Free Edin's embrace by Nadine Crenshaw Page B

a madman and pelt me with bones if you like, but I'm afraid you must take my unseemly answer anyway."
    Rolf eyed him with a look that eased into affection. "Then . . . did you hope to gain her favor by it?"
    "Aye, right after killing her bridegroom before her eyes and right before someone dropped his torch and so set her home afire. Considering how much was taken from her at one blow, I'm sure my sparing of Sweyn created a real lust of gratitude in her."
    "If not her favor — "
    Thoryn clicked his tongue. "This conversation tires me. Can you speak of naught but the thrall? By Odin, I swear you yourself would like to get into her secrets"
    Rolf's look turned sly. "I won't answer that, Oh Hammer of Dainjerfjord. I prefer to keep my sword arm intact ."
    Rolf left, and Thoryn fell to thinking about how he had killed the maiden's groom. He recalled how she'd crooned over the body, speaking senselessly about mending the boy's shirt. And he had been just a boy, hardly a man yet. Thoryn recalled a thinnish beard and a drooping mustache. But when Thoryn had seen in the maiden's eyes that there was someone behind him, it had been pure reflex to turn and swing his sword. Then, seeing the boy sliced open and in agony, he knew it only merciful to pierce the boy's heart so that his end would be swift.
    He could still feel the iron going in, and how he'd leaned on it to drive it farther, and pushed his weight after it.
I think I felt the boy's last heartbeat.

Chapter Five
    "They're talking about you."
    Juliana whispered what Edin knew well enough already. By their glances, she knew the two men beneath the curled tip of the stern were discussing her. Now and then she caught snatches of the jarl's deep, compelling voice. Was he telling the redheaded Rolf that soon he was going to throw her overboard? Oh, why hadn't she used her dagger on herself when she had the chance? Better that than. . . .
    She looked at the darkening water and shuddered, then looked at the Viking once more. She saw no signs of clemency in his face.
    Juliana whispered again: "The big one wants you."
    Edin could have laughed.
Wanted
her! He only wanted to kill her.
    "It's no shame on you, my lady. With your looks—"
    "Juliana, please!"
    The girl shrank back behind Arneld to sulk. The boy went on scribbling on the planks, using his finger as a pen and drops of sea water as paint. Edin was left to herself once more, left to consider her situation.
    She had no defense; she felt dwarfed and helpless among these immense men, awed by their masculinity. She'd lived in gentle, pleasant household. Cedric had been manly in the way of a young gentleman, not in the harsh way of these warriors. Comparing him to these was like comparing the barnyard rooster to the hawk soaring overhead.
    Cedric! She pressed her fettered wrists to her forehead, trying to block out the image. The dragon had thrust out its tongue, and poor Cedric was pierced through. Edin was caught anew by the horror of it.
    Her eyes didn't tear, however; in fact, they were too dry. She blinked them hard. They burned. She was so weary. The food had only increased her craving for sleep.
    Both Vikings were staring at her now. Their expressions made her feel naked. She had to look away.
    Yet everywhere she looked she saw Vikings, some of them very near, near enough for her to hear the rustle of their clothes and see the gleam of their golden arm bracelets. One was sitting just above her on his sea chest. The dying light cast him in bronze. She could make out the individual hairs on his head and in his long, pale, silky beard which was flapping in the sea wind. He was wiping his sword, a gold-hilted malignancy with a calfskin scabbard.
    Vikings! She was a captive of Vikings!
    But not for long. What would happen to her people when she was drowned — Arneld and Udith and the others? Who would speak for them among these ruthless, wrathful, purely heathen barbarians? Who would advise them and buoy them up?
    Oh, I don't want to