A Storm of Pleasure

by TERRI BRISBIN

  This had turned into a disaster.

  From their angry departure from Durness, to the silence between them on the journey and now this, nothing had gone as Gavin wished it had. Part of him wanted to stay in Durness, alone with her as he had been these last weeks, living a lie even though he knew that the world around them would demand the truth soon enough.

  He dipped the cloth again and wiped her forehead. She was sweating now, and her breathing changed as she awoke. Her gaze darted quickly around the room, from him to the door and back, as she tried to focus. Gavin lifted the cup to her lips and urged her to sip. After she took in a small amount, he put the cup down and let her get her bearings.

  She was still wrapped in the long cloak she’d worn on the boat, so he unpinned the brooch holding it closed and loosened it around her neck.

  “Better?” he asked softly. Katla nodded and tried to sit up. “Nay, do not. Give yourself a few moments to feel stronger.”

  He knew she wanted to be out of that bed, to do something to help her brother. He knew the first thing she would do would be to demand that he go to Dunfermline, the main city of the Scots king.

  She had no idea of the impossibility of such a demand, but she would make it regardless. And he would have to refuse. Shielding himself from the thoughts of only these few hundred people in the vicinity of Birsay was a struggle. No matter her presence or the strength that her passion seemed to give him in controlling the pain and the clamor, he would not survive a journey to that city with its hundreds and possibly thousands of inhabitants.

  His mind would shatter from the pain, and surely madness would follow. She was watching him closely now, and he waited for her to begin her assault.

  Last month, the man he had been would have been able to refuse without guilt, without hesitation. But the man he was now had held her and loved her for a month and could not bear the thought of disappointing her or allowing her brother to die. He just did not have the strength to say aye.

  He wanted to, he desperately wanted to be the man who could help her. He wanted to be the man who could love her and keep her. He wanted to be the man who lived to see her day after day. Unfortunately, the fates had something else planned for him, and he had no future to offer her.

  Katla pushed herself up to sit, and he waited for the inevitable war to begin.

  Chapter Seventeen

  She pounded on the door and screamed until she had no voice left. Katla’s hands were bloodied when she gave up, sinking to the floor in exhaustion. He’d had her locked in here more than a day ago, just as the full moon began, and he’d not been back since. Servants came. Servants with strong warriors accompanying them brought her food and forced her back into the small room once it was delivered.

  Fighting them had been a mistake. Her face swelled where one had struck her when she’d tried to push her way out of the room. Askell was his name, and he apologized after it happened, but Katla had been more surprised than hurt by it then. Now, as she touched her cheek with the back of her hand, it hurt.

  Three days wasted. Three days of a journey she should be making were already lost. And from the silence that answered her calls for release, more would be lost before they freed her from this prison. She crawled over to the corner away from the door and slumped against the wall. Pressing her hands against her gown to stop the bleeding, Katla tried to calm herself so she could come up with a plan.

  The ritual had passed, and by now, Gavin would need pleasure to help him control the voices in his head. Would he call for her or another? If he believed that she offered something different, that he gained peace and control with her and no other, then he would summon her. If that was a lie, he would send out that scent and draw any number of women to him to ease his needs.

  That possibility tormented her as much as knowing her brother could die at any moment.

  And so she waited. Katla slept fitfully through the next several hours, drifting in and out of terrible dreams about both Kali and Gavin. She did not even realize she was awake when the door opened and Haakon entered. She would have jumped to her feet, but she had no strength left to fight him or the bulky warrior at his back.

  Haakon stepped aside, and two women entered. He turned his back while they saw to her needs and cleaned and bound her hands. The women rubbed unguent on her swollen cheek, and they brought fresh clothing for her. Once their tasks were completed, they left as quietly as they came. All but Haakon, who crouched before her and spoke.

  “He will free you when he can, Katla,” he said.

  “When will that be?” she asked hoarsely, accepting the cup he offered and drinking down the cold water. “Why is he doing this, Haakon? Why will he not go with me to the Scots king to save my brother’s life?”

  “Mayhap he cannot.” Haakon stared at her as he spoke. “Mayhap he has reasons for refusing.”

  “A man’s life is at stake….”

  “Aye, Katla, a man’s life is at stake.”

  She was tired and she hurt and she just wanted to leave and get to her brother. She had not the time nor the strength for a battle of words with Gavin’s servant. “Enough, Haakon. If you have only come to torment me, I beg you to go now and leave me in peace.”

  “I know he shared with you some of the details about how the voices and pain build before the ritual. Do you wish to learn the rest of it? To understand the man who lives through it?” Haakon stood and held out his hand to her. “To learn why he did this to you?” He glanced around the room and then back at her.

  Katla stood, a little unsteady on her feet at first, but able to walk. She nodded when she was ready, and he led her out of the room and through the back corridor of the house to the part where Gavin stayed. Haakon took her through the chamber where the ritual occurred and then to the door of Gavin’s bedchamber. Haakon turned and faced her, blocking the door with his body until he was ready to allow her inside.

  “The power that surges through him does not simply end,” he explained. “It burns him within until he cannot bear more, and then it leaves him empty.”

  Katla held her breath as he opened the door a crack for her to look. Gavin lay on the floor in the middle of the chamber, unmoving, unconscious. “You leave him there? On the floor?”

  “It is safer for him.”

  As he finished the words, Gavin’s body contorted and shook on the floor, writhing in pain. He clutched his ears and moaned. When he rolled over to his side, she caught a glimpse of his head, his ears. From within, they burned brighter than the brightest torch she’d ever seen! Haakon watched but did nothing to help his master.

  “Haakon! Help him!” she cried.

  “He had hoped that being with you would ease this as well,” he said. “But it is unchanged since the last time.”

  Katla choked as she asked, “He suffers this every month?”

  “With every ritual. Worse each time. Lasting longer each time. Draining him more each time,” Haakon explained. “As his powers to hear the truth grow, the punishment he suffers afterward grows, too.” He pulled the door shut.

  She shook her head. “How does such a flame burn within him and not kill him?”

  “He knows not, only that it does. He’s searched for answers for years and found no one who can help him understand this power, this gift, and the curse that seems to go with it.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” she asked. “If he wanted me to know, he would have told me.”

  “He told you more than he has revealed to anyone else, Katla. That means something,” Haakon said quietly.

  “But he kept this from me,” she pointed out. “And he pushed me away, reminding me that only our bargain lies between us. He wants nothing more from me than that.”

  Haakon smiled then, and it took a few moments to realize that the smile did not reach his eyes. Sighing, she shrugged.

  “I am exhausted and heartsick and can do nothing for him or for my brother. Since you showed me this, I beg you to tell me why.”

  “H
e will survive this, for it seems to be pain enough to torment and torture but not to kill him. When he does, you must offer him another bargain.”

  “Why would he accept it?”

  “Because he needs you.”

  She shook her head and leaned against the wall. Katla ached and needed to sleep. She’d had no rest since they’d arrived here and discovered her brother gone.

  “He said he could not go to Dunfermline. He would not explain. He would not discuss it, Haakon. He only proclaimed the impossibility of it and refused to explain himself. Why would he react so?”

  “Fear,” Haakon said. “He cannot explain what he does not understand.” Haakon crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. “But I know that Katla Svensdottir fears nothing and would do what must be done. When he recovers, offer him a bargain that gives him a reason to conquer his fear.”

  Katla tried to think on his words, to make sense of the confusion in her mind, but she could not. “I will speak to him when he awakes. How long will that be?”

  “This part lasts about three to four days,” he explained.

  “Three more days? I cannot wait that long before setting out after my brother and Harald. Gavin must know that….”

  “I did not say you would be able to speak to him in three or four days,” Haakon began.

  “Ah, good! Send word to me when I can speak to him,” Katla offered.

  “The next part could last over a week,” Haakon said, putting up his hand to stop her from arguing with him. “You could speak to him sooner, but he will not hear you.”

  “You are confusing me, Haakon,” she said, rubbing her forehead and wincing against the growing pain there. “Should I try to bargain with him or not?”

  “The result of the burning you saw is that he will be deaf for some days after this and will not be able to hear any bargain you offer.”

  Her mouth dropped open in surprise. She’d never considered this, never realized the ritual had this aftereffect. “But I spoke with him last month, when he called me to him. I asked him to help my brother and he agreed….”

  “To whatever you asked him to do. He could not hear you, Katla. But whatever had happened between you gave him the belief, the hope, that you could help him. He was desperate for you and set me to search for you on our return to Durness. When you appeared before him and he realized you were real and no dream, he would have granted any request you asked of him.”

  He had promised her what she wanted and she’d never asked any questions. So desperate was she that Katla had accepted the word of a man she truly had no reason to trust. But she had now to discover that he’d blindly or deafly agreed—and would have done so to anything she’d asked.

  Some idea, some thought, teased her mind but she could not grasp it now. After she’d slept and considered all this new knowledge Haakon had shared, she could come up with a plan to get to her brother. Katla straightened up from the wall and turned away from Haakon only to realize that she had no place to sleep now. Gavin lay senseless and in pain in his chambers and Harald was gone, so she hesitated to use his room. Haakon motioned to her to follow him, so she did.

  The room he led her to in no way resembled the one where she’d been imprisoned for three days, but it was the same one. A bed, a chair, and her trunk now lay there, awaiting her arrival. She sank on the bed, needing rest more than she needed to undress. She was nearly in sleep’s grasp when Haakon spoke once more as he pulled the door closed.

  “Make him a bargain, Katla. Offer him what no one else can.”

  As she drifted to sleep, the question plaqued her. What could she offer that no one else had? He had all the women he could ever desire. He had unimaginable wealth as the gift of those priceless armbands and neck ring showed. He had every possible comfort. What could Katla offer him that was different? What did he need?

  A possibility came to mind as sleep claimed her. She would need help and gold to see it happen—but she had one and could acquire the other. Within two days, she had her plans in place. Since he would not be able to hear her request for more days than she could wait, she decided to take the decision out of his hands.

  For Katla had some good arguments to sway him in the right direction.

  Gavin waited until he could stay out of his bed for the entire day before he dared see her. She would be furious at him for his refusal to chase Harald and Kali to Scotland and for having her held so that she could not leave, either. He’d done it for her safety—without his or Harald’s protection, she was a target for too many others who would like to see her go the way her father had. Until he was recovered enough to protect her, he’d ordered Haakon to keep her somewhere safe.

  And with his usual zeal for competence, Haakon had. Which was certain to have enraged her. Gavin did not look forward to facing an enraged, determined Katla Svensdottir. But, he wanted to see her even if he could not hear her.

  Walking toward the chamber where Haakon had held her, he thought on what to say to her. He’d never revealed his deafness to her. She did not know that he had agreed to what she’d requested without hearing a word of it. She did not know he believed that the ritual could lead directly and swiftly to her brother’s guilt and execution. She did not know that he would have promised her anything, whether possible or not, so that she would agree to return to Durness with him.

  As he turned the corner, he decided that he must be honest with her. If she understood his reasons, the risks he would face confronting the thousands of inhabitants and their thoughts, she would comprehend why he could not go after her brother. If she knew how much she’d come to mean to him and how it hurt to refuse her, mayhap she would….

  He reached the last corridor and saw her leaving, walking away without seeing him. Haakon had said she was not locked in any longer, but with her cloak on her shoulders and her bag in hand, she seemed to be going somewhere. Without time to summon Haakon, Gavin followed her down the corridor and out into the yard.

  Leaving his chambers while deaf was not something he did, so the strangeness of being outside and not able to hear anything—not birdsong, not people calling out, not animals in their biers, nothing—struck him immediately. He stopped and turned around in a circle trying to hear a sound, but he saw everything moving by him in complete and utter silence. Gavin almost lost sight of Katla, so he hurried to catch up to her.

  He remained some distance behind her, watching where she headed and what she did. Katla walked down the main street and then ducked into one of the smaller side alleys. He was not familiar with this section of the village, but he did not hesitate. Just as he made the next turn, he realized he was not in an alley, but in an enclosed area between two houses. Without being able to hear anything, Gavin could not listen for her footsteps. It took him only a few moments to know that he’d walked into a trap of some kind. He turned to escape, but someone hit him from behind and he fell into a black unconsciousness.

  He stirred a few times while being moved, but with a hood tied over his head and his hands and feet bound tightly Gavin could not tell where they were taking him. The rag stuffed in his mouth kept him from calling out for help. The heat grew stifling, and he realized he was wrapped in a rug or tarp. As they placed him in a cart and it began to move, Gavin tried to figure out where he was being taken. Unable to hear or see, he accepted that he would have to wait and find out who’d planned this and why. His head spun as the cart or wagon hit another rut in the road, and he moaned against this new pain.

  He could not tell how much time or distance had passed when they came to a stop, and several pairs of strong arms lifted him from the wagon and carried him away. Then he could feel motion beneath them and knew he was on a boat or ship. Carried down steps, he thought, and then dropped on a wooden floor or deck. He ached from being tied up, from being hit over the head, and now from being dumped on the hard floor.

  Hours later someone came, unrolled him from the heavy covering, and untied his hands from behind him. Before he could try to get
the hood off to see who was responsible for this abduction, it was tied snugly around his eyes, and a jug was pushed into his hands. He was so thirsty, he drank it down without pause. When he finished drinking, a crust of bread was pushed into his hands. He understood the message—eat quickly. No sooner had he put the last bit in his mouth then a gag covered his mouth and his hands were tied once more.

  Gavin could not hear a sound, but the feel of the ship’s movements told him they were moving on the water. His arms grew numb as he struggled in vain against the ropes.

  Deciding to conserve his strength for a chance to make his escape, he rolled to his stomach and rested his pounding head against the deck. He was inside a boat, a ship, big enough to have a covered deck or a lower interior deck. Whoever had planned this had wealth to pay for the use of such a vessel. Whoever planned this wanted him alive, for it would have been easier to kill him in that alley rather than to take him, unobserved, out of the village to a dock large enough for this ship. And there was no need to feed a man intended for death.

  Whoever planned this had known he would follow Katla.

  Would Godrod, her servant, have been so bold? Gavin knew of no one else who would act on her behalf. Did her brother yet have supporters who would do something like this? And to what purpose? He had never tried to force the power within him, but could he? Could it be used when demanded? He thought not, though he’d felt more in control of it during this cycle. Too many questions and no answers.

  So he would wait. His hearing would return, soon he hoped, and then he would be able to discover who his abductors were. He had doubts, but he feared he know who was behind this scheme.

  Her name was Katla Svensdottir.