by Fabio
"Yes, eventually I plan to emancipate Iva, as well as all slaves on Vanaheim."
Ottar appeared amazed. "AU?"
"Yes/
"But why, jarl? "
"Because I feel slavery is wrong, and that we can devise a far more equitable system for the land to be worked and all of us to be fed."
"Your kinsmen may not like this," Ottar remarked.
"Yes, and for that reason, I must ask you to keep this our secret for now."
Ottar nodded. l4Certainly, jarl. Only when will you free Iva—and the others?"
"I was thinking of emancipating alt the thralls as soon as I can end the feud with Wolfgard. Surely that will be the best time to change our system, to dismantle our war machine and convince my warriors to turn their swords into plowshares. In the meantime, I must work on changing some of my men's attitudes toward slavery—and war."
Ottar appeared awed by these disclosures. "Do you really think you can bring peace to Vanaheim?"
"I am absolutely determined to do so."
"And then Iva and I can wed," he said with an eager grin,
"Yes—but not until she is eighteen."
Ottar appeared aghast. "Eighteen! That is almost two summers away, and I am only seventeen myself! Do you not realize that on Vanaheim, a twelve-year-old is considered an adult? Verily, my mother died bearing her fourth child before she was even twenty. What if such should happen to Iva? We will have so little time together! Eighteen is far too long for us to wait! Please reconsider, jarl!"
Viktor stroked his jaw and grinned. From the way the two of you were just kissing, perhaps I should."
"Please, jarl, I am willing to do anything to change your mind."
"You must love her, then."
"Yea," Ottar replied solemnly,
"I am pleased/' said Viktor. "But before the two of you can truly enjoy that happiness, we must end the feud. I do hope you want peace as much as you want Iva's freedom."
Ottar nodded. "Before you returned from the dead, I would not have agreed, jarl. Like the others, I embraced our code of feuds and blood bounties. But your more gentle ways toward all creatures have already begun to change the focus of my thinking, just as loving Iva has altered me. Yea, I would know peace to enjoy my wife and family." He sighed. "Only I am troubled in that Wolfgard still remains a great threat."
"Not if we can outsmart him."
"But how? "
"Let me worry about that. For now, I do have a very important assignment for you."
"I am at your service, jarl."
"I want you and Svein to sneak into Wolfgard's camp tonight The two of you must take greatest care, for if you are caught, you surely know what your fate will be."
Ottar grimaced. "Yea."
"I want you to report to me on what progress Wolfgard has made on his new ship—and in preparing to do war with us."
"Yea, jarl. You can trust us to get all the information you need."
By midafternoon, Reyna still had not returned, and Viktor grew worried about her. He rode Sleipnir down to the beach with the wolves along to help seek her out.
He traveled the craggy shoreline, galloping between jutting black basalt cliffs, die seabirds screeching and soaring overhead. For over an hour he caught no sight of his wife, and when the tide began to roll in, impeding his search, his anxiety increased. He began to despair of finding Reyna, and to damn himself a fool for letting her. go off this way. Despite her promise to him, she might well have tried to signal to Ragar's ship to take her on board Of course, she had been correct to point out that his crewmen likely would not have done so, but it was still a risk he had been foolish to take.
At last he spotted her, sitting at the edge of a cove beneath high cliffs—crouched there with her legs folded under her, her hands in her lap, her eyes closed—and massive waves crashing over her! She did not even flinch as each whitecap battered her. Mercy, had the girl gone mad? Did she seek to die of exposure from the icy breakers lashing her body?
About twenty yards away from her, Viktor dismounted and raced toward his wife, the wolves bounding beside him and barking shrilly. Reyna took no note of their approach, which worried Viktor even more. A frigid wave sluiced over his body as he reached her side. Shivering, he hauled his wife to her feet and yanked her inland, away from the tide's brutal onslaught.
"Have you lost your mind?" he demanded, his voice almost drowned out by the roar of the surf.
With the three drenched wolves dancing and panting around them, they stood in the shadow of the craggy bluff. Rage welled in Viktor as he studied Reyna more closely. She was trembling violently, her lips were blue, and her body was covered with gooseflesh. Most frightening of all, there was a dazed look in her eyes and she seemed unaware of his presence.
"Reyna, answer me!" he cried, shaking her slightly.
At last she looked up and appeared to recognize him. Her voice came out hoarsely between chattering teeth. "I watched Ragar's ship until it disappeared from sight. And then I lost track of the time—"
"At peril of your own life?' he cried. "With the tide roaring in like a demon? Is marriage to me so loathsome that you would risk killing yourself?"
He had kindled a spark of ire in her; her eyes smoldered with defiance, and she ground out her next words in fury. "Pelagius sits by the ocean for hours sometimes, gazing into the waves and seeking a state of grace." With a sneer, she finished, "You told me once I might even benefit from it/'
He gestured furiously at the surf. "Waves like that won't bring you grace, Reyna. They'll bring you death/'
"Mayhap they will take me to Loire!" she retorted.
"Try a stunt like this again," he shouted, "and you'll be taken somewhere, all right—to whatever suffices as the woodshed here in the Dark Ages—and you will be kept there until you find a state of obedience—to-your husband!"
She glowered at him with bemusement and anger, obviously not fully understanding his words, but grasping the overall import well enough. "Why will you not just leave me be?" she cried.
He hauled her trembling body close. '"Because you are my wife and I love you, you little fool! Now we must get you home before you catch your death."
Viktor quickly found Reyna's pony, tethered to a clump of wild heliotrope. He hoisted her onto the saddle, took the reins, and led her toward Sleipnir. He retained her reins as they rode home with the wolves following.
Back at the village, outside the stable, Viktor spotted the lad who worked with Nevin. As Viktor motioned to him, the boy rushed toward them, his expression mystified as he watched his drenched jarl hop down off his horse, then pull his equally soaked bride off her own mount. The wolves were bounding about, agitated and howling, still shaking off droplets of water.
With Reyna in his arms, Viktor jerked his head toward the boy. "See that the wolves and the horses are thoroughly dried off and well fed," he ordered gruffly.
"Yea, jarl," the lad muttered, shaking his head as he watched Viktor stalk off with Reyna.
Inside the longhouse entry chamber, they all but collided with Sibeal. She jerked back and gasped, staring in horror at the drenched and shivering Reyna. "Jarl, what has happened to milady?"
"She's been busy seeking a state of grace," Viktor drawled, stalking past the woman. "Bring all the blankets you can find."
"Yea, jarl -
Viktor rushed with his wife into their chamber. He set Reyna down on her feet and, with a fluid motion, leaned over to grasp the hem of her dress.
"Nay!" she cried, clutching her skirts and backing off.
Viktor went after her aggressively. "Reyna, you are sopping wet I am taking off your clothes and putting you in bed."
"Nay! I am not a child! I will see to the task myself."
He laughed mirthlessly. "This from the irresponsible, stubborn vixen who thirty minutes ago was trying to kill herself through exposure?"
"I wanted to be alone!"
"Well, you wouldn't have been alone for long, my love— sucked out by the t
ide to be eaten by the sharks!'
Purposefully, he grasped her skirt. Again she jerked away.
His patience totally exhausted, Viktor shook a finger at her. "Reyna, jerk away from me again and I swear I will clobber you."
She stared at him confusedly. "What means 'clobber'?
His words came forth in a snarl. "Believe me, my dear, you don't want to find out"
Something in his tone or his gaze must have given her pause, for she hung her head and stared sullenly at her feet
"That's better." Heaving a sigh of exasperation, Viktor hauled Reyna's gown off over her head, grabbed a linen towel to briskly rub down her body and hair, then wrapped the towel around her head. "My God, you are still all but blue! Get your defiant bottom into that bed."
Reyna dashed off to hide between the covers, just as Sibeal rushed in with a huge stack of blankets. "Jarl, how fares milady?
"Better, thank you, Sibeal," Viktor replied, taking the stack from her. "I will tend her now.'
"Yea, jarl." Tossing a perplexed glance at Reyna, Sibeal swept out.
Viktor unfolded the shaggy blankets and piled them on top of his wife. Then she watched, wide-eyed, as he began to remove his own wet garments. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"In case you haven't noticed,' he retorted sarcastically, "I, too, am soaked and freezing cold from wresting you away from your state of grace. So I am coming to bed to warm you up—and myself."
"Nay!" she cried.
He tossed down his tunic and glowered at her. "Why, Reyna? I'd advise you to come up with a really good excuse."
"Because I am still angry at you over Ragar!" she cried.
He began untying his soaked leggings. "Are you indeed? It seems to me you were equally peeved last night. If so, why did you give yourself to me? Or could you have had an ulterior motive?"
"What means that?"
He laughed bitterly. "Don't ask. You're already an expert on the subject."
She glowered, then glanced away guiltily. "I gave up my anger last night, but I do not give it up now. Now Ragar is gone."
"Right. And you didn't accomplish your purpose in seducing me, did you?"
She stared at him in stormy silence.
Hurling down his leggings, he gritted out, "Reyna, we will not use the bedroom as a bartering den. There will be no bargaining or manipulations here, only the giving of ourselves in love. As for your anger toward me ..." Fully naked, he approached her with his eyes burning. "Whether you like it or not, we are husband and wife now, and when we come to this chamber, we will leave our anger and our pride at the door."
Gazing at him, Reyna gulped. He was so beautiful, so splendidly irate, so intense. Just seeing him thus, she burned to join herself with him again. Oh, why did he always spur such devastating cravings in her! She ached to surrender, but eerily, he still demanded too much of her in return-—that she give up all that mattered to her and embrace what he wanted instead.
In a small, tremulous voice, she said, "You tell me to leave my pride and anger at our door, but 'tis not so simple for me! You ask me to give up all I know to protect myself—"
"And what is that, Reyna? Rage? Revenge?" He tore back the covers and slipped in beside her. "Here we are both vulnerable, and here we believe only in our love."
As he pulled her close, a gasp of desire escaped her. His massive, warm body felt so good against her shivering flesh, and she felt so conflicted—torn between what she had always believed and her deepening feelings for this tender yet determined man who so confused and fascinated her.
His mouth moved to her cheek, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine. "I'm not by nature a warrior, Reyna," he whispered vehemently, "but I'll fight for you, my love ... and I'll win."
Before she could catch her startled breath, his mouth covered hers, smothering her, drowning her so pleasurably, while he rubbed her limbs until her trembling ceased. Before he finished kissing her, she found herself believing that he would fight for her, and he would win ...
"Better now?" he asked a blissful eternity later.
"Yea," she whispered tremulously. "You are very hot, my husband."
He chuckled, "Always for you." He caught her face between his hands and looked at her solemnly. "Reyna, I'm sorry I had to say no to you today."
With renewed mutiny, she clenched her teeth and tried to jerk her head away, without success.
"But I had no choice," he continued doggedly, still holding her captive. "Do you understand? "
"Nay!"
"Then you feel you have no obligation to remain with your husband?"
"I did not say that! I only said I do not understand!"
"Don't your
Again she tried to yank away, but his lips descended to give her a second scorching kiss that made her understand as much as it set her pulse pounding.
Afterward, as both of diem caught their breath, he pressed his forehead to hers and whispered, "Please promise me you won't pull a stunt like that again."
When she didn't answer, he drew back to stare into her eyes. "Reyna?"
"Very well," she conceded.
He leaned over to kiss her breast, then kneaded the nipple with his fingers. "You scared me half out of my wits, and I'll become distraught if you get sick over this."
"I am never ailing," she insisted proudly, but now feeling more interested in the delightful sensations he was stirring than in continuing their argument
He regarded her sternly, touching his finger against the tip of her nose. "Reyna, I know you think of yourself as the indomitable warrior woman, but please remember you are mortal, your body vulnerable to the elements."
"And to you," she murmured tremulously, grabbing his hand and placing it back on her breast
Viktor groaned. As much as he hungered to devour his wife, a lingering hurt held him back. "Reyna, I must know something."
Frowning, she glanced up at him.
"Last night when we made love, did you give yourself to me because you hoped you could change my mind and that I'd allow you to leave today with Ragar?"
Unexpectedly, he saw her eyes fill with tears, "Nay," she whispered, then glanced away.
He grasped her chin, tilting her face toward his. "Are you telling me the truth?"
She chewed her bottom lip, then admitted, "Mayhap at first I hoped I could sway you when I offered myself in exchange for freedom to go to Loire."
"Reyna—"
"But still you said nay, and then—"
"Yes?"
Her hand moved to stroke him. "Then I found I still wanted you."
Heaving a rough breath, Viktor restrained her fingers with his own, fearing that if he didn't, he would succumb to her and never get the answers he so desperately needed. "If you gave yourself to me willingly, why did you run off to the beach today?"
Her words burst forth with turbulent emotion. "Mayhap because it smarted, after all we had shared, that you would still deny my greatest wish."
His gaze gleamed with hurt. "Aha! Then you did seek to sway me after all.
"Nay!" she said proudly. "Not when we mated."
"Made love, Reyna," he corrected her.
"Made love," she whispered. "Not then."
Staring into her fiercely gleaming eyes, Viktor found he believed her. "But why did you let the elements lash you like that?"
"I do not know!" she cried. "Mayhap because I lost my brother! Mayhap because I did not notice the tide coming in! And because I was confused! Torn between my family, my loyalty, and you." She pulled her fingers loose from his and resumed caressing him. "But then When you touch me, I forget all that. Verily, that is the hell of it"
"And the heaven ..." Moaning ecstatically, Viktor began touching her just as intimately. "You forget your hatred and your bitterness, Reyna,"
"Mayhap." She pressed her lips to his throat "I only know I forget all but you."
A tender smile lit his face. "Remember when you called what we share an act of happiness?"
She nod
ded.
He kissed her gently, whispering against her warm mouth, "Darling, you don't have to leave me, to go to Loire, to know that happiness."
Snuggled so close to him, with his fingers teasing so skillfully between her thighs, Reyna suddenly wanted badly to believe him, to hope they could be content together and that he would not violate her trust As always when he held her, she felt her pride, her anger, receding. And even though she had proudly insisted she did not understand his telling her nay, she really did understand, and was even secretly thrilled by his possessiveness. After all, she was his wife, and for a husband to insist his wife remain at his side was hardly unreasonable. Indeed, the prospect of leaving him had tilled her with aching regret, while being in his arms again, locked away from the world and all its troubles, brought such a wrenching joy. The bond between them was irresistible, even frightening. When she was in his arms, she felt that connection to her very soul.
Viktor rolled his wife beneath him, using his free hand to stroke her cheek. "Remember the little princess, darling. Find that love of life in your heart, and let that happy soul out to play again. With me. You can trust me with your heart, with everything you feel."
Reyna stared up at Viktor in awe. Why was it he always seemed to sense her feelings, to know just what she most needed to hear? In his arms, mayhap she could trust. Mayhap she could be young, innocent, carefree again. She had never thought it possible for her, yet Viktor made happiness seem so close, so real.
"How will we play?" she asked with a poignancy that twisted his heart.
He pulled the turban from her hair and combed the damp strands with his fingers. We will go to the tundra for more picnics. We will frolic in the steam hut. I will tell you more stories—"
"Verily? Of Futuregard?" she asked eagerly.
"Yes. All the stories you want I intend to spoil you rotten, you see—"
'To make me biddable?' she asked.
"Yes, but not too biddable," he teased. "That would spoil much of our fun."
She bit her lip. (What else will we do ... to know happiness?"
