Page 27 of Storm of Fury
It was all he could do to keep her off him. And though they’d promised to spar, he heard the whine of steel as he ducked beneath a blow that could have taken his head from his shoulders.
Tormund backed away. “That wasn’t very nice.”
Bryn sank down into a wary stance. “Haven’t you realized yet? I’mnotvery nice, Tormund. Nice is what the world wants its women to be, and invariably it then sets their world on fire. Fuck nice. This way I get to be the one with the flint and tinder.”
Her sword moved forward again, but he recognized the way she held back, and sure enough, she riposted back the other way, spinning and hammering a kick toward his head.
Tormund swung the shield up, and the vibration through the steel made his ears ring. He lowered the shield. “Predictable.”
Bryn gave him a dangerous smile and started to run at him.
He swung the axe to block the blow he thought was going to come, but she hit the ground, sliding between his legs. At the last second he leaped out the way, the sword narrowly missing parts he held with a great deal of fondness.
“Not. Nice!” This time he stabbed a finger toward her. “You almost split my trousers.”
“Almost,” she said with a snort, hurtling to her feet. “There was no almost about it.”
He took a step toward her, and that was when he felt his trousers gape. Air rushed into parts unmentionable. Tormund looked down.
“Don’t worry,” she told him. “The important bits are still there.”
Mother of dragons. He growled under his breath. “No more playing.”
“Who was playing?” she taunted. “Let’s start this lesson.”
The dance of weapons brought them body-to-body, his shoulder slamming into hers. Bryn huffed, dancing back, and then she was cutting to the side, the edge of the blade dangerously close to his lower abdomen.
Tormund jammed his axe between them just in time.
“First mistake,” she whispered, looking into his eyes. “Don’t ever let me in under your guard. Your proficiency with an axe relies upon the ability to swing it. Reach is your strength. Close range is mine.”
Somehow he found the tip of her sword between his legs, pausing at the juncture of his thighs.
Tormund froze, lifting onto his toes.
But she gave him a dangerous grin and then danced away, allowing him the chance to breathe easily.
“I’m starting to reconsider my first impression of you,” he growled.
“Oh, and what was that?”
“I thought to myself, here’s a gorgeous woman who can slay draugr and has the sweetest smile when she’s not plotting to kill someone. I’d best marry her and make sure she’s mine.”
“And now?”
“Now I realize that smile is pure evil, and you are the devil incarnate.”
“A good thing you discovered that before it was too late.”
She swung low, but he met the blow with the axe and whirled, slamming his shield into her side.
“Too late?” he asked, breathing hard as she recovered.
“Before you married me.”
Tormund shook his head. “Oh, sweetheart. What made you think I’d reconsidered that part of the proposition?”
Bryn attacked again. He shoved her back with the shield and pure, brute strength, and saw fury light her eyes when she realized it.
