Stellen’s snarled response sends a shock down my spine, his voice a wash of harmony that floods my senses and spills warmth through my chest. “The best strategy isneverthe one that puts you in danger, Thyra.”
I drag in a ragged breath, suddenly needing to see his face.
Twisting on Nara’s back, I slip free of Stellen’s hold and deftly stand, balancing without hurting Nara before I lower myself down, facing Stellen.
Before I can seat myself, he pulls me forward onto his lap so I’m straddling him, one of his arms pressed firmly around my backside, near-pinning my pelvis to his, while his other arm slides up my back.
Darkness shadows Stellen’s pale eyes.
I catch my breath, trying to focus past the sudden heat in my core. “Iker is clearly too weak to fight, let alone to come for me himself, and what’s more, he’s trying to hide it. If you take me to him?—”
Stellen’s arms close so tightly around me that I’m crushed against him, the air compressed out of my chest and words halted in my throat.
“Let him die,” Stellen says. “Let his heirs fight for supremacy. One will win and everything will go on as it has been.”
“If Iker’s desperate, then he’s volatile. Right now…today…you have the power to stop any irrational actions he may take.”
The chilling downturn of Stellen’s mouth banishes the warmth in my chest. “He would hurt you, Thyra. I will not allow that.”
“But—”
“No.”
“Then what?—”
“No.” He presses forward, his mouth meeting the corner of my lips.
“No,” he says again, more softly this time.
“Why does it matter to you if I’m hurt?” Again, I search his eyes and now, his silence is heavy. “You wouldn’t want me killed, obviously. But you warned me harm would come to me.”
“I did.”
“Then…?”
“Why are you arguing for your own destruction?”
“Because…” If I dig deeper, what I saw in my vision has unsettled me and not only because of Iker’s potential volatility.
Stellen heard what I heard, but he didn’t see what I saw. “Because of the way that man looked at Lilis. Whoever he is, he loves her. He doesn’t want her to get hurt. That makes him either a potential ally…or very dangerous.”
Stellen gives me a nod. “I’ve met that man. I don’t know his name. But I agree he’s dangerous. As are you, Thyra.”
His hands tangle in my hair, his touch light, tingling against my scalp.
I’m reminded of where I’m sitting and how easily he pulled me to him. How naturally I settled into this position and how long I’ve remained here.
Both of his hands rise to my face, his thumbs brushing across the furrow in my brow. “Do you remember what I said to you in the Alak-Teah?”
My eyebrows arch upward. “All the things.”
The press of his lips softens. “Take peace where you can find it. Especially here.”
The white expanse appears endless, sparkling with fresh, untrodden snow. It looks like we’re the first to pass along this way today.
Off to my left, the branches of a sparse patch of trees stretch toward the sky, boughs dripping with frozen icicles instead of leaves.
The frozen landscape is both terrifying and breathtaking.
