Page 68 of The Viking’s Captive

CHAPTER EIEVEN

Betimes the dolt melted her with kindness…

Tyra awakened just after dawn the next morning, prepared to ride off again with her horse hersirs to patrol the borders. She would go in one direction, and Rafn with an equal number of men on horseback would go in another. Two of the twenty longships in the harbor would also be dispatched to inspect the coastal and river shorelines. They were taking no chances of being caught unawares again.

The first thing she saw when she stepped outside her bedchamber was Adam leaning against the corridor wall, waiting for her. The second thing she saw was Warrior hissing and biting at Adam’s boot. While the kitten had developed an attachment for her, she seemed to have developed an aversion to Adam. Vana would have a hissing fit if she saw the cat in the keep.

“You are not coming with me,” she asserted before he could even speak. Still angry with him for his words and actions of the previous night, she began to walk away toward the steps that led to the great hall.

He fell into step beside her, then took her by the arm and drew her to a halt. Warrior trailed behind them. “Not so fast, my bloodthirsty lady. Do not attempt to read my mind, for it is deep and hard to fathom.”

She stood still and faced him, waiting for him to elaborate.

“You are wearing metal, aren’t you?”

“Of course, I am wearing a chain mail shert under my tunic. Do you object to that, too?”

He shook his head sadly. “Nay. If you must ride like an Amazon warrior into danger, ‘tis best that you are protected.” He hesitated, then reached behind him and handed her a silver-embossed shield with a crest of writhing wolves. “Here. Take this with you … for luck. It is mine.”

It was a fine piece of armory, but that was not why she was so stunned. It appeared she had jumped to the wrong conclusion. “You did not come this morn to chastise me again for my warlike ways, did you?”

He shook his head.

“You did not come to insist that you accompany me, either, did you?”

He shook his head again, then smiled, but the smile did not quite meet his eyes. “Actually, I probably would have … chastised and insisted … except that Dagma the dairymaid has chosen today to bring forth her first child, and it is a difficult delivery.”

Dagma was only fourteen years old, and her pregnancy was the result of a rape the previous winter by a passing tradesman. The man had been executed Viking-style, but that did not help Dagma and her predicament.

Just then Tyra noticed the dark circles under Adam’s eyes. “You have been up all night with Dagma, haven’t you?”

He nodded.

‘Twould seem she had misjudged Adam in many regards. “Will she be all right?”

“ ‘Tis hard to say. The girl has a child’s slim hips, and the babe is overlarge. Moreover, she has been laboring for a full fifteen hours already, to no avail.” He shrugged. “God willing, she will survive.”

Tyra could tell that Adam cared more than he was saying. “I’m sorry you are set in the midst of this. I know you did not want to resume your medical practice, and here you are, not just treating my father, but everyone else as well. You do not have to help Dagma. Let the midwife care for her … or Father Efrid.”

“I must.”

She frowned her confusion.

“I promised Dagma I would stay with her to the end.”

“And your promises are solid as rock.”

“Even rocks can be broken, and I have not always lived up to my promises in the past, my lady. Do not set me on a pedestal where I do not belong.”

Tyra recalled then what Rashid had told her about Adam and his dead sister, Adela. Her heart went out to Adam, but she knew his pride was great, and he would not appreciate any overt sign of her pity.

“Should you not be with Dagma now?”

He nodded. “The babe will not come for several hours yet, though the birthing canal has finally started to open.”

“So be it. I wish you well, physician.”

“And I wish you well, soldier.”