by Bobbi Smith
Dynna smiled coolly. “When the day comes that you are Brage’s wife, I will respect you. Until then I will do only as my master bids, and I have been instructed to go with Parr.” With her head held high, she walked regally past her.
Parr had been looking on with something almost akin to amusement. All in the village knew Inger wanted to wed Brage, and when Dynna refused to be cowed by her, he was impressed with her courage.
Inger felt the sting of her dismissal. She was about to reach out and grab the Saxon wench by the hair when Ulf’s voice boomed from behind her.
“I would think twice before harming any of my brother’s property, Inger,” Ulf said. He had finished his business and had been on his way to see Matilda when he had overheard the exchange between Inger and Dynna.
“She was arrogant with me,” she charged.
“She is a lady.”
‘Was a lady,” she insisted. “She is but a slave now.”
“But she is Brage’s slave.” He turned to Dynna and Matilda. “Come. I will take you to my brother’s house. Parr, you can go on about your way.”
Parr went off to see his own family, and, red-faced, Inger quickly disappeared, infuriated by Ulf’s interference.
“I will show you the way to your new home,” Ulf told them as he started off toward the village.
“Is it far?” Matilda asked.
“No, it is just on the other side of the village,” he said, and the two of them talked on of the voyage. “It is close to the forest.”
“And what is beyond the forest?” Dynna asked.
“Never mind, Lady Dynna. You will run no more,” Ulf replied, thinking she was already considering escape.
Dynna fell silent. Her thoughts were on her life to come, and she wondered at the hell her existence would be were Brage to marry Inger.
Brage drank ale with his father and Kristoffer at the table in Anslak’s house.
“Ulf and Kristoffer thought that you were betrayed on the raid. Do you believe this?” Anslak asked.
“I do. Alfrick was ready for us. His battle was planned. There was no element of surprise. Somehow, he knew we were coming.”
Anslak scowled, hatred for the betrayer showing on his face. “But who? Who would do this thing when all who sail with you profit?”
“I am not certain.”
“Who does not sail with you but would like to see you dead? Do you have such an enemy?” Kristoffer asked.
“I had thought not, but I must be wrong.”
“Then who?” Anslak wondered.
“I have suspicions, but must know more. Perhaps tonight at the celebration, the betrayer will give himself away. I will not rest until I find the one responsible,” Brage vowed. “But for now, I will return home to see to my slaves.”
He rose to go, and Anslak followed him outside. They stood together in the sun.
“Speaking of your ‘slaves,’ do you really think it was wise to bring Lady Dynna with you? By your own words, you said that she turned you over to Alfrick’s son. Why would you bring her here, to your home? Would you not have been better served to sell her away at the slave market?”
“I trust her not, and yet I cannot bear to be parted from her.”
“I do not understand.”
“Nor do I. I had thought for a time that I loved her. But now, I only know that I want her, even as I despise what she did.”
“What do you know of what she did?”
“Edmund told me that she had given me over to him.”
“And you believed this man? Your sworn enemy?”
“I had all the proof I needed,” Brage said heatedly. “I was his prisoner again, taken while in Dynna’s father’s tower.”
“Go see to your slaves, but be back by sundown. There will be no celebration without you,” Anslak said, wisely avoiding saying any more. He remembered a time when Brage’s mother, Mira, had been a slave. He remembered the passion they had shared. He had bought her freedom, just so he could take her to wife. Though he cared deeply for Tove, he had loved no other as he loved Mira.
Brage crossed the village slowly, deep in thought. For the first time since gaining his freedom, he realized that he had believed everything Edmund had said to him. He went over in his mind all the things the other man had said, and tried to sort the truth from the lies. Again and again, he replayed his words in his mind: Dynna had always been quick to see the way of things. Dynna had always used others to her advantage.
Brage tried to reconcile those statements with what he knew of her. He had seen Sir Thomas’s devotion to her. She had gone into the village to tend the wounded and dying. She had tried to tend his own wounds, enemy though she knew him to be. He frowned, confused.
Brage was still frowning as he entered his house, and his scowl deepened even more when he found Ulf there in the main room with Dynna and Matilda.
“Parr is gone?”
“He had family to see. I offered to bring them here,” Ulf explained. “I did not know which room would be theirs. So I leave that task to you. I will see you tonight.”
Ulf could tell Brage was troubled. He wanted to say something to him, to offer to talk about whatever was bothering him, but there was a reserve about Brage he had never known before. He left without speaking of it.
Brage’s house was a large one for a man living alone as he did. It consisted of the center room where all the cooking and visiting was done, and three smaller chambers off it.
“Matilda, you may take the room to the back,” he directed.
She went to look at the chamber that would be hers, leaving Dynna facing Brage alone.
“And Dynna,” he began, his gaze inscrutable upon her, “you will sleep here.”
He led the way to his own room. It was sparsely furnished, but comfortable with a wide bed, small table beside it, and a large chest for storing things.
“So I am to share you chamber and your bed,” Dynna remarked, startled that he would want her with him.
“You are.”
“And what happens when you marry Inger and bring her here to your marriage bed?”
“I have no plans to marry Inger.”
“You do not choose to believe me, so I do not choose to believe you.
Brage closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. He told himself he did not want her. He told himself his father was right. He should sell her in the market. It was not too late to send her to that fate. But as her breasts grazed his chest, he felt the surge of power that settled in his loins and knew the truth. Damn her! Despite everything she had done, he still loved her!
His mouth claimed hers in a heated brand that told her he desired her, and she returned his passion full measure. This was the first time he had touched her since that fateful day at her father’s tower. She ached to be close to him, to feel him against her, to hold him to her and savor his kiss. If he wouldn’t listen to her words, maybe he would listen to her heart.
Brage lifted her up and laid her upon his bed. He stood over her, his eyes glowing with passion. His body demanded that he take her. His heart ached that he be one with her. But he could not put her treachery or Edmund’s words from his mind. He stopped and stood there looking down at her, frozen by her lying ways.
“Brage?” Dynna looked up at him and shivered when she saw that the desire in his eyes had disappeared. His gaze was cold upon her.
“I can take you whenever and wherever I please. But I do not choose for it to be now.” He moved away from her. “Prepare yourself to go to my father’s home. Tonight there is to be a celebration there in honor of my return. You and Matilda will help my mother’s servants.” He turned his back on her and left the house.
Dynna lay there staring after him. She was tom between anger at his cold, heartless treatment of her and feeling lost and lonely. At the sound of Matilda’s call, she got up and left the room.
“Where did Brage go?” Matilda asked.
“I do not know. He spoke to me for only a few
minutes and then he left.” Dynna told Matilda of his plans for them that evening.
“Would you like a bath then? I found a tub we can use in the other room.”
Dynna’s eyes lit up at the thought of blessed cleanliness after all the days at sea. “Please. It may be the last time I am ever allowed to indulge myself.”
“Surely you do not think Brage will object to our bathing?”
“Right now, even if he did, I would not care. Even the lowliest servant must wash. Surely if he wants us to serve him this night, he will want us to be clean.”
Matilda went to get the water while Dynna sorted through her meager selection of garments. She chose a long, dark-violet tunic for the underdress and one of a lighter hue to wear over it. When Matilda called her, Dynna was more than ready to soak the many days’ grime from her body.
Dynna stepped into the partially filled tub and sighed. “It feels wonderful. She sank down in the heated water, leaned her head back against the side of the tub and closed her eyes.
“The soap is on the stool beside you, as is a towel. If you need me, I will be in the main room,” Matilda explained, then questioned, “Do you know how much time we have?”
“Brage did not say, but I would think that we have at least a few hours before we must see to his needs.”
“Good. That will give me time to bathe when you are finished.” Matilda felt sure that Ulf would be at the celebration tonight, and she wanted to look her best for him.
Matilda left Dynna then, closing the door as she went to give her privacy. Dynna took the time alone to savor the sweet warmth of the water and to pretend, for just that little while, that none of this had happened, that she was owned by no man and that her life still stretched ahead of her. She began to wash as the heat of the water faded, then she slipped beneath the water to rinse the soap from her hair. She reveled in how refreshed she felt.
Dynna had just stood and was wrapping her hair in a towel when she heard the door open behind her. She turned, expecting it to be Matilda. She stood unmoving as she found Brage standing in the doorway staring at her.
When Brage had returned to the house and not seen Dynna, he had feared that she had run away. He had angrily asked Matilda where she had gone, and when he had discovered she was merely in the other room, his relief, to his annoyance, had been great. He had stalked across the room and thrown the door wide, not bothering to listen to the maid’s further explanation of what she was doing. He was mesmerized by the sight of Dynna standing in naked splendor before him.
“Even a lowly slave should be allowed some privacy,” Dynna said.
His gaze was like a flame as it swept over her body, and Dynna could almost feel the heat of it. She picked up another towel and wrapped it around herself. When she looked up at him again, she lifted her chin proudly.
“We will be leaving within the hour,” he ground out, scowling.
“I will be ready.”
“Clothe yourself.” He turned away and shut the door behind him.
Brage stood on the other side of the closed door, fighting down the driving need to tear the door open again and claim Dynna as his own. The sight of her standing there unclad before him had ignited the blaze of his passion for her, and he was hard put to bring it back under control. Finally, drawing a ragged breath, he stalked from the house.
Matilda knocked on the door a few minutes later, and went in to help Dynna comb out her hair and to dress. Then Matilda took a quick bath of her own.
“We are ready to leave, if you are,” Dynna announced to Brage, who had returned and was sitting in the main room.
Brage looked up to find Dynna and Matilda coming across the room. He had been trying to come to understand what he was feeling for Dynna. There was no denying that he wanted her, for his body reminded him regularly. But having her here in such close proximity was already proving pure torment. On the ship, there had been the buffer of the men to keep him from dwelling on her nearness, but now they were in his house and she was to sleep in his bed. The memory of her looking up at him, willing and warm, just a short time before and then standing naked before him, made him swallow tightly. He did not understand how he could still feel this way about her knowing what she had done.
“Let us go. It promises to be a late night,” he said gruffly as he stood and walked from the house, leaving them to follow.
The noise coming from Anslak’s house could be heard a distance away. When Brage, Dynna, and Matilda arrived, they found it filled with people, the crowd even spilling outside onto the grounds.
“Here comes the Black Hawk now!” one of the villagers called out, and a rousing cheer went up.
“Make room! Brage is here!”
The crowd parted, and Brage entered his father’s home. He was clapped on the back and welcomed home warmly by all who knew him. Dynna walked a short distance behind. She saw the genuine affection everyone had for him and watched the way he seemed to honestly like all those who spoke to him. She and Matilda followed him inside and were aware of the questioning stares of the Viking people.
“Tove!” Brage called out to his father’s wife as he finally reached the crowded main room of the house. “I have brought these women to help you serve. You may use them as you see fit.”
Tove had heard the tale of the dark-haired one’s betrayal and she knew exactly where she would put them to work.
“Come with me,” Tove ordered, motioning for Dynna and Matilda to go back to the kitchen area. It would be hot and tiring back there, tasks suitable for slaves such as these. Ladies though they might appear to be, they were ladies no more.
Ulf was already there, sitting off to the side with some of the men, drinking ale with gusto. He was glad to have his brother home, and he was even more glad that Matilda was here tonight. He planned to buy her from Brage, and he would speak to his brother about a price later. He wanted her for his own. He had thought of little else during the voyage, and now that they were settled in, the time had come.
His gaze followed Matilda as she passed through the room. As if she felt his eyes upon her, she looked his way and smiled at him. Ulf was surprised by the unexpected feeling of happiness that filled him. He smiled back at her as she disappeared into the kitchen with Tove and Dynna.
Brage was waved to the table at the center of the room to sit with his father and Kristoffer. A mug of wine was pressed into his hand and the drinking began.
It was almost an hour before the food was brought out. Dynna, Matilda, and several of Tove’s slaves carried heavily ladened platters of venison and roast duck. When those were served, they followed with heavy pots of steaming soups and trays of hot bread. It was a feast fit for a returning hero, and the mood in the room was joyous.
Brage sat at the table while the food was being served, conversing with those around him. He could not, however, stop himself from watching Dynna’s move around the room. He had thought to humble her by forcing her to serve, but she was handling the duty with ease, bantering with the men who made comments to her and cleverly eluding those who grabbed at her as she passed them. Brage grew angry as he watched the others, and as she moved by the table, he called to her.
Dynna stopped before him and gave him a quizzical look. She had been wielding the heavy tray with care and had thought she was doing a good job. She did not know what she could have done to anger him.
“From now on, you are to serve only this table,” he ordered tersely, gaining a curious glance from his father.
“If that is what you want,” she replied submissively, then nodded and went off to the kitchen to tell Tove of his order. Brage’s gaze followed her until she was out of sight, and then he took a deep drink of his wine, draining the glass. As another servant passed by, he claimed a mug of ale from her and started to down that.
Anslak was watching them together. “The wench is treacherous, but beautiful. Will you keep her?”
“I will keep her until I tire of her,” Brage answered, but as memories of her lovemak
ing played though his mind, he wondered if the day would come when he would ever tire of her—betrayal or not. He could not forget that Dynna had saved his life when he was first taken captive. She had kept the secret of his identity and had tried to nurse him until Sir Edmund had stopped her. She had helped him to escape, though it had suited her purpose to do so. He shook his head to push thoughts of her from his mind.
“And the other? It would seem Ulf wants her.”
Brage shrugged as he looked toward his brother, his gaze hardening as he saw Ulf snare Matilda around the waist and pull her onto his lap. The girl offered no resistance, but laughed and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him boldly. Ulf seemed to be enjoying himself, and Brage felt the spark of suspicion he had harbored for so long burst into full flame.
At that moment, Ulf glanced his way, and across the crowded room, their gazes met. Ulf had been laughing, but his laughter died and he frowned in response to his brother’s regard.
“What shall we do about the traitor? Do you suspect someone?” Anslak asked.
Brage tensed even more at the mention of that which was troubling him so greatly. “Perhaps I should thank the betrayer,” he said, drinking the ale. “He is the reason I am still alive, for the need to find him was what kept me fighting to live. I want to see him suffer for his treachery.”
“Revenge is a powerful emotion,” his father agreed.
“Indeed,” Brage ground out, his gaze swinging back in Ulf’s direction.
Ulf was deep in conversation with some of the men.
“Look at him,” Parr was saying to Ulf. “Sitting there beside Anslak as if nothing had happened to him at all.”
“And here he has been wounded, chained and imprisoned, and yet now he is fine,” another added in awe of Brage’s strength and ability.
“He is the Black Hawk,” Ulf answered simply. He had always known how brave and strong his brother was. Even as children when he had stood a full head taller than Brage and outweighed him by at least two stone, Brage had matched him effort for effort in most things. There had even been times when Brage had beaten him.