Magnus whistled. The low to high pitch echoed over the stony slopes. Yrsa shrieked in response and descended from the sky like a storm cloud heavy with rain. She spread her wings and floated the last stretch. The tip of her leathery limb caught Magnus’s shoulder and took him to his knees with her. He hit the dirt with a thump.
“Lazy oaf.” Magnus shoved her wing off his shoulder and got to his feet.
Yrsa trilled with contentment and stretched her neck out over the rocks as Magnus set to work unfastening her saddle straps. He’d not been riding her, but kept her ready regardless. Magnus fitted his calloused palm underneath the bindings at her side and rubbed the area where he knew the leather chafed. A song rumbled in his throat, and it matched the dulcet tones Yrsa purred from where she lay.
Footsteps came behind him. Magnus turned.
Nadine stood at a distance with her arms crossed over her chest. She had pinned back her wild curls and braided them down her shoulder in a way that would have tamed her features, were it not for the ferocity ever-present in those piercing eyes. They blazed a hole through him now, and he grinned despite the burn. “I’ve missed you, beautiful.”
Nadine lowered her chin. “Again you are determined to undermine me.”
Magnus stopped fiddling with Yrsa’s trappings. The beast slid her head toward him and snorted at the loss of attention, but Magnus ignored her. “No, no, kandiri. I don’t want to undermine you, though I do want you under me.”
Nadine shifted her weight and scowled at him. “What did you and your brother say to my men while I was gone?”
Magnus raised a brow. “Why don’t you ask your second? He’s the one who called the meeting.”
Magnus watched her expression carefully to confirm what he’d already suspected. Samar had done so without Nadine’s consent or knowledge.
She frowned, and her gaze wandered upward toward the setting sun.
Right about now, she’s wondering why her dearest friend won’t lie down and submit to her.
Smiling, Magnus went back to work on Yrsa’s saddle. His next words came out in a lighthearted ditty.
“Poor Nadine, how’s she going to tell Samar
She won’t return his love, near or afar?
Pray he doesn’t ever realize,
Else he’ll drop down, cry out his little eyes!
An Ebronian in love, oh an—”
Nadine went rigid. “Stop that.”
Magnus beamed back at her. “You don’t like my song?”
“It’s not true.”
“Oh good. You’d have been the first to say you don’t like my voice.”
Nadine took a step toward Magnus. “He’s not in love with me.”
Magnus’s lips thinned. “Then you’re either oblivious or a liar. I’d place my bet on liar.”
Nadine took a step toward Yrsa, who still lay on the dirt. Magnus tracked her, unsure of her purpose.
She watched the wyvern as she spoke. “I suppose it must seem strange to you. The sight of a man respecting a woman as his equal must look a lot like love where you come from.”
“Equals?”
“And of the two of you, Samar’s never played at being my lord and master.”
Magnus laughed. “Samar couldn’t master a housecat, never mind a hellcat.”
Nadine didn’t answer, only continued to circle until she reached the other side of Yrsa’s outstretched neck. Magnus’s stomach tightened. If Nadine wasn’t cautious, Yrsa could strike at her before he was able to stop it. He inched toward his mount’s head.
“How come you don’t have any of your own men with you for this mission? Is it because you don’t command men? Only women?”
Nadine’s silence was confirmation enough.
“It seems your own people have ideas on whether women should command men. Was the Eye the only reason your uncle made an exception?”
Nadine’s mouth tightened. “I command women because it’s my choice to only command women.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s easier.”
“Because women are naturally more obedient?”
She glared at him. “No.”
Magnus batted his lashes innocently. “Then why?”
She looked away and Magnus knew she was back to ignoring him. Damn. Nadine took another step closer to Yrsa and, before Magnus could stop her, extended a hand toward the wyvern’s saddle.
Yrsa pulled in her wings, and the spikes along the top side of her tail bristled. She let loose a low, warning hiss. Magnus answered his mount with a shushing rumble. He shot Nadine a glance, begging her to back up.
Nadine continued forward in a fluid movement until she was running the palm of her hand up Yrsa’s belly, alongside the saddle straps. Like Magnus, she was hardly breathing as they awaited his wyvern’s reaction. Magnus’s heart pounded in his chest. Yrsa shook herself a bit, then moved to bump the side of her face into him, demanding comfort.
Nadine’s sigh came along with his own. After a moment, the hellcat began working at the saddle as though she’d not just been threatened by a legendary beast.
Magnus continued soothing Yrsa as Nadine worked. His bride’s breaths were quick and shallow. She was afraid. Even so, her movements were steady, as though she’d unsaddled her own winged mount a hundred times. Soon, Yrsa relaxed, too lazy to keep up a fearsome façade for long. She settled her fat belly back onto the ground and huffed out a great puff of air before shutting her eyes.
A slow grin spread over Magnus’s lips. “On the count of three?”
They lifted the saddle together and walked it down over Yrsa’s back and curled up tail before setting it on the ground behind her. Nadine was a force to be reckoned with. He’d never seen a woman braver around the gegatu. Except perhaps the Arliga, herself.
“Did Lavinia tell you about my sister?”
Nadine side-eyed him. “You don’t have a sister.”
Magnus jerked his head toward the camp. “My brother’s wife, Tysha. We call her the Arliga. She’s the first woman ever to claim a gegatu of her own. Magnificent.”
Nadine glanced in the direction of the camp, then back at Magnus. “I’ve heard of her.”
“If you want to see respect, you’ve only to watch the Arliga walk by any man of the clans. Read his expression or listen to his voice as he speaks to her. Or of her.”
Nadine raised a brow in challenge. Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “And all a woman must do to receive that respect is climb upon the back of one of these beasts?”
Just then, Magnus was dying to touch her. He’d watched from beyond the camp every night as she tended to her tanshi mark. A duty that should have been his. She’d not spoken a full sentence to him before now. Not since he’d brought her back to her men. Now they were alone and she was speaking to him like she had the night he’d claimed her. Regna, it felt good. He wanted more of it.
Not yet.
He cocked his head at her. “It would be a small feat for you; I’m sure.”
His words seemed to take her off guard. Her lips parted on a little intake of breath, and her eyes almost seemed to shine. Then her mouth drew tight. “As if you’d let me.”
“Helig help any soul fool enough to try to stop you.”