Nadine scowled at him. “Don’t talk to me about loyalty. You’re nothing more than a stray pissing on lands he’s never passed through and never intends to again.”
“I’m about to put my mark on you, woman. Get ready.”
Her lips peeled back from her teeth in a sneer. “I’m still waiting.”
Magnus dropped his chaps into the dirt, leaving him in nothing but his boots and wool pants. They flew at each other in a tumble of swipes and parries. Nadine was careful not to allow him to grab hold of her again. Even so, he would occasionally catch a wrist or an ankle, and then she could do nothing but hold on. Once he’d gotten her on the altar, he couldn’t climb up fast enough to keep her there. She’d slip off one side or the other in a tangle of bent limbs and slithering arms that left him gritting his teeth in confused frustration. Every time she’d spear him with a look that seemed to grow less triumphant and more scathing with each successful escape.
Thwack!
Fury shot through Magnus as Nadine landed a second blow on his throat. The woman was playing with fire. She didn’t seem to understand. This fight wasn’t one he had the luxury of losing. And just now she’d forced that fate into real possibility.
She stood a safe distance away from him now, her shoulders rising and falling heavily, sweat glistening across her brow. She was faring worse than he, courtesy of the mountain sickness which she’d had no time to adjust to. Was she even aware of it yet? He’d forgotten to explain it to her. Even so, she grinned at him.
“That’s two hits. Why don’t you concede this? Tell your clan we did what we came here for. Let’s be done with this chakva.”
Magnus hunched over his knees and swallowed over a gasping pant. He raised his brows. “I’m having fun, aren’t you?”
It wasn’t a lie. Up until recently, Magnus couldn’t remember a time he’d felt more invigorated. At least, not since Arvid had been taken. The only downside was his aching groin which, to his surprise, the little hellcat had been kind enough to avoid abusing with her knees or fists.
Some of the amusement left Nadine’s face and made place for a more honest trepidation. She was tired. She must have known she couldn’t hold out much longer. Or was that just wishful thinking on Magnus’s part? The truth was, his enjoyment of this little escapade had started to wane rapidly with her last blow to his neck as one thing was coming into sharp focus: Magnus had made a terrible mistake.
When he’d made his wager, he’d assumed he’d be able to pin her after a bit of battling that would relax them both through the physical play. It should have given her the opportunity to preserve her pride while he’d relished an excuse to handle her. If he was supposed to feel guilty for taking pleasure in such a thing, well, that was too bad. And who was to say she wouldn’t have felt the same? But he’d been so wrong. Worse, he’d underestimated her.
“Look,” Magnus said as he straightened. “I get it. You can make this hell for me if you want to.”
“I can,” she confirmed.
Magnus smiled on a huff. “Your point’s been made. I can’t just make you do what I want.”
Now he was bending the truth. Actually he was outright lying. If he really wanted to, he could have Nadine on that altar, and fast. But it was going to be hell. For her. It wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t going to be clean.
Nadine narrowed her eyes at him from across the clearing. She was quiet, and the trickling of the nearby stream filled the air between them. Magnus’s skin prickled. Glanshi. Could the woman cleave a man’s soul from his body with nothing but that gaze?
“Get ready, barbarian.”
Magnus waved a casual hand as though they were still playing the game. He swallowed back the twinge of desperation that tried to crawl up his throat and out through his voice. “What’s it going to take? You want to put me on the altar first? It’s original but, I could think of worse ways to spend an afternoon than to have you hovering over my half-naked body.”
Nadine hunched down in her fighting stance and dug the ball of her foot into the grass.
Magnus sighed. He was an idiot. He’d had more than an inkling of Nadine’s stubborn nature before this. Still, he never could’ve imagined that her pride ran quite this deep. And now? It was about to bite them both in the ass. He was going to have to hurt her to make this happen. The thought sent a pang of nausea rolling through his stomach.
I can’t.
Couldn’t he? For a split second, Magnus considered the alternative of merely pretending to have marked her while allowing her on the mountain. Aside from the curse he’d call down upon his clan, he knew what true punishment was in store for such a crime. He’d lose Nadine forever, never having had an honest chance to win her. A flash of truth emerged from deep in Magnus’s own soul, so brief he barely had time to feel it before it dipped out of sight again like a gegatu diving down into an endless cloud bank. He’d never expected Nadine to choose him. So why not stop this now? Let the hellcat have her way?
Repulsion twisted in his gut. But it wasn’t the kind he’d expected. It wasn’t at the thought of lying to his entire clan or offending the gods. It was at the notion of walking away from what he’d already set his sights on, had already decided in his heart was his. Nadine Pajel was his. She’d know it today. Helig help them both.
“All right.” Magnus inhaled through his nose and shifted his stance.
His hellcat watched him warily.
The game was over. The claiming had begun. “Let’s do this.”
Nadine charged him.
This time, he waited for her to come to him. She was done with the fake out maneuvers. Instead she relied on simply being faster, forcing him to block three of her jabs for every one attempt he made to grab her. She reared back to kick at his knee while aiming her fist for his neck.
Instead of fighting the blows as he had been, Magnus lunged forward and attempted to slam his body into hers. She was too quick to take the full force of the impact. He caught her shoulder and it made her spin. It was all he needed.
They were close to the altar now.
Her back was to him, and he caught her arms up behind her and pinned them together as though they were shackled. He clenched both her wrists in one hand and used his free one to catch her long mane of hair. He yanked back so her head fell against his shoulder as he walked her to the edge of the altar.
Nadine immediately pushed against him, trying to brace her feet so that, when he shoved her forward, she could crawl up and over the altar as she had before. There was a smile on her lips as he peered at the side of her face. No doubt she saw this going as it had before.
He rasped in her ear. “Yield, woman. Don’t make me do it like this.”
Magnus’s body was alight with fire. Every animalistic instinct begged to do it exactly like this. Craved the violence of it, the dominance. But the human side of Magnus, that of the soul, was begging this creature to ask for mercy. That was like asking a storm to whisper.
“Go to hell.”
Magnus was already there. And she was coming with him.
Time for the reaping.
This savage wasn’t going to do it.
She’d nearly dropped from shock when he’d proposed this bargain, until she realized he was mocking her. He’d made the offer thinking she’d either shy away or he’d be able to pin her with barely an effort. Well he’d learned better.