Page 46 of Clash of Storms
Hopefully this would knock him off his feet for half the night, so Árdís could get further and further in front of them.
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They took shelter in the cave as the storm washed over the world, drowning both the skies and the ground below. Once unleashed by Sirius's power, it battered at the world, howling its way through the nearby mountains like hungry ghosts.
The twodrekihad fled, unable to fight the power of Sirius's storm or turn the elements against him. His fury had been so incredibly potent he'd owned the skies, even standing firmly on the ground in mortal form. She'd always known he was dangerous, but to bear witness to it left Malin feeling remarkably uncertain.
How was she going to thwart a male like this?
"Why didn't you shift form?" Malin asked, her voice quiet as she unbraided her hair and squeezed the water from it. They'd spent over an hour trying to capture the horses, and she was wet to the skin. "Yourdrekiform is almost twice the size of those two."
"I didn't need to. A little storm made them run off bleating with their tails tucked between their legs."
"A little storm?" Malin shivered, trying to pick the laces of her dress undone as Sirius coaxed another fire to life. The wet wood smoldered, but the flames danced into a raging inferno as he gestured with a single hand. "That storm nearly sat you on your ass."
Sirius gave her a withering look.
"And don't 'oh-I'm-a-mighty-warrior' me," she said, rolling her eyes as she finally got the knot undone. "You've been unsteady on your feet for over an hour. If you fell flat on your face I was going to leave you where you fell."
"Some gratitude."
Malin dragged his cloak around her shoulders, and then paused, realizing he was watching her. "If you wouldn't mind?"
Sirius crossed his arms over his chest, and arched a brow in her direction. "Whatever seems to be the problem, sweet Malin? I'm fairly certain you were offering yourself to me earlier.... Unless that was merely a ploy to distract me from my recovery of the princess, hmm?"
The bastard wasn't going to turn around.
And she was wet and cold, and damn him, but it wasn't as though she felt frightened of him anymore.
Fine. "I was going to say, 'If you wouldn't mind being a gentleman and turning around', but then I remembered who I was talking to." She made sure the cloak covered every inch of her as she slid the shoulder of her gown loose. "You're the Blackfrost, and you do as you damn well like just like your father."
She got her left arm through her sleeve, and her bodice gaped as she wriggled, trying to work it down over her hips. Sirius's face had paled, but he wasn't looking at her body, only at her face, and the cloak covered almost everything anyway.
"I amnothinglike my father."
"Oh? I seem to recall hearing stories of you standing at Stellan's side when Prince Rurik was exiled for the murder of his father and king—a murder nobody at court, not even your father's allies, seems to believe Rurik did." The wet wool of her dress hit the ground, and she licked her lips as his cloak rasped against her wet chemise and sensitive skin.
Sirius's gaze dropped to the dress on the floor around her ankles, and then slowly lifted. There was no blue left in his eyes anymore. Only a darkness born of pure passion. Malin froze as that look seared her, leaving her breathless once more.
Hungry eyes.
"What?" she barked, her voice sounding far more confident than she felt. "I'm fairly certain you've seen a half-naked woman before."
He scraped a hand over his face, and she thought he muttered something like,"Fuck."
"Pardon?"
"Many women," he growled, turning and dumping an enormous log on the fire. A hiss of sparks went up. "You might as well drop the cloak, Malin. It's not like you'll scandalize my poor, innocent eyes. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a naked woman."
She wasalmosttempted. Just to force him to admit her nakedness bothered him. That she wasn't simply another of themanywomen he'd seen in the altogether.
But then there was the treacherous problem of what might happen if hedidadmit he found her pleasing.
"You don't like me," she said.
He snorted, picking up a second log. "That wouldn't be a problem."
"I offered to let you kiss me earlier and you withdrew like a skittish virgin."
