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He held out his hand to the dogs. They immediately came over and he fed them a treat, oblivious to her inner turmoil. ‘Watch! I’ve been training them while you were gone.’
‘Very good.’
Rurik was obviously so proud of the way both dogs sat for him and waited for the possibility of another treat. ‘Then I can have my own dog? To sleep at the end of my bed?’
‘We will see,’ Kara replied carefully. Ash was right. Rurik did need the responsibility of owning a dog and training one. In the new year, rather than at Jul-tide as Ash suggested. In the new year, he’d be that much older and ready to look after a dog. ‘Both Dain and Durin love saying goodnight to you. How could I deprive them of their treat?’
Rurik flushed. ‘Gudrun said you might not because I had been so naughty. I didn’t mean to be naughty. I just wanted to...be the first one to see my new father. I knew he would come today, despite what Virvir said. And I’m not a baby!’
‘Who called you a baby?’ Kara grew indignant on her son’s behalf. ‘Your father in the graveyard?’
‘It...it doesn’t matter.’
‘I want to know!’
‘It was Virvir in the kitchen when he saw my tears. Gudrun agreed with him.’
Gudrun! Kara pressed her lips together and concentrated on arranging the blankets and sheets so they were tucked about Rurik’s shoulders. She would have words with the woman again. She was not about to have her son belittled like Hring had done with Ash. She thought she had stopped it years ago.
‘I know what you wanted to do and climbing is expressly forbidden. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to my boy. And you didn’t ruin anything. I just want to keep you safe.’
‘You are not angry with me. Far said you wouldn’t be, but then he started shouting and I became frightened. I acted like a baby.’
‘Gudrun was wrong.’ She smoothed Rurik’s fair hair from his forehead. ‘His leg pained him because he saved you.’
Rurik wrinkled his nose. ‘I thought he might be scared. It can’t be easy to see your own grave. Do warriors get scared?’
Kara bit her lip. Out of the mouth of her child. She might love this house, but it could not have been easy for him coming back, wondering what his father would have thought. ‘You know, I think you are right. He was scared. Everyone gets scared.’
Rurik’s eyes widened. ‘I thought so. But his leg hurts him, too. I could see that. He didn’t want me to know, but his lips were white with pain.’
‘You notice little details, Rurik. That is really good. It will help you when you become a warrior. Your father told me that one.’
‘Will my father be proud of me?’
Kara pulled up the blanket so it was tight about her son. ‘You are his son. All fathers are proud of their sons.’
Rurik gave a large yawn. ‘Far-far wasn’t. He told me once.’
‘Your grandfather sometimes said things he didn’t mean.’ Kara wished she could have shaken Hring. ‘He had the saga written about your father. You know the one which said he was a great hero.’
‘Oh, I forgot.’
A tiny pain developed in her eyes. She had been hiding important things from Ash. If he understood why she worried about Rurik, maybe then he’d see why Rurik’s training had to wait. And why Rurik needed to be trained differently from how he was.
Kara screwed up her eyes. She had to tell Ash the truth about Rurik’s birth. Tonight before she lost her nerve. She had to stop being afraid about what Ash might think about the way she had saved Rurik’s life. Having met Rurik, Ash would understand why she had acted the way she did. The time had come to explain about their son and why he needed to be kept safe. And she’d bring him some salve for his leg as a peace offering.
‘Mor, is everything all right? You look upset.’ Rurik put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Far is going to stay. He won’t be ashamed of me and go? Because of what I did? How I cried when he shouted? Gudrun said he might unless I was super-good and brave.’
‘Gudrun should never have said that.’ Kara struggled to contain her anger at Gudrun. Maybe it was time the elderly woman retired. ‘She is completely wrong. Your father is very proud of you and the way you handled yourself on the roof. You did what he asked and did not panic. You kept hold until you were rescued. Not many boys your age would have done that.’
Kara knew the words were true. Ash was proud of Rurik. Whatever happened between them, he would not be leaving because of his son.
