Free Captive Heart by Phoebe Conn Page A

protected from the chill of the cold wind as they huddled inside. Celiese was grateful Mylan had not left her, but thought it wise not to inquire into the reason for his kindness.
    “You are the most worthless of slaves, Celiese, more trouble than help!” Mylan was still scowling angrily, his mood not improved by the good fortune of finding shelter.
    “Am I no longer your wife?” He seemed to use the words slave and wife interchangeably, but she could not believe he regarded her as a servant when she lay so lovingly cradled in his warm embrace. His hands were light upon her arms, his touch gentle still.
    “It was Olgrethe I thought I’d married, to seal a treaty Raktor had no intention of honoring! How could you have expected to be my wife when you knew it was unlikely I’d survive our wedding night?” Mylan snarled impatiently, caring little for her reply.
    Celiese sighed softly, “There is no way for me to prove my innocence if you will not accept my word. Raktor himself will never tell you the truth, but I did not know what treacherous scheme was behind his desire to switch me for Olgrethe.”
    Mylan continued, his voice no less bitter, “Even had he meant to honor his promise to my father, would he have sent her?”
    Celiese licked her lips slowly, considering how best to answer that question, and chose the truth. “He would have sent her, but it would have been I who arrived. Olgrethe and I had already planned to trade places, for I wanted to come to you and she did not.”
    Mylan was astonished by her candor, “So you admit you are a liar, as capable of tricking me as Raktor was?”
    Again Celiese chose her words carefully. “It was Olgrethe herself who first suggested the substitution, for there is such slight difference between us she knew you would be fooled. She has found no man she has met to be to her liking and was certain one who had not been seen in two years must have something truly horrible to hide. I thought only that I would be free if I married you. I have no hope of ever returning to my home, for all who I loved are dead, and it would be pointless for me to return to live alone amid so many painful memories. I knew you would not be displeased with my appearance, and I hoped you would be kind, no matter how severely you’d been injured by the bear’s attack.”
    “You are a slave, Celiese, how could you have believed I would accept such a woman as my wife?” Mylan scoffed at the ridiculousness of that notion.
    Celiese straightened her shoulders proudly as she argued. “It is not uncommon for a Viking to marry a former slave, but I am the one who has married beneath my station, Mylan, not you. Had Raktor not murdered my family and stolen me I would now be the bride of a prince, for my father would have accepted no less for me. He most certainly would never have given me to a pirate such as you!”
    Mylan laughed out loud, despite the severity of their situation. “Then we are both equally unhappy, Celiese, for I want no slave for a bride and you want no pirate for a husband.” He continued to shake his head as he chuckled, “I am many things, but no pirate.”
    “And I am no slave!” Celiese insisted defiantly, her clear, sweet voice ringing with the unmistakable knell of truth.
    After a moment’s pause Mylan asked pointedly, “Surely there is one great difference between you and Olgrethe. Did you think me so great a fool I would not realize you were not a virgin? Not even a French prince would be that stupid.”
    “I thought you would be like Raktor’s sons, oafs ruled by their own insatiable lusts, and to fool a man such as they would not have been difficult,” Celiese pointed out logically.
    “First you said you hoped I would be kind, and now that you thought I would be a drunken fool! You are a very poor liar, Celiese, for you cannot keep your stories straight. You would be wise to tell me the truth from now on, if you are even capable of it.”
    Celiese looked away, hurt