Romantic Legends

by Kathryn Le Veque

  “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 another. 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?”

  “Ja. You know I did.”

  “And so I will do the same for the jarl and his family now.”

  “But you were taken away from your own God!”

  “No one can take me away from my God, child.” He smiled and laid a hand on his heart. “He lives in here.”

  “So you’re saying you have no vengeful feelings or spite for what the Vikings did? They killed your people and pillaged and plundered your home and lands.”

  “I don’t know about the Norse gods, Kadlin, but my God teaches to be forgiving.”

  “So you forgive and forget all that’s happened?”

  “I could never forget what I’ve lived through or what I’ve seen and felt, but I do not harbor hate or vengeance for the Vikings or anyone, my dear.”
>
  “Brother Francis!” came a shout.

  Kadlin turned to see Brandr leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed. The monk looked over to Brandr and nodded.

  “Help the women with the meal,” he said in the Norse language, then added a few words in the monk’s language which surprised Kadlin that he knew any at all. “Meal, cook . . . help women,” he said and smiled at seeing Kadlin’s surprised reaction.

  “How did he know how to say that?” She looked back at the monk.

  “Sometimes gestures and expressions are more of a universal language,” he told her. “Although, these past few days, Brandr has been trying his best to communicate with me.” He looked over to Brandr. “Ja . . . Dagmál,” he said in the language of her people, surprising her, as he hadn’t spoken a word of her language in the past five years. “You see, I have learned a little Norse as well.” He picked up the wooden buckets of goat’s milk and headed quickly into the longhouse.

  Kadlin turned to go, but Brandr’s hand on her elbow stopped her. “Walk with me, Kadlin.” He led her to the edge of the village and toward an open field.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked.

  “You’ll see.” He didn’t stop until they were in a large field of beautiful, sweet-smelling Forget-me-nots, all in full bloom. “This is where it all started and now I want it to end here as well.”

  “What do you mean?” She turned to look at him, and his arms came around her and his lips interlocked with hers. Her eyes closed and, for a moment, she believed she was that young girl again, being kissed for the first time in a field of flowers by a boy she admired. Her heart swelled and she returned the kiss, reaching up and putting her hands on his shoulders. It felt good to be with Brandr. It felt right.

  “Have you had your answer yet from the gods telling you what decision to make about us getting married?”

  “Nei. I haven’t been able to even use my runes since my head is so full of confusion.”

  “Nothing can change what happened in the past, Kadlin, but we can decide how we want to spend our future. Now, will you marry me or not? I need an answer.”

  “Brother Francis says that his God teaches that people scorned should forgive.”

  “I don’t believe our gods would feel the same way. Still, I hope you will side with the monk’s God this time. If I could go back and do it over again, I would throw my body atop yours as a human shield and take one hundred piercing arrows to my heart to protect you and show you how much you mean to me. Please, you need to believe me.”

  “Your actions have spoken for you,” she told him. “You never married and that tells me that your heart is still true to the promise we made that day.”

  He bent down on one knee and picked a Forget-me-not and handed it to her. “Take this flower as a symbol of not only my undying love for you, but as a promise that I will never make such a mistake again.”

  “Brandr, get up. Please.”

  “Not until you tell me you’ll forgive me and give me another chance to make things right between us.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to say.”

  “That you forgive me?” His clear blue-green eyes looked up to her in hope.

  “Nei, not that I forgive you, but that there is nothing to forgive.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You made a decision and did what you had to, and I can see now that I was the one who was wrong. I never realized how much guilt you’d harbored. That must have been nearly as horrible as what I’d lived through.”

  “Don’t say that. Nothing could be as bad as what you endured.” He still kneeled before her and she knew it wasn’t in his nature to take such a subservient position. Like the monk said, sometimes actions spoke louder than actual words.

  “I don’t need to consult the gods to tell me what to do or what decisions to make. Not in this case. I’ve decided you didn’t really break your promise – you just prolonged it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She knelt down in front of him and took his hands in hers. “It means, I’ll still honor your promise. Ja, I want to be your wife and bear your children. I want to live at your side, the wife of a jarl whose husband is fair and forgiving. I am proud to be your wife, your lover, and most of all . . . your friend.”

  They embraced and fell to the ground hugging and kissing, and there in a field of Forget-me-nots two people overcame the odds life threw their way and were brought back together once again. Never would either of them forget their vows to each other, because every time the field of Forget-me-nots bloomed, their words to each other would be brought to the surface to remind them. With the simple icon of a little, blue flower, a union was forged that day that would last forever. There was nothing that could happen between them from then on that would ever break A Viking’s Promise!

  The End

  From the Author

  I hope you enjoyed Brandr and Kadlin’s story. If so, I invite you to leave a review for me. If you’d like to see a series develop from A Viking’s Promise involving Finn – the Berserker, and also the shieldmaiden, Asa, please either let me know in a review or email me at erose@elizabethrosenovels.com.

  Be sure to visit my website at Elizabethrosenovels.com for more information on any of my 60+ books, and to subscribe to my blog and newsletter in order to receive updates about new releases. You can also read excerpts from any of my novels on my website as well as get sneak peeks at covers of upcoming books. Please remember that there are other authors by the same name, but my novels can be identified by the rose on every cover. If you’d like to follow me on twitter, my handle is ElizRoseNovels, and my facebook page is Elizabeth Rose – Author (don’t forget the dash.)

  I’m including a series booklist for your convenience.

  Elizabeth Rose

  Series By Elizabeth Rose

  Medieval Series:

  Legacy of the Blade Series

  Daughters of the Dagger Series

  MadMan MacKeefe Series

  Barons of the Cinque Ports Series

  Legendary Bastards of the Crown Series

  Seasons of Fortitude Series

  Medieval/Paranormal Series:

  Elemental Series

  Greek Myth Fantasy Series

  Tangled Tales Series

  Contemporary Series:

  Tarnished Saints Series

  Western Series:

  Cowboys of the Old West Series

  And More!

  Please visit elizabethrosenovels.com