“It’s not your concern.”
Magnus threw his head back on a laugh. “Don’t tell me. Are you sand worshippers going to scurry up slopes so icy you can’t . . . ” His expression went blank. “You do know what ice is?”
Of course, she knew. Though she’d never seen it. She scowled at him.
He nodded. “You plan to spend the next six months scouting a safe route up? And let’s say you did make it to the top unscathed. What would you do then? Have you any Nozverak allies to lead you into the heart of the mountain?”
Nadine’s skin crawled at the mere mention of the underland men this mission would depend on. Those creatures were true beasts. More monster than man, or so she’d heard. The idea of trusting them might be the least palatable part of this whole plan, and that included what the barbarian proposed.
Nadine crossed her arms and stared the arrogant man down. “You really think any of that would convince me to marry you?”
“Well actually, I don’t need your consent.”
Fury shot through her. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off with a finger held between them.
“And before you give it to me, you should know”—his eyes flashed with pleasure—“I’m not entirely sure I want it.”
She lunged at him.
He caught the fist she’d aimed for his neck. In a fluid motion, he used the momentum of her charge to swing her around. He was going to push her against the wall, but before he could, she shoved her other palm up into his nose.
Magnus groaned, and his eyes squeezed shut in pain. His grip on her loosened. Nadine was free for a split second . . . until the sheer mass of him crashed against her chest. His arms caged her, and he scooped her up until her feet dangled. Her back had ended up against that wall regardless. The man was like a millstone.
Nadine’s response was automatic. Using the height he’d given her, she thrust her hands into the air, then slammed her elbows back down into his collar. If she could back him off, even a bit, she’d be able to get her knees between them and kick him away.
The barbarian didn’t flinch. The water was clearing from his reddened eyes to reveal hunger. For violence or something else, Nadine had no intention of finding out. She drew a hand back to gouge him in those eyes.
Magnus caught her hand with a speed that shocked her, then shoved his hips against her and pinned her legs apart with his own. Her other hand moved to do what its twin had failed to before it, too, was caught. He thrust her arms up and held her wrists at either side of her face. Nadine snarled.
Instinct made her still as she forced calm through her rage-lit nerves. She was pinned and, Yudvir, the man’s hands might as well have been iron shackles. He’d outsmarted her. But the savage didn’t know whom he was tangling with. As he brought his face down toward hers, she decided she’d make the most of his folly.
You’ll show me a weakness, dog. I can wait.
“Listen to me very closely, kandiri.” His voice had gone crisp, sobriety replacing the snarky playfulness that had been there just moments before. “The fate of both our peoples rests on what we’re able to accomplish on that mountain. A mountain you can’t be on without my help. You understand?”
A growl rumbled low in her throat. He was still all over her. His body was hard and unyielding, just like the wall behind her. She should focus on how far apart he planted his feet, which hand he favored, if he lacked vision on one side, anything she might use against him in the future. But instead of studying him, Nadine could only seem to sense him. It was bizarre and overwhelming.
The acolyte from the other side of the temple came scurrying around the corner, his bald head reflecting the sun outside the shelter of the shadowy alcove. When his eyes locked on Nadine and Magnus, he started.
Magnus didn’t move, and Nadine hissed at the spindly man. It wasn’t as though he was going to help her and, shuraa ket, if he raised the alarm and any of the Mushar’s guards saw her like this, she’d kill the would-be-rescuer herself. As expected, the acolyte retreated.
Magnus gave her wrists a little squeeze, drawing her attention back to him. “For me, this is about so much more. I have better reason than most to be up there. Maybe you do, too.”
What did he mean? Was he simply referring to the fact that his clan, and really, all the Dokiri clans, resided on the very mountains they planned to invade? The intensity in his gaze hinted that there was something more to it than that.
Magnus continued. “If not, I don’t blame you.” His eyes crept down her neckline, and a heat that had nothing to do with anger stirred Nadine’s blood. “But you ought to give the Eye to someone who does.”
The Eye was Nadine’s inheritance. The one piece of her former life she hadn’t yet relinquished. That hadn’t been stolen from her. A wave of possessiveness shook her to her bones, and she tried to rip a hand loose so she could clutch the pendant hanging between her breasts.
Magnus still held her, and she wasn’t getting free. She peeled her head from the wall until her gaze locked directly upon his. “Never. I’ll never give up the Eye!”
A heady moment passed between them. Every tendon in his body felt sculpted around hers. She could smell the salt on his sun-warmed skin, could practically taste his breath against her lips.
Magnus released her. He took a quick step away from the wall before she had time to strike at him. Nadine swallowed, but took care to show no other signs of being ruffled. When she made it clear she wasn’t going to attack again, Magnus nodded once and skewered her with eyes that gleamed like steel. “Then think over what I’ve said, woman.”
She stared him down even as her mind turned over all that had happened in the past hour. If everything he said was true, which Nadine didn’t doubt by now, did she have a choice?
Magnus seemed to watch the thoughts spinning in her mind. He put a hand up on the wall next to him and strummed his fingers as though playing a tune on some stringed instrument. His deep voice was a rumbling accompaniment. “I made up my mind about what was important to me long ago. I suggest you do the same.”
He walked into the sun and dread settled deep in the pit of her gut.
Whatever else the barbarian was, on this much, he was right.
2
Many Hands
“Six lashes for the possession of illegal contraband, soldier.” Tanay’s voice carried through the walls.
Nadine dropped her bag. Her skin tightened at the mere sound of that lecher’s voice coming from her platoon’s barracks. She moved faster, her long legs striding in a jog as she burst into the deep corridor. Two columns of female heads snapped in her direction, each woman standing at the end of a perfectly made pallet. Tanay, the only man, stood with Damini at the very end.
Specks of dust swirled in the morning light, which streamed in through the open windows. The spartan room was in pristine order. Nadine had been about to perform a surprise inspection, before life and her responsibilities had been so abruptly disrupted. It seemed now the duty had fallen to Tanay, a fellow captain and a man who’d have been more at home sucking hope from a whorehouse.
Damini, one of Nadine’s youngest soldiers, looked close to tears. Tanay’s eyes, on the other hand, were alight with excitement. At least, they were, until they settled on Nadine.