Bring her forward from your waters.
Give the son his claim, his due.
And I will take her to my mountain,
She will bear me on her flesh.
I will serve her, love her, give her.
She my all, above the rest.
Nadine lay still. All through his song and even now, through his translation, she had not moved. Only absorbed his voice like water being drawn into the dirt of a dry bed that had never burst from planted seed. She wanted more of it. But not just his voice. Not just the words. All of it. The promise inherent in the song. Nadine wanted the impossible.
She sat up. Nadine checked herself just before she turned, chased away all signs of whatever treacherous emotion might give her away. Then she looked at him, propped herself up with one hand before flashing a playful smile. “Did you sing for the other women, too?”
Magnus was sitting forward with his arms crossed over his knees. He turned his head a little more toward her and answered her smile with a confused chuckle. “What other women?”
Nadine cocked her head while pursing her lips. “The ones you bedded in Ebron.”
Magnus’s brow quirked, and his lips thinned slowly. “Who told you about that?”
Nadine lightly scoffed to show she wasn’t jealous. Not even a little bit. “You have quite the reputation, barbarian. Though I wonder if it wasn’t exaggerated. How many were there?”
Nadine wasn’t certain if his look of sheepishness should please or concern her. She decided on the former.
“A few.”
Nadine bit down on the inside of her cheek to hide a genuine grin. “Were they your first?”
Magnus took his time, as if it should have been difficult to remember the answer. “There aren’t any unmarried women in Bedmeg. Not unless the gritus, widows—”
Nadine pitched forward with laughter. “You mighty savages.” She wiped away a mock, mirthful tear. “Wyvern riders you may be, but you’re nothing but a bunch of scar-sporting virgins!”
The blush that bloomed on his face made her laugh harder, and Magnus was quick to grab her head between his hands. He covered her mouth lightly with his hand. “Quiet, woman. We’ll be dead within the hour with your cackling.”
Nadine didn’t bat him away. She continued giggling from behind his palm. They were nearly nose to nose and when he slid his hand away, she could feel the heat of his breath over her face.
Nadine thought of the last time they’d been this close. In his bok she’d almost given herself to him. Not herself, but her body. Had anything changed since then?
“Aren’t you going to ask how many men I’ve been with?” Nadine asked irritably.
Magnus pulled away slightly, a concerned look on his face. “Should I?”
Nadine raised her brows in challenge. “If you can handle it.” In her experience, men could not. The fact wouldn’t bother her were it not for their own lack of discretion where their bed count was concerned.
Magnus took a moment before answering. “I don’t care. Whatever your number, it will only ever go one higher.”
Nadine blinked. Her immediate reaction was to be refreshed, until a surprising worry nettled. Did he feel no possession over her? No jealousy whatsoever? “It really doesn’t matter to you?”
Magnus hesitated. “I care far more about who than how many.”
Nadine thought of the day they’d begun this mission. Of how he’d nearly killed Samar. Suddenly she felt silly for wondering if he felt possessive of her. Of course, he did. Deep satisfaction sunk in, almost enough to make her take pity on him and answer the question she knew he was tearing out of his skin to have answered. No. If the barbarian wanted to know, he could be a man and ask. Or he could live with his ignorance.
At last, he stuttered his way through the question. “Have you ever...? With Samar?”
As a reward for his courage, Nadine answered him quickly and succinctly. “No.”
Magnus released a breath and practically sagged against his own knees. He perked back up with an edge of mischief in his voice. “And what about any of the other Ebronians that came with us?”
Nadine smiled with a huff. “What if I said yes?”
He pretended to think about it. “Then I hope this mission will succeed with that many less men.”
The smiles they exchanged were warmer than the misty air between them. For a moment, they stayed like that, simply enjoying one another’s presence. Then Magnus’s grin softened. “I didn’t sing for them.”
A burst of pure pleasure filled Nadine, something like she couldn’t remember feeling since she was a child. She had to look away. Nadine ran her fingers through her still damp hair and licked her lips before turning back. “Did you ever think to claim any of them?”
Magnus shook his head. “No.”
More pleasure. “So why the conquest?”
Magnus shot her a rueful grin and laughed insincerely. “Come now, kandiri. You’re the one who always calls me a barbarian.”
She didn’t frown at him, but she didn’t answer his teasing with a grin either, and soon his own faded away. He blinked a few times and swallowed.
Silence.
He sighed.
Now Nadine allowed herself a smile, one to encourage him for the honest answer she knew he was about to give.
“They were good incentive to keep to my bed. And Regna knew I needed one.” Nadine didn’t respond, only waited for him to elaborate. After a moment, he did. “I would often guard his house at night. Arvid’s. Guard his family. One sleepless night after another.”
Nadine tilted her head. “Why?”
Magnus grimaced. “You’ll think me a child.”
“I won’t.”
He swallowed before answering. “I have nightmares about him returning home, but not as himself. In every one of them the Soul Thieves turned violence upon his family. I’d wake in a cold sweat, ready to vomit on the floor.” He slid a sideways glance at her. “I knew they were only dreams, but it felt real.”
Suddenly, Nadine ached to touch him. Her chest went tight, and she wanted to smooth her hands over the lines of his face that were drawn with a mixture of shame and unease. Pain. What had this man done to her? She didn’t recognize herself when she was around him. Nadine glanced around at the eerie glow of the mushrooms and the weird, exotic beauty of the terrain. Was it this place that was making her feel so unlike herself? No. That couldn’t be it. She’d been changing for a while now. And if she was honest with herself, it had started before they’d set a single foot beneath this mountain.
Nadine’s gaze flicked down into her lap. “Do the dreams still haunt you?”
“Not since meeting you.”
Her head snapped back up at that.
He answered her questioning look. “Now I can do something. Before all this, meeting you and leaving for the mountain, I wasn’t sure anything would ever be resolved. That I’d ever get my chance to make things right again. To make up for what I did.”
Her stomach churned, but Nadine pushed aside the words that had prickled at her pride in favor of the ones that spoke to the heart of his suffering. “I had a friend who died next to me on the battlefield.”
Magnus sucked in a breath as she began her story, which she was determined to keep short. This was not about her. “She was the first woman I came to trust. Maybe the fact that we were both female counted for more than it should have, but we watched each other’s backs. But it didn’t last long. Not like you and Arvid.”