“Listen, Kilda, just play along.”
“What do you mean play along?”
“You know.”
My temper flares. Enough of these games.
“No, I don’t. Speak your mind. Isn’t that what men do?”
He steps forward, towering above me. Questioning a warrior’s masculinity is never a good move.
“What do you know of men?” He laughs. “You know what they say about you and that ergi skald?”
Ergi? Ari? A submissive man? The skald? Saying that in front of Ari would lead to a duel. Njord was big like Vidar, yet we all saw how that went. He wants me to react, wants me to flare up. But I will stay in control. I hold my tongue.
“I enjoy your company,” he says. “But my patience wears thin.”
“I…”
My tongue dries in my mouth. My pulse hammers against my ribs. His looming mass swallows the space in my tiny house.
“Out with it,” Vidar presses, his voice low.
I swallow. Hard.
“I don’t want trouble.”
He tilts his head, amused.
“That’s the problem with you.”
A finger is placed under my chin. He uses it to raise my face to his.
“You think trouble comes to you, but you are its source.”
Vidar leans in slowly, deliberately. Claiming my private space as his. For a split second, my body and mind are locked in ice. Seriously? Is he trying to fucking kiss me?
Instinct kicks in. It’s not even a choice. I slap away his hand. His smile dies.
Silence. Tension that could snap like a twig.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I refuse to look away. To give him the victory of my submission. Fuck Vidar.
His nostrils flare.
“Careful,” he murmurs. “You forget who your allies are.”
“No,” I say, surprised at how steady my voice is. “I remember perfectly.”
His eyes sharpen as he raises himself to his full height. He tosses his head back in laughter. Not with kindness. With perverted pleasure. Like a man who can finally play the game he wants. Or maybe it’s forced, actually. He wants power. He wants to dominate me.
“There she is,” he says softly. “Kilda the Bull.”
“Just Kilda now.”
“Oh no, you still have the balls. Unlike that ergi shitbag.”
My shoulders stiffen at his insult. A part of me wants to lash out, lunge at him and scratch his eyes. That’s what he wants. To rattle me. I refuse to take the bait. Ari would kill him for the words.
