Page 37 of Master of Storms
He had no reason to suspect it was jealousy—unless she suspected someone else might have a claim on his heart, when she wanted to rip it from his chest and crush it to a bloodied pulp—but he’d never considered her side of things.
What if there was another male out there whom the goddess intended for Solveig?
Marduk’s stomach lurched into freefall. “Have you ever felt the mating call?”
Solveig’s fingertips slowly trailed to a halt. “Me?”
Marduk winced. Males knew first.Always. And while his original rendition of the song about her had said nothing of her being mateless—only heartless—he knew it had grown in the telling.
War came into her face. Rage.
Marduk held up his hands in surrender. “I was asking a question, Solveig. Not intending to demean you. Just a question.”
“No,” she said in a tone that indicated the question ought to die a swift death. “I have no intentions of truly mating with anyone.”
That made his eyebrows rise.
Theirs was a political match, but there were all sorts of levels of bonding. Somedrekimated in order to breed. Some mated in order to elevate themselves or secure peace.
And a very few embraced the firestorm of true mateship—their souls and spirits entwined until the bond between them was breakable only by death.
“I thought mostdrekihoped for the possibility of finding the other half of their soul?”
“I am not mostdreki.”
Clearly.
He followed her as she prowled through the runestones. “Then what do you dream of? Aside from crafting a throne with the skulls of your enemies?”
“My father will not live forever. And my clan bloodlines have always ruled the south of Norway. I intend to sit on his throne after him and rule our gilded halls. Siv or Aslaug can produce heirs.”
It wasn’t unknown for females to rule—after all, both his mother and Sirius’s mother had named themselves queens—but it was more common for a male to seek power. Maledrekiwere generally bigger and more brutal, and when thrones were often won through sheer brute force, they had more of a chance of keeping them. The females who did claim thrones were often ruthless to the point of murderous.
Solveig could do it.
He had little doubt about that. There was such a presence about her that when she stalked into a throne room, even maledrekiwarriors knelt before they realized what they were doing.
“Don’t think I can do it?” she asked.
“That wasn’t what I was thinking at all. I was thinking that when it comes to you, adrekiwould underestimate you at his own cost. You’re cunning. Ruthless. Powerful. Intelligent.” His lips quirked, almost fondly. “There is no one more suited to lead theSaduin your father’s place than you.”
Solveig trailed her fingers down the stone. There was no hint of emotion in her dark eyes, but he thought perhaps he’d assuaged her anger.
Marduk rested one hand against the other side of the stone, staring down into her eyes. When she wore her heeled boots, she could look him in the eye, but now, with her bare feet tramping through the ruins, he had three inches on her.
He didn’t know what it was about those bare feet that drew his eye.
Again, maybe a hint of vulnerability.
The stone walls she kept around her chafed at him a little. He wanted to see inside. He wanted toknowher.
It had always been his downfall when it came to her.
“Why are you staring at me?” she whispered. “What sort of game do you have in mind right now?”
“Why do you always presume I’m playing games?”
“It’s what you do, Marduk.”
