Page 26 of Clash of Storms
"I am shy."
"Do you know what I think?" He leaned closer, heat whispering off his enormous form. "I think you let the world see only what you want it to see. And you tell everyone exactly what you want them to hear. And then you go and do what you bloody well want to, regardless of any promises made. You're a devious, clever young female who could give a mule lessons in obstinacy. But you don't want anyone to know it."
"You flatter me."
But her heart skipped a beat, for who else had ever seen right through her?
Even her father glanced over her smile, reassured by its appearance and not the reason for it. She couldn't fool her sister, Elin, but that was different. Sisters shared a special bond.
As to the others around her, only Árdís suspected her thoughts and feelings. Mostdrekithought her invisible and Malin made good use of that, carrying rebel letters about the court and exchanging information in shadowed rooms.
If her father and Finn were at the beating heart of the Prince's Rebellion, then Malin was somewhere in the rebellion's arteries, pumping precious lifeblood through its veins.
"Even now she maintains her facade," Sirius said softly, looming over her. "Are you so afraid to let down your walls?"
How could a male like him understand?
"It's called surviving, my prince. Playing the game. Not all of us can afford to defy those above us. Some must make do with whatever means of protection they can find, when others would simply crush them beneath their boot heel."
"Sirius," he snapped. "Not Blackfrost. Not 'my prince.' I have a name. And if you're referring to me as one who crushes, then I think you know me not at all."
Oh, really? Your name isn't used to cow those at court? Your father doesn't wield you as an assassin against his enemies?
You never expect dreki and drekling alike to leap out of your path when you stride through the hallways?
"Sirius," he said, taking a step closer to her. "Say it."
"Is that an order, my prince?"
His eyes darkened. "Oh, you stubborn little wretch. I swear you shall call me by my name by the time we're done."
Malin swept into the curtsy she knew he despised so much. If this were the only defiance she was allowed then she would wield it like a scalpel.
Sirius bared his teeth. "You're incredibly lucky I have a princess to find, or I would enjoy spending the next couple of hours testing just how obedient you can be."
I should like to see you try.
She wasn't used to giving her thoughts a voice. For the past ten years she'd trapped it all inside her, and smiled her bland smile.
But somehow he saw it in her eyes.
"And I would enjoy trying," he whispered. "I think you might enjoy it too. Just be careful, Malin, for we're no longer at court. There's no reason to hide my interest in you now."
The shock of his blunt words earned a gasp. What the hell did that mean?
"There's one quite large reason," she countered. "It is princess-shaped, and you are betrothed to her."
"And she is married to a mortal man." Anger flashed across his brow, but her words forced him to retreat. Sirius stilled, as if a dangerous thought occurred. "If I wasn't bound to Árdís, would your answer be the same?"
Malin's mind raced. She felt like she was walking on quicksand, and she didn't know what lay beneath it. Monsters, no doubt.
This was such unknown terrain.
"I— What, precisely, are you asking of me?"
Her breathing quickened.
She took a half step back.
