Viking's Love (56 page)

The tiny girl rose and Alfred popped out once
more and ran up her arm to perch upon her shoulder. Eldred saw the
rat at let out a curse about vermin not being allowed in the house,
and Meghera pouted and eyed Joran pleadingly.

He sighed and explained to the serfs it was a
pet. Their expressions did not soften. Collin and Grogan entered
and soon the rest of the Vikings were in the hall. Janna came
downstairs to explain what happened in their absence.

When Allisande didn’t return from her walk
the day she was taken by Wulfstan, they all went out to search for
her. The Danes made a great show of helping to look, so none had
suspected them until they disappeared the following day.

They’d been unable to do more than wait and
were frantic until they saw the long ships coming down the fjord.
Relief swept the hall as word the Chieftain returned spread. Elwynn
was relieved to see Allisande in his arms, and soon saddened to
discover she had lost her child on the journey back.

Grogan sat with his wife. Joran frowned and
looked away as he saw the tenderness between them. He felt he was
being a bit hard on Grogan’s wife and her ill-fated tryst with
Rowan. He couldn’t help the way he felt, given his friendship with
Grogan.

Janna felt his censure and frowned at him
when he wouldn’t meet her eyes or engage her. Grogan was too busy
entertaining everyone with the failed raid on Ulsted and all that
transpired since to notice Joran’s coldness to Janna.

Collin cringed when he was introduced as
Collin the Nightshirted, and colored as all the Vikings roared in
mirth until tears rolled from their eyes.

Eldred was eyeing the handsome, raven-haired
Englishman with far too much attention when her apron started on
fire. Her squeals as she beat out the flames drew everyone’s
notice, and Collin gazed at Meghera suspiciously. She had been
standing too close to the hearth, everyone thought, but those who
knew differently gave Meghera such looks of warning the girl ducked
her head, and petted her rat with downcast eyes and a jutting lower
lip.

Janna led the girl to her room when Joran
said it was time she seek her bed. She looked up and he saw the
militant look in her blue eyes before he spoke to her sharply. She
stomped after Janna. Elwynn came down and Joran approached her
nervously.

“
Is all well, Elwynn?”

“
She has lost a fair amount of blood.
She has lost the child. I am sorry Joran,” Elwynn said sorrowfully
and he said nothing for they had decided to tell none of his people
of her time as Robert Fitzhugh’s wife, thinking it easier for her
to put it behind her if none knew. “She will be up and around in no
time, knowing her, though she should remain abed.”

Joran nodded and went upstairs to see his
wife as Storm was being brought out by Janna. She paused as he made
to pass her without speaking. She put her hand upon his arm. He
stiffened and she looked up at him. He could see the sorrow in her
pale blue eyes. He would have passed her, but her words stopped
him.

“
He told you of Rowan and I, didn’t
he?” Janna bit her lip and looked away. He could see her struggling
to maintain her composure to learn her secret was known to her
Chieftain at last.

“
I was angry at Grogan and heartbroken
for a time, Joran,” she whispered hoarsely and held Storm
comfortingly. “Do you know how I felt when I learned of all his
women on the raids? Do you know what it did to me to know he did
those things? I love Grogan, but he did wrong!”

“
So giving yourself to Rowan made all
that right again, is that it?” Joran asked coolly and she
stiffened, her eyes flaring with anger. “Do not justify your
actions to me, Janna. Grogan has forgiven you, so let us not speak
of it.”

“
No, it wasn’t right! I am not excusing
what I did, and to be honest, Rowan was too drunk to say no, and I
took advantage of him. I have no excuses, and I would ask that you
would leave it be. Grogan and I have gotten past it now, and it is
none of your affair, even if you are his Chieftain and friend! Do
not judge me, for one day, you might find yourself in the same
situation,” Janna snapped harshly, angry by his narrow view of
things.

“
That is where you are wrong!” Joran
said tersely an eyed her unkindly. “I love my wife! No other will
do for me. She feels the same as I, and would never hurt me
deliberately in such a way.”

Janna flinched and her lips tightened in
anger from his condemnation of her of her affair with Rowan, and
the babe that resulted from it. She stalked past him without
another word and he opened the door to see his wife was sleeping
peacefully. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead and
left the room, unwilling to disturb her.

When he returned to the hall he looked to see
Collin disappear out the door with a smiling Eldred at his side and
he felt like grabbing the man and upbraiding him, but he said
nothing. The additional men took lodgings in the barracks behind
the longhouse, and he sat with his men as they discussed the need
for constant vigilance in the next few months.

“
We will assign men to watch the
landings on both ends of the fjord and the dock. We are fortunate
there are only two directions for Wulfstan to approach us,” Joran
said and his men all nodded. “I need no men to go with the baron
when he leaves, so we will consider ourselves ready,” he concluded
for Collin of Lockwraithe would be leaving with Garran and his men
the following week for York.

Joran scowled as he realized he would no
doubt sleep with every wench in his household before he left, and
wondered if it would do any good to speak to the randy nobleman.
Joran was not sorry to see his brother-in-law go, in light of his
blatant disregard for Meghera’s feelings.

He questioned the protective surge he felt
for the girl. He reasoned it was because he was now her guardian
for the next five years, but he suddenly felt like an older brother
to her, and was angry for her husband’s constant betrayals.

Meghera deserved far better than Collin, and
he was secretly hoping she found someone worthy of her before he
sought to reclaim her five years from now. The mystic said there
were others like her out there in the world, and he prayed one of
them found Meghera.

He secretly felt she belonged with her own
kind, not suffering her mortal husband, who would no doubt make a
lifetime of disappointing her. It wasn’t his place to think such
thoughts, but after what he had been through with his own wife, he
knew what love was.

****

Wulfstan entered the residence in York and
sought out Ivar. He found Ivar deep in conversation with his
brother, Halfdon. He waited until the elder Ragnorsson left and
joined his leader. Ivar glared at him when he sat beside him.

“
You have made a dreadful mistake
crossing Joran this time, Wulfstan,” Ivar said coldly and eyed his
younger son with disappointment when he saw the surprise in his
face that he failed. “Yes, he lives. After the ambush at Ulsted, he
reclaimed his woman and killed Fitzhugh. Your treachery is known by
all. I hope the gold Ulsted paid you was worth you being removed
from my service. You are no longer welcome in my presence, and all
of those who swear fealty to me have followed suit. I will have
your shield before you leave. ”

“
He lies to you!” Wulfstan raged and
eyed Ivar with real fear in his eyes. “He would say anything to
discredit me! He and his English whore seek to punish me for
wanting to avenge my brother!”

“
Wulfstan, please, enough of your
lies,” Ivar sighed and shook his head sadly, his eyes meeting the
younger man’s with pain and regret. “I will not go against my son
again to help you. You are on your own in this. I fear that after
what you have done, Joran will never stop trying to avenge his
lady. Ulsted has left a lasting impression on his wife, I’m
told.”

Wulfstan’s nostrils flared and he rose and
overturned his chair, looking at his father with loathing. “I
shouldn’t be surprised you have taken your precious Joran’s word in
this! Your perfect son will leave you to fight alone in battle for
that bitch of his, Ivar! You dare to defend him! His loyalty goes
to her now, while I have never wavered in mine to you!”

“
We are done here, Wulfstan, or is it
your desire to test me as King Aelle had?” Ivar asked in a
dangerous voice Wulfstan knew well and felt fear in the pit of his
belly, thinking of the horrific manner in which the deposed king of
Northumberland had been killed for the betrayal of Ragnor Lothbrok,
Ivar’s father.

His back had been cut open, his ribcage
yanked from his spine and his lungs pulled out; the blood eagle, as
it was called. They said King Aelle was alive during all of it,
writhing and screaming in agony until he found his death.

“
No, I shall leave, but know you this,
Ivar!” Wulfstan snarled in rage. “I will kill your precious Joran!”
He stomped away flinging his shield bearing the insignia of Ivar
the Boneless to the floor, before he left the hall, cursing and
raging.

Ivar stroked his beard thoughtfully wondering
if he should interfere in the battle between his sons, and thought
better of it and rose as his serf arrived with his satchel. He was
satisfied Ubbe and Halfdon, his brothers, had York secured.

It was time he returned to Lockwraithe and
reclaimed his woman from the abbey there. Thinking of Leonie gave
him pause. It had been nearly three years since he had last seen
her. Remembering her beauty and her passion made him close his eyes
and sigh. He had thought her still married to Waltham until
Allisande made it a point to rub his nose in the matter.

He grimaced when he thought of his new
daughter-in-law. Joran married the little shrew and converted to
her faith. She had her hooks so deep in his son now there was
little he could do. He had no choice but to accept her as his son’s
wife. He thought of his son’s words about love and his eyes
darkened.

He fell madly in love the day he took
Waltham. When he battered down the door and found Waltham’s
beautiful wife there, his heart was forever gone. She needed
convincing. In the days that followed, he wooed her while his men
sacked Waltham of its riches. She had come to him in the end,
wanting to know what it was like to be with a man not like her
monster of a husband, she had said.

She refused to leave with them when they
withdrew from Waltham, and Ivar stayed behind, hiding in the
marshes, meeting with her whenever she could sneak away. In the
end, she refused to leave with him, citing duty and her vows,
breaking his heart asunder.

Ivar should have tossed her over his shoulder
and taken her away with him. He watched her walk away back to
Waltham instead, knowing the horrors and cruelty she endured in her
marriage. He stole a horse and made his way up the coast disguised
as a cotter. He sailed on to Dublin. He never knew Waltham annulled
his marriage and had forsaken his wife, or he would have returned
for his lady.

He would not be thanking his shrew of a
daughter-in-law any time soon, but his heart skipped a beat as he
beat tracks to the harbor to set sail for Lockwraithe. This time
she would have no choice, Ivar thought darkly. If he had to drag
her from the abbey kicking and screaming, she was going with
him.

Ivar smiled as his ship left York, his heart
thudding madly again in his chest after years of being deadened.
Leonie would be his at last, and he would take her away from all
the pain in their lives. He did not tell anyone of his plans. He
would march on to East Anglia and handle King Edward, and his duty
to his father was over at last. He would be free to live his own
life then.

****

Collin was leaving in less than five minutes.
Meghera didn’t come down to see him off. He felt a sense of regret
as he kissed and hugged his sister goodbye and said farewell to his
Viking friends.

He walked down to the dock where Garran
Herricksson waited in his long ship. He made his way aboard and
waved to his sister and all those that stood on the bluff to see
him off, and Meghera wasn’t among them.

Eldred had been so entertained by her new
Englishman lover that she bragged about the size of his manhood to
all that would listen. She was unaware that Meghera was within
earshot. She hadn’t spoken to him of what she knew, but he could
see she was unhappy of his conduct. His lips tightened. He would
not spend the next five years jerking his cock to completion every
morning to satisfy his young wife.

She would have to realize he had little
choice but to marry her with the fall of Lockwraithe, and given her
situation at her home in Lancaster, she could hardly complain.
Their marriage was in a hiatus state she would have to allow, in
consideration of her age, while he planned to act as though he
wasn’t married at all.

To him, it was nothing more than a waiting
period. He had five years to rejoice his freedom, and he planned to
enjoy every one of them, thoroughly. He smiled to himself when he
thought of their return to York. He wondered if the lovely Aileen
missed him. He was interrupted from his lustful thoughts of Aileen
when he saw Meghera running down the hill, the large wolf dogging
her steps.

Her long honey-gold hair flew behind her as
she ran. The long ship pulled away from the dock and was heading
downstream, but she ran alongside the edge of the fjord, waving to
him frantically.

“
I love you, Collin of Lockwraithe!”He
could see her tears as she ran to catch up to the ship. “Do not
forget me, Collin! I shall be waiting for you!” She stopped as the
long ship disappeared around the bend. His last sight of her was
her small hand raised in farewell, her face streaked with
tears.