Free Viking: Legends of the North: A Limited Edition Boxed Set by Tanya Anne Crosby, Miriam Minger, Shelly Thacker, Glynnis Campbell

tried to challenge her. She’d been a victim once. She didn’t intend to be one again.
    “Did you see me, Da?” Kimbery yelled after she’d done a perfect forward roll and lunged forward with her wooden sword.
    “Aye,” he called back, “well done.” But his gaze wasn’t on Kimbery. He was looking at Avril again with that smoldering heat, like a wolf about to devour a lamb.
    She gulped. No one had ever looked at her with such hunger. It made her knees weak and warmed her all over. Curious lightning charged the air, an uncontrollable current born of the strange attraction between them. It sucked the will from her and made her long to do things against her nature—to go to him, to touch him, to kiss him—which terrified her, because her sword was a useless weapon against her own desire.
    But fear turned quickly to self-loathing and then fury. Troubled by her wayward emotions and reminding herself that he was her enemy, that his kind had murdered her people and ruined her life, she broke off her gaze and shook free with a shudder, trying to focus again on her lesson with Kimbery.
    “Mama, I want to spar with Da,” the little girl said, skipping in a circle.
    Sweeping her blade sharply through the air, Avril barked, “Don’t call him that!”
    Kimbery stopped skipping. “What should I call him, Mama?”
    Avril could think of a dozen names for the Viking, none fit for the ears of a child. Before she could choose one, he answered.
    “Brandr,” he called from the cottage. “My name is Brandr.”
    It was a strong name—a strong name for a strong man. But she didn’t want to know his name. Knowing his name made things worse. He was easy to despise when he was simply a Viking, a Northman, a marauder. Calling him Brandr made him a man of flesh and blood.
    “Can Brandr fight with us, Mama?”
    “Nay.”
    “Why not?” Kimmie asked.
    He answered before she had a chance. “I wouldn’t want to hurt you, little one.”
    Avril smirked at that. “He’s afraid he might lose.”
    Brandr lifted a brow and gave her a cocky smile. “Not even with a broken arm.”
    His grin sent a shiver through her. She hoped it was a shiver of revulsion. She feared it was something else, something that made her feel lightheaded and foolhardy, almost crazy enough to free him and let him try…almost.
    But she wasn’t a fool. She couldn’t let him bait her.
    “My name’s Kimmie,” Kimbery informed him, holding her sword high over her head. “And Mama’s name is Avril.”
    Avril choked. She didn’t want him to know her name. The exchange of names suggested an intimacy she didn’t want to encourage.
    “Pleased to meet you, Kimmie,” he said with a polite nod. Her name, however, came out on a purr. “Avril.”
    She bristled. That was exactly why she’d wished to remain nameless. Already he breathed her name as if they were lovers. Already it felt like he was insinuating his way under her skin.
    “Come on, Kimmie,” she said, shaking off the uneasy shiver that had passed through her. “Let’s show the Viking what we do to men who think they can hurt us.”
    She hoped to impress upon him that the ladies of Rivenloch were not to be trifled with or underestimated. But she also worried that his shipmates might show up. So she taught Kimbery some useful defensive ploys in addition to straightforward sword fighting. She showed her how to use her elbows to jab a belly, her heels to stamp on toes, her teeth to bite fingers, and her fists to punch a man where it hurt most.
    So enrapt was she with teaching Kimbery survival skills that she didn’t notice the figure stealing up on the cottage until it was too late. But the instant she saw the glint of metal, her worst fears were realized. It could be no one else. The Northman’s shipmates must have come looking for him.
    Without a second glance, she swung Kimbery up and pushed her toward the cottage door. “Go!”
    For once, Kimbery didn’t question her, but rushed inside.
    Her