Page 139 of The Warrior
“Laura, I’m truly sorry for storming off like I did. I know I blow up and get angry too often for my own good, and I want to change it.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. Does that mean you can live with my being both a Motlander and a Northlander?”
“As long as you stay with me.” He placed his head against my neck and breathed me in. “Laura, I wish I could use words like Finn or Khan, but I’m not that kind of man.”
I stroked the back of his hand that rested on my hip.
“I know how to talk about other things, but I’m lost when it comes to expressing how I feel about you.”
“Try.”
Magni looked pained when he straightened up, and his chest rose and fell. “Okay, you know how much it hurts when you get shot or stabbed?”
“No.”
He bit his lip. “No, of course not. But did you ever break a bone or something?”
“I twisted my ankle once and it got all swollen.”
“Right.” He nodded with a thoughtful expression. “I think the same happened to my heart when you left me. It was so swollen that there was no room for it to beat and it hurt worse than the time I broke three of my ribs.” He placed his hand on his chest. “I consider myself tough when it comes to physical pain, but this was way worse than anything I’ve gone through in the past. With a physical injury, you can take painkillers and keep still until it heals. When we were apart, the pain in my heart was constant, and I couldn’t breathe.”
I looked down. “I’m sorry, Magni.”
“Did your heart hurt too?” he asked me.
“Yes, but more like a slow ache that grew stronger. I missed you a lot.”
He gave me a sad smile and kissed my nose. “I know I’m terrible at explaining it, but my feelings for you, Laura…” He sighed. “I would do anything for you. You know that, don’t you?”
The edges around my moist eyes softened in a smile. “Your words were perfect.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“And you don’t think me a weak man because I couldn’t breathe when I thought I’d lost you?”
“No. I don’t think anyone would ever accuse you of being weak. And if they did, I’d punch their nose in.”
“I didn’t see you punching Solo when he accused me of being a coward.”
“Because he’s too young to understand that things aren’t black or white. He’s got this conviction about marrying Willow, but soon he’ll leave this school and most likely they’ll never see each other again.”
“So, he’s naïve. That doesn’t give him the right to say shit like that to my face.”
“Can’t you cut Solo some slack? He looked up to you and you disappointed him.”
“Why should I? He didn’t call you a coward when you came back aftersixmonths, I was only gone foronemonth.”
“At least give him credit for being brave enough to stand up to you and defend me.”
Magni rubbed the bridge of his nose. “There’s that. The boy has serious balls. If only he had brains too.”
“He’s not stupid.”
“You don’t think picking a fight with me was stupid?”
“I would call it foolish.”
