Her Viking

by Alice Wilde

  Her Viking

  The Royal Shifters Book 3

  Alice Wilde

  Contents

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thank You!

  Her Warrior

  The Lioness of Egypt

  About the Author

  Red Empress Publishing

  www.RedEmpressPublishing.com

  Copyright © Alice Wilde

  www.AliceWilde.com

  Cover by Cherith Vaughan

  www.shreddedpotato.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recoding, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the author.

  Prologue

  “Shut up!”

  “No, you shut up!”

  “Thor’s hammer, you’re annoying,” Ero said.

  “Ma!”

  Ero swiped at his sister, but she jumped out of reach too quickly and was already racing off. He had no doubt she was going to tell on him; she loved getting him into trouble. Even so, she was his favorite sibling.

  Ero knew he shouldn’t have favorites, but he couldn’t help it. Most of his other siblings ignored him to the point where he often felt invisible. Even his mother seemed to have a hard time remembering his name, but not Dahlia. Yes, she made a point of bothering him whenever he was at a particularly exciting point in one of his books, but it was always for good reason…that reason usually being some form of mischief to be played on one of the unsuspecting villagers. But today, Ero couldn’t be bothered. He had just reached the part in his favorite legend about Thor and Loki’s adventures in the land of the giants where they competed in various, highly amusing contests and he was determined to finish it. Besides, it was snowing now and far too cold to go outside.

  Checking the room, Ero made sure no one was around before making his way up to a secret hideaway in the rafters. As far as he knew, no one, not even his mother, knew about it. Ero tried not to use it very often for fear that someone would begin to wonder where he’d gotten to and start looking for him. It was his one and only sanctuary from everyone. Even the sounds of the household were muffled here, not to the point that he couldn’t eavesdrop if he wanted to, but enough that he could tune things out for most of the day.

  It would be a few hours before the sun would set and his mother would call them to sup; he’d most likely get walloped for upsetting Dahlia, but it would be enough.

  Nestling down on a quilt in the nook of the rafters, Ero began to read. The world melted away and all that was left was Thor, Loki, and Ero.

  “Father!”

  A shrill scream startled Ero from his thoughts. Looking up from his book, he noticed the light was almost gone and the lamps had been lit below, casting a warm, soft glow on the ceiling. It took him a moment to readjust to the world around him.

  A rumbling growl erupted from below and then another, shriller scream. Footsteps scurried back and forth across the floor below, and Ero scrambled to the edge of the rafters to peek out. What he saw next would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  There, in the midst of the room, stood his father, blood splattered and sword in hand. His mother was on her knees cradling a small body. She slowly turned her head up to look at her husband, and Ero saw that the body in her arms was none other than Dahlia.

  “You…you beast! You’ve killed them all! Our family! Ours! My children…How could you?”

  Darkness clouded the giant Viking’s face once again as he looked down on Ero’s mother and, without saying a word, swung his sword, cutting her down in one swift movement.

  Ero was too stunned to move, let alone make a sound. This had to be a dream, a nightmare brought on by too many adventure novels. It was only then that he noticed the bloody trail that led from the door on the far end of the room to where his mother had been alive only moments before.

  Ero’s father stood motionless, eyes staring but unseeing in the center of the room. After what seemed like an eternity, the massive Viking shuddered violently and, blinking, looked around the room and then down at his own hands in seeming disbelief.

  The moaning wail that escaped his father’s lips would echo in Ero’s mind for days to come as he watched him slowly raise the blade to his own throat.

  “No!” Ero yelled, but it was too late.

  His father’s eyes rose to meet his own just as he crumpled to the ground, slain by his own hand.

  One

  Annalise

  “This will do,” Li says, surveying our surroundings as we all sigh in relief.

  We’d been traveling hard, and barely stopped moving the past day or so. Roan lowers me to the ground where I find I can barely move my legs from disuse.

  The golden light of late afternoon twinkles through the forest leaves as I spot a large rock on the other side of the small clearing and slowly make my way toward it. Roan is quick to place an arm around me and help me over to it, although I wish he wouldn’t.

  “Oh, now you’re so willing to help someone in need,” I snap, bringing up the same argument we’ve been having for the past several days.

  “There was nothing we could have done,” Roan says as he lowers us both down onto the rock.

  I let out an exasperated sigh and push Roan’s arm away, even though every part of me wishes I hadn’t.

  The pit in my stomach since the night we ran from the Viking attack has only been growing worse the further we run. Roan has done his best to comfort me, but there’s only so much he can do. I can’t shake the feeling that not only have we betrayed his—no, our family, but we’ve also destroyed what little trust they had in our union. I wouldn’t doubt it if they somehow blamed us for what happened—if there were any survivors. And I can’t understand why Roan isn’t even more livid about the situation than I am. I know I shouldn’t be so angry with him, and I honestly can’t tell if I’m still mad at him or if just exhausted at this point.

  “Annalise, Roan is right,” Li says. “There was nothing we could have done in that moment. We had to keep you safe. I don’t know what more we can do to try to convince you of that.”

  The sound of a throat clearing makes the tree of us turn our heads in alarm.

  “There’s actually something I need to tell you.”

  My heart skitters in my chest at the sound of Ero’s voice. Ero hasn’t spoken since the night we left Roan’s home, often disappearing for hours at time and reappearing without a word to any of us. I hadn’t had the energy or desire to ask him why, not that I wasn’t curious.

  Roan, Li, and I stare at Ero in stunned silence, waiting.

  He takes a deep breath and then slowly exhales.

  “I wasn’t sure if I should say anything or not, but all this arguing is getting on my nerves,” Ero says. “The Vikings we saw attacking Roan’s home were unlike any I’ve ever seen or heard of before.”

  “How so?” Li says.

  “There are many Viking tribes, and we all do things differently, but there was something off abo
ut this particular attack. Sure, a lot of Vikings enjoy going off to plunder and raid other lands, but usually there’s a reason.”

  “A reason other than to plunder and raid?” Roan says with a growl of annoyance, and I’m surprised by his sudden display of emotion. But then again, he and Ero haven’t exactly been getting along as of late. But Ero doesn’t take the bait.

  “What did your family have that was worth the trouble to plunder?”

  Roan leaps to his feet, his teeth bared in a way that reminds me of his leopard counterpart’s fangs.

  “What do you mean by that?” Roan asks, his voice low and threatening.

  “Calm down,” Ero says without so much as flinching. “I only meant that a raid of that magnitude would require planning. Judging by what little we saw of your corner of Scotland, and the dire straits the people seemed to be in before we arrived, there wouldn’t have been much reason for them to organize a raid.”

  “Perhaps they found out that the curse on the land had been lifted and came to stake a claim. What’s so hard to believe about that?” Roan says.

  “I’m telling you, it didn’t feel right.”

  “And now we’re just going to go by your feelings?”

  “Would you just shut up and let me finish?”

  “Please, Roan,” I say, laying a hand on his arm. Roan grumbles something I can’t quite make out, but he quiets and sits down next to me.

  “I went back to check.”

  “What?” This time it’s Li interrupting. “What were you thinking?”

  “That you can probably figure out your own way to the coast, and that I would be of better use discovering what happened after we fled the castle rather than continuing to guess and hope for the best.”

  Li frowns, but remains silent.

  “As I was trying to say, I went back to find out what I could about the events of that night,” Ero continues. “I even made sure to keep out of sight, but it wasn’t necessary. By the time I arrived, nothing was out of the ordinary. The men that we had seen attacking the castle were long gone, and the town outside the castle was as quiet as ever.”

  “What do you mean?” Roan asks.

  “I mean I don’t think there was a real attack on the castle.”

  “How is that even possible?” Li says. “We all witnessed the attack.”

  “I know it sounds absurd, and you can choose to believe me or not, but there’s something else…”

  Ero shifts uncomfortably, pausing long enough to make me anxious.

  “Ero, we need to know what you saw, whatever it was. Please,” I say, hoping my voice sounds gentle enough to coax the words from him.

  “I…I should have said something that night while we were running away. But in all honesty, I just wanted to get out of there as swiftly as possible, whether or not what I saw was true,” Ero says.

  “And?” Roan asks, his tone obviously displeased.

  “Did any of you notice the people’s eyes?”

  “What do you mean?” Roan asks.

  Li’s brow furrows as he tries to think back on the night.

  “Their eyes were the same black, soulless eyes I saw in the soldier’s back in France,” Ero says. “But this time, it wasn’t just their eyes that were black. It was almost as if there was a shadow surrounding them, like they were part of a mirage.”

  I watch Ero closely, his expression completely serious, but I don’t want to believe what I think he’s trying to tell us.

  “Speak frankly,” Li says. “What exactly do you think happened the other night?”

  Roan has wrapped his arm around me again. I wouldn’t have noticed except that even the softest touch from him sends tingles across my skin.

  “We all know that Damien’s magic is powerful, but I think it’s getting stronger. I don’t know how, and I sure as hell don’t know why, unless something transpired that I don’t know about,” Ero says, sending dagger eyes at Roan.

  “Hey, don’t look at me,” Roan says defensively. “As much as I wish something had happened, nothing did.”

  “I can confirm that,” I say, my eyes dropping to the ground as I feel my face flush hot.

  “Fine, but that doesn’t negate what I saw.”

  “You have yet to tell us,” Li says, the lilt in his voice betraying his growing aggravation.

  “When the attack began, I saw ships on the shore. At the time, I didn’t think much about them. They were the right build for Viking ships. But the longer I think about it, the more problems I recall.”

  “So, what if the ships aren’t built the same way you remember them from decades ago?” Roan mutters.

  “Quiet, Roan,” Li says.

  I rest my head against Roan’s arm in a way that I hope he finds comforting, but also in an effort to keep him quiet.

  “I know a lot may have changed over the past few years, but not by that much. Vikings are proud of their designs, and these ships that I saw had oddly shaped masts and sails. They wouldn’t have worked properly when sailing. Besides, Vikings tend to appreciate putting a bit of flare to the bow of a ship. It’s a scare tactic, and from what I can remember, they were all missing that. I could understand if one or two were more plainly designed, but not all of them, and definitely not for an attack as large as that.”

  “So, you don’t think they were Viking ships?” Li asks.

  “I think they were meant to look like Viking ships, but whatever magic was used to conjure them either came from someone who doesn’t really understand Norse culture or they didn’t care about the details.”

  “Perhaps they were stolen ships?”

  “I doubt it. They weren’t the kind of ships you’d find in any shipyard I’ve ever visited. They weren’t of any design I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of ships.”

  Li nods his head, but Roan rolls his eyes.

  “Look, I know it sounds strange, but did we actually see any of Roan’s family on our way out of the castle? Did we recognize any of the people in all the chaos?”

  His words make me pause. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember much about that night other than the bedlam. Everything just seemed to be happening so fast that I could barely keep one foot in front of the other.

  “Now that you mention it, I didn’t recognize anyone. The halls were full of people, but other than that, there wasn’t anything memorable about that night…Well, besides the battle going on around us,” I say.

  “Exactly,” Ero says. “What we experienced was chaos and confusion. We heard and saw enough to make us run, but what we didn’t see was bloodshed or any familiar faces. That’s what makes me think it was all an illusion. In order for us to have seen someone we knew, the person casting the spell would have to know what they looked like. And I doubt Damien knows what Roan’s sister or anyone else we met there looks like.”

  “He could have used us to see,” Roan says.

  “Yes, he could have, but I don’t think he did,” Ero says. “Have any of you experienced anything strange since we arrived in Scotland that would make you think Damien was tapping into our souls?”

  “Hmm, no. Strange how quickly you can forget what that’s like,” Roan says quietly.

  “We’re probably too far away for him to directly use us,” Li says.

  “One can hope.”

  “Wait,” I say, “are you trying to tell me he can conjure up a fake army, make us hear and see things, but he’s unable to use us directly even though his strongest magical connection is through us?” I ask in disbelief.

  Ero grimaces.

  “She’s right, Ero,” Li says. “This doesn’t really make sense. Perhaps you just saw what you wanted to see.”

  “I wasn’t seeing things.”

  “Hear me out. Perhaps the idea that your people, the Vikings, would attack so brutally and without any seeming provocation did something to your mind as a defense mechanism.”

  “I have no love lost for Vikings,” Ero says with a sneer. “I may be one, but that doesn’t m
ean I don’t know what we’re capable of. Damn it, I was the one who warned us that it was a Viking attack. Besides, I never said Damien couldn’t have used us, only that he didn’t use us.”

  “Relax, I’m not saying you’re wrong. We just need to process all of this.”

  “Ero,” I say, “is there anything else you saw?”

  Ero snorts and grinds his teeth together as he looks away from us, but then he turns back to look at me.

  “Vikings are brutal when it comes to conquering foreign lands, at least most of them are. Many Norsemen will take women and children as slaves or for trade and slaughter most of the men. But, none of us actually saw any bloodshed. We didn’t even see any of the invaders feign an attack anyone.”

  “But we heard them, we heard the screams and terror being wrought on my people,” Roan says. “Did we have to actually see it for it to be real?”

  Li jumps to his feet, startling us all, his eyes shining.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “Don’t you see,” Li says. “We were the only people that we know of that saw or heard anything. What if…what if it was an illusion, but only an illusion in our own minds? Then it would make sense why it was only the four of us who heard and saw the event unfold, and why thinking back on what occurred, it doesn’t seem quite right.”

  “So, you think Damien may have forced us all to daydream an attack?” Roan asks skeptically.

  “It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that’s happened to us.”