Page 29 of Clash of Storms
Malin hastily braided her hair, but the thing that had been bothering him ever since he spoke to the innkeeper downstairs would no longer stay trapped within him.
"Do you have anything to confess to me, Malin?"
Her hands stilled on the end of her braid. "Do I?"
"I spoke to the innkeeper downstairs and he tells me you went out for a couple of hours. I thought I told you to stay hidden. Indeed, I distinctly recall demanding you not leave those rooms."
"I needed to send word to my father," she replied. "If my father thought the queen had done something to make me vanish...."
"You should have told me. I could have sent your message for you."
Malin laughed under her breath incredulously. "Why would you give a damn? My father hates you."
The muscle in his jaw ticked. Sigurd was only one of the many reasons he'd never dared reveal his hand.
"And what are you doing in the city?" she shot back. "I thought you were flying east."
"I did. There's no sign of Árdís in the skies, and I saw Roar and the others circling around Reykjavik. It made me curious, and then I started thinking about Árdís's husband. Thisdragon-hunter. Something tells me Árdís hasn't fled toward her brother's territory. She came here for the man."
Malin swiftly looked down as she tied off the end of her braid. "Did she?"
Sirius's eyes narrowed. She'd known. Or at least suspected.
And she hadn't told him.
"I spoke to a human down by the docks who'd seen Árdís board a ship," he continued slowly. "I flew north, but I couldn't sense her aboard that ship. She must have come ashore at some point, which means we'll have to follow the coast until we find her tracks. She's travelling in mortal form, for some reason."
The princess was proving to be smarter than he'd expected.
"And Roar and the others?"
"Headed north. Perhaps they reached the same conclusion. I don't know." He examined the minute tics of expression on her face. "Malin, if there's something else I should know...."
"I would tell you," she replied smoothly. Too smoothly.
So be it. He'd have to earn her trust. Sirius gave her a thin smile then hauled the saddle bags over his shoulder. "Then let's ride. We need to find the princess before Roar does."
* * *
They slippedunseen from Reykjavik under the cover of brewing clouds.
Sirius frequently left her hidden in abandoned barns or shepherd's huts while he took to the skies, returning after several hours.
"I found where Árdís came ashore,"he reported the first time,"and left on horseback with a man."
The second time: "The rain washed away their tracks, but I'll find them again.I don't understand. Why is she remaining in human form?"
Malin refused to tell him the princess was trapped in mortal form.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you simply left me behind?" she asked, when he returned on the second day, blowing in through the doors of the shepherd's hut like a storm given mortal form. "You could hunt Árdís without being restricted by me."
Sirius threw off his black, fur-lined cloak and strode to the fire she'd made in the hearth, holding his damp hands out. "I promised I would see you to safety."
Malin considered the broad span of his shoulders. Once adrekigave his word it was considered binding, but she'd never expected Sirius to keep to the old ways. Prince Rurik and his father, the king, had considered their word to be their honor, but theZilittuintruders cared little for chivalry.To take and to hold, was their motto, and they took with an iron fist and crushed any who opposed them.
Malin frowned. It was difficult to reconcile him with the idea she'd had of him. He hadn't had to give her his word in the first place. He could have tortured the truth from her as his father intended, and not been burdened by her presence.
It made no sense.
