Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
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Nathan had slept through the entire night, but he felt like death when he awoke. His entire body ached and complained just as it had the first night that he had woken up in Freya’s home. What in the world had happened? All he knew was that he had awoken to an empty bed and his clothes warmed and dried by the fire, waiting for him.
He dressed quickly, moving down the stairs at a snail’s pace as he let his hand run down the length of the wall to keep him steady. It was the scent of food that called to him more than anything else. The basic need that forced him from the warm comfortable bed. That, and he had to find wherever Freya had gone off to. All of the usual patrons he might expect in a place like this seemed to be eating quietly.
All but Freya, of course.
She just couldn’t help but stand out. Or perhaps it was merely him feeling so drawn to her. She was the only one with such bright red hair among the masses, her pretty, blue dress complimenting her fair skin perfectly. She seemed to be minding her business, her breakfast in front of her mostly untouched as she sat there with her arms and her legs crossed over one another. She stared straight ahead of herself. He knew that stubborn set of her jaw. No doubt those three sailors who were standing around her were about to get more than a little piece of her mind.
He staggered into the main room slowly, listening to the bastards heckling her as his own temper started to rise little by little.
“Why are ye so cold? Firehair, come on, I bet that ye can keep us nice and warm if ye just thaw yer temper just a little bit,” one of them said with a smirk.
Wrong move. She might be able to ignore them, but he couldn’t.
As soon as Nathan was within reach, he grabbed the sleeve of the man closest to him and yanked him away from Freya’s table with a snarl. “I’ll thank ye tae keep away from me wife.”
Freya’s breath hitched ever so softly.
The strangers looked at him with fear in their eyes. Nathan was a good head taller than the rest of them. While he might not be anywhere near his top form, the three men were little. He was more than certain he could take them if he needed to. He was recovered enough for that, he was sure.
Despite the obvious fear, it would seem their levels of intoxication made them brave, and the smaller one swung at him. The fist came toward his face as if in slow motion. Nathan didn’t even have the chance to register the motion before his body moved of its own accord. Such a strange feeling to have his reflexes working on his behalf like this, swinging and turning as he caught the man’s fist, yanked him forward and off balance, and swiftly stepped out of the way all at the exact same time.
One down.
Nathan moved to dispatch the second one. He just couldn’t help himself when Freya was being harassed. The second swung, but he dodged and caught his arm with his hand. Nobody drew their weapons, nobody even attempted to stop them as Nathan's fists made quick work of the fools. But the second managed a good hit to his face, sharp enough that he could feel the knuckles of the man’s fist against his hard head. So, Nathan returned the gesture in kind, rendering the man unconscious.
The barkeep stepped out from behind his post, eyeing the small grouping warily, but he seemed reluctant to be involved. Still, when Nathan threw one of those men against the nearest table, sending it and the chairs that surrounded it sliding across the floor, he took a step forward.
“Oy!” the barkeep shouted to be heard over the commotion, even as he kept his distance. “Ye stop this foolishness right the now! Out, the lot of ye!”
With a sharp turn of his head, Nathan pinned the barkeep with a stern gaze, his tone calculatedly accusative. “They started this. Ye saw them, and ye did naething tae protect me wife.”
It was the right thing to say. Blaming the barkeep for it took the blame off him—after all, he was only protecting Freya from a group of men who were harassing her relentlessly, while everyone else around her sat and watched.
“I’d like tae break me fast in peace with me wife now, and I’d like tae have these men removed from her presence.”
Nathan stepped over the fools on the floor and took a seat across from Freya, who was looking at him strangely. He ignored the dull pain in his fist as he helped himself to the black pudding on her plate. Her eyes narrowed as he bit it in half, wincing only slightly as he realized his lip was split as the salty food hit it.
Behind him, he could hear the barkeep as he gathered up the men and kicked them out of his establishment, but he paid them no mind. As long as they were out of his sight, he could easily ignore them.
“Was that necessary?” Freya whispered.
Nathan couldn’t help but to grin. “Defending me wife?”
She paused, glancing around them both as if ensuring that nobody was listening to their conversation. It wasn’t like she could deny being his wife where people were likely to overhear her. It wouldn’t be good for either of them if they found out the truth. “Ye ken exactly what I mean, Nathan.”
“I think I’m growing rather fond of the way ye say me name when ye’re angry.”
He was instantly rewarded for his teasing by the red color that stained her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. He wasn’t sure if it was anger from his words or something else, or a combination of both, all he knew was that he really liked seeing her in that way.
“That’s gonnae get infected if ye keep doing that.” She hissed under her breath as he licked the breakfast from his lips.
Before he could answer, Freya pushed away from the table and gathered her plate into her arms, taking her breakfast upstairs. Just at that moment, the bar keeper placed his own serving of food on the table. Nathan had no choice but to pick up his own plate and follow her back into their room.
Upstairs, Freya seemingly abandoned her breakfast half eaten on the table. She had her bag of medical supplies laid out on the bed, and didn’t look up at him as he joined her, still eating his own food happily.
“Why did ye storm off like that?” Nathan asked, mostly just to ensure that she shot him another warning glance.
“Sit.” Freya commanded as she pointed to the bed sternly.
The moment he complied with her wishes, the food was taken from his hands and she stepped closer to him, right between his parted knees before grabbing his chin with no small amount of force and examining his lip.
It was far more difficult than he had anticipated to feel her hands on him like that—to have her so close and not be able to touch her. What would happen if he did? Freya was watching him so intently as she gently probed the bones in his face, ensuring that nothing was too damaged.
“It’s just a bruise, lass. I’m fine.”
The words were meant to reassure her, but she didn’t seem convinced in the slightest.
Slowly, he placed a hand on her hip, giving her ample time to pull away from him. “Ye have seen me recover from far worse. This is naethin’. He could barely even form a proper fist. I would be embarrassed of meself if he had managed tae dae damage.”
Freya glanced up from his jawline and mouth, her eyes locking onto his in a way that forced him to ignore the way his heart started to pound harder in his chest. “Just because ye have a hard head doesnae mean ye’re unbreakable.”
There was a fear in her eyes.
His grip on her hip tightened fractionally. “I’m all right. I’ll not stand by and allow ye tae be treated that way.”
Freya’s gaze lingered on his for a long moment before she finally nodded her head curtly and pulled out of his grip. She crossed to her medical bag and picked up a salve of some kind, bringing it back over to apply to the split skin on his lip. “Ye’ll need tae reapply this often.”
He was sorely tempted to place his hand back onto the pretty curve of her hip.
“Is that fight all that’s bothering ye lass?” He asked, wanting to have any excuse possible to keep her closer to him.
She nodded once more, but lingered. “Are ye nae worried about the ship at all?”
That hadn’t even occurred to him. He supposed that he ought to be frightened of getting onto another ship because of what had happened on the last one. But, given that he couldn’t actually remember the event itself, he found himself feeling very neutral on the subject. “I dinnae ken. I dinnae think so.”
“I’m worried.” She admitted in a small voice, and he gave her ample time to finish her thought. “In truth, I never learned how to swim. I ken it will seem rather silly, given that I’ve lived on an island all of me life, so close tae the water, but… it has always frightened me.”
He would imagine that seeing him in the condition he had been in when he had been pulled from the water hadn’t helped that fear in the slightest. “I could try to teach ye…”
Another skill he didn’t know how he knew until that moment, but his body was absolutely certain that swimming wasn’t an issue for him.
“Ye would dae that?”
Nathan grinned. “That’s the least that I can dae.”
The innkeeper provided very useful information on how to reach one of the only sections of beach that was suitable for swimming purposes. It didn’t take long at all for Nathan and Freya to make their way down there.
Given the concerns she had brought up, he truly felt he might feel some type of way looking out over the pretty emerald water, but he felt nothing. There was no fear, nor apprehension coiling in his gut. It was merely just water they were looking at, the waves swelling and cresting in the breeze.
The tension started to fade from his shoulders, surprising him by just how at ease he felt given the current circumstances. The gulls overhead making their calls, pleading with him for bread or other food that he simply did not have. He slowly started to untuck his shirt, relishing the warm sun on every bit of exposed skin as he folded his shirt and placed it on a nearby flat rock.
“So, why did ye never learn to swim?”
“Well, apart from the fear, I was never truly allowed to wander from the convent as a child,” Freya said as she pushed slightly closer to the shoreline.
Nathan smiled gently at her, placing an encouraging hand on her shoulder. “What is it about the water that scares ye so? I’ll nae let anything happen tae ye, I promise.”
She nodded. It warmed his heart to know that she had already come to trust him so completely. “I’m nae sure… it’s just so large. I think it’s feeling so very small and powerless.”
Made all the worse by the state she had found him in after all of this.
Nathan’s encouraging smile grew as he moved closer to her, pulling at the lacing on the back of her gown. Freya whipped around.
“What are ye daeing?”
“Dae ye want tae get yer dress all wet and heavy with sand?” Nathan offered, his voice dropping slightly lower than he meant for it to. He pulled his own boots and other outer garments and placed them on the rock with his shirt. He reached for her dress as she timidly pulled it off her shoulders and handed it to him. For a moment, she attempted to wrap her arms around herself in an attempt to protect her modesty, her shift doing little to cover her body, and then thought better about it.
She slipped off her shoes and extended her hand toward him. He took the boots, placed them down, and then held out his hand to her as well, cupping her palm with his own as he started toward the water. The closer they got, the tighter she held on to his hand. Not that he minded.
“It’s all right, ye can stand here. There’s almost nae current. Nothing to worry about.” He said confidently and she nodded, taking small steps further into the waves. Slowly he walked backward with her deeper into the water until it was around her waist.
“It’s nae as cold as I thought it would be.”
“Nae this close to shore during this time of year,” Nathan agreed. “The first and most important skill that ye need to learn is how to keep yer head above water, and then ye need to ken how to float. Swimming can be tiring and should something happen, ye need to be able to float and rest.”
She nodded, and it seemed that the practical knowledge was helping a great deal.
“Remember, I’m nae going to let anything happen tae ye.” Nathan assured her, pulling her closer to his body as he started to explain the steps to help her float. He would have showed her by example first, but she didn’t seem to want to let go of his hand any more than he wanted to stop touching her either.
“Ye need to relax yer muscles. Just allow the water tae carry ye. The salt will help keep ye above the swells, but ye cannae fight it,” Nathan continued, and little by little, Freya started to relax in his arms. “That’s it, that’s a good lass, ye’ll be swimming laps around me in nae time.”
Freya smiled, the sunlight turning her skin a pretty pink, making it difficult for him to look away.
“This is the first time I’ve ever managed tae relax this way,” Freya admitted, her eyes still closed as the sun shone on her face. Slowly, he pulled his hands away from her back where he had been keeping her balanced upright and closer to him.
“I’m glad tae have helped.” Nathan said softly. There was no way he was ever going to be able to properly repay her for everything that she had done for him, but he was sure as hell going to try. He smiled and spoke with pride. “Look, ye’re floating all on yer own.”