“What if Ruxi agreed to carry you back to Yggdrasill whenever you’re ready to return?”
Rata’s mouth drops open, exposing the cutest little teeth I’ve ever seen, and he spins in place, hands on his hips as he appraises the dragon. “You’d do that?”
They respond with that hint of the smile they share so frequently, dropping their chin one more time.
“Any time I want? Whenever I’m ready?” Now his voice is a full squeak, excitement warbling out with each word.
The purple beast gives another quick nod.
Rata’s responding grin is glorious. He stares at Ruxi for a very long time, then turns back to me. “I am at your service,” he proclaims as he stands to his full height and then drops into a deep bow.
It’s as easy as I’d hoped to figure out where the keys are hidden. It helps that Balin is leaving the building while I’m walking back, and he’s eager to brag about besting Wregen. I toy with him, flirting as blatantly as he is with me, and win my information in a passing remark he probably won’t remember having made. Although I’m desperate to leave—something about him irks me, an itch I can’t scratch—I stay with him longer than I want afterwards. I even let him buy me a delicious juice made of a fruit grown only in Álfheimr. When I finally feel like I’ve waited long enough, I make an excuse about being tired and escape to return to the others.
Wregen accosts me as soon as I close the front door, his dark eyes spitting out flames, lips set in a thin line. The bastard’s hand shoots out before I’ve even turned around. Grabbing my arm, he drags me behind him—grip like a steel vise I can’t break, no matter how hard I try to wrench away from him—until we reach my bedroom.
“Open the door,” he snarls as he plants me on my doorstep and finally releases my arm.
“Fuck. Off.” I turn and stare at him, hands on my hips.
“Open the bloody door, Finaan,” he orders, his voice that deathly low tone he likes to use. “Don’t make me break it down.”
“Go away, Wregen,” I growl, resolved to be every bit the dick that he is. “Pull out whatever’s stuck up your ass, go take a long cold bath, get some food. Whatever it is you need to do to stop being such a bastard, go do it.”
“The only thing I need is right here,” he bellows, starting to swipe at me like he hopes to dig into one of my pockets and pull out the key. “And she refuses to be a good fucking girl and do what she’s told.”
“I’m not your good girl, asshole,” I remind him as I step back and swat away his hands, “and I do not do what I’m told. Seriously, Wregen, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
He sucks in a deep breath, running his hands through his hair as his gaze dances over me. Twice, he opens his mouth to speak, but both times, he snaps it shut. Finally, his hands drop to his sides and he exhales slowly.
“Please let me into your room, my skjaldmær,” he says, his voice gentler than I’ve ever heard it. “I need to speak with you and I won’t do it in this hallway.”
I hate it when this Wregen appears, and he’s showing up much too often in this world. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was trying to manipulate me. But his emotions have shifted. I sensed the moment he yielded, replacing frustration with something that feels more like deference than this cruel male would ever want to admit.
It’s hard to keep my shields up when he reminds me there’s a decent elf buried in there somewhere. It’s deep, but it’s there. My chest throbs a bit as I watch him, emotions I refuse to acknowledge stirring inside me.
“Fine,” I agree as I dig out my key, “but don’t get near me again. I won’t be pulled around like an animal. I deserve better.”
I turn to look at him as I open the door, and my breath catches in my throat. He’s so fucking beautiful. Dark eyes gaze back at me, one lip tugging up to reveal the dimple that weakens my knees every time I see it.
He watches me for a moment, and then gives me a full smile. “You do deserve better, my skjaldmær, and there’s a small part of me that’s sorry the fates stuck you with a mate so detestable. But it’s a very small part, not nearly enough to save you from the rest of me.”
“Because you’re a selfish bastard and you won’t change?” I ask, reminding myself as I do.
He shrugs. “That’s right, Finaan,” he agrees. “Make no mistake.”
“Come in anyway,” I respond as I shove the door all the way open, “and tell me whatever it is you dragged me here to say.”
He strides in, looking around before heading to the window and standing next to it, arms over his chest.
“What do you want?” I ask as I walk to the other side of the room, lean against the wall, and stare at him.
In an instant, the old Wregen is back, all hints of humanity dropping away from his face. “I told you to stay away from him,” he gripes. “I do not like being disobeyed.”
I cock my head at him, wondering if he’s serious. But his eyes are hard as steel, lips smashed together. Even his jaw seems angry, shifting as he seems to struggle to control himself.
“And I don’t like being given orders,” I snap. “The best way to get me to do something is to forbid it.”
“Do you think I demand this out of cruelty?” he bellows, arms flinging up. “I know him. You don’t. You will stay away from him. I won’t argue about this with you.”
