Page 100 of Clash of Storms
He severed the link before she could plead with him to stay, his wings thrusting down. She wasn't strong enough to forge it from her end, to tell him what she hadn't had a chance to say.
Malin clapped a hand over her mouth as Sirius took to the skies, flying after his father and aunt. Spearing directly toward his death.
They would hurt him for today's treachery. She knew it. And the court would watch and not a single drekling would know he'd sacrificed his own life for his brother. For his prince. For them.
They would call him monster, and when thedrekiqueen finally took her revenge, Malin would be the only one who mourned the mighty Blackfrost.
22
"My lord?" Malin whispered, her hands curled into tight little fists as she interrupted Prince Rurik before he could open the door to his mate's little farmhouse.
The golden prince stirred, looking weary. "Malin."
She tried to curtsy, but he caught her hand and shook his head. "I understand the court is different these days to the one I matured within. But you owe me no obeisance." His smile lit up the night. "Technically, I'm not even a prince anymore."
"Yes, you are," she breathed, swallowing the tight lump in her throat. "The entire court whispers your name. You're the rightful ruler, the rightful heir. They all want to see you overthrow your mother."
Rurik turned, but he didn't look happy by the news. "Were you troubled, Malin? Did Freyja not find you someplace to sleep?"
"Yes, she did, but...." Malin drew on all of her courage, and blurted. "Sirius flew after his father and the rest of them."
The prince's eyes narrowed. "He made his choice."
"No, he didn't!" she cried, catching at his sleeve. "He entered the fray, and he fought Roar. If he hadn't, then….”
Silence. She found herself the focus of those intense eyes.
"He was afraid for his brother," she said. "He touched minds with me when he left. He flew after them because he feared they might kill Andri in response for his betrayal. They'll hurt him, I know they will. Or worse. We have to rescue them."
He paused. "I cannot attack the court. Its defenses are too strong, and my mother and Stellan have proven they won't play fair. I can't challenge them and lure them out. I can't get inside the court, Malin. They'll feel me coming."
"He fought for you," she snapped, and then swallowed hard. Oh, sweet heavens.... But the prince didn't look as though he was going to strike her. "Please, my prince. If Sirius hadn't joined the battle when he did, Haakon would be dead and you overthrown. He betrayed his father for you."
"Hekilledmy father."
She looked up in shock. "What?"
"I felt his magic in my father's chambers that night. Sirius was there the night my father died."
"That doesn't mean he murdered the king," she said brokenly.No.
"It doesn't mean he didn't. But he knows who did, either way. He was one of thedrekiwho told the court I'd done it."
The Blackfrost.... It didn't sound like him. She'd come to learn he respected honor anddrekilaws. There had to be more to this story than she imagined. "So you'll just leave him there?" she whispered. "And Andri? Is this how you repay twodrekiwho saved your life?"
Rurik pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll handle it, Malin. I promise. I'll... work out some way to free the both of them, and then... then Sirius and I can have a reckoning."
Her shoulders fell. "But it will be too late."
"Nothing's too late," Rurik murmured. "I have something Stellan and my mother want—or Haakon does anyway—and they have something I want. I'll offer a trade. We'll remove mother's bracelet in exchange for my cousins lives."
Prince Rurik touched her chin. "It will be all right, Malin. I promise."
She tried to swallow her doubt. There was only one bracelet, after all, and twodrekibrothers to rescue.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Rurik nodded shortly, and then entered the farmhouse, leaving her out there in the night.
