Page 59 of Master of Storms
She didn’t know why the concept made her want to throw something.
But Marduk tilted his head as if he was learning far more from her than she was from him, and he slowly dropped his gaze. “No.”
Just that.
No.
Solveig pushed into his space. “Thenwhy?Why me? Why did you do this to me? You had the choice of all three of us.”
“You know why.”
“Because you didn’t want to break Aslaug’s heart. And Siv was so horrified you’d choose her that she was practically trying to vanish into the ground. So you choseme.”
The one daughter whose heart he couldn’t touch.
Silence fell, bringing with it the uncomfortable realization they were alone here. Trapped together in one damned room, with one bed, all for appearances sake.
She couldn’t escape him.
But she needed to put space between them before she lashed out. Maybe he was right. Maybe anger was her defense, because right now, she wanted to hurt him.
“Where are you going?” he demanded as she turned and strode toward the wash chambers.
“Away from you,” she shot over her shoulder. “Before I destroy my clan’s alliance with theZini.”
A hand snagged her wrist. “Stay. Talk to me. Let me—"
Solveig snarled, turning on him with her knife in hand. She couldn’t even remember drawing it.
“If you stick that knife in me, then you’re not just going to destroy your father’s alliance, you’re going to drag him into a war,” Marduk pointed out, his hand wrapping around hers until her fingers were forced to curl around the hilt.
He forced the dagger to lower.
“I think I’d be forgiven. Have you met you?”
A breath of laughter escaped him. “Oh, Solveig.”
It was more than she could bear.
Shoving through the door into the wash chambers, she moved with feverish energy toward the washbasin. He was right. She could smell Draco on her skin, as well as Marduk’s overpowering scent.
She needed all of it off her.
Water churned as she cupped her hands beneath the faucet and splashed her face, bringing with it the feeling she could breathe again. Solveig rested her hands on the basin and closed her eyes, shuddering as thedrekiinside her tried to tear its way free.
Your fierceness is…exactly what I like the most about you.
She didn’t know why those words caused so much damage.
She didn’t care if otherdrekididn’t like her.
She was Solveig the Fierce, and the whims of others rarely affected her. She was who she was, and others could either fall in line, get out of her way, or be trampled beneath her heel. To make herself smaller, just because others could not conceive of her greatness was to let others control her.
It was him, she finally conceded, staring at her reflection.
The one time she had ever looked at a man and thought… maybe…. And then he’d hurt her. He’d proven he was just like all of the others, and so she’d locked her fledgling heart away behind her iron walls and she’d never dared risk it again.
And why would she even want to?
