Page 43 of Storm of Desire
Árdís pressed a hand to her forehead, and turned to stare sightlessly at the docks. Haakon reached forher.
And thenstopped.
A man hobbled his way toward them, leaning heavily on his crutch. Árdís's stare locked upon him, and her resolve seemed to firm. "I need to know where to find the sorcerer who gave this to you is. Perhaps I can get him to removeit."
That would take her days. "Can you not ask one of yourdrekifriends to take you there?" He looked to the north. "There's bad weather on itsway."
"I know. And no." She drew her cloak tightly around her, as if she felt the chill coming. "I cannot ask anotherdrekiforhelp."
"Why?" The tone of her voice gave heraway.
Árdís glanced up from beneath her lashes, and he saw there the ghost of the woman he'd once known. The one who looked to him for reassurance once upon a time. "Because I'm fleeing thecourt."
A gull screamed as they stared at eachother.
"Fleeing the court," he repeatedsoftly.
Despite his anger, he couldn't help starting to think now. Threedrekihad been "sent" to find her the other day. And none of Árdís's actions had been that of a woman who wanted to return withthem.
"Are you in trouble? Nobody's going to hurt you, are they?" His voicethickened.
"No, they won't hurt me." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm a princess, and the last of my mother's direct descendants." Bitterness soured her voice. "If they hurt me, then they cannot get what they want fromme."
"Whichis?"
"My mother wants me to mate with Sirius, one of the males at court. The mating ceremony is set fortonight."
The years fell away, a stew of jealousy simmering within him. He had no right. "He's the one who came for you the otherday."
"Yes."
"And you don't wish to mate with him?" After all, she'd told him to find another woman. What did he expect? That she would never replacehim?
"No, I don't! This is my mother's doing. I just.... All of my life I've obeyed her rules. I won't do it, not thistime."
Running away. Again. The same as she'd done when she swept into his life and tore itapart.
"Where are you headingthen?"
She looked out across the harbor, tendrils of blonde hair brushing across her pale forehead. "I have only one place to go, where my mother and her court won't come for me. They won't risk facing Rurik, and he would take me in. I know it. I could be free to make my own choices inlife."
The implications made his mouth tighten. "His lair is days away fromhere."
"Iknow."
"You cannotfly."
"I know." She looked up then. "I'dhoped...."
"That I would remove the manacle. And then you'd be on your way." Curse her. Curse her for giving him a moment of hope, and then dashing it across thecobbles.
Turning to stare out toward the sea, he raked a hand through his hair. The knot in his gut was back. He'd been torturing himself for far too long. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his family again, and hold his nieces and nephews in his arms. To taste his mother's cooking, and sweep out the dust in his home—the one that held such memories forhim.
Or perhaps burnit.
But he was the one who'd put that fucking manacle upon her. She could have been by her brother's side by now. Safe. Free to chase whatever sort of life shesought.
One without him init.
