“How could I forget with your horns hitting my sunstone lamp every time you move?”
Tormund straightened in surprise, clearly unaware that he kept bashing her sunstones. And in his jolting, he hit the sunstone again. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“Bad demon,” she said.
Tormund stared at her for a moment, then broke out into laughter.
A slow grin spread across Yulla’s face. I shook my head and smiled. It was one of the oddest dinners I’d ever experienced, but the memory of it would last a lifetime.
12
TORMUND
Astrid and I stood in the middle of the bridge spanning the chasm. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks pink. It was from the glow of the sunstones and a belly full of fresh food. And good company, I had to admit. Happiness looked good on her.
“You ready for tomorrow?” I asked, sliding my hands into my pockets. I’d thought little of the competition over the course of dinner. Strange, when it had invaded my thoughts almost every waking moment of every single day for at least the past six months.
“Not particularly,” she admitted with a tinkling laugh. “You?”
“Pretty particularly,” I admitted right back. “Contrary to your assumptions about me, I researched the fates out of the trials before coming here. This next one was fairly easy to replicate back home. I spent four months practicing it.”
“Right. Well, I should have guessed,” she replied. “To contrast that, I have spent exactly zero hours preparing.”
“Well, that’s a very blatant lie, Astrid Balstad.”
A rosy flush went through her cheeks, dotting the end of her nose. “I assure you it’s not. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to me. I plan on taking the bridge.”
I furrowed my brow. “But then you’ll come last unless someone else decides to take it, too.”
“I am very aware. Thank you, Tormund.”
“You’re aminer,” I said. “Look at those bloody arms of yours.”
She twisted her arms around her back as if to hide them from me. “I would really rather not. The shape of them has always bothered me.” Then that rosiness deepened another shade into crimson. “I don’t know why I’m saying this to you. I think it’s time for bed.”
Gently, I wrapped my hand around her forearm and tugged her hand out from behind her back. Her shapely arms filled her shirt, curves as enticing as her ample hips and thighs. “You have beautiful arms, Astrid. They’re strong and powerful. You should be proud of them and what they can do for you.”
She swallowed and looked away. “I suppose I’ve never really thought of them that way.”
“Trust me when I say you should.” Suddenly, the urge to run my fingers up her arm and rest them against her neck shot through me like a bolt of lightning. I blinked and stepped back, releasing my grip on her. What in fate’s name was getting into me? I couldn’t entertain those kinds of thoughts, least of all for her. Meral was happy enough to engage in flings and short-term affairs, but that had never been my thing. Relationships in general never had been. I didn’t like to get attached, even if temporarily. Romance with me would only ever end in heartache—or worse.
Besides, Astrid would gladly shove me off this bridge if it meant she could have the one thing I needed more than anything else.
But…that wasn’t quite true, was it? We were standing here now, and she showed no signs of anger. Just…defeated resignation. She’d given up on the Everstone. Not only would she give little effort to the competition, but I doubted she’d even search the mines for it now.
I should be happy. She wouldn’t stand in my way. The only people I had to worry about now were the trio of competitors who’d come closest to beating Galinn the Great in previous years, though they’d never been much of a threat to him.
And yet, I wanted to urge her to actuallytry.
Astrid tipped back her head to look up at me. “Why are you here, Tormund? Are you after something? I told you where I thought I’d find the Everstone.”
“I came tonight because I wanted to know what you were up to. I stayed because dinner sounded nice. And wasn’t it?”
“Nice?” She opened her mouth, and I could tell she wanted to say it hadn’t been. But then she sighed. “Yes, I suppose it was nice. Do you often make it a habit of dining with your enemies the eve before battle?”
And then words fell out of my head and off my tongue before I could stop them. “When they’re as pretty as you, yes.”
Astrid bit her bottom lip. My eyes snagged on where her tooth dug into her pink skin. Gods be good.
