Page 18 of Clash of Storms
"Why differentiate?"
He smiled faintly. There had never been any love lost between the pair of them, and they both knew it.
Sirius set the lantern down before considering her. "You're running away."
"Why ever would I do such a thing?" She mustered all of the haughtiness she could, and turned away from him. "What I am is late. Master Innick might be waiting for me. I'll leave you to your musty cellars."
He grabbed her arm. "You're lying."
As she moved, he pushed her back against the wall. A gasp escaped her.
The drekling hidden in the other room shifted, as Árdís's eyes darted here and there, searching for any means of escape.
"I swear, if you think to touch me," she hissed, "then I'll do my best to geld you."
A knife appeared in her hand, and before he could blink, she tried to stab him with it. Sirius caught her wrist and twisted, but the knife drew a hot line of fire along his thigh. He was forced to disarm her with a sharp chop of the hand.
Pain flared in her eyes, but she didn't dare let go of the weapon.
Sirius slammed her against the wall, before she could truly wield it. He disarmed her with brutal efficiency before tossing the knife behind him. Panic flared in her eyes and he held his hands up, showing her his empty palms. "I don't intend to hurt you,"
Her gaze flickered to the knife.
"You'd know if I were lying," he told her. "The same way I knew you were.Drekicannot lie, Princess. Our very words are power, made to shape the world. You should be more careful with them."
"What part of'I was trying to geld you'sounded like a lie?"
"That, at least, was the truth. You came remarkably closer than anyone else."
"A shame I missed. You might have had to forgo the pleasures of our bonding night. Oh, but it seems you'll have to somehow convince me to agree to the mating bond first, and let me assure you these words are the truth: I would rather rot in Helheim thanevermate with you."
Likewise. Whoever captured the arrogant princess's heart would be forced to handle her on a daily basis. Árdís was a headache in the making. He'd kissed her once—many, many years ago—before realizing any sort of spark he'd been looking for was missing.
"No offense, Princess, but I'm as eager to mate with you as you are to mate with me."
Her jaw dropped open. As the jeweled prize of the court, she'd had males panting at her feet for years. Likely she'd never heard of a male dismissing her.
"You expect me to believe that?" Her eyes narrowed. "You're your father's son, Sirius. What's the motto of theZilittuclan again? To take and to hold? My mother's about to name you her heir, and I won't believe you're going to allow someone else the chance to use me to get to that throne. Roar would see this move and swoop in before either of us could blink. So what are you really doing here?"
"Let me assure you of this truth: I don't want to mate with you. I don't even like you very much."
"You don’t want to be named heir?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
A far trickier question because, yes, he wanted power. All his life he'd yearned for it—he was the Blackfrost, not some weak male on the fringes of the court—so of course he was ambitious.
But those ambitions had come to a screeching halt ten years ago when he caught the scent of his true mate.
Power?
Or Malin?
Because he could have one but not the other. And though Malin fled every time she saw him, some swell of hope remained within him that one day she would look at him and see him. Not the Blackfrost. Not his reputation. Not a monster.
But the second he reached for more, he could kiss any hope of ever touching her goodbye. Sirius rubbed at his knuckles. "I didn’t say that."
Árdís scrambled away from him, looking longingly at her sword across the chamber, and he realized what she had to assume. Without the princess standing in his way, he mightbenamed heir.
Sirius knelt, picking up the knife he'd taken off her. He could read her as easily as a book, and it bothered him that she truly feared him. No female should ever flinch before a male, but who would ever believe he meant her no harm? Tainted by his bloodlines, branded by his reputation, he would forever be the shadow that stalked the court, not matter what he said or did. "I told you I wasn't going to hurt you."
