Chapter 12

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 a miner," 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 actually try.

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.

"I told you flattery will get you nowhere with me," she said, but her voice was a pitch softer than it had been before.

"Then I suppose I shouldn't tell you that I can't wait to see how brilliant you are at swinging across those rails." I took a few steps back and winked. Time to get out of here before I got myself into trouble. Because this was starting to feel a bit too much like trouble. Astrid and her flowing ginger hair decorated with bells, her big beautiful eyes, those curves—trouble.

"I told you I'm taking the bridge," she called after me.

"Good night, Astrid." With another wink, I turned and forced myself to walk away.

***

"Where have you been?" Altan asked from where he paced beside the campfire. He slowed to a stop and scowled at me. "I thought you'd gotten lost in the mines. I was about to ask the dwarves to ring their bloody alarm bell."

I held up my hands. "I went to dinner."

"Dinner?" Meral glanced up from the book propped open on her legs. "With who?"

Altan shot her a frank look. "Come on. I think we all know who."

"Good point," said Meral.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"You've been talking about the lass for three bloody days," Meral said, shaking her head and returning her attention to her book. "Who else would it be? You're practically pining over her."

"I'm not pining over her. I don't even like her!"

Meral snorted. "All right. If that's what you need to tell yourself."

"I don't," I said. But that was a lie. I'd realized that tonight. "Well, I suppose I do, but there's no pining involved here. I just like her the same way I like you two. She's a decent person and very good at what she does, whether she realizes it or not. Plus, she's enjoyable to be around. There's something about her laugh and her eyes and her presence that's—what?"

Meral was outright grinning at me over the top of her book. "You like her the same way you like us, huh? I didn't know you tended to wax poetic about my eyes." She fluttered my lashes at me. "Do you want to dive into the deep blue waters of them or—"

I snatched the book out of her hands and held it over the flames. Meral squeaked.

"What was that?" I asked.

"You wouldn't," she said, her eyes widening.

"Oh, I would."

Altan sauntered over and perched on the log beside Meral. He elbowed her, then pointed at me. "If he didn't like her, he wouldn't give a rat's arse that we were bugging him about her."

"You have a point," said Meral, "but I would like to finish reading that book. I just got to the part where the warrior has ridden into battle against the enemy. I need to know if she wins."

"She wins," I said, waving the book over the fire. "They always win."

She leapt to her feet. "Give me back my book!"

I grinned. "It's so easy to get a rise out of you. You have to know I'd never burn one of these things." Then I tossed it back over. She caught it with a single hand and immediately settled back onto the log with her nose between the pages.

As I turned toward my tent, Meral called out, "Nice job distracting us, Tormund. But we know you've got a soft spot for the girl now. Hope you don't forget why you came here."

I slowed, but I didn't turn around.

"Stay focused on the task," Altan added. "We're here for Tahir. If we don't get our hands on that gem, he'll never go aboveground. And I know that girl wants it, too. You know you can't get involved. It'll only end in heartache."

Altan was right, of course, and he was using my own words to make his point. I'd told him time and time again I didn't want romance in my life. Astrid was a distraction. A very pretty distraction. And if I wasn't careful, I might lose sight of my quest. I had to keep a reasonable distance from now on. No more dinners. No more late-night goodbyes on chasm bridges. She was a fellow competitor, which meant she could never be a friend.