“That’s not what I meant,” he says. “I mean you have an energy about you that I find very appealing. You’re independent, brave, smart…”
“I could be stupid as a brick,” I argue.
“Contrary,” he adds, smirking. “But I shouldn’t be starting anything with anyone. My plans won’t keep me in the city for long.”
“Neither do mine,” I say.
He looks over at me again, his eyes running over me, settling on my fingers.
“You haven’t been chosen,” he says.
“No. Because I don’t want to be.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t need a man. They make everything worse, and then they leave.”
“I see,” he says.
“Why do you keep talking to me? I’ve been nothing but awful to you.”
He chuckles. “You haven’t been that bad, not really.”
I could be worse, I think. Maybe I should try.
This man is very handsome, and obviously very strong and brave. He also looks old enough and hot enough to have chosen pretty much anyone. He has to be in his late twenties. A full decade of choosing, and not to be married? It doesn’t make sense, no matter how many plans he has outside the city.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask bluntly.
“In what regard?”
“You’re hanging around me, asking about choosing. Why haven’t you got your own wife at home?”
“I haven’t met anybody I wanted to be married to,” he says. “I lead an active, sometimes dangerous life, and most women want a man who will be there for them.”
“Not Freya,” I say. “Her husband might as well not bother.”
“You don’t like your brother-in-law,” he says.
“Sure I like him. I just wish he wasn’t married to my sister.”
“You know your family is quite famous, as one of the founding families of Weltheim,” Thor says. “It was quite a big deal when your sisters were introduced to society.”
“Yeah.”
“So how did you escape being chosen?”
“I ran away when I got to ceremony age. I skipped it. And I’ll do it again if I have to.” I add the last part as a warning, in case he decides to try to choose me. He’s saying he doesn’t have timefor a relationship, but you can’t trust the things men say. Mila’s husband wasn’t looking to be serious either, and now he’s the most serious man I know, always going on about numbers and things.
Mila’s husband is in the city and still hasn’t shown up even though all the drama has been unfolding for hours now. I bet he’s in a stupid meeting saying stupid numbers at stupid other people.
“I like you,” Thor says, standing up in front of me and leaning down so I get the full benefit of his brown gaze. “But there’s something in you that’s restless. It’s like you’re wild, and need to be tamed.”
“Try to tame me, and I’ll cut your…”
I never get to finish the threat, because his mouth covers mine in a kiss that is as delicious as it is distracting.
He breaks the kiss. I slap him across the face, as hard as I can. Hard enough to make my fingers hurt.
