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He tilted his head in surprise.
“Ianthe told me.”
“What else did she tell you?”
Oooh, I like the look of worry on his sorry face. “Plenty.”
When he waited and she said no more, good soldier that he was, he chose to attack from a different angle.
She should have been prepared. She should have had her drawbridge up and her defenses mounted.
“So, tell me about your child’s father. The man you presumably bedded right after you abandoned me to near death.”
“I did not ... he is not ... I will not ...” she sputtered. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods! The web of my lies keeps getting bigger and bigger. She calmed herself by inhaling and exhaling several times. “ ’Tis none of your concern.” How I wish that were true.
“You lie,” he said. “Believe you me, your face tells all when you utter falsehoods. But I wonder why.”
“Leave off, Sidroc, I have too much on my mind to answer your questions.” And I need more time to polish my lies. Or polish the truth when I give it to you.
“You lie again. All right. We will delay speaking of your lover, but what I want to—”
Just then they were interrupted by several little girls who ran in front of them, chasing after a goat that had gotten loose from one of the stalls. Laughing and giggling, they dodged this way and that, their long hair whipping about their sweet faces.
Drifa was reminded of Runa, of course, whom, of a sudden, she missed sorely. How Runa would love seeing the bazaar! Drifa vowed to buy the little girl many gifts to make up for her absence. Maybe even that marble game she’d seen. And a Greek gown in her favorite color, blue. Dozens of ribbons of every color in the rainbow.
She inhaled and exhaled to calm herself as they resumed walking. Only then did she realize that Sidroc was studying her closely.
“What now?” she asked.
“Tell me about your child?”
Chapter Ten
Viking James Bonds, they were not ...
As he and Finn waited for their appointment with General Sclerus, Sidroc mulled an untenable, too-horrifying-to-contemplate prospect.
“Could Drifa’s child be mine?”
“Whaaat?” Finn nigh shouted.
Sidroc hadn’t realized he’d spoken his concern aloud. Well, too late now. “Every time I mention Drifa’s child, she gets skittish. In fact, you could say she is downright fearful. And not once does she answer my questions about the girl ... Runa by name, I think.”
“Could you have forgotten having tupped her?”
“Holy Thor, nay! I am not demented enough, despite the hole in my head, nor so widely tupped, to forget such an event, especially with a Norse princess. But what if she swived me whilst I was in the death-sleep?”
Finn’s eyes widened at the possibility, but then he pointed out, “I was there most of the time at your bedside.”
“But there was that time when you went to Vikstead to look for Signe?”
“You have the right of it, but honestly, Sidroc, I have ne’er heard of such happening afore. Although ’tis a well-known fact that men’s cocks sustain enthusiasms whilst asleep. In truth, one time my morning enthusiasm was so big I would have bronzed it if I could.”
That was not a picture Sidroc needed in his head. “Is it so far afield to think a woman couldn’t hop onto an erection and have her way with a helpless man?”
“Yea, it is too far-fetched.” This from Finn, the master of far-fetched. “But we come back to the question: Why is she so scared?”
“I do not know.” You can be sure I will find out, though. “Still ... I cannot fathom it. Drifa? The princess of prim?”
