Page 60 of Clash of Storms
Sirius pushed the door to the shepherd's hut open, and then froze as he began to pick out the mix of scents.
He shut the door abruptly, and took three large steps away from it, almost crumpling Malin in the process.
"Well, I believe it's safe to assume the princess and her husband have reconciled."
Thoughts raced behind her dark eyes, then she blushed. "You're too late."
"It's not too late for my purposes. I don't want Árdís in my bed. I never have." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "But I thought you said they were estranged?"
"They were, but I heard the way her voice softened when she spoke of him." Malin sounded wistful. "She loves him. And clearly he loves her."
Mother of dragons.
He wasthisclose to burying his face in his hand. Malin ruined him.
"Love doesn't have much to do with what happened in that hut," he growled. "Could youbemore naive?"
"This is precisely why I wish to find a man who will court me," she shot back. "Because when I take a man into my bed it will be because I love him. Where all you can think of is the bedding itself."
An arrow straight through the heart.
He strangled the growl in his throat. "Of course. And when you kiss a male it will have everything to do with your romantic delusions, and nothing to do with pure, unadulterated lust."
Go ahead, sweet Malin. Tell me I meant nothing.
The tips of her ears burned scarlet. "You kissedme."
"I'm fairly certain you kissed me back. Heartily." He couldn't resist teasing her. Taking Iškur's reins, he led her along the trail of hoof prints. "I consider myself lucky I escaped with my virtue. I can still feel your fingernails in my back."
"Must we discuss this?"
"Why not? It's the first time in days I've held the upper hand. I'm enjoying the situation immensely."
Malin set her shoulders and stalked ahead of him as if to put some distance between them.
He chuckled.
The tracks led them toward an old gravel road, long overgrown. Fog clung to the valleys, muffling all sound. It hung low in the air too, cutting visibility to a minimum. Wisps of mist stirred as he stalked along the road, until it felt like he was walking in the clouds.
"Well, it seems you won't be able to track them," Malin said quietly, though he could hear the glee in her voice. "I can't see a damned thing."
His nostrils flared. "I'm following their scent trail, my love. Try to contain your enthusiasm."
All his senses heightened. The road curved around the edges of Fáfnir's territory, and his ears pricked as he caught the sound of a rock clattering over stone somewhere to his right.
Nothing moved out there in the fog, but Sirius's heart started pounding a little faster. Perfect grounds for an ambush.
He hurried to Malin's side and grabbed her hand, transferring the reins into her startled fingers. "Keep walking," he whispered, eyes raking the fog. "Something's setting mydrekion edge."
As attuned to the world as it was, it would sense danger long before his pathetic mortal senses ever would.
"If we're attacked, whatever you do, stay near me. I will protect you."
For once she seemed to understand, and nodded.
Sirius opened himself up to his Second Sight. A rare gift amongdreki, it stripped the world away from him, until he could sense anything living.
Nothing on the ground.
