Chapter 13
“Ithink I’ll go see Eadhild while you two speak to Wolf.”
As soon as they had entered the village Gytha had been seized by the desire to see her dearest friend, whom she missed terribly.
“Of course. You go. We’ll come get you later.”
The smile her father gave her warmed her chest, but the look Haakon threw her burned a path all the way to her toes. Oh dear, in the last few days things had definitely taken a turn for the…worst? Better? More scandalous?
She turned her horse round without a word.
Still dazed by the intensity burning in Haakon’s eyes, Gytha knocked on Eadhild’s door.
“Gytha!” The smile of delight on her friend’s face vanished as soon as it had appeared. She took a step forward, peering at her face. “Oh, my God, what happened to you?”
How to answer that question, Gytha wondered?
So many things had happened in the last few days.
She had spent a night in the same room as Haakon, she had accepted his beautiful gift, she had kissed him with all the fire she was capable of and all the daring she was unaware she possessed, she had started to wonder if she was not falling in love with him, as well as in lust. But how could Eadhild know all that at first glance? Was it that obvious?
“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said nervously.
“Your face!”
Her face? Was she still red from her reaction to Haakon’s scorching glance? Was that what Eadhild meant? It was not impossible. She touched her cheek slightly, feeling as exposed as if she had been naked. “I don’t—”
“The other cheek, the bruise, here, under your eye. It’s fading, but it’s obvious you’ve been hit.”
Of course, the bruise! Oswald’s blow. How could she have forgotten about that?
“It’s a long story,” she told her friend, relieved. “I promise I’ll tell you all about it later. But first you tell me, are you happy here?”
Eadhild took her hands in her own, smile returning. “Better than happy! Halfdan is wonderful, the husband I had never hoped to find. I’m getting quite good at speaking Norse and I made new friends too.”
“I’m glad.” Gytha hoped she didn’t sound jealous, because she wasn’t. Was she?
Well, perhaps she was, a little. Eadhild had found a new life here, in a warm community, with a loving husband and exciting new people. She was learning new things and… Was she forgetting her? No, never. She was just being silly.
“It turns out that there are many Saxon women in the village,” Eadhild was saying, “did you know that?”
Yes, she had known that. Many Saxon women but only one Saxon man, as far as she knew. Caedmon, the goldsmith. Haakon’s father.
“There is Wolf’s wife, Merewen, whom you know, of course, her friend, Frigyth and her sister Dunne, but they are not the only ones,” Eadhild carried on.
“They settled here a while ago but there are women our age too. Two of them have married Wolf’s sons, Steinar and Sven.
I’ve become quite close to Eahlswith, who recently had a son. ”
There, she giggled. “Why are you laughing?” Gytha asked. There was nothing funny in having a baby.
“Because Eahlswith told me the other day she had become good friends with Freydis, one of the women who had shared Sven’s bed before their wedding.
I was quite shocked, to tell you the truth.
I don’t think I could do the same.” She made a grimace proving it.
“I’m glad Halfdan only moved here recently, as it means I don’t have to meet any of his former conquests. I wouldn’t like that at all.”
“No, I can well imagine.”
Gytha remembered the discussion she’d had with Haakon, when she’d told him she would trust her future husband not to stray. Had she really meant it or had it been one of these brazen things she said and did in his presence? She couldn’t quite decide.
“Now, tell me about this bruise,” Eadhild ordered.
Yes. The bruise. Talking about the assault she had endured at the hands of the vile Saxon was much better than thinking of the kisses she had shared with the handsome Norseman. Grateful for the distraction, Gytha started her tale.
“You remember Leofric’s brother, Oswald?”
By the time she had finished, her friend was aghast. Gytha had kept to herself all that had transpired between her and Haakon before the attack and stuck to the version they had given her father.
He had simply walked into the house one morning in time to prevent the assault.
There was no mention of the fact that he had been in her bed that night, that they had argued, or kissed afterward.
That he had warned her he’d been about to rip her clothes off and impale her on his cock.
Oh, stop! How many times will you think of this?
Hundreds more it seemed.
“Really, I’ve never liked the man but that is shocking.” Eadhild brushed a strand of her friend’s hair to the side to better see the extent of the damage. She shook her head in dismay and then stilled. A smile bloomed on her lips. “What’s this I see? You’ve finally pierced your ears?”
“I have.” Well, one of them anyway. Haakon had done the other one.
Stop! Gytha chided herself again. What was she doing, constantly thinking of him? Couldn’t she have a normal conversation with someone without obsessing about him?
“Those earrings are beautiful! Where did you get them? At the market, on the new jewelry stall in the corner? I didn’t think they had such wares.”
“No.”
Gytha cleared her throat. What should she say? How could she explain Haakon’s generosity? Fortunately, she was spared from answering by Halfdan appearing in the door frame.
“Gytha. How good to see you.” He looked delighted to see her. And his braided hair made her wonder once again whether Haakon—
Stop, stop, stop!
“It’s good to see you too.”
“Will you share the meal with us? We were about to sit down.”
“Thank you, I would love to.”
The meal was simple but delicious, mutton stewed with greens and accompanied with boiled grain. Everyone ate with appetite and laughed at the antics of various villagers.
“Will you come with me see Eahlswith?” Eadhild asked Gytha, once the bowls were empty. “I had promised to go this evening.”
“You two go while it’s daylight,” Halfdan instructed. “I’ll take care of this.”
This offer earned him a kiss from his wife. It was the sort of kiss that only two people in love shared. It was not desire hiding under it, it was affection. It was not lust, but tenderness. It was the sort of kiss Gytha had never shared with anyone. Would she ever do one day?
She would have to wait to find out. First she would have to find a man she was assured didn’t care about her father’s occupation. For that she needed him to surrender his role as reeve to another. Not much longer to wait now, only a few months. Or… Had she not found one already?
She had tried to push him out of her mind during the meal but here he was again, invading her thoughts.
Haakon had not come to her because of who she was, he had almost literally stumbled onto her by accident.
And in the weeks since they had met, he had never once given her the impression he was interested in what her father did, even if they were now working together precisely because he was the current reeve.
Yes… And his kisses had left little to the imagination.
He wanted her, at least, as man wanted a woman.
Did he want more? He had never alluded to it, even though he was not exactly in the first flush of youth.
His twin sister was married with children already.
More confused than ever, she followed Eadhild to a well-maintained hut on the other side of village.
“Is that Freydis, the woman you told me about earlier?” Gytha asked, nodding toward the blonde woman sitting next to a tall Saxon who had to be Eahlswith. They were laughing together like old friends.
“It is. I told you they had become quite close,” Eadhild whispered back.
Apparently they had. “Isn’t Sven’s wife worried? I mean, it…” Gytha’s voice trailed.
She had not meant to suggest that Eahlswith was a fool for trusting her husband not to renew his acquaintance with a former lover or Freydis a shameless seducer who didn’t care about his new wife’s feelings.
Still, despite what she had claimed, Gytha couldn’t help but wonder at the unusual situation.
“Yes, I know exactly what you mean. But Freydis married Ralph only last week, after a few months together and it’s obvious she’s no longer interested in Sven, but deeply in love with her husband and he with her. You might have seen him around, since he is Haakon’s cousin.”
“I haven’t, no.”
At the mention of Haakon, Gytha felt herself flush red. Why had Eadhild brought him into the conversation at the first opportunity? Did she suspect anything?
She touched the earrings gingerly. The sting of the piercing could still be felt but she didn’t mind. It reminded her of what he had done for her.
“I think I will go and see Wolf and my father, if you don’t mind. They were waiting for my opinion on the way to proceed regarding Osberga.”
Haakon was finishing his cup of mead when the door behind him opened on Gytha. How he knew it was her without looking he wasn’t sure, but he did.
“Gytha,” Wolf greeted, confirming his suspicions. “Come sit here. We were just discussing what to do now because Matilda agrees, it makes sense to think that Osberga would have tried to get back to her.”
What he didn’t tell her was that the poor woman had been so overwrought at the idea of her daughter setting off on such a perilous journey alone that she’d had to be taken home.
“And I’m not even there to meet her. If anything happens…” she kept repeating, shaking her head. “If Gundulf sees her in the village, he will— He was the one who wanted to send her away to that blasted farm! And I said nothing! I should have—”
“Hush, my love,” Inga, ever patient, had soothed. “’Twill be all right. Soon you will be reunited with her and no one will take her again.”
The men had left her to deal with a sobbing Matilda while they went back to Wolf’s hut to decide on the best course of action.
Gytha had joined them just when they had decided that someone other than Matilda would have to go to the village to investigate.
The possibility that she would be recognized was all too real.
They couldn’t risk the man who was still her legally wed husband seeing her and claiming her back or following her back to the safe hiding place she had found for herself.
Besides, her emotional responses, all too understandable, might jeopardize the success of the mission.
To say nothing of the horrid disappointment she would face if they didn’t find Osberga, after all.
“Haakon, you’re going to have to go in my stead,” Wolf declared.
Judging from the faces around the table, the words had taken everyone by surprise, but none more so than Haakon himself.
“Me?” he asked, doing his best not to sound too shocked.
“Yes. Unfortunately, I have promised Magnus’ brother in the next village to help him deal with some Icelanders I know and cannot delay.
But even if I hadn’t, I would have asked you to go.
You have proved your ability more than once and this is a mission better suited to a younger man who will not mind sleeping outdoors. ”
Elstan nodded. “I agree. We trust you unconditionally. But if I may, I think we should send someone with him. After all she’s been through, little Osberga might be daunted by such a formidable man coming for her and refuse to follow him back here.
A woman, a Saxon bearing some token from her mother would help reassure her. ”
Haakon lifted his head, guessing where this was going. When the reeve turned to look at his daughter, who was sitting to his right, he’d already understood she would be chosen to accompany him. As to how he felt, he couldn’t say.
“This is where you come in, Gytha. You will go with him.”
“Me?” She sounded just as incredulous as he had before.
“Yes. You have asked to help me for years, and you know just as much as I do about this affair. This was your idea. Wouldn’t you like the chance to be the one bringing mother and daughter back together?”
He could see her hesitate but there was no faulting the two men’s thinking. Being in the company of a gentle, caring Saxon woman would indeed make it easier to convince the wary little girl to follow him to the village. He knew Gytha would accept, placing Osberga’s safety above her own misgivings.
“What say you?” Wolf exchanged a glance with Elstan. There was no mistaking the meaning behind this glance. The two friends thought this turn of events was amusing. “A few weeks back, you two pretended to be betrothed when you didn’t know one another. Surely this is no more taxing?”
“Indeed. We are not asking you to play any role this time, just to cooperate and fulfil a mission. Surely you can do that?”
“Yes,” Gytha whispered.
Haakon swallowed. He was going to spend the best part of a week with her. Alone.
Fuck.