“What are you doing?” hisses Eidunn.
“I know where you can go.”
“Where I can go? Have you gone mad?”
“You’re mad accepting a life like this.”
“Here we go again…”
“Look at your eye, Eidunn,” I say panting. “Look at your beautiful face.”
“Just fuck off already.”
Her jaw trembles as she scowls at me. I keep my face rigid.
“You can’t let Vidar do this.”
She steps backward, shaking her head in disbelief. Her defiance seems to melt away as she sits on the bed, crying into her palms. A wet, stifled sob cracks through the room. She looks smaller than she ever has before.
“He owns me, Kilda. How… How… How fucking stupid are you?”
I deserve that. Seeing Eidunn this way rips my heart apart. Strips me of my pride. While she has suffered as a consequence of my actions, I’ve been… I’ve been fucking Ari. I shake my head to clear it.
“You’re worth more than this,” I say as calm as I can.
“I’m a slave! So are you!”
“We aren’t slaves. We are women chained by men.”
She scoffs. I barely believe it myself. But what’s the alternative? Being a servant to disgusting rapists? Being at the mercy of the heartless? Eidunn sniffles.
“Oh, fucking brilliant line. Very helpful.”
“Ylvin told me that it’s?—”
“Ylvin? You mean the weird woman in the woods? I am Vidar’s property by fucking law, Kilda!”
“I don’t care.”
“No, you don’t. What do you care about?”
“You.”
“Me?” she says with a snort.
“You.”
“You care more about your fling with that dirty skald.”
“Fuck the skald. I’m here for you.” I have to help her. After everything, I have to be here for her. All the pain I have caused. I need to calm her. “Take a deep breath.”
To my surprise, she actually obeys. Breathing in deep before a long exhale. Now is my time to drive my point home.
“If we can’t be free, we can at least try to make our lives better.”
“And how would we do that? All be privileged witches, perhaps?”
“No, I?—”
