God's Eye (The Northwomen Sagas #1) (24 page)

When her next climax arrived, she nearly bit the tree to hold back the scream that wanted to tear from her throat. Then Vali pulled out with a roar, and Brenna reached back and took him in her hand, stroking him as he completed.

She had not needed to be vigilant; she could trust him now to withdraw and spill his seed outside her.

They both sagged forward to the tree and rested there, sapped of strength and will.

Vali kissed her bare shoulder and drew his fingers along her scar. “I am complete. Here, with you.”

Too overcome to answer with a word, Brenna reached up and laid her hand on his head, holding him close.

They heard the sound of a rider, coming on at a gallop, and both turned and began to settle their clothing.

The rider was Dan, who was one of the team that had been on the coast, watching for the ships. As he pulled up his horse, he glanced at their disheveled attire but said nothing.

“The ships?” Vali asked, tying his breeches.

“Yes. Three. They were perhaps an hour from land when I left, so they have disembarked by now. I left Knut to greet them.”

Her clothing arranged, Brenna had stepped to Vali’s side. Now, Dan gave her a dark, surprising look and then turned back to Vali. “Vali—they show only Jarl Åke’s colors. Snorri is not with them.”

Brenna’s heart sank. Snorri’s men had comprised half of the raiders who had stayed behind and now made up more than half of those who survived. He would not have let Åke sail without him if there were still peace between them, and he would not leave his men to Åke’s whim if there were no peace.

If Åke had come alone, then there were only two possible scenarios: either Snorri was on his way, too, and they would face war on the shores of Estland again, this time friend against friend—or Snorri was dead, and Åke had claimed his lands and title.

In that case, Brenna, who knew Åke well, feared for all her friends who were not sworn to her jarl.

Which included her husband.

And might well soon include herself.

She looked up and found Vali’s eyes on hers, as she so often did. In their blue depths, she could see that he had made all the same connections and conjectures that she had. He nodded, once, and then turned back to Dan. His clansman.

“Ride to the village and tell Leif and the others. Brenna and I will return to the castle and begin preparations. We’ll need to ride to the coast well before nightfall.”

From his horse, Dan pulled a face—that dark look that Brenna understood now. He was already seeing enemies where he had seen friends that morning.

Vali reached up and grabbed his arm. “Whatever happened across the sea, it did not happen here. We are all friends. This long, hard winter, we were made family. That has not yet changed. Do not behave as if it has.”

The two men stared at each other, and then Dan nodded and rode off, toward the village.

When they were just the two of them again, Brenna reached out and grabbed her husband’s hand. “Vali…” she began, but then knew not how to finish.

He pulled her close. “I know, my love. We will weather this storm as we have all the others. Together.”

~oOo~

By the time the party from the castle arrived at the coast, the landing party had set up its camp. As the riders dismounted and dropped their horses’ reins—Brenna had borrowed Orm’s mount, as he had stayed behind to ready the castle in case of trouble—Åke walked out to meet them, with Calder and the next oldest of the jarl’s sons, Eivind, just behind him.

As he approached, Brenna looked past him and noted something curious: the new arrivals were all men, and heavily armed. That in itself was not curious; raiders were always prepared to fight. Before the peace with Prince Toomas, they had been holding their plans of attack for when they would be reinforced by the ships’ return.

But Brenna noted that there were no women, no children. No crates of supplies beyond the typical for a raid. A party meaning to found a settlement would have brought settlers.

Åke had not.

She could put no further thought to it, however, because he was standing before them.

Despite the days he’d just spent on the sea, Åke was dressed well, as if for a thing, with thick golden chains on his chest and a heavy black bearskin over his shoulders. He was making a show of his power and wealth—his claim.

Smiling broadly, kindly, he opened his arms wide as the riders dismounted, and he went straight for Leif.

“Leif Olavsson! It is good to see you. I have missed you as I might have missed a son of my own blood.”

Leif accepted the embrace warmly and then gave a respectful, humble nod. “Jarl Åke. The winter was long. We are glad to have you safely here.”

With sharp pats of Leif’s shoulders, the jarl turned to Brenna, while Calder and Eivind greeted Leif, their friend.

“And Brenna God’s-Eye. My own great shieldmaiden. The ships carried home to us more stories of your exploits for the sagas. And you look very well. Odin’s presence has been strong with you this winter, I see.” Åke put his hand on her face, drawing his thumb down to widen her right eye. She sensed Vali’s tension at the too-intimate touch, but Brenna knew the jarl would do nothing more.

Even Åke did not like to look long at her eye. Brenna had forgotten, during these months away, how it hurt to be thought different and not quite human. As she met Åke’s wavering gaze with her steady one, she felt a shaking in her chest.

No, she did not wish to return to the land on which she’d been born, where she was the God’s-Eye. Home was here, where she was simply Brenna.

When he waited, bringing his eyes back to hers, Brenna realized that he expected her to speak. So she bent her head in a show of honor. “Jarl Åke.”

She said no more, and he stepped back. Then he turned to Vali, and her husband took a deep breath, making himself as tall and broad as he could. He was head and more taller than the jarl.

“Vali Storm-Wolf. You are famed as well, and I am glad to see that your story continues.”

“Thank you, Jarl Åke, it does. I would know how fares my jarl, Snorri.”

Brenna watched Åke’s eyes and saw them narrow in a way she knew was dangerous. But he shaped his features into a sympathetic frown and laid his hand on Vali’s arm. “Snorri is drinking with the gods in Valhalla. I am sorry, friend.”

Vali remained stiff and straight and did not acknowledge Åke. He was a warrior, not a diplomat. Neither was Brenna. Though Vali was good with words, he struggled to manage his emotions. Leif was the one who always spoke smoothly among them.

After a pause long enough to make it clear that the lack of response had been noted, Åke stepped back and opened his arms to all the riders. “The world is not as it was. But I hope that we will all remain friends. We have much to discuss, I know. For tonight, though, night is upon us. Let us show you our hospitality here in camp, and then we will ride to the castle after the dawn.”

He held out his hand to Brenna. “Brenna God’s-Eye, join me. I would have your word on the winter.”

She took a step toward him, holding her own hand out to Vali. Åke stopped and gave them both a bemused look. “I mean you no dishonor, Vali Storm-Wolf, but I have known the God’s-Eye long. I esteem her vision, and I would take a private moment with her.”

“I will stay with my wife,” Vali nearly snarled.

“We are wed, Jarl,” Brenna said at the same time.

Vali seemed jealous and territorial in a way beyond her expectation. Åke was no threat to her, not now, and she doubted that he ever would be. He could be harsh, and the raiders under his command were known to be particularly savage, but he had treated her well enough when she was his slave, and he had freed her when he owed her a debt.

He had put Leif to her training and given her the chance to be the shieldmaiden she was. He would be disappointed to lose her, yes. But he respected her as the God’s-Eye, if nothing else. He believed her charmed, and he would not risk the wrath of Odin by harming her.

And now, when she was still sworn to him, he would have no cause at all even to wish her ill.

At their simultaneous statements, Åke lifted his brows in surprise, then collected himself swiftly. Brenna saw that dark narrowing flash through his eyes then, but again, he smiled. “Then good tidings are in order, and we shall drink to the lasting goodwill of the gods. And I welcome the great Storm-Wolf into my clan.”

Feeling Vali tense as if to reject Åke’s assumption, Brenna squeezed his hand. This was not the time. Not in the dark, at camp, surrounded by men whose loyalty to Åke had not been stretched by a winter in a new home.

Her husband relaxed, and they followed Åke to his tent. Calder and Eivind fell in behind them. Though Brenna knew both men well, she was uneasy to have them at her back.

She caught Leif’s eye as they passed, and saw that he, too, was ill at ease.

Another storm to weather. She hoped Vali was right, and they would be standing together when it passed.

~oOo~

The talk in Åke’s tent was calm and unthreatening. He called Leif to join them, and they all sat, the jarl and his sons, and the leaders at the castle, facing each other, in something like a circle. The jarl poured mead and offered up a prayer for Vali and Brenna’s marriage. They drank, and then he asked them about the course of their months in Estland. He was curious and civil, and he seemed pleased that they had taken over Ivan’s princedom as well and grown the holdings in his name.

He offered Vali and Brenna a tent of their own, calling it their wedding tent, though they’d been married for months. When they were bedded down for the night and the camp had gone quiet, Vali lay on his back, fully dressed, his axes at his side.

Brenna sat beside him. She had worn her shield and sword, because she met her jarl as a shieldmaiden, but now they lay near the opening of the tent.

“There is wrong here,” Vali muttered, keeping his voice low lest it carry through the cloth walls of the tent. “Åke does not mean to settle. Why did we stay, then? What is it he wants?”

“Calder made the claim. Perhaps the jarls did not want it.” She didn’t believe the words coming from her own lips. When they had landed in the late summer before, she had wondered why they had moved inland so far, why they had sailed so late in the season. It only made sense if Åke—and, at the time, Snorri—had meant to explore for a possible settlement.

Vali lifted his head and stared at her. “You don’t believe that.”

She sighed. “No.”

“Snorri was a good man, Brenna. He was fair, and he found honor, not glory, in his power. The same cannot be said for Åke.”

“Hush.” Though she couldn’t see through the tent walls, she glanced around, worried, and listened for sounds that someone might be near. “Åke is hard, yes. But he is not bad. He has treated me well. He made me a shieldmaiden.”

“First he made you a slave.”

“I offered myself as a slave. I was starving and had no other choice.”

“You were a child. If he meant to take care of you, he could have done better than that.”

“I had had my first blood. He could have done worse than he did.”

Vali sat up and picked up the tail of the braid that draped over her shoulder. “We are at risk, my love. You need to see it. Open those beautiful eyes and see that we are but the breadth of this braid from real danger. Snorri is dead. Åke came with three ships full of raiders, and no settlers. He does not have peace in his heart, and those of us sworn to Snorri are surrounded by men he might make our enemies.”