Tyra & Bjorn (Viking Glory Book 3)

by Celeste Barclay

  “We weren’t sure what to make of the Scots woman who rode into our homestead asking for a place to live and work. Ivar and I realized immediately who she was. There weren’t any other Highlanders living near us, and certainly not any women who would arrive with a sword and shield. We brought her inside and listened to her tell her story of the raid, of being brought back to Rangvald’s tribe, of living there, and then telling us she no longer able to stay. She was evasive about the reason, but Ivar and I both were certain it had to do with Rangvald. Ivar even asked as much, but Lorna evaded the question without lying. It was a fortnight before Rangvald rode into the homestead. Ivar’s tribe did not get along well with Rangvald’s then, especially since the arrangement for Ivar’s wedding to Rangvald’s sister was not progressing. Ivar refused to marry anyone other than me. I’d already been his companion for four years. The state Rangvald was in shocked me. He was supposed to be representing his father and brother as he continued to negotiate the marriage agreement, but he was so drunk he nearly fell from his horse. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and his men said he often talked to himself in Gaelic. Once we heard that, we needed no further explanation. Ivar dragged Rangvald to the bathhouse to clean and sober him up. I searched for Lorna, but the moment she realized why, she bolted. She had spotted Rangvald at the jarl’s table when she walked in. I will never forget how Rangvald must have sensed her, because it was impossible for him to have seen or heard her. His head whipped around, their eyes met, and Lorna as pushed through the crowd to get free of the longhouse. Rangvald was on his feet and over the table before anyone recognized who he was chasing.”

  Lena stopped there and squeezed her friend’s hand. Lorna smiled as she wiped her cheeks again.

  “He caught me as I ran to the stables. I was ready to leave, even though this time I had no idea where I would go. I didn’t waste time saddling the horse but was mounting bareback when two hands gripped me around the waist and pulled me down. I hissed and spat like a trapped wildcat. I’m not sure what I said, but I’m sure I told him I hated him several times. I told him he was a liar, an oath breaker, and a coward. I told him he had no honor. He was well within his rights to kill me on the spot for those things, you know that, but instead he pinned me against his chest and let me sob until my legs no longer held me up. He carried me to an empty stall and seated us in the hay. He waited until I stopped crying then spoke softly, but I heard the pain in his voice. ‘I’m sorry you walked in when you did, and I found what my mother told you. But she didn’t tell you the truth. I would never allow anyone to make you a thrall, and no one has any right to tell you, you deserve to be one.’ I tried to scramble away from him. I didn’t care what his mother had said. That was the least of what caused my pain. He pulled me back into his lap. ‘Wait,’ he ordered, and his voice had an edge I didn’t recognize, at least not directed to me. ‘I told you I knew what my mother said and that it wasn’t true. That woman isn’t and never was my companion. She’s my younger cousin from the neighboring homestead. You may not have seen how young she is, but she’s barely four and ten. My brother gave her too much ale, and she sat on my lap to keep from falling over or having any of the men grab her.’”

  “I listened to what he said, and part of me wanted to accept him, but he had admitted to me already that he had been with other women since he met me. I had no claim on him before, and I didn’t have any claim to him then, but it didn’t mean I wanted to picture of him bedding someone else. I refused to speak. Rang asked me if I believed him, and I wouldn’t say anything. He asked if I would come home with him, I didn’t answer. He finally gave up and led me back to the longhouse. He handed me over to Lena and refused to stay in the longhouse if it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to tell him to stay, but I was still hurt and angry. I wanted him to suffer, so I said nothing. He slept in the stables with little to keep him warm. I watched him the next morning and a twinge of guilt plucking at my conscience, but it evaporated when I noticed two women walk by and he smiled in a way that I was convinced no man who was in love would smile at another woman. Once again, he spotted me, but it was too late. I locked myself into the chamber Lena gave me and refused to speak to him. Rang spent the entire day outside my door, knocking and calling my name. I discovered he spent the night in the hall because I grew hungry and tripped over him when I opened the door. Rang followed me back into my chamber and nearly got my sword through his gut. He admitted he had bedded each of those women on previous trips and felt obligated to be polite, since he was still supposed to be arranging his sister’s marriage. He remained a week to conclude business, but he spent more time trying to prove himself to me. He made sure I trained, he made sure I had food when I refused to leave my chamber, and he made sure I had clothing since I’d brought so little and refused Lena’s offers. As he made me more comfortable and made it easier for me to stay there, there was no way to avoid witnessing how he was changing. I was told about the state he was in when he rode in, but I noticed other things. He was losing weight, he rarely smiled at anyone other than me, and he didn’t speak much. I realized he these changes were because of me. He worried about what I would think if he smiled or spoke to the wrong woman. I was overwhelmed with guilt for causing his pain, and he shared the same guilt.”

  Lorna let go of Lena’s hand and raised Tyra’s chin. She gave Tyra such a kindly and understanding smile that Tyra found herself crying yet again. She had listened to Lorna’s story and understood why she was being told this tale.

  “I think you understand. I think you see the similarities in our fears and our pain, but I hope you see the similarities in our flawed men. I am certain, without a doubt, that Rangvald has always been faithful to me. After we married, we only spent nights apart when he raided, and I was pregnant with Erik. I wasn’t able to raid with him then, but I fought alongside him when I wasn’t pregnant. The times when I wasn’t there, Rang refused to sleep anywhere without his younger brother Sven nearby. He insisted that no one leave him alone at night, so there was no way for anyone to ever claim he had been unfaithful to me and so no woman ‘molested’ him, as he called it. Harold died not long after I returned from Ivar and Lena’s, and we’re all familiar with the disaster that was Ivar’s trial marriage to Inga. Rangvald became jarl soon after that and pledged that if he ever broke his oath to me, then he would no longer be a man who should lead. Tyra, this was a long story, but it is one that causes me both great sadness and great happiness to tell. There was so much pain between Rang and me, but I am so much better for the love we share. Thank you for listening to me.” Lorna hugged Tyra, and Tyra breathed in the other woman’s lily-of-the-valley scent. It reminded her of her mother, and her tension slid away from her. Freya moved closer to Tyra and laid her hand on Tyra’s arm.

  “Tyra, there isn’t anyone here who doesn’t recognize how you and Bjorn are destined for one another. You have to decide. Are you going to keep punishing him and yourself, or are you going to have more faith in the two of you? One path leads you to the life you’ve been dreaming of since you were a girl, while the other will leave you both growing old alone. He’s not going to choose anyone else. You tried, and it nearly broke you. Tyra,” Freya looked at the other women in the room and bit her lip. She wanted to divulge a secret she was not supposed to know. Neither Erik nor Bjorn were aware that she had overhead Bjorn’s drunk confession. When Tyra began dancing with one of the young men, Freya wove her way through the crowd and was going to sneak up on her new husband to surprise him with an offer to escape the crowd. Instead, she heard a truth she had suspected for years. She tilted her head toward the back of the chamber, and Tyra followed her. Freya dropped her voice to a whisper.

  “I’m not supposed to know this, but I overhead Erik and Bjorn talking during the week of our wedding feast. Tyra, Bjorn hasn’t been with any other women in two years. He’s had a few drunken interludes during feasts when he’s seen you with other men, but he doesn’t want anyone else.”

  Tyra was in utter di
sbelief. None of what Freya said made sense to her. She had seen Bjorn around other women and seen him flirt, but she had also heard rumors that he was not as popular as he once was. She never considered it was by his choice. She has assumed he had worked his way through the women, and they denounced him as a cad and did not want him back.

  “Tyra?”

  “Hmm?”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Tyra looked at Freya then the other women who chatted together. “I don’t know. Does that change anything? He assumed the worst of me, and then became the worst he could be.”

  “Tyra, you know you aren’t being fair. You were Knud’s companion for two years. Bjorn may have been with many women, but you practically lived with a man. We all assumed you would marry Knud. Bjorn’s never made that kind of commitment to another woman. I know you didn’t love Knud, but you were with him for two years. Bjorn endured that, endured the rumors that you would wed another man, endured seeing the two of you together over and over, endured it and pretty much swore off all other women. When will you stop punishing him?”

  “When I can trust him.”

  Freya’s head jerked back.

  “Are you worried he would leave you for someone else?”

  “Surprisingly, no. I think he knows I would geld him for that.” Tyra looked at Freya then over at the other three women. “You don’t what is to be without family. We’ve always been like sisters, but we aren’t. You always came home to parents and a brother who adore you. Now you have a husband who dotes on you, and you get along with his family. I don’t have that. I live with an aunt and uncle who secretly complain that I am a burden. They never wanted to take me in, but Ivar wouldn’t let them do otherwise. Even though I rarely eat there and am away more often than I am home, I am still unwanted. Freya, Knud and I barely touched each other for those two years. He overheard my aunt and uncle one night when he walked me home. It upset him so much, he wanted to challenge my uncle. I begged that he not do so because they are the only family I have left. He offered on the spot to have me live with him, whether or not I wanted to bed him. We were more roommates than lovers. That’s why I couldn’t marry him. He fell in love with Una, and I had to explain to her the situation. I returned to my aunt and uncle to allow Knud space to court and marry Una.”

  “Then things have not been as they appear for either of you.”

  Tyra pressed her lips into a flat link and squeezed her eyes shut as she nodded.

  Three

  Bjorn sat beside Leif during the evening meal for the first time in ages. Sigrid sat near Lena and Lorna to discuss baby-related matters Bjorn had not understood when the women began speaking. Now, Bjorn listened as Leif spoke about the upcoming journey to Scotland, but his mind was drifting. He watched Tyra sit with her aunt and uncle along with Strian. He kicked himself for the thousandth time for making the mistake that Tyra had been interested in Strian all those years ago. They were more like brother and sister than friends. Bjorn witnessed how things were strained between Tyra and her relatives, and now that Strian had no family left, he often acted as a buffer for Tyra. He leaned forward as he watched Tyra’s aunt launch into some diatribe or another directed at Tyra.

  “Would you listen just for five minutes then I will let you stare all you want?” Leif’s elbow dug into his side.

  Bjorn barely spared him a glance as he continued to watch Tyra shift on the bench. He watched her shoulders inch toward her ears as the waves of tension rose from her and reached him.

  “I heard you already. You can’t and won’t go on this voyage because Sigrid is already halfway through her pregnancy. I don’t blame you for staying home with your wife. I would do the same. You want me to lead our warriors along with Freya and Erik. Tyra will command the fleets while we sail, and I am to listen to Strian’s sound advice. Leif, you haven’t said anything you haven’t told me every night for the last sennight.”

  Leif leaned closer to Bjorn, “I’m so glad you’re so sure that’s what I said. At least you were listening at some point. I told you, just now, that I learned something today that might interest you. Tyra was not Knud’s companion in truth. It turns out, things were so bad with her aunt and uncle that Knud offered her a place to stay, so she had the opportunity to avoid going to her family. They were barely ever lovers. She left when Knud fell in love with Una. She wanted him to have a chance for happiness after all that he did for her.”

  Bjorn shifted his gaze to Leif, “And how did you come by that information? Did your wife see it?”

  Leif growled at Bjorn, still sensitive about some of the suspicious and judgmental things Bjorn said about Sigrid during the early days of her relationship with Leif. “No, Knud told me. When I spotted Tyra running toward the fjord, I asked Knud why he didn’t help her. I said they looked like they were still friends and had once been both in love and lovers. He swore it must never get back to Tyra’s family, but since he and Una are now married, he didn’t see the harm in others knowing.”

  Bjorn’s eyes darted between Leif and Tyra. His gaze remained on Tyra as she wrapped her arms around her middle, guarding herself against her aunt’s ongoing barrage. Bjorn watched Strian try to intervene, but Tyra’s uncle began to raise his voice. When his anger turned to Tyra, Bjorn was done watching. He was away from the table and crossing the room with little care who he bumped into.

  “Tyra, you’re needed at the docks. Something is wrong with the hull of two boats, and your boat builders need you to instruct them on how to proceed.”

  Bjorn was confident it was a plausible lie. There was no one within a hundred leagues who did not recognize Tyra was the greatest sailor alive. People spoke of her as though she were part goddess, a daughter of sea goddess Rán and Ægir, her husband. Over the years, she had formed the best team of carpenters and woodworkers to be her shipbuilders. They consulted her on most boat projects, and other ship captains wanted her workers to do their repairs.

  Tyra looked over her shoulder at Bjorn, her brow furrowing. She looked him in the eye and understood what he was doing. She nodded and climbed from the bench, excusing herself. Strian stood, but moved to take Bjorn’s seat at the jarl’s table. Bjorn led Tyra from the longhouse into the brisk evening air. He rested his hand at her elbow and waited for her to pull away or brush him off, but she did neither. They walked to the docks even though they both knew there was no need. They stood together as the aurora borealis lights flickered across the sky.

  “Leif and I feared them as children,” Bjorn whispered. Tyra turned her head to look at him, and he nodded. “We worried it was the gods looking to steal children at night. He would climb into bed with Freya. He did it until we were nine summers.”

  “What did you do?” Tyra turned to stand before him.

  Bjorn shrugged and looked back up at the sky.

  “What was there for me to do? I didn’t have a sister or brother to go to, and my cousin had already run to his sister. I remained in my chamber and pulled the covers over my eyes until I was sure I would either suffocate or fell asleep.”

  “I never would have guessed. To me, they were the souls of our loved ones waving to us. I found comfort in that after my parents were gone. I know that’s not the case, but it helped me to feel less alone.”

  “I wish I had thought of it that way.” Bjorn looked down and caught Tyra looking at him. “What was your aunt saying to you? Why did your uncle yell at Strian and then turn to you?”

  It was Tyra’s turn to shrug, but it did not satisfy Bjorn.

  “Don’t shut me out. Not again. Not today.”

  “You’re asking a lot of me for one day, Bjorn.”

  “I worry about you,” he whispered, “And it upsets me that anyone, especially your family, mistreats you.”

  Tyra rolled her shoulders back and closed her eyes.

  “My aunt called me a failure for not convincing Knud to marry me. She told me I would be too old for any man to want me and that I had a choice once I return from this missio
n: find my own husband, accept the one they pick for me, or leave their home and not return. Then my uncle yelled at Strian for not asking for me even though he knows Strian is more my brother than anything else. My uncle said Strian shouldn’t be sitting at our family table if he had no intention of actually becoming family. He didn’t say it outright, but he reminded Strian that he has even less family than I do. He made it sound as though, because of his uncle Einear, Strian would be lucky if our family or any other family welcomed him. Everyone knows it wasn’t his fault Einear betrayed Ivar and killed his own brother. All over a worthless woman like Rangvald’s sister Inga. Anyway, you came just as he was ready to launch his attack at me.”

  “I know. When he stood and looked at you, I couldn’t ignore it.”

  “Thank you. Strian would defend me, but I also don’t want my uncle to ban him from sitting with us. He’s always kept his thoughts to himself, but something has been different lately, and he is even more reserved than usual. I worry about him, Bjorn. His leg healed, but something has changed within him. He goes through all the motions, and he’s stronger than he ever was, but he seems so hollow. It’s as though he’s given up.”

  “I know. I’ve seen the same, and I’ve been thankful until tonight that he sits with you and your family. I wasn’t aware things were so bad between all of you.”

  Tyra’s laugh held a hard edge.

  “When haven’t they been bad? Unlike Jarl Ivar and Frú Lena did with you, my aunt and uncle didn’t want to adopt me. Ivar forced them. My uncle never cared about his sister, so he doesn’t care about his sister’s daughter. My aunt is just a spiteful woman, and my cousins are becoming spoiled and nasty. That’s why--” Tyra trailed off, and Bjorn would not complete her thoughts. He guessed she would not appreciate knowing he was aware of her arrangement with Knud.