Did she belong to him now?
No.
She belonged to the earth. To her mountains. To her people. Like any other noaidi, this night would serve as one of many memories that added to her experience—that made her a better healer.
She searched for anything to wrap about her shoulders and found a blanket hanging over the back of Roald’s chair. Satisfied she’d covered herself appropriately, she tested the door again, hoping to find it unlocked. Fortune smiled upon her. She stepped into the short corridor, determined to check on Silvia before she left to go home.
The great hall was quiet, dozens of men and women sprawled out asleep on the tables, benches, and floor. She walked carefully around them, not wishing to disturb anyone. She’d not give these people a reason to gossip about her. Or give her host a reason to regret inviting her here.
Reaching Silvia’s chamber, she cracked the door and peeked inside. A smile spread across her face. Silvia and Konal were wrapped in each other’s arms, the sound of light snoring signaling the lady would be fine.
If Eva’s mother could only see her now. Witness the success of her dedication and faith; see the results of her hard work. Nothing had ever delighted Eva more than knowing a husband and wife were joyously reunited.
“Live a long and happy life, Lady Silvia,” she said as she closed the door. “May the gods give you many children.”
“Do you wish the same for yourself?”
Roald’s husky voice startled her. She turned around to find him naked.
“Good morn,” she whispered, trying to avoid staring at his manhood, which was very much awake.
“You left without telling me.”
“I-I am sorry, Jarl Roald. You were resting.”
“I’ve called for a day of rest,” he said. “My father’s memory will be honored.”
“Yes.” So much had happened over the last two days, she’d nearly forgotten the solemn occasion. “My deepest sympathies are with you and your family.”
“I believe you mean it.” He tilted her chin upward. “As I believe you want me.”
She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “I will never forget our night together, Jarl Roald. You changed me for the better.”
“Aye? In what way?”
“I do not wish to bore you with details of my life.”
He fingered a strand of her hair. “Nothing about you is ordinary, Eva. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know.”
She scanned the corridor, worried someone might catch them together. “Do you often stand naked in the middle of the passageway?”
He chuckled. “Tis my home. I can strut across the practice field naked if I wish.”
She rolled her eyes, the extent of his arrogance almost as shocking as his erection. “Here.” She offered him the coverlet she’d been wearing. “Wrap this about your hips.”
He did as she asked. “Do you feel better now?”
“I find it much easier to converse with you.”
He laughed again. “As lovely as you are,” he said. “Your fertile mind is what I favor most, Eva. No woman has ever made me laugh more than you.”
“I am pleased you’ve found a use for me.”
He gripped her arms then, pulling her in for a kiss. His soft lips lingered on hers, sending a chill up her spine. “Come.” He escorted her back to his chamber.
“Now tell me how I’ve changed you.”
She sat on the edge of the mattress, too short for her feet to reach the floor. “A noaidi must dream in order to be recognized. We must commune with the spirits and gods through our visions. Tis how we grow in strength. But until this morn, I’d never had a dream.”
Roald stood in front of a brazier, warming his hands. “It seems I must avowal for both your chastity and talent to your mother.”
“Chasity?” Eva nearly choked. “I’m afraid that is long gone, sir.”
“Yes,” he said, turning to look at her. “But the bloodstain on my sheet proves you were a virgin.”
“My mother must never know of our union.”
He nodded. “What did you see in your vision?”
“A golden sky and shore. Three sets of footprints in the sand, but I couldn’t make out who walked along the beach. I searched endlessly for a sign of life. Not even a gull screeched in the sky. But I could smell the salt air. As I walked, I found a piece of driftwood. I touched it, but it burned my fingers. So I withdrew, curious about the source of heat. Then, before my eyes, the driftwood cracked in half and a man and woman emerged—both young and beautiful. They didn’t look at me or see me. But I could hear their thoughts.”
“And what were they thinking, Eva?”
She folded her hands on her lap, still confused by her dream. “Not words exactly,” she said. “But the purest of feelings. Love. Pride. Strength. Power.”
“Aye,” was all he responded with.
She’d hoped for more, that Jarl Roald would help her interpret the vision, or that he’d help put her mind at ease. For the couple looked nothing like her people. They were perfect in every way, and if she didn’t know better, she’d dare say gods.
“I want you stay with me, Eva.” He faced her again, his countenance more serious than before.
“Here?”
“Yes, Eva. Here. Where else?”
“B-but I can’t, sir. I won’t.”
“Why?” He came to her and knelt on the floor between her knees. “I understand you miss your family. But beyond that, what awaits you in those mountains? A brother who wants to force you into a marriage you don’t want? Sick animals? From your own account, you weren’t living the life you wanted.”
“No,” she admitted. “But respect must be earned. I must justify the right to be appointed the next noaidi.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then another family will take our place. Unless my brothers produce children—which I am not sure will happen soon enough.”
“Your mother is ill?”
“Weak. Old and tired.”
“Are you the one who cares for her?”
“She has servants to attend her. But only I know her deepest secrets and what relieves her pain.”
Roald rose to his feet and wandered across the room. “I cannot let you leave, Eva. Not today.”
Chapter Sixteen
Unless Roald tied her to the bed, he knew trying to keep Eva somewhere she didn’t want to stay was futile. With an unconquerable will that matched his own, he’d have to utilize different tactics to convince her to stay. Though he’d rather not resort to trickery. It would please him if she simply said yes.
“Are you worried about, Silvia?” she asked.
“No. She is well, like nothing ever happened.”
“Yes.” Eva curled her legs underneath her. “I am still puzzled over what infected her. I’ve seen this happen before, when someone ate a food their bodies couldn’t digest properly.”
Roald sat on the bed next to her. “I shouldn’t be concerned about a poisoning? There are people here that aren’t pleased about my brother’s marriage.”
“No, milord. The nature of Silvia’s illness would have been more violent. Stomach pain, chills, and retching uncontrollably. Regardless of the cause, the spirits have revived her and will protect her. I give you my word.”
He caressed her delicate cheek, drawn to her generous nature. “We owe you much for saving her.”
“Please…” She gazed into his eyes. “Do not credit me. I am but a bridge between this world and the next. My hands were directed by the gods.”
“And your words? That sweet song? Tell me those words again, Eva. Sing for me.” His body tightened with need all over.
“Tis a very sacred thing, singing for a man.”
“More sacred than giving me your body?”
“Equal,” she said.
He twisted around and lightly urged her to lie back. She didn’t fight it. Roald straddled her hips, gazing down at her. “Sing. Fill my ears with the sound
of your honeyed voice.”
She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “Words are nothing in your presence. For none can describe what I see and feel. My heart is numb, my soul is weeping, for I should not feel what I feel. Light of life, all around me, heal my hungry spirit. For what I see I cannot keep. For we are divided by worlds…”
Her impassioned verse washed over him like life-giving water—Roald could not deny the meaning of her words. She’d all but confessed her feelings, the same ones he was experiencing for her. Words couldn’t do justice to the rare joy he felt in her company. The peacefulness she inadvertently settled on him. But he’d be damned if he’d let her go before he knew the complete truth, whether this was infatuation or something deeper.
As she opened her eyes, he ripped the coverlet off, intent on showing her what her tiny body did to him. How the very thought of her made him hard and desperate. And with her in his bed, wearing that filmy gown, her nipples begging to be sucked, and the scent of her excitement flooding his senses, only one choice remained.
He interlaced his fingers with hers, raising her arms above her head. “I can smell your passion, Eva. Tell me what you want me to do.”
He could see the inner conflict. He could tell she was afraid to reveal her feelings.
“Shall I love you again?”
She nodded and spread her legs.
“Are you wet for me?”
“Y-yes.”
He released one of her hands and lifted the bottom of her gown. Then he positioned himself between her legs, the tip of his shaft already covered with her excitement. “Is this what you want?”
She nodded.
He groaned through an excruciatingly hard thrust, once again caught in the magic of everything Eva represented. Purity of spirit and endless kindness—the very opposite of the women he’d always kept company with before. Not a drop of vanity polluted Eva’s mind. She didn’t seem to know how lovely she was, how the men around her reacted, regardless of her heritage. Any man would keep her…
Running his palms down her cheeks, he kissed her passionately. She tasted sweeter than anything, but there was something else he wanted to do with her.
“Will you trust me?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, milord,” she said innocently.
With a nod of approval, he withdrew from her and then flipped her over. “I must see you from behind.”
“Is that why you made me face away from you so long last night? You like my arse?”
He worshipped it like a holy relic. “This,” he said, squeezing her perfectly rounded cheeks, “is simple perfection, Eva. Now sit up on your knees and spread your legs. Hold onto the headboard to steady yourself.”
She looked over her shoulder. “Will it hurt?”
“Perhaps.” He didn’t want to mislead her. “But it’s a pleasurable pain, the kind that will make your insides pulse in ecstasy.”
Nothing felt better than first entry. He paused, letting her body adjust to his size, while also recovering from the urgency to spill his seed. It seemed the gods had made this woman for him, that their bodies were formed to please only each other.
She gasped as he thundered forward, filling and stretching her, marking her as his woman. “By the end of the day, Eva, you won’t want to leave this bed.”
Chapter Seventeen
Two weeks later, more comfortable in her new surroundings, Eva joined Roald at the feast table for the eventide meal. Dressed in another borrowed gown, with her long hair swept to the side, she felt like a different woman. She’d never known the luxury of wearing fine linen and silk. All of her clothes were sensible—wool or leather, often trimmed with fur.
The jarl offered her a trencher of cabbage smothered in butter. She served herself a generous portion. “This is delicious.”
“Aye,” he said. “Grown in my gardens.”
“And the meat?”
“Wild boar. Is this your first taste?”
“Aye. We eat fish, reindeer, and on occasion, venison.”
“Do you like it, Eva?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps if I eat more I’ll be able to decide.”
He chuckled, signaling for a thrall to bring more meat. “Konal has requested a private meeting with you tonight.”
She swallowed a mouthful of wine. “Alone?”
“I’ll stay with you, Eva. But yes, in my solar.”
She cast her eyes downward, too familiar with his brother’s dislike for her. “What could he possibly have to say to me, milord? I am nothing to him. Or to most of the people in this hall.”
Roald gripped her arm. “Now is not the time to shrink away from your duties. You’ve shown such strength. And though my people are superstitious fools, afraid of what they don’t know, they also acknowledge what you did for Silvia. The fact that she is seated here tonight, laughing and eating with us, is testament enough of your abilities. Does it matter what gods gave you the power to do what you do? No,” he said with conviction. “It only matters that you healed her. And how I feel about you.”
He’d baptized her with pleasure every night for over a week now. Refusing his love had never been an option, for her lusty Viking licked and kissed her into submission, showing her what she’d miss if she denied him. But the cold reality of her world had hit her hard today. She must return home and try to forget about Roald.
“I am ever grateful for your kindness, Jarl Roald. No one has ever cared so much about what I feel and think. But the time has come. I can hear my mother calling for me late in the night. I feel her restlessness in my bones. The earth cries out for me to return to my mountains.”
He finished chewing his food before he answered. “I won’t let you go, sweet Eva. I can’t.”
“But I was never yours to keep. Surely you knew it the moment we met. Yes, fate delivered me to you, I believe that now. Your Odin is a god of consequence. Your faith in him rivals my own in my gods. Another characteristic we share. But just as honor drives you, sir, it also rules my heart. I must go home.”
“Look at me, Eva.”
She could stare at him for hours at a time. His chiseled chin, those expressive blue eyes, the way his dark hair fell over his shoulders…
“I’ve made love to you every night. Sometimes three and four times. What if you are pregnant?”
She considered it—had thought about it many times. “I would raise our child as a Sami—and when he was old enough, I’d teach him the ways of both our people. Our child would rule men’s hearts, Roald. For the best of both of our worlds would be a part of him.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said. “You complete me, Eva. I cannot ignore it. But if my seed has taken hold, if my son or daughter grows within you, do you really think I’d let you go? My child belongs here.”
Impossible. The lowlands were for Norsemen, not a noaidi. She missed her mother and brothers, the cool breeze, the sound of the stream behind her cottage, the call of the reindeer—too many things to give up. How could she make it clear that she refused to remain his prisoner? Though pampered and cared for, she was living in a comfortable cage.
Did the man even want children now? With her? All she could think about was the way he’d rejected Silvia based on her birthright—the Sami were as despised as the Saxons. “There are mixtures that can end a pregnancy…”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You’d do this?”
“Not easily, milord.”
“Not at all.” He slammed his fist on the table, no longer her peaceful companion.
The hall grew suddenly quiet.
“Please.” She meant only to prove a point, not to enrage him. “As a healer I could never…”
“Never, what, Eva?”
“Forgive me…”
“You will come with me.” He stood.
Just as she rose, there was a commotion at the doors across the hall.
“I demand an audience with Jarl Roald.”
Eva’s heart stopped. Sh
e recognized that booming voice. Markkos. How did he find her?
Her gaze darted to Roald, then to her brother who was surrounded by armed guards. “Please let him in, he is my brother.”
Roald huffed and stepped down from the dais. He strutted across the room with her following.
Relieved to see her kinsman, she called out to him. “Markkos!”
“Eva?”
Roald stood between them. “Why are you here?” he asked, eyeballing her brother as an unwelcome intruder.
Markkos wasn’t intimidated. “You dare ask me that question? Have you not stolen what belongs to another? Kept my sister here against her will?”
Roald growled. “Shall we step outside so I can answer your question?”
Markkos’s gaze flicked to Eva. “You prefer him over your family? Over everything we hold sacred?”
Her mouth fell open, ashamed of his doubt in her. “This is not the place or time to make accusations.”
“Then tell your barbarian to step aside and let me in.”
Eva frowned at his audacity. Insulting a man in his own home was dangerous, but doing it to Roald—she feared for Markkos’s life. With little choice, she took Roald’s hands. “Please, milord, let him speak to us.”
Roald waved his hand. “La ham passere.”
The guards lowered their weapons.
“Follow me,” Roald said.
Flanked by four defenders, Roald led them to his solar.
“Sit, Eva.” He pointed to the chair at the end of his bed. “You can stand.” He sat down on the stool behind his table. “Be quick.”
“The rumors are circulating through the lowlands and mountains. My only sister is sleeping with a great jarl.”
“You assume the worst where Eva is concerned? Believe what you hear before you ask her yourself?”
“She is young—an impressionable girl with no experience. Twould take little to seduce her.”
Roald’s bitter laughter made her cringe.
“The last thing you should fear for is Eva’s chastity. She is a sensible girl, unlike any woman I’ve ever met.” He looked at her and her heart melted. “I am familiar with your background, Markkos. You want her to marry a man she has no feelings for.”
Desire's Fury (Viking's Fury Book 2) Page 7
