Page 60 of A Chill in the Flame
“You think you’re clever?” Dwyn’s eyes were wild as she looked around the empty space for clues as to the man’s presence. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing with her?”
He stepped back into view, an arrogant grin curving his mouth upward and bringing his eyes to a twinkle. She’d wastedthe water before she’d been able to find him. “It was your idea, wasn’t it? More than one way to possess a royal heart?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What were you doing before that, Tyr? I know you were at the party the night Caris was killed—oh yes, Firi and I have talked about it. We’ve discussed it all. I know her hopes, her fears, her crushes. I know how she tastes.” He hated the flicker of jealousy he couldn’t conceal and despised the slow, savory smile it elicited from Dwyn even more. “You didn’t know? The princess you held last night? The one you’re attempting to seduce? I’ve made her scream for the goddess. She trusts me. She’s told me everything.”
“She trusts a lie.”
“I saved her.”
“So did I,” came his bitter response.
She lowered her voice further, curling her fingers into a fist as she searched for answers. “You think I don’t know you saved her from the room where her sister died? I know you were at that party. What I don’t know iswhy. Why would you steal her away before you understood my game? Before you even knew I’d found Ophir?”
He managed to work through whatever jealousy had claimed him, forcing himself to relax against the wall. He wasn’t interested in satisfying the siren’s curiosity. “How deeply can she trust you if she lets me stay even though she knows how much you detest me? If she loved you like you so desperately want, she’d respect your loathing for me. Your enemies would be her enemies. It sounds to me like you don’t have the grip on her that you think you do.”
Dwyn looked as though she possessed the powers of fire rather than water as she burned from within. Her face twitched as she controlled her anger. They could hear shouts from beyond the cabin but were too locked in on their anger to adhere to Ophir now. The princess was capable of handling a simple human farmer on her own.
“You know you can’t kill me, as much as you want to.Why not hog-tie me and leave me in the forest so you and the princess can continue on your merry way?”
He made a contemplative face.
“Goddess, dog, I’m not trying to give you ideas for how to get around the conditions of the bond.”
More noises and shouts rose from beyond the cabin, snagging Tyr’s gaze once more as his eyes drifted to the window a second time. He leaned against a table and looked over his shoulder to where he could see Sedit near the tree line. “Our princess has her hound, in case you were worried.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Does she know you don’t care about her?”
“I’m not worried because I know she’s capable. I’ve trained her, Tyr.Idid that.” She thrust her hand toward the window. “I’m the reason she can defend herself. Idocare about her. You’re the one toying with her feelings when you hold someone else in your heart.”
He laughed, but the sound was as black as the charcoal from the dead fire. “You care about what you can get from her. You care about what you’re grooming her to be. You don’t care about her.”
“Oh, I forgot. Tyr the Red, Tyr the Altruist, Tyr the Saint is here in Farehold for noble purposes. Tyr the Noble is only with the lovely Princess Ophir because he’s a good, good man.” She laughed in a dark, cruel sound. “Only one of us will win, you know. You’re nothing more than Tyr of the Blood Pact, and all I have to do is outlast you.”
“None of it will matter if Berinth beats us to it.”
“You know he can’t. You know as well as I that he was only able to leave with Caris’s liver.”
Tyr’s lips pulled back in a snarl. “Berinth only left with Caris’s liver because I was there. I was in the room. Why don’t you thank me for keeping his hands off Caris’s heart? Why don’t you try a little gratitude that your precious princess is here at all?”
“You don’t care about her,” Dwyn bit once more.
“You know nothing of how I feel.”
The sounds of argument from outside of the cabin stopped.
“She’ll never love you—not if you do anything to get rid of me,” Dwyn said, voice singed with her anger. “That’s why you know you can’t touch me, isn’t it? You know you don’t stand a chance if you take me from her. She wouldn’t forgive you.”
Tyr looked toward the window again. “She’s coming.”
“I saved her,” Dwyn said again, voice low.
“So did I,” he repeated once more as his final words.
Ophir opened the door, flinging it on its hinges with anger. She burned hotly as she looked from one face to the other. “Thanks for the help, you two.”
Tyr conjured an easy smile. “You looked like you had it handled. Besides, I wouldn’t have left you alone if I hadn’t seen Sedit. Your monster breed is wildly effective in battle.”
