Page 106 of Clash of Storms
"What happens if you're captured?" Árdís asked, for she alone knew the true cruelty of the queen's court. She turned to Rurik. "Malin cannot go alone. She has no magic, no means of defending herself if someone does see her."
"You'renot going," Haakon growled.
"I can't," Árdís replied, with a shiver. "My mother knows I can wield Chaos magic now. I'm the greatest threat against her, and they would sense me."
"Then I will go with her," Freyja said, clasping her shawl around her shoulders.
What?Malin straightened.
Prince Rurik rounded on his mate, almost as if his tail was lashing. "Like. Hell. You're mine. The last place I'd ever send you is into that trap by yourself."
"I won't be alone. I shall be with Malin," Freyja replied smoothly. "And if you think I was asking for permission, then you know me not at all."
The pair of them glared at each other.
The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
Malin's mouth felt dry. Take the prince's mate into the heart of the court? If the queen got her hands on Freyja—
"You told me once your people would not accept a human queen were you to win the throne back," Freyja continued. "But I am not human, Rurik. And I am not powerless. And if you want to take your father's throne, then you will need a queen. Perhaps they will not accept my... whatever I truly am. But how can they ever have a chance to respect me if you do not let me fight forthem?"
Frustration raged across the prince's face, his lip curling.
"You've told me in the past you can't sense my magic," Freyja continued, undeterred by the storm brewing within him. She set her hands on her hips. "Malin and I are practically invisible, but I can defend her if need be, and assist her in getting your cousins out. She cannot do this alone."
Rurik clearly fought the battle of any possessive maledreki. "If the queen captures you—"
"She won't."
"You don't know—"
"Let me be your queen. Please, Rurik." Freyja's voice deepened. "Or you will have to eventually choose between your throne or me."
Árdís sucked in a sharp breath, and Haakon slowly set all four feet of the chair he was sitting in on the ground.
The air fair crackled between the prince and his mate, and Malin assumed they were speaking psychically. She'd underestimated Freyja, for the young woman would not back down.
And she saw then what she hadn't seen before.
This woman, despite her lowly bloodlines, could command the respect of anydrekiof the court.
If the prince let her.
Rurik finally gave an abrupt jerk of his head, as if he couldn't trust himself to speak.
Tormund clapped his hands together, to try and dispel the tension in the room. "Well, that's settled. Freyja and Malin are going to sneak your cousins out from beneath the very nose of the queen. Don't envy you that task, ladies."
"Don't speak too soon." Rurik turned on him with a snarl. "You're going with them."
* * *
"You dare return?"Stellan demanded as Sirius faced him. "You treacherous cur. You poisonous snake. I curse the day I gave you life."
The words glanced off him harmlessly. They could no longer touch him. Why had he ever cared for his father's approval? "Youspeak of treachery? You, with your broken promises? Your wealth of allies sprawled behind you, knives driven into their backs?"
"You are a disgrace to your brother's memory. If you were half thedrekiMagnus was—"
"Magnus is dead at the hands of Prince Rurik," Sirius replied coldly. "And yet, it seems I survived an encounter with the prince."
