Free By Love Enslaved by Phoebe Conn Page A

Soren, and he hates having it trimmed as much as you do. It was a good thing I happened along, since Erik was making such a mess of the job he would have left the thrall nearly bald.”
    Erik opened his mouth to argue, then thought better of it. “You’re right, Thora. I’m a poor barber, it seems.”
    Freya took a sip of ale and then set her tankard upon the small table which had been placed in front of her bench to hold the evening meal. “I should have told you to stay away from the man, baby. What’s done is done, but I don’t want you talking with him again. I’m sure he’s no fit companion for a young girl, so just stay out of his way. It’s not your fault, Erik, I know Thora is always underfoot, but you must keep Brendan too busy working to have any time to chat with children. What did you plan to have him do tomorrow?”
    When Dana dropped her spoon with a loud clatter, Erik knew she had been as badly startled by the question as he was. “It will take me a few days to decide what he does best.”
    “From what Grena told us, he is an expert horseman. Isn’t there plenty of work for him to do around the stable?” Freya inquired with a curious glance. Her lashes were as long and thick as her daughters’, and her face was now so thin her eyes were her dominant feature.
    “Well, yes, I suppose there is,” Erik was forced to admit. When Dana gave him an encouraging nod, he continued with a forceful show of confidence. “I think I’ll release the stable boys to work in the fields and turn their work over to Brendan. That will give him more than enough to do.”
    “Good. For as long as he’s here I want him to earn his keep,” Freya instructed with the quiet competence which marked all her actions. “After we have finished breakfast in the morning, bring him to me. I didn’t feel up to speaking with him today, but I’m certain that I will tomorrow.”
    Dana exchanged a stricken glance with Erik before she hurriedly attempted to change Freya’s mind. “I really don’t think that’s wise, Mother. Erik and I can handle the man. You needn’t trouble yourself over him. His presence here really doesn’t merit your attention. He’s already insufferably arrogant. If you give him any of your time, he’ll be so flattered it will make him even worse.”
    Surprised not only by Dana’s opinion but also by the fervor with which she had expressed it, Freya glanced at the other members of her family to see if they shared it. She found Erik’s expression equally determined, but then he and Dana usually agreed. Soren was bent so low over his plate his nose was in danger of becoming coated with gravy. The fourteen-year-old’s silence puzzled her, but she found it preferable to the stream of complaints he usually made during supper. As for Thora, her violet eyes were alight with mischief.
    “I like Brendan,” the lively girl announced when her mother looked her way. “I don’t see how you can say I can’t talk to him when you haven’t met him. Maybe you’ll like him too.”
    “Mother’s right, Thora,” Dana insisted in the same emphatic tone she had just used with Freya. “We know almost nothing about Brendan. We can’t trust him like we do our servants. He might try to befriend you in hopes you’ll help him escape.”
    “That’s silly. Fyn is an island,” Thora remarked with a giggle. “He can’t escape.”
    “Let me put it this way, Thora,” Erik said, swiftly coming to Dana’s aid. “I plan to keep Brendan too busy to talk with anyone. If you pester him with questions, then he won’t get his work done and I’ll have to punish him. If you like him as you say you do, then you’ll spare him that pain and keep away from him.”
    Thora knew Erik didn’t make idle threats, and rather than waste her breath arguing with him, she grabbed up her freshly buttered bread and took a savage bite. She continued to glare at her half brother as she chewed, letting him know that while he may have