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"What do you mean?” I asked, grinning like a loon. This was going to be a great joke for a while. When we got back, I was going to make sure all the TCs heard about Wolf being a daddy. I just wasn't going tell them with who, though. I wasn't going to give McGann that grief, because the TCs didn't need to give her shit too. Plus, you never know with chicks about the baby issue. For all I knew, she wanted one and couldn't have one.

"While I doubt that McGann is very familiar with how food gets to her table,” Tamazusa said with a smile that told me she knew there was something we weren't telling her, “there is no doubt she knows that it once had life. Something upset her, and not for the reason she told me."

I couldn't say anything. I knew that truth, and it was that McGann was a ‘path. She probably got a stray thought out of Helga, and that was what made her lose her breakfast. I didn't want to know what it had been if it had made McGann puke. Tamazusa studied me, but she had to know I wasn't going to tell her shit. “I don't expect you to tell me what's going on. I just want to make sure that you are aware of the issue."

"Shit, what does this have to do with me?” I asked.

"Helga accused McGann of carrying your child, not Wolf's,” Tamazusa said coolly. “Adultery isn't tolerated in this society."

"What a bitch,” I snarled. “Shit, I thought that I could stop worrying about that shit because the ice bitch wasn't here."

"She is trying to get into Wolf's bed,” Tamazusa explained. “He is a warrior and might be of high rank or at least someone who would get her out of here. That might only happen if McGann wasn't in the picture. But Helga is a fool, because I know how Wolf looks at McGann. He wouldn't believe any accusation or do anything against her. Helga is going to stir up trouble. She may attempt to trick Logan in some manner, so you should warn him about this. I'll get Keno to keep an eye on the man also. If she gets desperate or inventive, she might cry rape."

"And what would you do about her stirring up trouble?” I asked.

"Get out of here as fast as possible,” Tamazusa told me bluntly. “A woman can cause more trouble than you could believe. If you don't believe me, talk to Logan about such things. Their sagas are full of tales of the trouble a vengeful woman can cause. Aboshi spent some time translating them once and amused me reading them during the rainy season."

"Not Logan's area of expertise,” I said. “He's a Mayan archeologist, not Viking. We were supposed to end up there, wherever that is."

"Then what are you doing here?” she demanded. “This is nowhere near where you want to be."

"Fuck,” I blustered. “I have no clue how the damn roller coaster works. I get on and I get off. And I curse whoever thought of the ride, because this ain't worth the price."

Dinner was chicken and some sort of greens. Both Keno and McGann didn't touch the chicken. Tamazusa sat next to me and made sure I was served before her and my stein didn't get empty of beer. Keno was sitting on the other side of me, acting like he was her chaperone or something.

"Mason,” Keno practically hissed at the beginning of the meal.

I knew what he was telling me: treat her right or he was going to kick my ass. And you know what? I thought that he would be able to do it. I still remembered seeing the practice fight he had the first morning we were at Tamazusa's estate. The big guy hadn't let him win; Keno had kicked his ass fair and square. And I knew he'd be willing to do the same thing to me to protect Tamazusa. But no one else here would think that he would or could, and there'd be trouble the first time someone pulled shit on him or Tamazusa.

Tamazusa said something quietly to him in Nipponese, and he calmed down. I was betting she pulled rank on him. Most everyone else was watching either us or Wolf. I knew these people were bored and isolated, but it didn't make me like being the center of attention any better. I split my veggies between Tamazusa and Keno. I'd have liked to give some to McGann, but that would have started that Helga rumor mill again, and I didn't want to deal with that. Keno gave his chicken to Tamazusa, and she shared it with me, giving me the bigger portion and the better pieces, serving it elegantly like we were dining at the Ritz. It was all nice and cozy, and shit, it was beginning to feel like a weird date. Not that I dated; I was a pay-as-you-go type of guy. It made things a lot less complicated.

Things were going pretty good until it was time for bed. Helga had spent most of the meal and the sitting around and drinking afterward glaring daggers at McGann and Tamazusa. Like as in “if looks could kill” glares. McGann ignored her. Tamazusa, shit, she thought it was funny. She sneered down her nose at Helga while treating me like I was the best date she'd ever had. And you know, it
was
the best “date” I'd ever had, if you wanted to call it one. Tamazusa was attentive and flattering, flirty almost. I wondered briefly where she had learned to act like that and then decided I didn't want to know. I had a good guess and didn't like it, but now her relationship with her boy toy made a lot more sense to me.

My stuff had been moved into the “married” section of the hut, right next to where Wolf and McGann were. There weren't too many of us there, about a handful, which made Helga being alone odd. If they were that short of women, she must have been a wicked bitch not to have a man of her own. Or too picky for her own good, but I was going with her being a bitch. Wolf and McGann settled into their little corner, and I could tell that McGann was exhausted. A couple more days like this and she'd just drop. We had to get out of here before that happened.

"You mind sleeping on the inside?” I asked Tamazusa.

She was looking... not nervous, but uneasy. Then I realized how long it must have been since she had shared a bed with anyone, not that there was really one here. The setup was some sort of straw mattress supported by a crudely made platform of rope pretending it was a box spring. It wasn't doing a good job. I wanted to tell her to relax, that it was going to be all right. But I didn't think she'd appreciate it. Hell, I knew I wouldn't.

"Do you think—” she started with a snarl and then stopped, visibly trying to calm down again. “Yes, the inside would be most acceptable."

"Logan'll look after Keno,” I told her.

"Why do you think that he needs that?” she snapped. “Or that I would worry?"

"'Cause he's really like your kid brother or, shit, your brother-in-law,” I said. “You and the boy toy are family."

"I really don't understand why you keep referring to Aboshi-sama as my ‘toy',” Tamazusa said with a slight smile, starting to calm down again. Shit, this was harder for her than me, so Tamazusa giving me shit was something I could live with. She wasn't showing me the Jell-O trick, so I was happy. And you know, I was getting to like her. She seemed a lot more fun when she wasn't on her estate being the bitch queen.

"He's pretty, and you're the one running things,” I said, giving her something to focus on besides the fact we were crawling into bed together.

"Was he pretty the last time you saw him?” she asked me, stripping out of her pants and shirt. I was grateful she was wearing something that looked like a slip underneath. I had forgotten that casual nudity was something that was okay with her and her people, because they bathed together, even if it wasn't coed. I slipped out of my shoes and shirt but kept the pants on. It wasn't comfortable, but it was safer than stripping down to my underwear.

I thought about that. The last time I saw Samojirou was when he, Tamazusa, and Fuse's sons had invaded Boylston Street from the Dreamlands to rescue Fuse and Keno. He'd looked like something out of my worst nightmare, dead white skin, claws, and a horn in the middle of his forehead. Not pretty. That he'd been carrying a damn big sword and hacking his way through all the eggheads hadn't helped either, he'd been pissed that we—well, the Trust—had kidnapped Keno. I was glad I hadn't been around when Samojirou had found out that Keno had been tortured.

"Not really, not that it mattered to Keno,” I said. “Shit, they...."

"I understand,” she said with sad smile. “Seeing them together is wonderful. Aboshi must be frantic. He probably thinks that we're dead."

"And why would he think that you're dead?” I asked.

I didn't get an answer, not that I expected one, because she seemed to be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. I shrugged and crawled in beside her. Pretending to be asleep would get her out of a lot more than avoiding my questions, if I was going to be an asshole.

I woke up the next morning kind of curled around Tamazusa like she was my teddy bear, and one part of me was a bit more awake than the rest of me. I was really glad I had decided to sleep in pants. I knew Tamazusa was awake from the way she wasn't moving. Shit, she was barely breathing, and I hoped she didn't think I was going to roll her over and fuck her. One: it would be rape. Two: I really didn't get into public sex. There wasn't even a curtain between us and the rest of the place. Not that it mattered to these people, because I was hearing more than one couple going at it. Loudly too.

"I told you it was stupid,” I said. “Sleepin’ alone, it never does this. Asshole."

She relaxed when I said that and turned around so she was sort of facing me, but she had scooted away so we weren't really touching. It was cozy still, and I wondered how badly Samojirou was going to kick my ass for this, if Keno didn't beat him to it.

"Are you implying that you don't find me attractive?” she asked with a smile.

"I keep callin’ you a sexy mama. What do you think?” I asked back. “But I know you're
really
not interested, so this isn't nice. Also, shit, not being rude or anything, but when's the last time you slept with someone?"

"Do you really want to know that answer?” she asked dryly, back in control, it seemed to me. But she had to be very aware that to get away from me, she'd have to go over me.

"I can guess,” I told her. “I don't really like the answer, but I like that you're not giving me shit about this.” I waved down at the bulge in my pants.

"I understand your reasoning, even if I don't have to like it,” she said.

"Yeah, and I better get out of bed before Keno comes over here and gets pissy about it,” I said.

"You have such a hard life,” Tamazusa teased.

I grinned at her and resisted giving her a kiss, since I liked my insides the way they were. I got out of bed and dug through my pack, handing her a clean shirt before I grabbed one for myself. I slipped it on and then went to find Keno.

He was bunking near Logan, and I knew the other man wanted to ask Keno exactly what was happening but was showing some sense by not doing it in such a public area. There might be hope for Logan yet. “Want to go for a walk?” I asked Keno.

"It would be a good idea,” he said carefully.

The rest of the Vikings ignored us, but Logan looked like he wanted to join us. It wasn't like we had chores or anything to do, unlike the women. We had to get out of Viking-land fast, because I didn't think McGann was up to this. That “woman's work was never done” saying didn't fucking cover it. She and Tamazusa and the rest of them never stopped moving. When we walked out of the hut, I wasn't surprised that Logan tagged after me. The man wasn't stupid, and I thought he had put enough of the story together, so I let him.

Keno

Dinner the night before had been difficult. I had been shocked that Tamazusa had been acting like Mason was her patron, serving him more elegantly than I could ever have dreamed of. I wondered if Mason knew how honored he should have been. I doubted that, though. Not that Mason was dumb, it was just that he didn't understand things like that. I was amazed that Tamazusa had been able to snub Helga and the rest of them, as she was pretending to be Mason's humble companion. Even if no else could see it, I saw the scorn she had for the Norse women. She had shown them how one was supposed to treat a patron. I was amazed and humbled by the experience.

It was hard for me to be mad at Mason, even now. I waited until we had gotten out of hearing range of everyone but Logan to ask with tightly controlled anger in my voice, “And how did you sleep last night?"

"She hogs the covers,” Mason said. I glared at him. “She... shit, what do you want me to say?"

That stopped me. I really didn't know what I wanted him to say.

"I apologize,” I said stiffly, trying to stop being angry. I guessed it was more that we were trapped in this situation that made me angry than the fact he was sleeping with my lord.

"You're worried about her,” Mason said. “Cuttin’ you slack because of that."

I frowned, and he grinned at me again, determined not to take this seriously. “Shit, she's a lady, and I ain't forgetting that."

We were silent after that, but eventually came upon a group of Norsemen looking at some of the debris from the ship. I didn't care about that; it was Iida's ship, but something caught my eye, and I got closer. I was surprised to see a couple of the Norse examining a pair of swords: a katana and a
wakizashi
. I knew neither man knew how to use them, looking at how they were handling them. I also wanted some sort of weapon to protect Tamazusa.

"Those are mine,” I said politely, lying through my teeth.

One of them was named Egil, and he was crazy, from what I could tell, and warped-looking too. The other man was really big as opposed to just big and was called Tholf, a little more even-tempered than the rest of them but still nasty when he had a drink or two in him, as I had found out last night. Both of them seemed to think I was a child, since I hadn't even attempted to drink with them or join in any of their “amusements.” It didn't help that I was shorter than everyone else here, the same height as Tamazusa.

Egil looked down at me and grinned. “I doubt it, boy."

"You wouldn't be able to do anything with them,” Tholf rumbled, laughing at me.

"Do you want to find out?” I asked quietly.

Egil looked at me and then held the katana above his head, just out of my reach. I hate being short at times.