Page 147 of Master of Storms
“You,” he said simply. “And your sister and father. Solveig doesn’t love easily, but when she does, it is as fiercely as she lives the rest of her life. And she would sacrifice herself without even thinking of the consequences if she saw you at risk. I would never stop her from fighting—to do so would be to try to deny who she was— but perhaps I can be her shield. Perhaps I can watchherback while she’s hovering protectively over everyone she loves.”
“You speak as if you have seen her protectiveness in action,” Harald murmured.
Marduk chewed his lip, wondering how much he should say. “She took two arrows for me. She would have taken more. And I don’t ever want to see that happen again.”
“She is well?”
“She is still healing,” he replied. “Though she tries to hide it from me.”
“Always so stubborn.” Harald nodded toward Marduk. “You have my blessing to court her, this third and final time. But be warned, Marduk…, my patience thins. I have raised my daughters to be warriors in their own right, and they will make their own choices, but I will not tolerate further insult to any of them.”
“And I will not give it. I have been a fool twice. Never again.”
Harald arched a brow.
It was the exact expression Solveig wore at times.
Then he looked down at the missive. “She wants you to lead the warband north.”
Thank the goddess. “Thealfarintend to attack through World’s End,” he said, then swiftly explained everything that had happened. “We need to be able to stop them.”
“Why you?” Siv demanded. “Why would she send them north withyou?”
“She told me she couldn’t come herself.”
She’d been intending to wait outside the court, she’d admitted, and send a messenger, until he’d forced her into sending him.
There was no emotion on the king’s face.
“Did she tell youwhyshe couldn’t come herself?” Harald finally asked.
“She swore to kill me, or else she cannot return to these halls.” He winced. “A difficult obstacle to surmount, but I will fix this mess. I swear I will fix it. This is her home.”
Harald leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He tapped the missive against his lips. “She doesn’t need to kill you to be able to return.”
What?“But she said—”
“Ask her,” Harald interrupted. “Ask what the precise words she pledged to the goddess were.” And then he pushed to his feet. “There are always loopholes, Marduk. And perhaps once she tells you the exact wording, you might be able to figure out a way to bring my daughter home, hmm? Take the warband. Join my daughter. You haven’t yet earned my complete forgiveness, but it’s possible you can. If you do, then you have not only my permission—but my blessing—to court my daughter’s heart.”
27
Marduk pinwheeled through the sky, an entire battalion ofSaduWindriders flanking him.
Solveig waited for him, standing on an outcropping of stone halfway up the mountain. Above her, storm clouds swirled in a circle around the top of World’s End—and the heart of the storm was green.
“You’re late,” she called as he circled her.
“Did you miss me?” he demanded, as he landed and shimmered into mortal form.
“Get dressed. Draco’s scouts reported back half an hour ago. Your mother is on top of the mountain, and she’s doing something up there. Andromeda said she can feel Chaos magic in the air. They’re worried that she’s started the spell that will channel power into the key.”
He hauled his clothes on. Not even a kiss. Solveig looked like she was ready to cut throats and wade through an ocean of blood. Resting her hand on the hilt of her knife, she turned toward the mountain path as if he hadn’t just flown fifty miles in the time it took to fly forty, just to bring her a squadron of armeddrekiwarriors.
A little frustrating, to be sure, but then hehadchosen to fall in love with a female who took duty as seriously as—
She suddenly turned around, stalking toward him as he tugged at the laces on his leather trousers. Grabbing his shirt, she hauled him down toward her for a molten kiss.
This was more like it.
