AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I pressed up against her.
There had been a flicker of life in them then.
“We’re ready,” Brick calls out, pulling me out of my pensive thoughts.
“Good,” I retort gruffly, clearing my throat while putting on my winter coat. “Let’s go home. I’m done with the snow.”
“You’re telling me,” he says, rubbing his hands together before blowing hot air onto them. “I’ve been dreaming of the hot springs for days on end. Can’t wait to be back to wash this place off me and bring some much-needed heat to my bones.”
“You do know that if all goes well, we’ll have to return to the north in a few months. I might even have to live there for the first few years of my marriage.”
His eyes light up at the remark.
“So does that mean last night’s meeting with the ice queen went well? Is she already aching for your cock?” he teases, but the ill-tempered joke only makes me scowl.
“The meeting went well enough.”
It didn’t.
It was a fucking fiasco.
Not that I’ll ever admit it to Brick.
He might be my closest confidant but give the man a few jugs of ale, and he’ll be dishing out my business to anyone with a pair of ears. My men need to think that I have this marriage business under control. There mustn’t be any doubt Katrina will pick me and refuse the other kings in play.
But even if that falls through, there is always plan B.
If by chance I can’t guarantee my engagement with her, then I always have Atlas to do the dirty work for me. The gods know he’s made his way into more women’s hearts than most, so it won’t be too hard for him to seduce her into his bed and, ultimately, into her heart.
She might be made of ice, but she’s still a woman.
And every woman has a weak spot.
Atlas is good at discovering those.
And by the way I left things last night, I doubt I’ll be able to.
Not that I’m surprised.
I never had it in me to play a part or fake affection for whatever gain. Maybe Kat and I are more alike in that way than I care to admit. Somewhere along the line, my heart turned to stone, too. Where hers is made of the coldest clear diamond, mine is bred from scorched obsidian rock. Being this impenetrable might have made me a better soldier, but I doubt it has made me a better man. At least not one a woman like her would be interested in.
Her sights have always been on another.
The man I vowed to kill the next time I laid eyes on him.
Teodoro of Derfir.
“Levi,” Brick mutters, concerned at my sudden silence. “Are you all right?”
“More than all right,” I try to mollify. “We’re going home, Brick. There isn’t anything that will ruin my spirits today. Not one thing.”
“Glad to hear it,” Brick replies with a chuckle, obviously appeased with my answer. “Best get moving on then. We’ve got at least a five-day ride waiting on us until we reach Arkøya’s gates. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to stop feeling so goddamn homesick all the time.”
To this, I smile and pat his shoulder.
“Me too, old friend. Let’s go.”
In tandem, we start walking toward the line of soldiers on horseback and carriages waiting on the main road to start the journey home. Against my better judgment, I find myself scanning the perimeter, wondering which carriage Kat is in to make the voyage east.
