Page 12 of Master of Storms
“You mated with me. Youchoseme, and then you fled the second you could get a chance, with your tail tucked between your—”
“I didn’t have a choice! Your father insisted I choose between his daughters—”
“I have two sisters!”
“And you’d have preferred that I break Aslaug’s heart? She was half in love with me already. I couldn’t choose her. You were the one who warned me years ago not to break her heart. Siv could barely look me in the eye—"
“So you chose to ruin my lifeinstead?”
Marduk drew back. She’d rarely raised her voice to him. No, Solveig was an icy chill creeping through a room; a stealthy frost that could freeze the life in your veins before you even knew it was happening.
But this….
His temper roused, and he leaned forward, grabbing the arms of the chair she was bound to. “You speak of me ruining your life? Then perhaps you should have some damned accountability for your own actions in what happened. I had no intention of returning to your court. I had no intention of ever seeing you again. Ten years ago, you told me to fly away, curl up in a cave, anddie. And so I flew away without ever looking back. Butyouwere the one who brought me back to your court—in chains, might I add—and you were the one who backed me into a position where I had to make a choice. And now, here you are again, forcing your way back into my life. So yes, I could have chosen Aslaug. Yes, I could have chosen Siv. But if you want the truth, Solveig,youwere always going to be my choice. Because this isn’t finished between us. This isnevergoing to be finished between us.”
“I brought you back in chains because I meant to kill you,” she hissed, and he tasted the sweetness of her breath.
Marduk’s chest heaved. They could go on like this all night if he allowed it, but he reined hisdrekiin tightly, swallowing hard. “Then why didn’t you?”
“What?”
“You had me on my knees in the middle of a cell. You had your knife at my throat. You were going to do it. You wanted to do it. You had every opportunity in the world to kill me, and yet you hesitated.”
As she did now.
Thought danced through her eyes, and then she shook her head. “I wanted to make you suffer first.”
Really?He captured her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “You don’t truly want me dead, do you?”
Solveig’s eyes narrowed to thin slits, but he pressed his finger to her lips.
And gods, it felt so good to get his hands on her.
“If you wanted me dead—truly wanted me dead—then I would be buried in a grave on some mountainside somewhere. But you brought me back in chains. You wanted to gloat. You wanted…. Hell, I don’t what you wanted from me. Did you want to punish me? Did you want to humiliate me, as I once mistakenly humiliated you—?”
“Mistakenly?”
All the old words came into his head—the same arguments they’d been having for years.I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was saying. It was a stupid little poem that ran off my tongue after an entire day of drinking—
But he stared at her, and he knew that none of the old arguments meant anything.
Ten years ago he had insulted her, and everyone at her court knew of it.
“I’m sorry,” he said instead.
Solveig drew back as if slapped. “What?”
“All these years and I’ve never said that to you. And I am. I’m sorry I hurt you—”
“Don’t you dare.” She tugged at her ropes.
“What’s wrong? Does it ruin your little revenge scheme?” Marduk scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m tired of fighting with you.”
“You’relying.”
The edge of his temper roused. “If there’s one thing I don’t do, it’s lie. You want the truth? The full truth? Then here it is: I didn’t know why my mother had sent me to your court until it was too late. Your father offered one of his daughters to me, and it was a complicated situation to extricate myself from without causing a political storm. I didn’t want to be mated to anyone. I didn’t intend to choose any of you. But I didn’t wish to offend your father, and the longer I waited, the tighter the noose around my neck became. I should have ended it before it began.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
