by Alice Wilde
It’s only once he’s dictated a set of new laws to the scribe that I realize exactly what he’s doing. The laws he’s setting in place take into account the election of a new leader, and he’s trying to make sure that the decrees he’s passing today can’t be changed for as long as his chosen jarl is still in charge. It’s a good idea, seeing as how the new laws should help ease the people’s burdens and give them more freedom.
With every new law Ero puts in place and every terrible one he does away with, I can’t help but feel he’s not as heartless as he makes himself out to be. But there’s one amendment he makes that forces me to pretend I’m tired so I can wipe away tears.
“Is there a list of all the young women Bjarke hurt?”
“Yes, my lord,” the scribe answers.
“Good, give it to me.” The scribe shuffles through his stack of parchments and hands one over to Ero.
“Damn bastard,” Ero growls. “Write this down.”
The scribe grabs a new parchment as Ero dictates to him.
“According to this list, each of these women will be given reparations for the damage that was done to them. These will continue to be made to them over the next ten years or until a new jarl is chosen. Scribe, please make note that I, in no way, believe these reparations make up for what happened, only that I hope it will help ease their burdens in life. Double it for any woman who bore a child from it.”
This isn’t the only admirable law Ero puts into effect as he does his best to make sure his people will be taken care of, even without him here.
It’s only once the servants begin bringing food in for supper that I realize how hungry I am. Ero had tried to get me to eat earlier, but I’d only been able to nibble on a little bread. The food smells decadent. Roasted vegetables and meats are placed on the table, but in reasonable portions to avoid waste. I stand to make my way to the table when I see movement in the corner of my eyes and turn to look.
It’s Roan.
The next few seconds seem to pass as slowly as a year as I watch Roan stride right up to Ero and punch him in the face before he can react.
Ero falls to the floor, and Roan drops down on top of him as he continues to throw punches.
I scream and race toward them. Li sprints in from the same direction Roan came from, and several of the large men Ero had been speaking with before try to pull them apart.
Roan throws them off easily and continues to pummel Ero. It’s only now that I realize Ero isn’t even trying to resist, his face covered in blood.
“Roan!” I scream. “You’re killing him!”
Li grabs Roan’s fist the next time it rises in the air, and it’s finally enough to stop him. Roan is breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his brow.
“Holy hell, what have I done?” Roan asks, horror spreading across his face.
I run to them and push Roan off of Ero before dropping to my knees. I reach a shaking hand out and touch Ero’s face as gently as I can. He lets out a soft moan, and I sigh in relief.
“He’s still alive,” I say, my words coming out in a choked whisper and then growing louder as I turn to look up at Li. “He’s alive! We have to help him.”
Li kneels down and checks Ero’s face and eyes.
“He might have a concussion, but I won’t know for sure until he comes to. The best I can do right now is clean his wounds and keep an eye on him,” Li says wearily, and I suddenly realize how little rest he’s been getting.
“I’ll stay with him,” I say. “Just tell me what I need to do.”
Li glances up at me, relief written all over his face.
“I’ll help, too,” says Roan.
“You’ll do no such thing,” I snap. “Help me get him somewhere comfortable, Li.”
Li leaves as soon as he’s helped me clean and dress Ero’s wounds. I drag a chair next to the bed and watch him anxiously for any signs of severe damage.
I must have been watching him for hours when I suddenly feel like I’m falling only to jerk myself awake. I’ve tipped forward in my chair and barely manage to catch myself. Getting up, I lean over Ero. His face is swollen and painful to look at, but he appears to be sleeping peacefully.
The door opens and Li walks in carrying a tray of food.
“Sorry this took so long,” he says.
“That’s okay,” I say, gratefully accepting the food from him.
“I need to try to heal him,” Li says. “I think I have enough energy now to at least help him heal a little faster.”
I step back away from Ero to let Li get closer to him and watch as Li starts to touch Ero’s face gently, his lips moving but no sound escaping them. Several of the smaller bruises begin to fade in front of my eyes and I can hardly believe what I’m seeing. Leaning forward to see better, I lose my balance and reach out to steady myself. Grabbing Li’s forearm, I manage to keep myself from falling and quickly straighten, my face burning with embarrassment.
“What the—” Li’s voice trails off, and I look up to see what’s happened.
Ero’s face is completely healed, and Li is looking at it in bewilderment.
“You didn’t tell me it was that easy for you,” I say in annoyance. “Why’d you leave him hurt for so long?”
Li doesn’t say anything as he continues to stare at Ero and then at me before straightening his posture and leaving the room without another word.
Twenty-Four
Annalise
I don’t remember falling asleep, but I wake in the bed Ero had been sleeping in the night before. Sitting up, I look around in confusion. I don’t remember getting into bed, but I soon realize that I’m alone in the room. The space next to me is empty and the pillow that Ero had been using has been tossed on the floor, still bloody from his injuries.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I realize I’m not wearing boots. I definitely don’t remember taking them off. Someone must have helped me into bed last night.
Slipping on my boots, which were placed neatly by the side of the bed, I make my way out of the room and down the corridor toward the Great Hall. I can hear Ero’s voice well before I enter the room.
“And you’re certain this is what the people have decided?” Ero asks.
“Yes, my lord.”
Ero sighs. “Very well, but make sure she’s taken far from here. Send a group to accompany her and make sure she doesn’t come back.”
“Should we ride or sail?”
“Do we have a ship to spare?”
“There should be some smaller vessels that wouldn’t be of much use to you.”
“Sail then,” Ero says decisively. “Take her as far away from here as you can without endangering your own lives.”
I enter the Great Hall and am pleased to see that Ero looks as healthy as he ever has, not a mark on him from the day before. Li is sitting in one corner of the room, sipping from a bowl, but Roan is nowhere to be seen.
“How are preparations coming for the contest?” Ero asks a large man from across the table as they both look over a set of parchments laying out before them.
“Everything should be ready by midday, my lord,” the man responds. “I think we should expect a large number of contestants.”
“Good.”
I clear my throat as I make my way toward the men.
“Good morning, Annalise,” Ero says without looking up. “There’s breakfast materials at the head of the table if you’re hungry.”
“Thank you,” I mutter, my heart sinking at the display of indifference toward me.
I scoop a small amount of skyr into a bowl and add a handful of berries to it before joining Li in his corner.
“Where’s Roan?” I ask as I spoon a bit of the delicious mixture into my mouth.
“I haven’t seen him since last night,” Li answers. “I thought he’d come to find you at some point.”
“No, not that I know of.”
“Well, don’t worry about it too much. If he hasn’t come to see you yet, it’s probably for good reas
on.”
“He probably thinks I hate him,” I say worriedly through an unladylike mouthful of breakfast.
“You have good reason to,” Li says. “But he’s probably just resting or cooling down on some walk. He shouldn’t run into much trouble around here.”
I nod slowly in response, trying not to think too much about it as I finish my breakfast and wander off to check the rooms against Li’s advice. Roan is nowhere to be found, and I slowly make my way back to the Great Hall just as everyone seems to be heading outside.
“Is it midday already?” I ask Li as I catch sight of him.
“Close enough,” Li responds. “I honestly have no idea what’s going on besides what I can see with my own eyes.”
“What?”
“I haven’t understood a word anyone’s said.”
I stop in my tracks and Li turns back to look at me.
“What’s so strange about that?” Li asks.
“I can understand them.”
“You can?”
“I thought they were just speaking one of the common tongues.”
“Far from it,” Li says as he contemplates what I’ve just said. “They’re speaking another dialect of the language we heard in the first town we entered.”
“But I couldn’t understand anything they said,” I say in quiet confusion.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Li says. “Maybe you’ve picked up the language far quicker than normal. Or perhaps you were Scandinavian in a previous life.”
“A previous life?” I say with a laugh before realizing Li is serious. “I don’t think so.”
Li shrugs and we walk the rest of the way to the town center in thoughtful silence.
There are several large chairs set out on the rise, and I’m thankful to see that the pikes have been removed from the grounds below. A rather large group of men has gathered in the open space. Some look as young as me while others could pass for my grandfather. Along the edges of the town center, townspeople look on in anticipation.
Ero takes a seat, and I’m surprised when he looks over his shoulder at Li and myself and motions for us to take the seats to the right of him. Everyone is milling about, waiting to hear what Ero has planned next when he rises from his chair and steps forward to address the men.
“Welcome,” Ero calls over the noise, and the men quiet. “You are all here because you hope to be considered for the position of jarl.”
A cheer rises from the men.
“Before we begin, I will need any man below the age of twenty or above the age of fifty to remove himself.”
There are a few disappointed groans as men fitting these age ranges leave the group, whittling the number of remaining men down significantly.
“Good,” Ero says. “Now, let the games begin.”
Ero claps his hands and several of the men he’s been talking to over the past two days head down into the town center and begin dividing the men into teams.
“This is going to be fun,” Ero says quietly to himself as he returns to his seat to watch the events unfold.
I nearly stand up from my own seat in disbelief and get a closer look as they start the first competition by handing out mug after mug of beer to each of the contestants.
“How is drinking part of a competition for leadership?” I ask, turning toward Ero, but he only looks at me for a moment before returning his gaze to the events below. I’ll just have to wait and find out for myself, I guess.
Li appears to be rooted in thought, watching but unseeing.
The men continue to drink faster and faster. Barrel after barrel of wine is opened and poured out, and I’m certain there can’t be a sober man standing by now. All of a sudden, a terrifying sound comes from all around us and I jump out of my seat in fear. Ero grabs my arm and pulls me back into my seat.
“Watch.”
Most of the men below scramble at the sound, and I watch as men on horseback ride through the camp in full armor shouting war cries. The chaos is maddening, and I’m sure there will be more than a few injuries to tend to after all is said and done. I’m starting to wonder if the maddest of them all is sitting right beside me when I understand what Ero is doing.
Gazing out over the chaos, I see them. A handful of men aren’t running or trying to save themselves, but are guiding one another to safety, carrying the injured, and shouting instructions at others.
“Enough,” Ero says, and a horn sounds a moment later, signaling the men on horseback to leave.
Ero leans over to his left and whispers something to the man sitting next to him, who then stands and walks through the area below, selecting men and bringing them forward. There are only about twenty of them left standing, still drunk in front of us.
Ero stands and walks to the edge of the rise.
“You’ve passed the first text,” Ero says. “Come back here at the first light of dawn for the next one.”
“That’s it?” I ask.
“For today,” Ero says as he heads back up the hill.
I can’t believe this is how he’s going about choosing the next jarl for his people. I’d heard of competitions to win a maiden’s favor or perhaps even to marry a king’s daughter. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen one solely for choosing the next leader of a town.
“I’m going to go for a walk,” I say to Li, who nods absentmindedly.
Walking down the hill, I make my way toward the lake I’d fallen into a few nights ago. Something about walking along the edge of the water sounds peaceful. It doesn’t take long for me to find it, and my heart skips a beat as I see a man sitting on a large rock skipping stones across the surface of the lake. A red-haired giant of a man.
“Roan?”
He turns to look at me, his green eyes bloodshot. But as soon as he sees me, he turns away again. My heart aches with pain. I almost turn back toward the village, but instead, I force myself to approach him, climbing the rock to sit beside him. Roan makes no move to touch me or acknowledge my presence.
“Are you ever going to speak to me again?”
“Of course,” Roan says after a long pause. “But I don’t know how to talk to you now.”
I play with my fingers anxiously. “I hope you can talk to me the same as you did before,” I say quietly.
“I doubt that will be possible,” Roan says sharply.
“Why?” I ask, even though I don’t really want to know the answer.
“I thought you felt the same way about me as I do about you,” Roan says slowly. “Obviously, I was wrong.”
“Nothing has changed about my feelings for you.”
“Oh, really?” Roan scoffs. “So, I’m just like all other men to you, then?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sure, Ero’s just suddenly one of the ones you can’t keep your hands off of. For God’s sake, lass, couldn’t it have at least been Li? I could understand if you’d fallen for him. But Ero?”
“I don’t know how to explain it, Roan. Honestly, I never expected to feel anything for him. It just happened.”
Roan rolls his eyes and looks away.
“I never meant to hurt you, Roan,” I say softly.
“Well, you sure as hell did a good job of it for not trying.”
I’ve never seen him this angry with me, and I don’t know how to handle it or what to say to make things right.
“I’m sorry, Roan,” I murmur, my eyes burning. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“Tell me you don’t feel anything for him now,” Roan says after a long silence between us. “Tell me it was a momentary lapse of judgment and he just happened to be there. Promise me nothing will ever happen with him again.”
My heart sinks with his words, and I suddenly know why I’m so distraught. As much as I care for Roan, I can’t promise him that when it comes to Ero. I don’t know why, but I need Ero just as much as I need Roan.
“That’s what I thought,” Roan says in response to my silence. “What games are you playin
g at, wife?”
And with those words ringing in my ears, Roan jumps off the rock and storms away into the forest. I bury my face in my hands, letting the tears flow freely.
Gods help me.
Twenty-Five
Roan
As furious as I am, I am even more angry with myself for continuing to take it out on Annalise. But I can’t help it. If I were completely honest with myself, I’d have to admit that I’ll never stop loving her no matter what she does. Even if it’s doing Ero, of all people.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for me to accept, and I certainly am not going to let Ero off easy with this one. If he’s going to be part of Annalise’s life, then he’s going to have to go through me to get to her, and hopefully that never happens again.
The forest is quiet and calm, far from the turmoil I feel inside. I want nothing more than to tear Ero into pieces. But how can I if Annalise has feelings for him? When I saw her face after what I did to him last night, I was afraid she’d never speak to me again.
And what did I do when she came searching for me? I made her feel even worse and then ran away like the real man that I am.
I pick up a large branch and slam it against a nearby tree, splintering it into a million pieces. I’ve never been this distraught in my entire life, and it’s terrifying me. As much as I want to wish a thousand poxes on Ero, the thing that scared me most was the thought that Annalise had realized she wanted Ero instead of me. I’m not thrilled about the idea of her wanting both of us, but part of me is relieved that she hasn’t decided that she no longer has any desire for me.
This certainly isn’t how I imagined marriage would be. I see red again at the thought of Ero laying with my wife. The bastard. He could literally have anyone else he wanted, and he had to go after Annalise. He has a child with another woman, for God’s sake.
