at each other, until Sirius's gaze dropped to the collar of her gown. She didn't know what he intended as he reached for her, but he tugged the silver chain around her throat free, his fist curling around her marriage ring. "Who ishe?"
"If you think I'm going to give you a name, then you're out of your mind. And he's gone from mylife."
Sirius slowly opened his fist and examined the plain ring. "And yet your heart still belongs to him. Or you wouldn't be wearingthis."
"It's none of your business." She jerked it from his hand and stuffed it back within her bodice. Then she shoved him back against the wall and put the blade directly against his throat. "Enough games, tell me what you'rehiding."
"The same thing you are," hespat.
Árdísfroze.
"You'remarried?"
It wasimpossible.
Sirius traveled occasionally, but there'd been no hint of a human in his life, and he'd never bothered to correct his father's vehement intention to grind all humans beneath hisheel.
"Notmarried."
"Mated."
"Not mated." The fury showed in hiseyes.
And suddenly sheknew.
There was onevery, very good reason he wouldn't wish to bind himself to her. Árdís backed away, lowering the knife. "You found her, didn't you? The other half of your soul; your twinflame."
Her people called itkataru libbu, a bastardized version of Sumerian that at its most basic meant an alliance of the heart, and yet was so muchmore.
Soul mate. The missing piece.Forever.
One that was undeniably yours, andlikewise.
Her heart felt like it clenched into a tight little ball. She'd loved and she'd married, but she'd also hoped to find something more between her andHaakon.
Yet, it wasdrekimales who firstknew.
And without that instinct, Árdís had never been entirelycertain.
"Who is she?" she whispered, jealous of him all of asudden.
Sirius pushed away from the wall, looming over her. "It doesn't matter. She's nobody. And nothing will ever come of it. But just as you would prefer to keep his name to yourself, so wouldI."
"Ylve?"
"Sweet goddess, no! Who would ever lie with thatbitch?"
Whoever it was, she had to have arrived in the court beneath Hekla sometime in the last ten years for him to change his mind about acceding to his father's wishes and taking Árdís as amate.
Sirius captured her jaw. "I can almost see you thinking. Her identity is none of your concern. Just know she's my reason to want to avoid this mating. Is it a good enough reason to trustme?"
"Good enough. Because if you betray me, I'll tell your father everything you just said. Whoever she is, she's clearly unsuitable or you would have pursued heropenly."
"The second you do so, you condemn her to death," he growledfiercely.
"Good. Maybe it will help whittle the ranks of your father'sfollowers."
His grip tightened unconsciously. "She's not... she's not someone my father would care for. And I want power. I cannot haveboth."
