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‘It is over now, Blodvin.’ Hrolf advanced steadily.
Inga struggled against Blodvin’s grip. ‘She is lying. She is a troll wife!’
‘You see what I mean.’
‘Release my daughter, Blodvin. Lavrans is dead.’ Hrolf advanced slowly towards them. He had never killed a pregnant woman before and he had no intention of starting, but if she put Inga or Sayrid in any more danger, he refused to be held accountable for his actions.
The woman shook her head. ‘He can’t be. He is…is invincible.’
‘I killed him in a fair fight.’ He gauged the distance. ‘The game is over, Blodvin. We know what you have done. I found Regin.’
‘You know nothing.’ The woman took a step backwards towards the cliff edge. Several rocks tumbled down. Blodvin lost her balance and began to circle her arms while Inga started screaming.
‘No!’ The raw sound emerged from Sayrid’s throat. She dashed forward just as Blodvin took another step backwards off the cliff. With one flying leap she grabbed Inga’s ankle before the little girl was dragged off.
Blodvin’s and Inga’s screams rang in her ears. She fought to pull the pair up, but her muscles screamed in protest. She felt Inga’s ankle begin to slip from her grasp.
In a heartbeat Hrolf was beside her. ‘We will save you. Hang on!’
‘I’m trying, Far!’
Hrolf’s large hands closed about Inga’s legs. ‘I have you. Sayrid and I have you, Inga.’
‘Hold on, Blodvin,’ Sayrid shouted. ‘We can save you and your baby.’
The only answer was a piercing shriek, but she kept hold of Inga.
Working together, they pulled the pair back up. Sayrid was half an inch from Blodvin’s hand when the woman shook her head.
‘No, I can’t do it. I can’t live if I’ve lost everything.’ Very deliberately she let go of one of Inga’s wrists.
Sayrid leant a few extra inches. Her fingers clamped about the woman’s wrist as Blodvin dug her nails in, scratching and clawing at her. ‘You are not getting away that easily.’
Hrolf bent down and hauled the woman up. ‘Bind her arms.’
‘But…but…but…’ Blodvin spluttered. ‘I’m pregnant.’
‘That will be something Kettil will take into consideration when he decides your fate,’ Hrolf replied. He reached into his pocket, retrieved the horn and blew three blasts. ‘We will wait here for the others to arrive. You are my prisoner now. Sayrid, look after Inga.’
‘My pleasure.’
Hrolf tied Blodvin up. All pretence to gentility had vanished. Blodvin fought him until he secured her hands behind her back and tied her feet.
In very little time, several of his men appeared and took charge of the now-deranged prisoner.
‘You’re safe,’ Sayrid murmured against Inga’s hair as they set off towards the ruined hall. ‘My brave daughter, you are safe.’
The girl turned a tear-stained face towards her. ‘I was brave like you. Do you think my father will love me now like he loves you?’
It was on the tip of Sayrid’s tongue to tell her that Hrolf had no great feelings for his wife and that it had all been about the land. But she swallowed the words. The little girl needed her illusions of romance. ‘Your father loved you before. After all, he brought you to this land so that you could be near him.’
Inga’s brow knitted together. In that instant, Sayrid saw a female version of Hrolf. ‘I never thought about that.’
‘You look very like your father when you frown like that.’
Inga coloured. ‘Do I really?’
Hrolf picked his daughter up. ‘How you could ever doubt I love you, Inga, is beyond me. And Sayrid is right. You take after my late mother, a very brave woman who loved her family. I never saw that before. Remind me to tell you about her sometime.’
Sayrid noted with a pang that he said nothing about loving her, his wife. She was wrong to hope. But it was a start. He was speaking about his mother.
‘And Blodvin?’ Inga asked.
‘Going where troll wives go,’ Sayrid answered shortly. ‘She will never bother you again.’
‘Good.’
Hrolf watched his wife stand slightly apart with her ash-white hair blowing in the wind. Her dress was marked and torn. Her face was covered with a mixture of soot, dust and sweat, but she had never looked more beautiful.
This was what she was born to do. And he was wrong to think otherwise. She needed to be able to visit other lands and be the sort of woman she was meant to be.
He’d been wrong to try to change her. He’d been wrong to try to tame her.
‘Sayrid,’ he said, intending to tell her some of it.
