Ho boy. I wasn’t certain Kell would like Frey being referred to as his master.
Kell, however, didn’t miss a beat but he also didn’t share masses of information.
“His wife is unwell.”
“I can hear that. And?” Baldur demanded.
“She caught a chill not long after we set sail. Not bad at first but it got worse. Laid up in bed, soundin’ funny and sick as a dog. None of the medicine we got onboard was doin’ her any good, The Drakkar set anchor and came ashore to go inland, find a doctor, get her somethin’ to help her so we can be on our way and she’ll quit sufferin’.”
“And you’re on your way to where?” Baldur asked.
“Chateau in Hawkvale. They got a baby to make,” Kell answered. “The Drakkar likes seein’ to that particular duty and didn’t want any distractions.”
I sighed heavily mainly because I would normally sigh heavily at Kell’s highly personal answer but also because I figured Sjofn would sigh heavily at Kell’s highly personal answer.
Baldur stared at Kell with distaste. My eyes slid to Broderick to see his on me and they were twinkling. He thought that was funny and I could tell by the way he was looking at me Sjofn would share in his humor so I gave him a little shrug and a small smile and his twinkle got brighter.
“Seems to me The Drakkar could send a man inland to find medicine for his wife so he could stay aboard and tend her,” Baldur noted and my eyes went back to him.
“And seems to me you don’t know my master much, I’m guessin’. Errand’s important, he don’t send no one to do it. The man does it himself,” Kell replied, Baldur straightened in his chair, obviously not liking Kell’s tone.
“Indeed,” Baldur murmured, scowling at Kell.
“He’s being very kind,” I put in, still rasping, I lifted my hand delicately to my throat as Baldur’s attention went from his angry contemplation of Kell to me. “I told him I would be all right, given time. But he’s concerned.”
“Taken with her, he is,” Kell added. “Don’t like to see her sufferin’ and also don’t like not gettin’ his husbandly privileges ‘cause she’s sufferin’, if you take my meanin’, yer grace.”
“I do indeed,” Baldur sniffed through a lip curl which, as much as I didn’t like this guy, I had to admit was pretty good, “take your meaning, my dear sir.”
“I’m pleased to hear this, Sjofn,” Broderick said quietly and I looked to him. “That The Drakkar has taken to you. This is lovely news.”
I smiled at him, he smiled back and it wasn’t understanding, like he knew Sjofn’s secret and felt for her; it was genuine, like he was truly pleased her arranged marriage was working out.
“We suit,” I whispered, taking the rasp down a notch because I was whispering but also saying it with feeling because it was true.
“I’m pleased to hear this too, cousin,” Broderick replied on another sincere smile and I smiled back.
“Well, I cannot say this comes as a surprise,” Baldur declared and I looked to him. “He practically dragged you from the Dwelling of the Gods. Vulgar, most assuredly, but telling.” He smiled at me, it was definitely not genuine, and finished, “But who would not be taken with Lunwyn’s Winter Princess, far and away the fairest beauty in that frigid land?”
I wasn’t all that hot on him calling Lunwyn frigid. It was, of course, frigid, strictly speaking, but there were nicer words to use.
It was then there seemed to be some commotion outside. The guards inside went on alert, four closing in on their king and two immediately going out the tent opening.
I turned in my chair, peering around Kell to see what was happening and didn’t have to wait long when one of the guards rushed back in, bowed and said to the furs, “The Drakkar is here.”
Uh-oh.
My eyes shot upwards, caught Kell’s and I saw his mouth surrounded by his bushy, white beard was tight.
Shit.
Then I leaned around again to look beyond Kell to see Frey, followed by Thad, Orion, Max, Annar, Lund and Oleg striding purposefully into the tent and Frey was looking pretty freaking displeased.
Uh-oh again.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded to know before he got five feet into the huge tent and I rose quickly, intent to move to him and find some way to give him a head’s up regarding what was afoot.
“You don’t bow to the king of the land whose soil your boots tread upon?” Baldur asked and he sounded pissed too, pissed and full of outraged affront.
Frey halted beside Kell, bowed shallow and swift, not bothering to wait for his command to rise. I got close to him, putting my hands on his chest, I pressed in as hard as I could and tipped my head back.
Then I rasped, deeper and far more harshly, “Husband, it is my duty to attend a king when called upon to do so.”
Frey’s brows shot together and his head jerked down to look at me the instant the first word came out of my throat.
“You get that medicine you were after, master?” Kell asked casually and Frey tore his eyes from me to look at Kell.
Then, cottoning on quickly, as was his way, he clipped, “No. I heard word the king’s men were at shore and, hearing that, I was certain he would call on my bride so I abandoned the search and returned instantly.” His eyes moved to Baldur as his arm moved to circle my waist and he pulled my front close to his. “And I was not wrong, the king called upon my bride.”
“Of course,” Baldur stated. “She is my niece which means you are now my nephew and the moment I heard your ship was anchored offshore, we rode to extend familial greetings.”
Frey’s jaw went hard.
Then he returned, “That is kind, your grace, but if we were in Middleland for an official visit, rather than to run a swift errand, we would have sent word and come to you to extend our familial greetings. Now my wife, who should be abed, is out in the cold.” He looked at Kell. “Did you not inform his grace that Finnie was ill?”
“Finnie?” Broderick whispered but Kell spoke over him.
“Sure did, master,” Kell answered and I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing. “He said he’d send men aboard to attend her but she wasn’t hearin’ none of it. Said it was her duty and so on.” He flipped out a hand which eloquently (or as eloquent as Kell could be) said what he felt about royal duty. “So she dragged her carcass outta bed, got all tarted up and here we are.”
At that, I had to press my lips together harder. I caught a look at Thad as he was standing at Frey’s back right and I saw his jaw clench. It made him look annoyed but my guess was Thad thought Kell was pretty amusing too.
“My wife informed you she was ill and you sent word you intended to disturb her in her rest by sending men to my ship if she didn’t attend you?” Frey asked, his voice low and rumbling and unmistakably infuriated.
“It didn’t happen exactly like that, Drakkar,” Baldur stated.
“Then maybe you’ll explain exactly how it happened,” Frey mock-suggested. That was to say, it wasn’t a suggestion at all.
“It hardly takes two days to seek medicine, which is at least the amount of time you’ve been anchored off Middlelandian shore,” Baldur shot back and I tensed as he shared this information.
“Perhaps you don’t know your niece very well, your grace, she dislikes being ill, refused to admit she was and has an aversion to being tended. It took me that long to convince her I should go,” Frey totally lied.
“This is true, Father, Sjofn has always been a poor patient, as you know when she caught flu during that visit when she was sixteen,” Broderick put in smoothly then smiled at me. “Remember, cousin, I had to resort to sneaking medicine in your tea.”
“I remember,” I rasped softly on a returned smile, thinking I quite liked Broderick. He seemed very sweet.
Baldur puffed his chest up and ignored our exchange. “Well then, seeing your proximity to our shore, you were here two days, you should have sent a missive. It is, as you well know, my due as king.
”
“My apologies, your grace, and I hope you don’t find it offensive when I remind you we did not expect to be at your shore this long and I was dealing with a headstrong, unwell bride. My attention was taken by her, not sending a meaningless message, the effort of which would be a ridiculous waste of time for one of my men,” Frey returned.
“See here,” Baldur said quietly, now his voice was rumbling, “I’ll remind you again whose soil your boots rest on.”
“And I’ll remind you that my wife is clearly not well and the curiosity and mistrust, the latter of which is unearned, I will add,” Frey impressively lied through his teeth, “that were the true reasons you are here with tents and thrones,” he said this with disgust, “has delayed me on the errand of seeing to her health.”
“Careful, Drakkar, you don’t have leave to speak to this king the way you do my brother. The elves don’t leave the snow and you can’t call the dragons from this far,” Baldur retorted.
“Care to test that?” Frey returned.
Ho boy.
Time to intervene.
Pronto.
“Oh dear,” I whispered on my rasp and lifted a hand to my head, turning in the circle of Frey’s arm toward Sjofn’s uncle. “Do you, in all these tents, have someplace I can lie down, uncle? I’m feeling lightheaded.”
At my words, I was instantly swept up in Frey’s arms and held close to his chest.
“You’ll rest in our cabin,” Frey gritted then his eyes snapped to Baldur. “If I may have your leave to see to my wife?”
“Of course,” Broderick answered for his father. “And to save you the trouble, I’ll send to my personal physician for some medicine. It may take until morning but we’ll message you the moment it arrives so you can send a boat to retrieve it. That way, you can attend your…” he hesitated, his eyes came to me and they were warm because he clearly mistook the reason Frey had used the name he called me, and liked it, before he finished, “Finnie.”
“My thanks, Broderick, but do not go to that trouble. We’ll be on our way,” Frey stated, jerked his head at Baldur, turned on his boot and stalked out of the tent.
For my part, I’d wrapped my arms around Frey’s shoulders and I looked over the right one and smiled regally (I hoped) at father and son, seeing the king looked fit to be tied but Broderick was smiling so big he looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.
Yeah, I definitely liked Broderick.
Then I saw them no more as we were out of the tent, I was on a horse, Frey swung up behind me, leaned into me, dug his heels into the horse’s flanks and barked, “Yah!” and we were galloping away.
After a few minutes, I felt it was safe to speak.
So I did, starting with, “Frey –”
I was wrong about it being safe to speak.
I knew this when Frey growled, “Quiet, Finnie, we’ll wait until I have you and Kell sitting down so you can explain to me which one of you had the spectacularly stupid idea to go it alone with minimal guard, only two of whom are trained, and without me, to attend a man who might want you dead.”
Ho boy.
I got quiet as ordered, thinking it was my best bet at that juncture and watched the sea, Frey’s beautiful galleon drifting on it with the sun setting behind it, coming closer.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Marriage Is Marriage
“Please tell me you’re not back early ‘cause that sorry excuse for a king set up his throne in a bloody tent of all places.”
Kell chose this perhaps not very wise opener to our conversation as he strode into Frey’s cabin looking more than his usual grumpy.
We were all around the table, Frey seated at the head by his desk, me to his left, Thad to his right and Orion, Max, Lund, Oleg, Annar, Gunner and Stephan rounded out the mix with Oleg standing behind the empty chair at the foot, beefy legs planted apart, arms crossed on his chest. Orion and Stephan were also standing because we didn’t have enough chairs and I made a mental note to visit the galleon furniture store the next time I was in Sudvic.
Skylar was squeezing between the big men setting trays of cheese, meat, crackers and pickles on the table. He’d already seen to making sure all the men had horns of ale, save Frey, who’d ordered and received a glass and a bottle of whisky from which he partook immediately and I did not think this boded as a good sign.
As was apparent since refreshments had been readied and served by an eleven year old boy, Kell took his time showing up at our party which made me, as the seconds ticked to minutes then those minutes ticked to more minutes (and not a few of them), very uncomfortable. The men didn’t seem to mind it although they kept their silence as Frey’s seething anger filled the space.
“We are not, old man, we’re back early because Broderick and Phobin were both with Baldur we discovered Phobin is not nearly as clever as he thinks. We arrived, surveyed the situation and were in and out in a day,” Frey returned.
Kell’s brows shot up as he planted his ass in a chair and immediately reached for a hunk of cheese.
“You get the branch?” he asked.
“Yes,” Frey bit off, my heart jumped and I turned to look at him.
“You did?” I breathed.
Frey’s angry eyes sliced to me, I pressed my lips together and he growled, “We did.”
I decided, considering his expression, now was not the time to jump up and give him a sloppy kiss in an effort to reward him for succeeding in a quest where others, for centuries, had failed.
“So, we’re celebratin’,” Kell stated then looked to Skylar. “Boy, get me a horn.”
“Kell, we are not celebrating,” Frey ground out, his infuriated eyes locked on his friend then he stated angrily, “By the gods, you walked my wife into the tent of a man who may be plotting her murder.”
Kell sat back and agreed, “Yup.” Then he popped the hunk of cheese into his mouth.
Ho boy.
The fury rolling off Frey increased about seven levels. I felt it, fancied its heat burned my skin, bit my lip and avoided looking at him.
“Gun, Steph, would you like to explain why you not only didn’t stop this venture but participated in it?” Frey asked, obviously giving up on Kell, and I watched Gunner look at Stephan and Stephan looked at Gunner then they both looked to Frey.
“You left Kell in charge, Frey, and you were pretty clear about that,” Gunner answered.
“Indeed. And this will be a mistake I do not make again,” Frey stated low and I watched Kell roll his eyes but, other than that, he didn’t seem too upset.
There was more silence, more fury waves from Frey and then Frey called, “Wife.”
Ho boy.
I gave Kell a raised-brow look indicating I could use his assistance. Kell’s response was to grab another hunk of cheese and pop it into his mouth. My look became a death glare when I realized Kell was throwing me right under the bus then I sucked in breath, rearranged my features and turned to my husband.
When he had my eyes, he asked in a soft voice that was not his gentle soft but an altogether different kind of soft, “Would you like to tell me, when I believe while you were trembling in my arms after seeing three men die, that I informed you specifically your uncle is a threat, why you would board a boat, sit in it while it was rowed ashore and attend a man who, it is highly likely whether he’s acted on it or not, wishes you dead?”
Actually, no I wouldn’t like to tell him though I didn’t think I had a choice.
“Um…” I started, Frey’s eyes narrowed and I clamped my mouth shut.
Then he clipped, “Finnie, you saw a woman spewing blood and that woman was supposed to be you.”
I got my wits together and began, “I know, Frey, but –”
“You had entirely no idea what you would be walking into when you walked into that tent,” Frey cut me off to say.
“Listen, I –”
Frey interrupted me again and I could tell by his eyes, his tone and the way he held his body that he was getting
angrier and I didn’t need our afternoon with the adela cup to read it.
“I could have come back with a bloody branch to find myself without a bloody wife.”
I leaned toward him and said, “Frey, listen –” but I was cut off again.
This time by Kell.
“Got a sharp wit, that one,” he stated and Frey’s eyes cut to him so mine did too. “We were in a bad position Frey, you off doin’ what you were doin’, Baldur suspicious. Got nerve, your woman does,” he jerked a head my way, “got smarts too. Was her idea to fake bein’ sick and how she did it. We’d already used that ploy to call ‘em off, they weren’t fallin’ for it but her act was so good, man, even I thought our lie was true. And the way she faked bein’ sick meant she didn’t have to talk much so I could do the talkin’ for her, which helped hide who she is. In the end, she made a show of takin’ pains in payin’ her respect to a man who don’t deserve it but sure as hell demands it and he came off lookin’ like an arse. Quite a play, all ‘n’ all and worked out fine. So calm, man, pull up anchor and let’s get outta here.”
I thought this was an excellent suggestion, not to mention I was pleased that I’d impressed Kell.
Frey did not agree.
“It worked out well by pure chance,” he growled and when I turned to him and opened my mouth to speak, his eyes cut to me and he kept growling. “And don’t, Finnie, don’t you tell me it was a risk worth taking. Three times,” he held up three fingers, “fortune has smiled at you and, wife, if you keep riding that particular blade of luck, you’re going to get sliced wide open.”
Eek!
All righty, clearly it was time to soothe the pissed off Raider.
“Honey,” I whispered, hoping my tone would calm him, “what did you expect us to do?”
“Not bloody walk into a tent with only two trained guards when Baldur had twenty-four and sit down for a bloody chat,” Frey returned, not soothed even a little bit by my soft tone.
Hmm.
Unfortunately, it seemed I was getting mad.
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