Running for what felt like a hundred times around the paddock didn’t feellightin my opinion. My airways and my mouth felt as dry as cotton, and by the end of it, I was left utterly breathless.
Aegir didn’t give me the mercy I was desperately craving. He left me all sweaty and sticky. I wiped my face with the back of my arm and dragged my legs towards the water valve. I poured myself a tall glass of water and rested an arm against the stall, drinking in gulps. My eyes widened at the sudden temperature change, and I thankfully managed to stop drinking the secondI felt it. When I peered at my glass, I saw tiny pieces of ice…floating.
Did he just?I let my guard down, and italmostcost me the battle of stubbornness.
I did not swallow.No way. Instead, I held the icy water in my mouth. My gums and my puffed cheeks hurt from both temperature and pressure. I set the glass down with a decisive thud and turned around, my eyes already narrowed and piercing. I wasn’t at all surprised to find Aegir with his arms folded across his chest, smirking with delight. Then he just stuck out his tongue at me. The unprincely gesture of it cracked me, and a mouthful of freezing water burst out of my mouth, spraying all over him. He just twitched in place, squeezing his eyes shut.
Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods!
My hands went to my mouth and my eyes went round at what I’d just done. But looking at him, soaking wet, that expression…oh, I just couldn’t.
“I’ll get a cloth,” I said, my voice creaking as I went inside Cinnamon’s stall looking for a piece of anything, hand still clamped over my mouth. I had to let some of it out, so I giggled as silently as possible.
“You know you’re going to pay for this, right?” Aegir threatened from behind me. My heart pulsed. I turned around. His gaze alone had me swallowing. I backed away, slowly retreating towards Cinnamon’s other side.
A little yelp escaped my mouth as I rebelled against my aching limbs and broke into a run. Aegir chased after me, forcing me to let out a giggling screech. I soon found him at my back.
My lungs stole a quick breath as he grabbed me by my arm and pulled me towards him. Then he lifted me over his shoulder as if I were merely a sack of potatoes.
“Put me down!” I demanded. He kept walking, unfazed by my kicks and punches. “Put me down!”
“Are you sure?” he purred.
“Yes, put me down!”
“As you wish, then.” Aegir grabbed hold of my waist and released me into Cinnamon’s water trough, soaking me from head to shoes. The squealing sound of surprise that came out of my mouth startled Cinnamon. I leapt out of the trough, fists clenched at my side, water dripping all over.
“You—you just didn’t!” I barked, before bursting into another sprint.
He was too fast for me to chase, but I kept at it. Aegir set enough distance between us that he had ample time to turn my way. He grinned. With a gesture of his hand, my squelching shoes froze to the tiled floor and I flew out of them, landing straight on his chest. We fell to the ground, with me on top of him.
“I’m going to make you wish you didn’t do that,” I threatened. But he was too swift. He grabbed both of my wrists and twisted himself around, pinning me to the ground. I tried to free myself, but my trashing and snarling did nothing to him. My breath came fast, even when I stilled beneath his weight.
I calmed at our closeness, at his gaze.
“You’re the most stubborn little thing, aren’t you?”
“I am not!”
“Oh, really? Tell me, then, Lady Stonehead, what’s it going to take for you to drink that godsdamned glass of iced water?”
I restrained myself from grinding against him and instead said, “You would normally bring up the wordbargain.”
“I would, wouldn’t I? So I’ll offer you this. A bargain. A sip of iced water in exchange for one favour.”
“Any favour?” I asked promptly.
“Yes.”
“You’re insane,” I said, my voice low. “What if I ask you to do something that you’dhatedoing?” He released the grip on my wrists and lifted himself, then sat next to my head. I remained lying on the floor—sand and dirt sticking to my soaking training clothes—and looked at him, wrong side up.
“I know you wouldn’t do that to me,” he said quietly.
“No, I wouldn’t.” I propped myself up and slid back until I sat by his side. I looked at him when I asked softly, “If I drink the iced water, would you use your healing powers on Cinnamon’s leg? I think she’s made great progress, but I want her completely healed, and free from chronic pain…and…maybe…maybe I would also be able to ride her again one day.”
“A bargain is to name it, Cordelia, not to ask it.Name it.”
My eyes remained fixed on his when I said firmly, “I want you to use your healing powers on Cinnamon’s leg.”
