Page 122 of Master of Storms
But this…. Having her lie so vulnerable in his arms roused a protective side of him that he’d never known.
Marduk snuggled into her, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his face into the slope of her nape.
“Get better,” he whispered, for he hated seeing her so undone. “Please get better, Solveig.” The words caught in his throat. “I hate seeing you like this. You were born to be a storm. Please wake up.”
23
Arap came at the door.
Solveig stirred with a whimper, but Marduk set his fingertips to her temple and whispered, “Sleep.”
She surrendered to his suggestion, and as he slipped from the bed and tucked the blankets carefully over her shoulders, Marduk felt thedrekiwithin him rise.
Nobody had dared bother them all night.
Solveig was safe in his rooms, in his bed, and in his arms, and if anyone thought they were going to disturb her then he’d—
“Marduk,” Árdís called. “Open the bloody door. We need to talk.”
His temper eased.Árdís. Árdís was welcome. She liked Solveig and wouldn’t dare try to take her from his rooms.
Hauling on a pair of trousers, he ripped the door open. “What?”
His sister arched a brow, then poked him in the chest. “You look like someone struck you with a bolt of lightning.” Peering over his shoulder, her thoughtful gaze returned to his. “Hmm.”
“Hmm, what?”
“Are you going to let me in or simply stand there like some sort of overbearingdrekimale in the first flushes of true mating?”
The words shocked him enough to force him to stand aside. “I’m not—”
Árdís made a rude, snorting sound as she ducked under his arm. “Of course not, Marduk. I’d never dare suggest you were starting to get all overprotective and growly. You’re absolutely not hovering over Solveig’s bed like you’d rip someone’s arm off just for looking at her. That would be ridiculous. It would mean admitting you had feelings for her. And if she overheard you say that, she’d be horrified.”
Sisters. The bane of his existence.
Or no, only one of them was a bane.
The other was a delight.
“Why are you here?”
Árdís set her hands on her hips. “Because Draco seemed to think that sending anyone else might end in bloodshed.”
“He set you free?”
“He allowed one of us to go free. I volunteered. Haakon took that about as well as a bear with a sore tooth, but I assured him that if theZilittuking tried to hurt me, I’d rip his soul clean out of his body.” A wicked smile curved her lips. “Draco actually turned a little green.” Her smile faded. “Now tell me what happened? Is Solveig all right? What did you say? Draco wants to know about Tyndyr.”
Fuck. The key. Elin. His mother. Marduk pinched the bridge of his nose. His first instinct should have been to alert the others, but the second he’d hauled Solveig’s unconscious body into his arms, thedrekihad overtaken him and all it had cared about was getting her to safety.
Maybe there was some truth to Árdís’s words.
The words spilled from him as he slumped on the edge of the bed.
“Elin,” Árdís whispered a little sadly. “It will break Malin’s heart.” She cursed under her breath. “I should have foreseen it. Do you think mother poisoned their father, Sigmund? He’s been so ill of late, and Rurik was so grateful that Elin could take over his duties.”
He hadn’t even thought of that.
“If she poisoned Sigmund….” He looked into Árdís’s eyes. “Then she wanted to come here from the start. She planned this. She needed to get her hands on either Ishtar or the key, and now we’ve led her straight to it.”
