Page 138 of Master of Storms
And he could see how much it cost the other male to even speak of it.
Marduk sighed. “No, she’s not. If she was already lost to you, then she wouldn’t watch you the way she does. She wouldn’t keep giving you chances to prove yourself. And she has, Draco. She offered you a choice two hours ago. Remove the knife. Save the girl. Prove you can be the betterdreki.”
A harsh breath escaped Draco. “You do realize if I remove the knife, then my brother will seek to take her from me again. The next time we fight, he won’t hesitate. One of us will be forced to kill the other. And… I don’t know if she’ll be too disappointed if I’m the one who dies.”
Marduk paused.
“As you said, two brothers fought over the same woman.” Draco’s voice roughened. “Maybe the wrong brother won in her eyes.”
“So the pair of you fought over her, and if you pull the knife out, you’ll fight again?”
Draco cut him a hard look that said “yes.”
Marduk shook his head. “You’re right. You’re not going to win her—”
Heat blazed to life in Draco’s eyes.
He held his hand up. “But neither is Scorpius. Because you’re both making the same mistake. Andromeda isn’t a crown. She has her own thoughts, her own ideas… and both of you took her choice away from her. Did anyone even ask ifshehad a preference?”
A seething kind of silence settled over the pair of them.
“I would normally kill a male who spoke to me like that,” Draco finally said.
“Drink up. I’m probably the only sorry son-of-a-bitch who actually understands what you’re going through right now.”
That earned a thoughtful look.
“You have to give her a choice. You have to let her go in order to see if there’s any possibility she can forgive you. You have to allow Scorpius to rise, or she will never let you get close to her.”
“Spoken like someone who’s never had to face such a choice.”
“Spoken by someone whodidface that choice. Do you know why Solveig gave me a chance? Because I offered to stand aside.”
“When?”
“If Solveig wished to take you up on your offer.” Even now, the thought made him want to hit someone. “If she wanted to pursue your offer, then I would have stepped aside.Evenif it cost me my pride.Evenif it cost me a single chance to earn her heart.” He blew out a breath. “When her father pushed us together, I was offered the choice of three daughters. I chose her, but she never had the chance to choose me. And if there was ever going to be any hope for us, then… I had to give her that choice.”
The king’s eyelashes lowered to half-mast.
“You may not be as much of an idiot as I originally thought,” he finally said.
Marduk’s hopes lifted. “Then you’ll remove the dagger?”
Draco pushed to his feet and drained his goblet. “I’ll think about it.”
* * *
“Where is she?”Marduk demanded, as he entered Solveig’s room and found only his sister, fluffing the pillows. He’d hoped to slip in here and tempt Solveig into bed. Where she should havebeen.
Árdís arched a brow. “What business is it of yours?”
“She is my….”
“Your what?” Árdís’s intent gaze sharpened.
Bloody sisters.
Marduk sighed, clasping his hands behind his head. He wasn’t going to get away with this. And maybe it was time to accept the truth. “My ruin,” he admitted in a quiet voice. All he could think about was Solveig’s confession last night. It had been eating at him all day, but he had no one else to speak to of this. “Do you remember when you used to say that one day I would meet a woman I could love, and you hoped she didn’t love me back?”
