‘Your father is a wise man, with very pretty daughters.’
‘It is Jarl Finnleik.’
There was a long pause. My husband’s face showed no reaction.
‘I have heard the stories. I know what kind of a man he is, Sigurd.’
‘Then it will do you good to know that if we are all to live, it would be wise that your sister marries Jarl Finnleik and that your father thinks better than to betray him. Jarl Finnleik is not a man who will stand for it.’
‘Marry him?’ I blurted out. How had I let myself believe that my husband would stand by me, that it would be my word that he would follow? I was no more than a wife. My husband’s responsibility. Something to adorn his arm like the gold circlets from battle. ‘She cannot marry him. I will not allo–’
‘We will speak no more of it,’ he said. ‘Thorkell, ready the horses to leave at first light, I have spent no time with my wife. We will spend the day together and I shall show her the Jarldom.’
‘My fearless husband, frightened of a mere thorn in my father’s borders.’ I tried to goad him.
‘You speak the truth.’ He considered his thoughts. ‘There is little I am frightened of, but I would not go against him in combat. Ragnar is a dangerous man. A man without fear. A man with nothing to lose.’
Travelling with Sigurd would be the opportunity I needed to make him change his mind. He would help me bring Donada home, I was sure of it. We would travel to her wedding with his warlords to meet my father and we would take her right fromunder my father’s nose. With days stretching ahead of us, it would be all I would need.
Chapter 22
He is Truly Wise who’s Travelled Far and Knows the Ways of the World
After an evening of fitful sleep. I had been visited only by nightmares. Sigurd had slept soundlessly, as though he were entombed beneath his heavy furs. I had my suspicions that it had been the honied mead that stilled him for even the grinding of his teeth had not been enough to wake him. It had sounded as though the bed were being gnawed by rats. He did not move a muscle until the sun rose.
By the time Ligach woke me with a bowl of last night’s broth he had already left. No doubt trying to avoid any more talk of my sister and her impending wedding. I dressed hastily, in one of the gowns that Estrid had helped me expand, to cover my ever-growing frame. Her gowns were not as close-fitting as my own.
At the table, I pecked at the food. Not knowing how long it would be before I would eat again. Ligach watched from the doorway.
‘You’ll be alone with him for days. What is it he intends you to do?’
I stopped bowl at my lips. ‘I think he intends to show me the workings of the Jarldom.’ I thought on it. ‘It can only be a good thing. The more I learn of it, the better prepared I am when my husband leaves to raid and I am left here alone.’
‘I wouldn’t trust him. He’s as slippery as an eel.’
‘He isn’t so bad. He allowed me to free you, after all.’
‘Aye, weel. I dinna trust him and you shouldn’t either.’ She rested her back against the door frame. ‘They are not our people. They’ll burn in hell for what they do.’
As she said it, Sigurd breezed past her. ‘I am not scared to burn in your hell. At least it will be warmer than my own.’ He planted a kiss on the top of my head.
Remembering moments like this, I know if they had had more time they would have liked each other. Sigurd would have taken her as one of his shield maidens. He always loved anyone with spirit.
‘I see you have returned.’ I waved a hand to dismiss Ligach. She scowled before disappearing through the door.
‘The horses are readied. I have had Thorkell tie both falcons to my gelding.’
‘You intend us to hunt?’ I was unsure of what our journey would entail but I had not planned on hunting. I needed my husband’s attention. It would be the only way that I would be able to persuade him to sail to Atholl and bring my sister home.
‘While we travel, I was hoping you would teach me?’
‘Of course.’ I smiled. ‘It would be good for us.’
‘Come,’ he said, holding out my travelling cloak. ‘We must leave if are to be there before nightfall.’ He looked down at my frame. ‘We will need to travel slowly.’
Outside, the horses were waiting for us. The air was chilled with a winter that I had not felt since I was eight summers old. I pulled my cloak tighter as I watched snowflakes drift slowly down, coming to rest on my cold cheeks.
‘It is going to be a cold winter,’ I said.
