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‘I will listen to him...for your grandfather’s sake,’ the king said.
Ash peered at the insignia. He had told Kara that he didn’t need anyone, but she had come anyway. That alone gave him hope. His hand closed around his uncle’s captain’s brooch and held it up high.
‘Here is your proof, Uncle. Or do you deny the evidence of your own eyes? Your captain attacked me and my family. The same captain who attacked my ship. I can remember his crest from years ago. My father used to make me recite the crests as punishment. A snake curled about a raven.’
His uncle’s eyes darted about the room. ‘I fear I may have been mistaken. My captain acted without my orders.’
‘I thought your men always obeyed your orders.’
‘I...I...’
The king lifted his hand and motioned to the guards. ‘Seize Harald Haraldson.’
For a telling pause, none of them moved. Then one of them grabbed his uncle and pinned his arms behind his back. ‘My loyalty is to the king!’
Ash bowed his head. It was over. His uncle had lost.
* * *
Kara waited outside the king’s hall for Ash. Auda had come into town and had taken Rurik away to play with her sons so that Kara could be alone with Ash. However, the king had requested a private audience, which had gone on and on.
Ash’s uncle vanquished, Ash triumphant. Everything that Ash once wanted was coming true. He looked to be every inch the warrior hero, a man other men could admire.
She should be happy for him, but it meant she was going to lose him. She wanted to go back to the ease they’d had in the woods when it had been just the two of them, before any of this had started. She wanted someone with her, sharing her life, but how could she deny him his dreams?
She had been wrong earlier. She had not safeguarded her heart. There was nothing left to safeguard. She had given it to Ash years ago. She wanted to beat her fists against his chest and cry that she wanted him to stay.
Kara hugged her arms about her waist. She couldn’t do that to him seven years ago and she couldn’t do it to him now. But she could let him know she would welcome him back and she would wait. For ever if necessary. She could take a risk with her heart.
‘Kara!’ Ash came out of the hall and enfolded her in his arms.
‘You must tell me everything.’
He rapidly explained that his uncle had confessed everything, including his plot to overthrow the king. Kara listened with mounting horror as she realised how close they had come to disaster.
‘But all that doesn’t matter. You waited for me,’ Ash said, smoothing the hair from her forehead. ‘I wanted to apologise. Your quick thinking and Rurik’s saved me. I said earlier that I didn’t need you but I was wrong. I do. I need my family.’
‘I will always wait.’
He laid his cheek on the top of her head. ‘It is good to know.’
She inhaled, breathing in his spicy scent, savouring the moment. ‘You’re going away again. You need not be gentle with me.’
He loosened his arms and peered down at her. ‘Do you want me to go? Will you let me go without a fight?’
‘If it is what the king commands, who am I to say no? But you will have a fight on your hands if you don’t come home. I will go and search you out.’ She squared her shoulders. She had to take the risk and say the words. If she didn’t say the words and he went again, he’d never know. ‘I love you, Ash the person, not Ash the hero or Ash the warrior or even Ash the farmer if you wish to be that, but they are part of you. They make you into the man I love. And I’d rather have you to love than a thousand other men.’
‘But you want me to go. You will find it easier if I’m not underfoot, making changes to your well-ordered life.’
She shook her head, smiling. ‘I prefer your chaos to my order. I would like you to stay and be a farmer, but I don’t think you would enjoy it.’
He laughed. ‘Answer the question. I can always beat my sword into a plough. I’m willing to try.’
Kara sobered. ‘I want you to stay, but I saw your face in the aftermath of the attack. You live for adventure. It makes you alive. I’ve no wish for you to live a half-life. You would be bored at Jaarlshiem, being a farmer. I can carry the burden of the estate, knowing that you will come back to me.’
‘You are wrong there, Kara.’ He smoothed her hair away from her forehead. ‘I live for you. The only reason I am alive is because of you. You are the face I fight for. I didn’t realise it fully until we were attacked and I had to fight, but I have been always fighting to return to you. I am not fighting to get away from you. Quite the opposite. I need you in my life. I once selfishly loved you because you made me feel like I could be a hero. You believed in my dreams. Then when my dreams turned to dust, I couldn’t face you turning away from me. I still want to be your hero, Kara, but I want to be part of your life more.’
