Page 77 of Storm of Fury
“You and your bloody quests,” he snapped. “Don’t get yourself killed,” he told Marduk, stabbing a finger through the air. “We’ll be back. And we’ll bring reinforcements, if need be.”
Marduk flashed a dazzling smile over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, my giant friend. Solveig’s not going to kill me. She already told me that would be too kind.”
* * *
“Kya,”Haakon said, barely puffing as they both paused on the hill overlooking the town.
Tormund bent over, resting his hands on his thighs. “How the hell are you… still standing? We… ran… must’ve been… ten miles.”
Maybe even fifteen.
“Five miles at best,” Haakon called over his shoulder as he started down the hill, his boots sinking into ankle-deep snow. “And we need to keep moving fast. Thosedrekimight think us inconsequential humans, but I daresay their leader won’t. The second Solveig hears we’ve escaped, she’ll start hunting us.”
“Mother of dragons.” Tormund pushed upright, his entire side aching. “After this is done, I’m going to drown myself in a vat of ale.”
“Who’s paying for the ale?” Haakon shot over his shoulder. “They took my coin pouch.”
“Well, that’s just purely fucking convenient,” he grumbled. “Marduk. Marduk is going to owe me an ale. Or ten. He can bat those pretty eyelashes at the innkeeper’s wife or something.”
“First, we have to rescue him.”
Which meant finding King Harald’s court. “Will Solveig be watching the entrance to her father’s court?”
“I don’t know,” Haakon replied, “but if it’s anything like Rurik’s court, then it’s bound to be heavily guarded bydrekiwho aren’t inclined to know us or care whether we hail from theZiniclan. And we also have to locate it first.”
And fast.
Tormund looked toward the town as all his hopes of finding a friendly innkeeper started to vanish in a cloud of wishful thinking. “Let me guess, we need to find someone who knows where the court entrance is. And then we need to bribe them—presumably with my coin—and somehow convince the guards posted at the entrance that our mission is of vital importance. But we can’t tell them why, because they may support Solveig.”
“I have… a bit of a different plan.”
“You always have a different plan.” He could feel Haakon looking at him. “Oh, no. Don’t you even give me that look. No more plans. I am done!”
“You may like this plan,” his cousin teased.
“Unlikely. No. No. No. My final answer is no.”
“It involves a certain redhead….”
Tormund skidded to a stop, his mind going blank. “I’m fairly sure that redhead made her intentions—and loyalties—clear. The last I saw her, she was flying into the mountains with Solveig. They were probably going to ransack a village or two, or perhaps kidnap anotherdrekiprince and hold him for ransom.”
“I don’t think so. I was listening to the pair of them. Solveig agreed to deliver Bryn to a small village named Kya. Something about a hell of a thirst for ale after this shithole of a job.”
Tormund’s head whipped toward his cousin so fast he almost tore a muscle. His nostrils flared. “I thought you didn’t want me going anywhere near that lying redhead?”
Haakon merely shrugged and strode toward Kya. “I was watching her face when you started to lift your axe to defend Marduk. She launched herself to stop you before you could enter a fight you couldn’t win. Maybe she betrayed us, but I don’t think it came as easily to her as you think. She didn’t want you to fight, Tormund, because she didn’t want you to die.”
“At least one of us is convinced of that.” That lump was back in his throat. “I truly thought… it was going to be her.”
Haakon clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe itisher? You’re not the only one who has tasted betrayal, Tor. Árdís had a reason to let me think her dead—and if I’d given up then and there, I would never have known the happiness of loving her again. Does Bryn not deserve the same chance to explain why she betrayed us?”
Ah, fuck.Tormund stared down at the chimneys of Kya. “You’re only saying that because she’s the only one we know who may have been to King Harald’s court and might possibly know the way.”
Haakon’s face hardened. “I would never cast your heart to the wolves for the mere possibility of an easy road to rescue Marduk. But I don’t want to see you suffer as I did—the lack of answers can eat at a man in a way I know only too well. I don’t want that to happen to you. The pair of you aren’t done until you both agree you’re done. Didn’t a wise man once tell me that?”
Damn it. Tormund stroked his beard. Haakon was right. He wanted answers. And worse, he wanted to look her in the eye as she gave them—to see if there was any damned good reason to forgive her.
“That wise man is wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. You do realize I’m going to have to talk her into betraying Solveig?”
