Page 169 of Master of Storms
They broke apart, and Solveig forced himself to look at him.
“If I give you my heart, will you break it again?”
“Never.”
She bit her lip.
“Let me tell you a secret,” he said, swinging her up into his arms and turning back to the bed. “If I had your heart, Solveig, then I would guard it like adrekiwith his hoard.” He laid her back on the bed, his eyes glittering as he lowered himself over her. “I would ruin anyone who sought to harm it. I would bring myself to my knees for the chance to win it. I’ve never had a treasure to protect. I’ve never wished for anything to cherish. But if you gave me your heart, then I would hoard it for the rest of my days.”
Solveig’s hand brushed against his chest. She couldn’t say it.
But he must have sensed the truth within her.
Marduk swooped down, capturing her mouth with a sweet kiss. “Mine,” he said fiercely, and this time she knew he wasn’t talking about claiming anything.
But the heart she barely dared offer.
* * *
Sirius slowly mountedthe steps to the courtyard garden, after spending an hour arguing with theZilittuking. He’d finally broken away, insisting he needed to speak to his king, before he could come to blows with Draco about precisely which clan was going to own the emerald dagger with Queen Amadea’s soul trapped within it.
Maybe he should have come earlier.
Rurik looked like he’d slid down the wall, staring with unseeing eyes at the garden and despite himself, Sirius couldn’t help swallowing the bitter pill of empathy.
All those years he’d spent hating this bastard, and yet he wouldn’t trade places with him right now for all the crowns in the world.
To find one’s true mate was both a blessing and a curse. It was a gift beyond measure, a means of happiness Sirius had never expected to find.
But to wind yourself so closely around another’s soul meant that losing your mate was more than a shocking loss. It was a slow death spiral, rarely avoided. Soulmates who lost the other half of them rarely lasted more than a year.
“Rurik,” he murmured.
There was no response.
“Rurik. Here.” Sirius reached out his arm, offering his hand. “Let me help you stand.”
Rurik lifted his blank eyes toward Sirius’s face. “It feels like my heart’s been torn from my chest. I can’t think. I can’t… breathe. She’s gone. She’s gone, and there’s a hole within me that can’t be filled.”
Rurik wasn’t going to accept his grasp. He probably wasn’t even going to stand.
Sirius hauled him to his feet. “Aye. Freyja’s been kidnapped. But she’s not dead yet. Can you feel her at all?”
Rurik shook his head, his weight leaning on Sirius’s shoulder. Then he paused. “There’s… something there. Maybe the bond’s not completely shattered, but it’s so faint, I might as well be reaching for the stars. I don’t even know if it exists.”
“It exists.” He squeezed the king’s hand. “And as long as it exists, there’s still a chance. You need to sit down with Draco and Harald and—"
“I don’t think I can be king right now,” Rurik whispered.
A sliver of cold worked its way down Sirius’s spine. “Don’t speak like that.”
“We need strength. We need focus. Not just to protect the court, but to start this war.”
“And we have it,” Sirius argued.
Something came over the king’s face. “A weakeneddrekiking is a court at the mercy of any who seek to take it.” Their eyes met. “I can’t hold this court together. Not right now. Not like this. Árdís is with child. Marduk’s allegiances are shifting.” Rurik tipped his chin up. “You’re the only one left with the strength to weld us together.”
“Don’t you fuckingdare—”
