Page 45 of Clash of Storms
"You're the Blackfrost! Of course you can!"
"Malin, the second I engage one of them, I leave you vulnerable. I can't do that. I won't."
She had a hand against his chest, as if to push him away, but the words stopped her. He'd given her his word she wouldn't be harmed. It seemed he meant it.
He turned his face to the sky, and his entire expression darkened. "Stay right beside me. I need to give this all my attention, and if you move I'll be looking for you."
Storm clouds rolled across the skies, darkening at every second. Sirius tore control of thedrekistorm from the otherdreki, wielding it like a whip. Her breath caught as a fat droplet of rain hit her shoulder. It sprang to life with a sudden intensity that almost caught her breath.Drekiwere the masters of storms, but she'd rarely seen one handle this much raw power at once.
The twodrekicircled them slowly, but she could sense their sudden hesitation.
"Florian," Sirius growled, as he recognized the pair. One bronzed, the other a darker russet color. "And Lor. My oldestfriends."
Two of the court's most dangerousdrekiwarriors. Both of them were mercenaries the queen had accepted at court.
All drekling knew to avoid the pair.
"Florian's never forgiven me for killing his brother in a duel."
Sleet began to rain down, and Malin flinched as something cold hit her. The skies were pure black now, and she could barely see their attackers.
Sirius hauled her against his side, draping his cloak over her. "Don't move!" he yelled, just as a flash of lightning lit up the world.
She locked her arms around his waist, shivering. The heat of his power raged through his body like an inferno within him, and Malin buried her face against his chest. Something deep inside her whispered to be set free, the flutter of her heart accelerating as she was swept along in the wake of his power.
He flung his arms into the air, and Malin's hair tore back from her face. She risked a glance.
Winds whipped through the skies, and one of thedrekiclawed at the air as it was thrown off-balance. Forced to abandon its dive, it banked, hissing at the pair of them angrily.
The other sought to climb, wings flapping madly as wind buffeted it from all angles. It screamed a sound of pure rage.
Sirius glared at the twodreki, his eyes black with pure power as he held his hands up. Frost laced across the ground, the puddles at her feet icing over and then cracking in little crunches. A nearby mud hole bubbled, ice fighting to form over its outskirts, thwarted by the heat spilling from within the ground. Another lash of lightning bit through the air, and the largerdrekiscreeched as it rolled out of the path of a jagged spear. The two of them flapped madly, trying to flee the sudden storm surge.
But all she could see was Sirius, his fingers shaking as he tried to earth some of the power he was channeling, and his long hair whipping back in the wind. The ripple of wind stirred the black cloth of his shirt against his chest, and his cloak flew back behind him like a pair of demonic wings. Heat vibrated through his larger body, hot enough to scald her.
The Blackfrost in all his might.
Whispers of his power stirred through thedrekicourt, and she'd known others were afraid of him, but for the first time she got to witness why.
He was truly, utterly magnificent.
And thedrekifled from him like dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.
Malin laughed, tilting her face to the rain. "Take that, youdrekimongrels!"
Sirius let out a loud gasp, his hands lowering as the storm clouds began to retreat, thinning to narrow wisps, lightning smoldering in the darker clouds to the East as the winds chased them that way. The storm no longer stirred at his whim, though rain hammered down, icy little fingers that stabbed her skin. Her dress clung to her shoulders, her nipples hardening with the chill.
Sirius staggered. "We need shelter before those bastards come back."
Malin caught him under the arms as he almost fell. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"
He shook his head, his enormous body pressed firmly against her. "I'm fine. Just a little storm head."
"You don't look fine."
His hands firmed on her arms as he looked down at her. "I'm a warrior. Not some puling human. It's merely the aftereffect of the storm. I just need time to recover."
"Far be from me to argue with Your Impressiveness," she shot back.Drekimales. She swore whoever coined the word "arrogant" had come into contact with one of them. They would never change. "Come." Malin pressed herself to his side, trying to steady him. "I think I saw a cave a mile back."
