Page 103 of The Warrior
His tone hardened and he lifted his chin in a challenging way. “No. Sometimes I’m just horny.”
Disappointment and anger boiled in my stomach, like potent ingredients in a witch’s brew. I had come back to the Northlands with the intention of being the bigger person and telling Magni how I felt about him. But the colossal wall he kept around himself was impenetrable. In a state of distress, I threw a comment at him soaked with the poisonous mix from my cauldron. “Too bad you’re not more like Devlin. When he got horny he told his woman that he loved her. You don’t even give me that much.”
“Go back to the Motherlands if you want poetry.” His tone was a low sneering sound.
“Telling your wife that you love her has nothing to do with poetry.” I shut my mouth when Mila stirred between us, but it was too late and her eyes blinked open.
“Are you two fighting?”
“No, we’re just discussing something. You have nothing to worry about, dear,” I caressed her cheek.
“I thought I heard you talk about poetry.”
“That’s right, I was telling Magni about the powerful poem you read to me today.”
“It’s my favorite one.” Mila yawned and placed her head against my shoulder. “We should read it to Magni.”
“That’s a great idea. We’ll do that later.”
Mila looked up at me as if something clicked with her. “Remember your favorite part from the poem about paying compliments? You should be really proud of yourself, Laura.”
“Why?”
“Because you said that giving other people compliments and saying nice things about them was hard for you, and yet you said all those amazing things about Magni. Now he knows that you were in love with him for years before you married him, and that you thought he was the most handsome of all the men.”
“A real fucking prince,” Magni said low and looked down.
Mila turned her head to him. “What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
She yawned again. “Magni, when did you first know that you loved me?”
He looked taken aback. “Ehm, I don’t know.”
Mila closed her eyes and smiled. “I knew I liked you when we sat under the stars and talked, and you held my hand. I loved you when you had to leave the school and you picked me up and said you would take me with you as a souvenir. You didn’t do that to anyone else, and it made me feel special.”
“Youarespecial,” Magni whispered to her. “I told you I think of you as a daughter.”
Mila gave him the sweetest smile. “That makes me happy.”
Magni’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and he leaned over and kissed the top of her hair.
Mila’s eyes were hooded when she looked at me and yawned again. “Laura, when did you know that you loved Magni? Was it when he chose you over your sister?”
I took my time before I answered. “No, it was about a month after we got married. I wasn’t feeling well, and he brought me a tray of breakfast. Magni had never asked me what I liked in the morning, but he had picked out my favorite things.”
Magni moved in his seat. “It didn’t take much brainpower to figure out. You picked the same four things for breakfast every day for a month.”
I looked into his eyes. “The point is that you noticed.”
Mila wasn’t done, and asked Magni. “When did you know that you loved Laura?”
Magni scratched his arm. “That’s a long story.”
“Tell us.”
“It’s not a good story, and only Khan and Finn know it.”
