Page 55 of Clash of Storms
"Malin?"
He put all his weight on one forearm. Large, callused fingers brushed the spill of hair from her face, slightly abrasive against her cheek. And yet there was a strange tenderness to the motion.
"You're not hurt?" he asked gruffly, as if the thought had just occurred to him.
Malin shook her head. "Just a little breathless."
"And you are fine now?"
Without thinking, Malin tilted her head into the caress, her cheek meeting his palm. She brushed against him like a cat seeking affection, and both of them froze as their eyes met.
Sirius withdrew his hand abruptly, as if scalded. More than anything, that action made her feel like she'd plunged into an icy river.
"I don't think so. You arenotgoing to wrap me around your little finger this time." Sirius leaned lower, nose-to-nose with her, his voice dropping into a deep, reverberating growl that was completely inhuman. "Now, give me one good reason not to wring your bloody neck."
He must have slammed into her harder than she'd thought, for she'd actually craved his touch for that second.
But the growl brought her to her senses.
"I wasn't aware I'd ever wrapped you around my little finger."
His blue eyes glinted like sapphires.
"Malin." A warning.
"I was desperate," she shot back.
"You stole my horse." The second her voice rose, so did his. He seemed incensed beyond reason.
"My only other option was to slam a rock to the back of your head, but your skull is so thick I didn't think it would make a dent. And it wasn't as though I thought I was going to get away. I just wanted...."
"Yes?"
"I just wanted the princess to be happy." The words spilled from her in a rush. "She's always been so kind to me. Shedeservesto be free, Sirius. Ever since I arrived at court, life has been so bleak. I keep asking myself, what am I fighting for? For drekling to be safe from the threat of being burned alive for the sheer mention of the prince's name? For a court full of life and laughter? Forthis, Sirius. For adrekiprincess to be free to love the man she chooses." Tears pricked her eyes. "Life is not a fairy tale. I know that. But it would be nice, just once, to see a princess get her happily ever after. One good thing in this wretched court to sustain me through the endless days fighting."
She tried to make him understand, but he shook his head with a breathless laugh. "You're impossible. Fairy tales? Fucking fairy tales? You think there can ever be a happy ending to this story?"
"Is it so impossible?" she whispered. "Of course I think there could be hope."
"You have no idea how much I want to believe you." His voice thickened. "But then, I'm the villain of your story. I'm the one who gets what he deserves in the end."
"You could be the hero."
He turned to stone. "What?"
"To be the hero is a choice," Malin whispered, biting her lower lip. "My father always says the smallest of decisions can have the largest of consequences. If you choose to allow Árdís to go free, then you take one step down the path of doing the right thing."
A long-weary cynicism turned his eyes black. "Oh, Malin."
Sirius folded over her, resting his forehead on the back of his fist with a sigh. Malin froze as every inch of him pressed down upon her, her face buried in the crook of his neck. She couldn't help inhaling his scent. She'd always thought of it as blood and frost, but it had the bite of a crisp wind blowing over lonely glaciers. Hints of cinnamon and fur, and the oil he used to polish his knives.
It reminded her of the man himself. There was heat beneath the surface, burning deep in Sirius's heart like the brewing rumble of a volcano. But to reach it, she had to chip through the frozen glacial walls that bound him.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"Considering the many ways my life would be easier without you in it."
Malin lay still, her arms trapped between them and her fingers curled laxly. If she reached out, extended her pinkie, then she'd brush against the golden skin of his shoulder.
