Page 84 of Master of Storms
“I trust Solveig.” Despite her ruthless nature, she would never lift a hand against the innocent. She had her own set of rules. “I know you find her manner intimidating—”
“I just…. I don’t want to be alone again.” Ishtar rubbed the hem of her skirt between thumb and forefinger, and then blurted. “I don’t want to lose you. And I know I will. I know you belong to her, and….”
“Hey.” Marduk drew back to examine her face. “You won’t lose me. You won’t be alone. I’m always here. I promise. Solveig and I are mated, but it’s not the sort of thing that excludes all other relationships in my life.” His voice roughened. “And we’re not…. We’re not each other’s true flames.”
Kataru libbuwas an alliance of souls and hearts—drekiwho claimed they were put on this world to be another’s match. True flames born in a firestorm together.
An old myth said the goddess createddrekito be two halves of a whole. They spent their entire lives searching for the one who would complete them, and while not everydrekiwas that lucky, some few found wholeness.
It was something everydrekisecretly yearned for.
But malesalwaysknew first.
And there was… nothing.
Sometimes it took time, but he’d known her for ten years. It would have happened by now.
Ishtar’s green eyes met his over the top of her knees, and he knew the moment was important to her. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” Her voice softened to a whisper. “Youwon’talways be there.”
His heart dropped like a stone. She could see threads of the past, the current and the future. Not entire moments, but just enough to make out an event.
She’d never been wrong before.
“I’m not going to die,” he promised. “Not yet.”
“Oh no, not yet. But….” She bit her lip. “But I have to go away. And I have to let you go.”
“What? Where are you going? What do you mean by ‘let me go?’”
“You belong to Solveig and I stole you.” Sadness turned her green eyes dark. “I didn’t mean to, but I was so scared and you were the only thing I knew.”
“Ishtar?” She wasn’t making sense.Stole me?
“I wanted to stay in Mother’s womb, but I couldn’t. I knew she would hate me when she saw me.”
“Ish….” He wanted to wrap her in his arms and squeeze her so hard that she’d never doubt herself again, but he knew she’d feel confined. “She didn’tdeserveyou.”
“I didn’t want to be born. Mother loved me while I was inside her. I was her promise. She used to rub her belly and tell me that. But she wouldn’t love me when she saw me. And I was so scared that I reached for you, and you reached back, and you’ve been with me ever since.”
He fell still.Drekibabies were more sentient than humans, but there was no way Ishtar could have—
Unless she was future-walking even then.
She was forged of raw Chaos magic, and who knew what her limitations were?
“Our mother was a bitch.” If he could go back in time and throttle Amadea for daring to plant such doubts in his sister’s head, he would have. “It was never love she felt for us. Only a twisted version of it. But youareloved, Ishtar. I love you. And so does Rurik and Árdís—”
“And the baby.”
“Árdís’s baby?”
“Yes. Can’t you hear her? I sing to her sometimes, and she sings back.”
Sing?Did she mean Chaos? “So Árdís is going to have a little girl.” And she might wield her mother’s magic. “Does she know?”
“Árdís wouldn’t hear her song?” Ishtar asked.
“Don’t tell her,” he warned. “Just in case she doesn’t know.”
