They lay so close she can feel his hot breath tickle her lips. His masculine musk is intoxicating.
“Are they a reminder to you or a warning to others?”
The hand on her lower back tangles along the tips of her long curls.
“Both. It is a mark of my responsibility to my people and myself.”
“Why did you not ascend to the Salt Kingship?” She isn’t sure why she’s whispering or asking him any of these questions. Not when she needs to fight him with all of her energy. Yet, the intimate way he clutches her naked body cultivates a sense of security, as if she is more than his captive.
Does he not mind that I am bigger than the slender women of the Ridge and Timber? His touch is more accepting than Rendel’s. Perhaps his words in the Sapphire Palace were honest.
He licks his cracked lips. “Father had a different task.” Hardly concealed is a bitterness to his words.
“Task?”
For the first time since she has known Sigvid, silence answers her. Instead of offering a response, he fixates on her wild mane while his fingers curl a strand. The gentle act should reassure her of his actions. Instead, she trembles in his hold as if he will devour her at any moment.
“I must protect the Salt Sacred Stone.” His voice is barely a whisper.
“Then why not appoint Thrain? You were the heir.” Why does she feel such vigorous defense of him? He kidnapped her, after all!
“The truth is much more complicated.” He explores her features as if assigning her lines and imperfections to memory. “You need to rest.”
She splays her fingers along his chest, where intricate runes andknot tattoos paint his exposed skin. A nautilus shell sits over his heart, and a raven dives over his left bicep.
He smirks. “Your first instinct after nearly freezing to death is to seek retribution for my lot in life?”
Avina mimics his upturned lips with her own. Why would she not want to comfort someone wronged in his birthright? Mostly, she has yet to decide if her response in his presence is terror or lust.
“Sigvid?” She croaks out, her brain ultimately working around her current physical position. “Why am I naked? Why areyounaked?” Her hard nipples rub against his inked, muscled chest, arousing the warmth between her legs. His firm cock snakes against her thigh, evoking a blush across her cheeks.
“The fastest way I could revive you is with my body heat.” He grunts.
A faint laugh escapes her before she can wrangle the damn reaction. “You saved my life?”
“Do not get used to it.”
Her lithe fingers roam over his rigid abdomen until settling over the base of his stiff member.
“Sigvid, um-”
“Yes?” He raises a brow.
Her hand releases her pressure. “I guess I should thank you, as this is not the first time you’ve saved my life.”
His eyebrows knit together. “When was the first?”
A knot forms in her throat as she recalls his inadvertent actions during the war. The life she can live now because of the death of her husband. She blinks and then looks away, exposing her feelings whether she intends to. “Rendel.”
“I know of one incident he inflicted on you,” he remarks quietly while his rough hands continue stroking her back.
“How could you possibly know what he did to me?”
He wipes away a tear with his thumb before she gets a chance.
“In the Arena, I met one of Rendel’s bodyguards. He explained how they would hold you down…” Sigvid’s voice lowers to a threatening growl, “to allow the king to do what he pleased. I felled one in a match and the other during training. They deserved their fates.” A smug grin creeps across his lips while he dazes off at a nondescript point over her shoulder.
Something dawns on her as she recalls his battle with Face, shuddering at the memories of Rendel.
