Page 108 of Storm of Fury
“They may. Or I may save her.”
“Damn it.” She captured the hilt of her sword and strode three paces. “I will help you. Not for coin. Not for any debt. I will help you because otherwise you’re going to get yourself killed, and I don’t want that on my conscience.”
Thank God. “I thought you were pretending you didn’t have a conscience?”
She balled her fist, but he dodged the blow.
Trouble turned her eyes stormy. “I sometimes think you will be the end of me.”
“Or perhaps I will be the one who can help you remake yourself. You’re still the same person you always were, Bryn. And they say that once upon a time you were the bravest of the Valkyrie. Your sisters didn’t steal that away from you—it was you who turned your back on yourself.”
She didn’t like that, he saw.
But his words were the truth, and not even she could deny it. Bryn gave a short nod. “I will come then. And I will help you find Ishtar, if for no other reason than the fact that without me, you’re going to end up in an unmarked grave.”
Marduk’s lips thinned. “I’ll return to court in order to hear my brother out. But if this madness within the court doesn’t need my presence, then I will return as soon as I am able.”
* * *
“This is ridiculous,”Bryn muttered behind him as they strode through the darkening afternoon. “I had to fall in with a madman who huntsdreki. I had to find someone who thinks every princess needs to be rescued. Why can’t this princess rescue herself? I swear, if we finally catch her, I’m going to teach her to use a bloody sword.”
“Had to find someone?” he teased. “Or ‘had to fall in love with someone’?”
“This is not love, Tormund. This is… lust. And friendship. And maybe pity, because you’re going to get your head bitten off.”
“I don’t think you know what love is,” he corrected mildly. “You can admit that you care about me. The stars won’t fall from the skies. I care about you, Bryn. I like you. A lot.”
There was a long, drawn-out silence.
“I think you are delusional,” she finally said, which made him smile a bit.
Oh, Bryn. Your weaknesses are showing. Your shield is lowering…. You hesitated.
Lowering, but not yet lowered.
“Just so you know, you complain a lot,” he called over his shoulder.
“Me?Icomplain a lot? All you have done this entire quest is complain. Your feet are cold. You hate the undead. You hate heights. You hate stairs. Your dinner is cold. Your cousin tricked you into coming with him, even though you just volunteered for this mission!”
He turned around. “I’m sensing a little bit of resentment. And I only complain because Haakon is a stoic brooder, and I’ve grown used to talking to myself.”
Bryn dumped her bags from her shoulder, raking a hand through the strands of hair that tumbled from her messy braid. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know why I can’t seem to walk away from you, no matterhow hard I try.”
Tormund took two steps toward her. “I do. It’s—”
“If you say ‘love,’ I will kick your feet out from under you and bury you in the snow,” she growled ferociously. “Nobody will find your body. Not even Haakon.”
He grinned. “Prickly.”
“I. Am.Not. Prickly.” She glared at him so fiercely, he couldn’t stop a laugh from escaping him. Bryn’s eyes widened. “Are you laughing at me?”
“No!”
“You are.”
“No, I’m not. I’m just thinking that maybe it’s time we ate. You get a little… murderous when you’re hungry. You’re like this wee little hedgehog that wants to set the world on fire if she doesn’t get fed on time—”
“Hedgehog?Hedgehog?” Bryn stepped toward him, slamming her hands into his armored midriff. He was actually forced to take a step backward, catching at her forearms for balance.
