Sirens of the Northern Seas: A Viking Romance Collection

by Kathryn Le Veque

  “I’ll take that as a thank you for going back to save your life at the monastery little brother,” said Brandr with a smile.

  “Brother Francis, please sit down,” Kadlin told the man in his language.

  The monk seemed apprehensive, but did as ordered. “Please, don’t let him hurt me,” he begged Kadlin.

  “Brandr might be a horse’s ass at times, especially now since he has that hussy rubbing his shoulders, but I don’t believe he’ll hurt you after he risked his life to save you.” She was glad none of the Vikings could understand what she’d said.

  “I heard my name mentioned.” Brandr perused her with one eye squinted. “What did you tell him?”

  Kadlin took a seat next to the monk and picked up some of Finn’s leftover food and started to eat it, trying to ignore the wench who was now rubbing her hands through Brandr’s long hair. “I told him what a fair and compromising man you are,” she lied.

  “Mmmph,” grunted Brandr, lifting his drinking horn to his mouth. “Ask him if he can perform a marriage even if it’s not his religion.”

  “Marriage?” She looked up, the piece of meat in her hand stopping at her lips. “Who is getting married?” The girl rubbing his shoulders bent closer to him and smiled.

  “Just ask him the question.”

  She did as he asked and the monk told her he could. She looked back to Brandr. “He said nei. He knows nothing about our gods so it would be blasphemy to his God as well as to ours.”

  She didn’t want Brandr marrying anyone, and was only glad when her sister had told her that he hadn’t taken a wife while she was away. It wasn’t normal for a jarl to not be married. After all, it was important for men to have heirs. Brandr had wasted the last five years being single when he could have had many children by now. She wondered why he hadn’t married if he’d truly thought her dead as he’d said.

  “Tell him I’ll require his services this afternoon anyway. I will have him perform my wedding, whether it is legitimate or not. And you will translate.”

  “Nei!” She angrily got up and threw down the food. “I will not tell him, nor will I translate as you marry a hussy!” She ran from the longhouse with tears in her eyes, her heart aching for the boy she was once betrothed to so many years ago. She had thought she’d be happy to be back, but instead it was proving to be very heartbreaking indeed. If she had to watch Brandr marry another woman after he’d made a promise to her so long ago, then she would rather have died on the shores of Northumbria after all.

  Chapter Nine

  Brandr ran after Kadlin, trying to explain to her that she was the one he wanted to marry. She was so upset that he figured he’d better explain before things got out of hand.

  “Kadlin,” he said, following her out of the longhouse. “We need to talk.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.” She didn’t stop or turn around.

  “You are acting like a child.”

  She stopped outside the blacksmith’s shop where one of the Vikings was inside pounding out his sword on the anvil, straightening the blade. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

  Brandr was done talking and decided actions would speak louder than words. He grabbed her in his arms and kissed her hard on the mouth, stopping her from saying anything more.

  “Now, does that prove to you that you are the one I plan on marrying?”

  “Oh.” She held her hand over her mouth and stared at his lips. “I . . . don’t know.”

  “Don’t know?” He noticed the Vikings starting to gather around and listen to their conversation. So he pulled her behind the longhouse and continued what they started. He tried to kiss her again, but this time she just pushed him away.

  “What’s the matter with you, Kadlin? You act as if you don’t want to be with me.”

  “Nei, it’s not that. It’s just that five years apart is a long time. I feel as if I don’t know you anymore.”

  “I’m the same boy you loved and were betrothed to so long ago.”

  “Maybe. But I’m not sure. I think we need to get to know each other again.”

  Brandr let out an exasperated breath and ran a weary hand through his long hair. “And how do you propose we do that?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “But at least you could try.”

  He looked at her and just nodded slightly, his patience wearing thin. Five long years he’d pined for her, and now she wanted him to wait even longer.

  “All right. We’ll do just that. Meet me tomorrow by the water’s edge in the morning and we will go for a ride together.”

  “In the longboat?” She looked up in surprise.

  “Nei. I have a small boat I built that I use for fishing. It’s big enough for a few people.”

  “I’d like that.” Her green eyes lit up and sparkled in the sun and Brandr’s heart ached. He wanted to touch her and kiss her and be with her so desperately, but a few more days waiting wouldn’t kill him, he guessed.

  *

  “You are such a fool, brother,” laughed Finn as Brandr and his brother walked toward the water the next morning. “You are the jarl. Just take her by the hair and make her do what you want. Stop letting her lead you around like a dog.”

  “You just don’t understand, Finn.” Brandr got to the fishing boat and placed his gear inside. “I broke a promise and I need to win back her heart. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Then take her heart by force.” Finn pounded his fist against the wooden bucket he held and let out a grunt.

  “I pity the woman who marries you, brother. She’s going to have to be crazy to want a man who thinks force is the way to get what he wants. From a woman, that is.”

  “Isn’t it?” asked Finn, placing the bucket of worms that would be used for bait in the boat. “After all, it worked at the monastery. We got exactly what we wanted by using force.”

  Brandr looked up to see Kadlin approaching with the monk at her side. He wasn’t sure what to do with him. By right, he should be a thrall, but Kadlin had a point. The man saved her life and was a friend. He actually saved Brandr and Finn’s lives, too. But then again, Brandr saved Brother Francis’ life in exchange. When would it end?

  “We got some things from that raid that we really didn’t want, too,” he told Finn.

  Kadlin nodded to Finn as he walked away. She brought the monk with her to the boat. “We’re ready to go,” she told Brandr and his head jerked upward with a start.

  “He’s not coming,” he said, glaring at the monk.

  “I don’t want to leave him here by himself. He doesn’t understand anyone and the rest of the Vikings might decide to treat him badly.”

  “Kadlin, this isn’t what I had in mind when I agreed that we would get to know each other.”

  “Don’t worry. He won’t be able to understand a word we say.” She got into the boat and motioned for the monk to join her.

  Brandr didn’t like it in the least. Brother Francis might not know what they were saying, but his presence would certainly stop him from trying to kiss Kadlin again. He wondered if she’d planned this all along.

  “Fine, get in,” he motioned with his head to the monk. “But this is just a one-time thing. Kadlin, I told you he is my thrall and he will start training tomorrow to learn how to serve me properly.”

  He shoved the small boat off into the water, feeling like he was the thrall instead. Maybe Finn was right. If things didn’t start improving between them soon, he’d have to revert to force to get what he wanted after all.

  Chapter Ten

  Kadlin had managed to keep from being alone with Brandr for three days now, even without Brother Francis at her side. Brandr had the monk working the fields, cooking the food, milking the cows and goats, and tending to the animals as well as doing other chores. She hadn’t liked it, but in order to stop him from treating the monk this way, she’d have to actually talk to him. That was something she hadn’t been willing to do yet.

  She knew she was trying his pati
ence, but she was almost afraid of being alone with him.

  After that kiss outside the blacksmith’s shop the other day, she had wanted to do so much more than just kiss him. It frightened her. She’d been away for five years living amongst monks, and away from the everyday life that would have prepared her for these feelings.

  She needed to talk to someone about what she was experiencing, but was embarrassed to do so. At her age, most girls were well versed in this area, and she wouldn’t doubt that her younger sister even coupled with men by now. Nei, she decided. She’d just learn to deal with this herself.

  She was alone today, as Brandr had made sure to send the monk with Finn on a hunting trip that left before sunup. She felt as if this would be a good time to possibly try to contact the gods for advice or hopefully have another vision.

  She walked past the fish house where the Vikings gutted and salted the fish they caught, stopping for a second as she saw Brandr sitting on a stump with all the children of the village surrounding him. She watched him playing with her youngest brother, Ketil, whom her mother had birthed while Kadlin was away.

  Brandr threaded small bones with holes in them onto some cord. He then twisted the cord and pulled both ends and the bones whistled, making Ketil laugh. The children all jumped up and down and tried to grab it from him, as they all wanted to try it.

  Brandr would make a good father, she realized. He had waited a long time for heirs and she decided she wanted to be the one to give them to him.

  She headed up the road toward the old well to be alone and think. She had her runes with her and decided, since the monk wasn’t with her, she would use them. Since she still wasn’t sure she could actually hear the voices of the gods, she would use the runes to guide her.

  Her heart was starting to soften toward Brandr, as he’d been trying hard to make her smile lately. He’d been placing Forget-me-nots everywhere she went the past few days. She’d found one on her plate of food last night, in the bucket she used to feed the horses this morning, and even in her shoe when she went to get dressed. Ja, she decided, she really did love him, and needed to listen to the voice she’d heard that told her to forgive him. So why was it so hard to do?

  *

  Brandr stood behind a tree in the shadows, having placed a Forget-me-not atop the well earlier, guessing Kadlin would go there to be alone as she’d often done in the past. He watched her grab for her bag of runes, then stop when she saw the flower. She slowly reached out and picked it up, bringing it to her nose and taking a sniff. She looked around and he walked out, making his presence known.

  “What is this?” she asked, her lashes flickering upward as she met his gaze and then shyly looked away. Her lips turned up in a slight smile and Brandr knew she was softening toward him.

  “It’s my promise, Kadlin. A promise that I made to you so long ago. I want you to know that I intend to keep it.”

  “Really.” She looked down and played with the flower in her hand. The light blue petals twirled round and round as she spun the stalk in her fingertips.

  “Kadlin, I know I’ve done you wrong, and I am so sorry for leaving you on the shores of Northumbria, but I truly thought you were dead.”

  She looked up and raised her chin. “I would have collected your body if you were dead and brought you back to Skathwaite.”

  “I was wounded. I had three arrows in me and the soldiers would have killed me if my uncle hadn’t pulled me away.”

  “Why did you break your promise?” she asked, tears welling in her bright green eyes. “I waited and watched for you to come back and get me for five long years. It is so hard to just forget that ever happened.”

  “Forgive me.” He reached out and tilted her head upwards and her eyes closed. “I’ve been trying to tell you how wrong I was and that I want to make it up to you. But we haven’t been alone for more than a few minutes.”

  “Well, we’re alone now.” Her big, green eyes opened and her gaze fell down to his mouth. This is what he’d been waiting for. It sounded as if he had her permission.

  He couldn’t be forceful like his brother, Finn, and neither did he want to be. So he approached Kadlin the only way he knew how. He gently brought his mouth to hers and kissed her. She tasted sweet and alive, and five years older than the day the two of them kissed in the field of Forget-me-nots, being not more than children. She also seemed much more willing and as if she enjoyed it – not like the kiss he’d given her outside the blacksmith’s shop.

  Her lips parted slightly and her head fell backward as he pulled her to him, holding her body against his. He kissed her deeply, slipping his tongue into her mouth. They shared a sensual kiss and he thought everything was back to normal, until he heard her next words.

  “What will you do with Brother Francis? Are you really going to keep him as your thrall?”

  “What else is he good for?” he asked, not knowing what any of this had to do with his plans of marrying her, or how she could think of a monk at a time like this. “He will continue to help farm the land, cook the meals, take care of the animals, and someday help tend to our children as well.”

  “So he’s a prisoner here, just like I was in his world.”

  “You were the one who wanted me to save him. If you didn’t want him to be a thrall, maybe you should have thought about letting him die instead.”

  “A life amongst enemies is sometimes the lesser of two evils. I lived with the monks after the soldiers left me for dead. Brandr, they didn’t even bury their own dead. They were heartless and cruel. It made me think of a lot of things while I was there.”

  “It’s the way of war and life, Kadlin.”

  “Is it? You never even asked about your father.”

  “I saw him die, so I know what happened to him.” Brandr clenched his jaw tightly holding back the pain. It wasn’t easy seeing his father die, especially since the man lost his life saving him.

  “Brother Francis and the rest of the monks buried not only your father but mine as well. I helped them do it. It was horrible and it will stay with me until the day I die.”

  “I’m sorry you had to endure that, but thank you for taking care of them, Kadlin.” He pulled her into his arms closer, and it felt good to hold her. There was so much he wanted to say to her. He needed to do it before she brought up the monk again.

  “I was wrong in what I did and I can only hope you’ll forgive me, Kadlin. I thought of you every day for the past five years, never forgiving myself for letting you down and breaking my promise. Let me make it up to you. Marry me. I love you and I don’t want to lose you again.”

  She glanced up at him and bit her lip, but did not answer. She looked up to the sky next and seemed as if she were trying to listen for the gods.

  “Will you marry me, Kadlin?” he asked again. “Will you still be my wife like we’d planned?”

  “I need to think about this a little more first. I want to try to get the guidance of the gods.”

  “Why? You’ve told me yourself, you’ve never been able to hear them.”

  “I will give you your answer in the morning, Brandr. One way or another.”

  He let go of her and just nodded. He would grant her the time she needed because breaking one’s word was the worst thing a Viking could do. He needed to gain her trust again and he couldn’t force it.

  “All right,” he said in agreement. “Fair enough. I will await your answer on the morrow.”

  He watched Kadlin walk away from him and his stomach churned. He hoped she would marry him even after what he’d done, but if she decided not to, he couldn’t really blame her.

  Chapter Eleven

  Brandr hadn’t approached Kadlin again about his proposal of marriage after their talk yesterday and she sincerely doubted that he would. He was a scorned Viking man with a pride as big as the North Sea. No jarl wanted to be turned down by a woman after he’d asked her to become his wife. But she’d promised to give him his answer this morning, and she would, one way or anothe
r. She’d used her runes trying to get her answer, and she’d even tried listening for the voices of Odin, Thor, and Freyja in her head to guide her. It hadn’t worked. She’d heard absolutely nothing.

  Her sister told her not to marry him. Her mother told her nothing at all. But in the Viking village, the breaking of a word, no matter how it happened wasn’t taken lightly. She had a big decision to make, because this could affect her for the rest of her life. If she married him, how would she know if her husband was keeping his word? Would there always be that shadow of doubt? If so, it would ruin the relationship between them.

  “Kadlin, how are you this morning?” Brother Francis walked up from the goat pen with a bucket of milk in each hand. He was all alone and she felt saddened that the man had no one he could even converse with. She’d felt the same way until the monk had taken her in and made her feel like part of his holy family.

  “Brother Francis, I am so sorry I haven’t been here for you,” she said in his language, noticing the stares of the other Vikings as they passed by doing their daily chores. She walked over to greet him. “I see Brandr has been having you do the heavy farm work even though you can barely stand and are still not healed from your wounds.”

  “The jarl hasn’t been as demanding as I’d thought.” He placed the buckets gently on the ground, so as not to spill a drop of milk. He still wore his tattered and torn robes of the Order and she knew she’d have to sew him some proper clothing soon.

  “You shouldn’t be treated as a slave,” she spat. “I only meant to save your life, not condemn you to a worse one. But at least my debt is paid to you for saving my life as well.”

  “You needn’t say that. You had no debt to repay, and while I’d rather be with my own people, I am happy to be alive. I am thankful for what you and the jarl have done for me.”

  “How can you say that? When you took me in, you didn’t treat me as your slave.”

  “Didn’t you cook and clean and heal for the Brothers of the Order?”