“You think Aura will pop out of the air with theseidryou allowed the gods to collar?” Calder cackles dryly. “Do not worry, I have caredfor her. I could have brought her home by now if I didn’t need to deal with you.”
“Did you think I had a fucking choice in collaring her, boy? You will never understand what it takes to keep your family safe.”
Fuck, Sigvid. “Ouch.”
In his gut, the hatred, resentment, and bitterness over the winters coalesce into a tidal wave about to overflow onto the Lord Commander.
With a step closer, leaving only a table length between them, the King jabs a finger at Calder. “Where are Aura and Avina?”
“In the clutches of Queen Lavinia and Makt. They are using Aura as leverage against me. Since Makt is my sire, they wish me to agree to become his vessel. They captured Avina to ensure the Princess doesn’t implode the country of Skalor with her newfound witchseidr.”
Sigvid scoffs. “I knew your abilities were unnatural. It all makes sense,” he strokes his warrior braid. “You seek to steal my wife and seduce my daughter now that you have embraced your Draemonium father.”
Edmund somehow manages to drag Slode to the doors, urging Calder on. “That would involve touching your wife, Sig.” He removes Makt’s great axe, slamming the edge into one of the long tables.
The sound of the bar sliding across the front doors of the longhouse, locking them inside, sends a bitter cold burning through his veins like he has never felt before–an apprehension that thuds within.
He sheds his bearskin cloak, revealing the blueseidrwounds on his skin. “However, I have enjoyed your daughter. She is a firebrand.”
“Did your papa gift his weapon when you served them up?” His gaze flashes a threatening shade of crimson. “Your traitorous hands better not have touched my daughter anymore than I know you have! I will fucking cut them off and feed them to the hogs!”
“Would it help if she begged me?” He clutches Makt’s axe, wielding it with one hand.
The blue of Sigvid’s eyes tints fully to a blood red as he unsheaths his lone blackwood axe, pointing the tip at him. “Any last words, Avardsson?”
“Hold on!” Calder rummages along his belt, tossing the mate to Sigvid’s axe onto the floor.
The one Aura absconded with from the carriage.
“Can’t have an unfair fight, can we?”
Sigvid’s entire body goes rigid. His calloused hand hovers over the axe as if it might strike him. His breathing quickens as his grip tightens around the worn wooden handle carved with runes.
“You left her without protection…” The infamous berserker’s words are more of a guttural growl as he stares pointedly at his own weapon. His body responds in a way that Calder recognizes all too well.
That of the crippling agony of a father who has failed his child.
Calder knows he has shoved his mentor off the ledge of sanity and is ready to feast on his remains.
A logical Sigvid is still a battle away after the Iss Drengr exposes every sin he has committed with Aura.
Only then can they move forward.
When his mentor’s head rises, resolve sets in his jaw. He charges with both axes held high in attack.
Calder meets his intensity with all the fury and fear he holds for his girl. Makt’s shaft takes the brunt of the obsidian blades of Sig’s dual axes, shoving him back into a table.
Sigvid swings them as if he has become deranged. Calder blocks each attack with his god weapon, only inciting the Lord Commander’s wrath, who roars as he assails him with a raw thirst.
“Come on, Sig! Surely you must have known the truth between me and Aura,” Calder taunts him, watching the berserker side tear him apart from the inside out.
“Get her name out of your vile mouth!” He bellows as Calder shoves his axes away from his last hit.
Sigvid lumbers backward, tripping over a bench and losing his grip on his axes, which clatter to the floor. As his back thuds against the wooden boards, the King of Treland kicks the bench, crashing into Calder’s shins.
A string of expletives escapes from the Iss Drengr as he stumbles.
“I gave one fucking order! Aura’s blacklist among the Drengr!” Sigvid swings his fist at his head, but Calder dives, allowing only part of his cheek to catch with his knuckles. “You are twice her age, yet you still sought her out?”
