Ulf’s Destiny (Sons of the Wolf #6)

Prologue

“Wolf’s son needs to die.”

Ylva stared at the woman who was talking with her gaze lost in the distance but the shocking words barely registered. All she could concentrate on right now was the thug she had hoped never to see again, holding a knife at Judith’s neck.

“Please,” her friend was saying, doing her best to stay still. She knew she was one ill-advised move away from having her throat sliced. Walstan was not renowned for his patience or compassion. “Let us go.”

Why, oh why, had they decided to stay in town? Ylva could have kicked herself. Couldn’t they have guessed that it put them at the risk of running into Mildred one day? The woman might well decide her self-imposed exile had been long enough.

And indeed this morning, what they’d feared for months had come to pass.

As they were making their way home from the market via a narrow alley, Ylva and Judith had found themselves face to face with their tormentors, Mildred and her right-hand man, Walstan.

The man had immediately pounced on Judith, preventing their escape, and brought them back to their crumbling lodgings.

It had been like the first abduction all over again.

And now here they were, slaves again.

“He needs to suffer as I have suffered.” Mildred was rambling on, pacing up and down the length of the room, talking to herself.

“Having my father, my brother, and my peace of mind taken away from me so suddenly was shocking. After their death, I had to flee, leave my house and my friends, I had to hide and now I cannot find any boys with which to take my pleasure. The cursed Icelander needs to pay for what he did, ruining my life so completely when I did nothing wrong.”

Nothing wrong. Ylva exchanged a glance with Judith and clenched her jaw. Nothing wrong. How could anyone be so deluded?

As to the “cursed Icelander,” Ylva knew all about him.

Everyone in town did. The infamous Norseman had freed her and Judith five months ago when he’d killed the slave trader holding them captive at the time, forcing his daughter to flee for her life.

Terrified of punishment, Mildred had disappeared without bothering to take her two slaves with her, and Ylva and her friend had hoped they’d seen the last of her.

Evidently, they had been wrong because she was back—and she wanted revenge.

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is what I say. One of Wolf’s sons needs to die. It is the only way I will be satisfied,” the woman repeated, planting herself in front of Ylva. “And you will be the one to kill him.”