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She shook her head. ‘I know…I know…we need to get back. There is a lot to do to secure the remains of the hall.’
She started to move brusquely down the hill. Hrolf sighed.
‘You should tell Sayrid that you love her,’ Inga said, snuggling her head down on his shoulder. ‘It is the sort of thing ladies like to hear.’
* * *
Sayrid stared at the smouldering pile of wood that had been her childhood home. Tomorrow would be soon enough to start rebuilding. She dreaded to think what had been lost, but it was nothing compared to what had nearly been lost.
A bone-tired weariness swept over her. She wondered if she’d have the heart to start again. She’d missed what must have been obvious to everyone, that her brother was a traitor. She had to wonder what else she’d missed. And how could Hrolf feel anything for her now? She had put his beloved daughter in danger. Her blind refusal even to consider the possibility of her brother’s guilt had nearly destroyed them all.
She started to move some of the wood.
‘Leave it, Sayrid,’ Hrolf said, coming to stand beside her. The setting sun turned his hair golden. ‘There will be time for that tomorrow. You look absolutely exhausted.’
‘Magda reported that she thinks my brother should survive,’ she began before he could say anything more damning. ‘She has given him a sleeping draught. I know I said earlier that it would be easier if he died, but he is my brother.’
‘It is good to know.’ His brow creased. ‘He will have to face trial with Blodvin, but I will speak in his favour.’
‘You will?’
He nodded slowly. ‘A man will do a lot for the woman he loves and his child. In the end he tried to do the right thing and he certainly did not know the extent of their plans. It is thanks in part to him that we were able to save Inga.’
Sayrid dropped the wood with a loud clunk. It amazed her that Hrolf was willing to forgive her brother even a little bit. The ache in her heart was too raw.
‘I wanted to apologize,’ she said before she lost her nerve. ‘You were right and I didn’t want to see it. I never considered my brother to be capable of such a thing.’
‘It is a measure of how much you love your brother and sister that you couldn’t. I see that now.’
Sayrid nodded.
‘Blodvin confessed everything while you were with your brother.’ He shook his head. ‘Once she started talking, she found it impossible to stop. I made sure that three of my men also heard the confession. She and Lavrans planned it all. They were going to murder you and your brother and claim the land through the baby. I underestimated her cold-bloodedness.’
‘We all did.’ A shiver ran down Sayrid’s back. She had unknowingly harboured a viper. She had come so close to death. And she was as guilty as Hrolf about underestimating people. She had assumed that because Blodvin played the pretty and helpless female that was what she was. ‘Where is she now?’
‘I have sent her under guard to Kettil. It is over, Sayrid. You will not have to suffer from that troll wife again.’
‘I see where Inga gets her colourful language.’
‘Inga is right about her. Troll wife fits.’
‘How did Blodvin know Lavrans?’
‘Her father has been in his pay for years. You were right about that.’
‘But why did he want you to marry Blodvin? Surely he knew what would happen!’
‘They had a falling-out over Blodvin as her father wanted her to be Lavrans’s wife, not his concubine. Lavrans disagreed.’ Hrolf’s face became grim. ‘From what she said, they became lovers shortly before Blodvin seduced your brother. Lavrans wanted to exact his revenge on your family in the most horrible way imaginable.’
Sayrid shook her head. The knowledge gave her no pleasure. ‘Poor Regin. He had terrible judgement when it came to falling in love.’
Hrolf stood awkwardly at her side. ‘Love will make a man do many things. It makes what I have to say awkward.’
Sayrid put a hand to her head. Her heart splintered into a thousand shards. The events of this morning should be pulling them closer together, but all she could think about was how her brother had betrayed them and how her husband had very nearly lost his daughter.
She’d once scoffed at Regin about love, but she understood now how one person could take over your life. ‘Awkward?’
He pulled her closer, preventing her from moving. ‘I’ve done you a disservice. I thought that you needed taming and that no woman could ever enjoy battles. That women needed protecting.’
‘It is what I’m good at. Far better than sewing.’ She wrapped her arms about her waist. ‘Once I thought it would be my whole life and now…I see that I allowed fear to rule me. I am capable of many things. All I had to do was to try. You gave me the courage to do that.’
