Erik leaned back in his chair, waiting until they’d vanished up the stairs. “So. Douglas Graham.”
“Aye,” Ragnar said, dragging his thoughts away from gray-green eyes and trembling hands. “He’s nae finished.”
They talked strategy—guard rotations, Douglas’s likely movements, how long the other jarls could stay. But Ragnar’s mind kept drifting back to Isolda standing with her spine straight, facing down a drunk warrior with nothing but her own courage.
Much later, after the others had retired, Ragnar climbed the stairs toward his chambers. He paused outside Isolda’s door, close enough to hear if she needed anything, far enough to preserve the fiction of distance.
No sound came from within.
He continued to his own room, but sleep felt impossible. Instead, he stood at the window overlooking the sea—the same view she had from her chambers. Moonlight turned the water to hammered silver. Waves rolled in with the patient rhythm of something eternal, breaking white against the rocks far below. The wind carried salt and distance and he wondered what she thought when she looked out at that very same endless water.
Freedom. Escape.A horizon that promised something beyond stone walls and forced.
A knock interrupted his thoughts. Freyr entered without waiting for permission.
“Problem?” Ragnar asked.
“Scout just returned. Found signs of a camp five miles south—recent, multiple men, well-supplied.” Freyr’s jaw tightened. “They’re nae leavin’, Ragnar. They’re diggin’ in. Watchin’.”
“Douglas.”
“Has tae be.” Freyr moved to stand beside him at the window, both of them staring out at the moonlit water. “He’s bidin’ his time. Waitin’ fer the right moment tae strike.”
“Just keep a close eye on it.”
Ragnar’s hands clenched on the windowsill. Below, the castle slept peacefully—his people, his guests, his unwilling bride dreaming behind stone walls that suddenly felt far too thin.
All while Douglas was out there in the dark, patient as death, waiting for the perfect moment to shatter whatever fragile peace they’d managed to build.
I’ll keep ye safe,he thought.Tomorrow, and every day after. Whatever it costs.
Even if she never forgave him for it.
