Page 13 of Master of Storms
He didn’t quite have the words.
None of it made any sense. He’d lingered at theSaducourt for weeks, playing Harald’s game and trying to avoid promising anything that might tie him to one of Harald’s daughters.
He should have put his foot down the day he realized what game was afoot.
He should have been honest from the start.
Except he’d taken one look at Solveig, and she’d wrapped smoky tendrils around him, leaving him questioning everything in his life.
“It was a bad time in my life…. And my pride was hurt,” he admitted. “I nursed my wound with ale and let my bitterness brew within me. I said something stupid in front of too manydrekiwarriors. And when all was said and done, instead of doing the right thing and apologizing to you in front of your court, I was already gone. But I didn’t flee your court because of you.” He let out a shaky breath. “My mother sent me to your father’s court to remove me from her own. My brother, Rurik, had been exiled years ago, and I’d only just come of age. I knew there were rumblings within the court that she should step aside from her regency and allow me to rule. I knew her heart. My mother would never allow me to set foot on that throne, but it wasn’t until your father greeted me with news of my forthcoming marriage to one of his daughters that I realized she had plotted to remove me in a way that would keep thedrekiwithin my clan from revolting.”
He raked his hands through his hair, clasping his palms behind his head. “I wasn’t ready to be mated, and I was resentful. I was too young and too stupid to see it for the chance it could have been. I just wanted to escape. And although you tempted me—”
“Tempted you?”
“Yes.”Was she truly so blind?“You were ice and fury, and I wanted you in my bed the second I saw you. And I even thought about it—about choosing you. About mating with you and living within your father’s court.” He shook his head. “But you made itveryclear that you thought the concept beneath you. You despised me from the start, and so, when I saw my chance, I slipped away from your father’s court. I vanished into the wind, because it was the only way I could see to escape my mother’s noose. I didn’t think of the damage my words might have caused you. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I was so careless and stupid. I embarrassed you. And I wish I could take it all back. I wish I could return to that night and shut my fucking mouth before I sang that song.”
Solveig leaned back in her chair, her expression frozen.
Say something. Marduk’s tongue felt thick in his mouth. “You have nothing to say to that?”
But she tilted her head, and then she was looking down.
At the floor.
“Something just tripped my wards.”
It occurred to him that he was dealing with a powerful, cunning, devious femaledrekiwho had never shied away from a battle in her life.
“If this is some sort of means to escape—”
“It’s not.” She strained against her ropes. “Untie me! Some sort of warning is itching across my skin.”
Of all the rotten timing….
He growled under his breath as he crossed to the door. “I thought your wards weren’t working?”
“I don’t know why they didn’t recognize your presence. They should have—but they’re—” She gasped. “—screaming at me right now. Untie me!”
“Do you think I’m a fool? The second I untie you, you’ll put that knife through my throat.”
“If you think I’ll aim for anywhere as benign as your throat, then you should think again.”
He winced. “One day my balls are going to take exception to the way you’ve so poorly treated them.”
But a commotion caught his attention. Marduk pressed his ear to the door, the hackles down his spine rising. He looked down at the hairs on his arms.
What was this?
Every inch of his skin wanted to crawl off his body.
Magic. Someone was using magic nearby, and it wasn’tdrekimagic.
“Can you feel that?”
Solveig rolled her eyes. “I’ve been trying to tell you about it for nearly a minute—"
He sprinted across the room and clapped a hand over her mouth. Solveig dug her teeth into his palm, and he hissed under his breath, cupping the back of her skull.
