Harper George - In Bed With The Viking Warrior

‘And I am indebted to you for that, foreigner.’ Alstan’s hard face didn’t match his words. He seemed angry, not grateful. ‘You saved my sister’s life. It is the primary reason you still have yours.’

The foreigner gave a curt nod.

Aisly intervened before her brother could continue his pompous display of power. ‘Why would you seek to kill him? He’s done nothing to us.’

Alstan continued as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘The man you killed was one of those renegade Danes. A few of us came across a group of them back in early summer and fought them off. He was one who escaped. Did you not recognise him?’

The foreigner’s eyes narrowed again. ‘Nay.’

‘I thought you might...given how you’re a Dane yourself.’

‘What?’ The word tore from her lips before she could get a handle on herself, and she looked to the foreigner for some sort of denial. None was forthcoming. He lay stoically watching her brother, his jaw tight. Tension crackled in the room.

‘It’s in the way he says his words. He speaks like one of them. His size,’ Alstan explained. ‘While I admit my debt to him for keeping you safe, I believe it’s dangerous for him to stay here.’

‘He is not a Dane!’ The very word tasted like ash in her mouth. ‘Just look at his tunic, the embroidery is that of a mercenary.’ She pointed to the foreigner, who hadn’t moved a muscle in reaction.

‘Aye, he wears the tunic of a mercenary, but that man is a Dane.’ Alstan spoke with such certainty that Aisly had to cross her arms over her stomach to keep them from shaking. Her one interaction with the Danes, aside from the rebel at the stream, had been the day after Godric’s death when they’d come to collect payment and taken nearly everything that she had. She’d been so angry, so afraid, that she couldn’t actually remember what words they’d said, much less how they’d spoken the words. They’d been cold, arrogant, entitled monsters. This man was the complete opposite. He was warm, gentle and kind. He was not a Dane.

‘How dare you call him a Dane when you’ve only spent a few moments in his company? He is a mercenary and—’

‘Enough.’ Alstan raised his hand for silence, keeping his eyes on the foreigner. ‘I’m recommending to Cuthbert that you be allowed to leave today, Dane, and then I’ll consider my debt to you repaid.’

‘Aye,’ said the foreigner, his gaze harder than she’d ever seen it.

‘That isn’t fair, Alstan. That isn’t fair at all. He hasn’t recovered. Putting him out now will be a death sentence.’

Alstan grabbed her elbow again and pulled her towards the door.

‘You’re being an ogre, Alstan.’ Aisly pulled her arm away once they were outside and near the forest. ‘Why did you say he’s a Dane? Is it because you want them to throw him out?’

‘Because he is.’ Her brother turned to face her squarely, with his arms crossed over his chest. ‘He speaks just like one of them. I’ve spoken to them when they came to see about taxes.’

He was referring to the autumn a couple of years ago when the leaders of the Danish settlement had visited with Lord Oswine. The same leaders who had killed Godric. Though her life with her husband hadn’t been the happiest, she could not forgive them for butchering him. She crossed her arms over her chest to keep from shuddering. If the foreigner was a Dane, she wouldn’t feel such tenderness for him. She despised them all. ‘He’s not dressed like one of them. He has no bands on his arms. I think you’re mistaken. Besides, he saved my life.’

‘And that is the only reason I’m not advocating his death. He saved your life and I do owe him for that. He can have his life.’

‘But he won’t have his life if you force him to leave today. Don’t you see that, Alstan? Have mercy. He needs to recover first, at least a little.’ He didn’t respond, but a flicker of doubt shone in his eyes. ‘Do you recognise him?’

He shook his head. ‘Nay, but with the swollen face, bandage...’ he indicated his own hair ‘...and his hair so short, I can’t say for certain.’

‘What is the matter with you?’ Alstan’s behaviour was so odd, so cold and distant.

‘Cuthbert sent a warrior with the message to Lord Oswine’s. When I heard him speak your name, I thought he must be lying. You would never bring a strange man into your home. Not my sister, I said.’ His eyes flashed with anger.

‘He’s hardly a strange man. You spoke with Cuthbert. He saved me down by the stream and he’s obviously injured. I couldn’t repay his kindness by leaving him to die. You would have done the exact same thing had you been me.’

‘I wouldn’t have been so foolish, had I been you.’ Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head. ‘Why were you even down by the stream, Aisly? You know what happened to those girls. Don’t you think those cowards could take you, too?’

She wanted to be angry at his words, but his eyes were so full of worry that it dampened her temper. Alstan had been thirteen winters when their parents had died and she’d only been eight. Alstan had been old enough to apprentice with Lord Oswine’s warriors. Old enough to leave her behind and forget about her, but he hadn’t. He’d continued to look after her, often bringing her extra food and clothing in addition to what the lady had provided her. He reminded her so much of their father that in some ways he had become that to her. ‘I’m sorry. I was preoccupied and drifted closer to the stream than I should have.’

‘Why were you out there alone?’

‘I was collecting larkspur.’ She motioned towards the house, where she’d planted some in small pots inside. ‘I had to go find some before the frost comes and kills them. In spring I hope to use them to dye my own thread. I didn’t want to bother you. You’re busy enough with the warriors, the harvest, and Hilde and the new baby.’

He took in a deep breath as if he was trying to be patient with her, raking a hand over his reddish beard, before saying, ‘I would have made time to go with you.’

‘Aye, I know, but I’d need to send word to the manor and wait for you to have time. Days would have passed. But I didn’t really need you to come with me. I took the sword with me.’ She gave him her best beseeching look. It had worked in the past.

‘Aisly, I taught you how to wield a sword just in case you ever needed to defend yourself. I didn’t teach you so that you could tempt trouble. I never would have taught you had I known that it would lead to you going off alone.’

His worried eyes be damned, Aisly couldn’t hold back her anger any more. ‘I’m not helpless. I went off alone because I am perfectly capable of handling myself and I know this forest better than any Dane. Aye, I was preoccupied and strayed too close to the stream. It was one mistake that I won’t repeat. Haven’t you ever made a mistake?’

He glared down at her for a moment before speaking. ‘You are too stubborn for your own good. I can’t leave you here alone if I can’t trust you to take care of yourself.’

‘I am not stubborn. I am perfectly reasonable. You are the stubborn one.’ She tried to force a calm to her voice, but she feared it wasn’t working with her jaw clenched as tight as it was. ‘This is my home. This is where I belong.’

‘I won’t teach you the sword any more and you’re lucky I haven’t taken it from you. But I will if you continue to prove to me that I can’t trust you with it.’

‘You are not my father nor are you my husband, Alstan. You have no right to take anything from me.’

‘That is true, but you are still my responsibility. Mine and Wulfric’s. I’ll go to him if I have to.’

She gasped at the betrayal and pressed a hand to the pain in her chest.