Hollen blinked, his mouth widening. “It’s just the . . . we . . . our gods have laws about women on our mountain. And . . . well . . . ”
Va glanshi, Hollen.
At once, Magnus knew what he had to do. He slapped a hand down on Hollen’s shoulder. Nadine narrowed her eyes on him, and he brazenly let his own gaze wander up and down the glorious length of her. He grinned. “Don’t worry, brother. I’ll explain.”
1
Marriage of Inconvenience
“Keep walking if you want to live, savage.” Nadine shoved an open palm into the back of the massive barbarian ahead of her.
He went on through the sun-filled temple, but turned his head enough for Nadine to catch the quirk of his brow. His expression spoke clearer than his deep voice could have: You’re not big enough to take me, woman.
Nadine glared at him. She pointed forward. “Move.”
The brute chuckled and picked up his pace. The glory of the temple loomed over them like an armored titan. High alabaster walls, inlaid with copper, held the glass ceiling that let the sun burn down. The white marble floors gleamed, sending the desert’s afternoon rays back out into the endless blue sky. Nadine would have melted from the heat were it not for the towering arches in the outer walls that let in an arid breeze from every direction. A wave of dry sand spread across the floor, getting into her sandals.
Nadine directed the barbarian toward one of those arches, to the shadowy alcove of its opening. She glanced around the sanctum at the only other person present, a lowly acolyte sweeping sand off a golden altar. He was well out of earshot . . . as long as she managed to keep her voice low.
No promises.
The barbarian stepped into the nook and turned a bearded grin on her. “We can wait for the actual wedding night, you know.”
Nadine gritted her teeth. “Enough.”
His smile stretched.
Nadine had to tilt back her head to glare up into his eyes, a rarity for her. She’d never seen a larger man in all her life, not even among his Dokiri kind. His thick arms and broad chest declared him every bit the warrior the axe hanging at his hip implied. He was handsome. She had to concede that much. Begrudging herself the attraction would only cloud her head.
His brown hair was long and, like hers, lightened by the sun, though his locks hung loose against his shoulders whereas hers were braided at her scalp and curled at the ends. He was pale like milk, but there was something far more interesting about his skin. Like his brothers, his arms were a maze of self-inflicted scars. The mystery of those marks stirred a dangerous curiosity in her as she thought of how they continued beneath his borrowed Ebronian clothes.
Nadine gritted her teeth, drawing herself away from thoughts of his masculine appeal. “Who do you think you are?”
“I’m Magnus the Vast.” He wiggled his brow suggestively. “I’m sure you remember.”
How could she forget? They’d met the day she’d told his brother to keep his filthy hands off her sister, and in that brief time, Magnus had stripped himself bare. Nadine knew then that his title did not only refer to his height. Her body might have heated at the memory, were she not already boiling with anger.
“Do you think this is some sort of game? You tried to humiliate me in front of the Mushar.”
The dog had made a fool of her in front of his brothers, not to mention the empire’s most powerful man and Nadine’s uncle, the Mushar. Luckily, Nadine had been able to tear Magnus back through the royal deposit and into the light of day before he could do further damage.
Magnus’s face lost its obnoxious grin. “And how did I do that, exactly?”
“You told me I have to marry one of you filthy savages to get access to the mountain.”
A corner of his mouth curled. “Actually, I said you have to marry me in order to get onto the mountain.”
“And why you?”
He scoffed. “No one else would dare.”
Bastard. He’d cited some garbage about his gods and how they’d only allow women the Dokiri had kidnapped and forced themselves upon to come to their mountain home. Or something to that effect. The details had been sparing, and they didn’t matter. Nadine knew the real reason this dog had opened his mouth.
“You’re trying to undermine my authority.”
He snorted. “I could think of a hundred better ways than giving you this kind of power over my life.”
Nadine didn’t know what he meant by that, and she didn’t care. “You think you’ll make it hard or distasteful enough that I’ll relinquish command of this mission to someone else.”
Magnus blinked. “Is that even possible?”
“Is what?”
“I thought you had to carry the Eye. Can you give it to someone else?”
Nadine faltered. The Eye was the key. Only a few were aware it could be used by anyone who knew how to attune it to their command. Fewer still knew how to perform the ritual. Nadine would sooner fall on her lancet than give up her birthright. Indignation shot through her. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Because you and your kind can’t bear the thought of taking orders from a woman.”
“First of all”—Magnus held up a finger—“I’ve taken orders from women every day of my life until I came to Ebron. If you think the women of my clan command anything short of total respect from us, regardless of who claimed them, then you’re as ignorant as any other lowlander.”
Nadine searched his hazel eyes. They blazed with an honest humor which made her frown.
His voice sobered. “Secondly, I don’t give a damn if you’ve got a cock, or two tits, or three or four. I only care that whoever leads this mission gets to the swiving point of it already.”
Nadine frowned. That much was fair.
The Dokiri had arrived in Ebron weeks ago, looking for allies against the Soul Thieves who threatened their mountain home. It had taken the invasion of the Mushar’s own capital to move him and his allies to decisive action. Her uncle should have listened. They all should have.
“I’m ready, savage. At this point the only one suggesting pointless delays is you.”
Magnus folded his arms over his chest. “My people won’t lead an unclaimed woman up the mountain.” His gaze hardened. “Under any circumstances. To do so would be to offend our gods and incur their wrath.”
And now he thought she should pay the price to avoid that wrath? Her nose scrunched up. Nadine had seen the mark on her sister Lavinia’s chest, the one she’d willingly let her Dokiri savage carve into her. She’d sacrificed everything for her foreign captor.
Not Nadine.
Nadine knew who she was and what she had to do. Her country needed her. The weight of that need pulled at her neck in the form of a glimmering, golden amulet. Having it was like holding the thread of fate against her heart. Her ancestor, Riyah Pajel, had used the Eye to defeat the same evil whose shadow once again threatened to consume Ebron. This time, Nadine Pajel would thrust the lancet that saved them all.
“I care nothing for your gods, and you and your brethren are crazy if you think I’m going to let your daft traditions hold me back from my destiny.”
He pursed his lips. “And exactly how do you plan to reach the Soul Thieves without our help?”