Epilogue
FOUR MONTHS LATER
“I’m with child.”
Gytha gasped and took Eadhild’s hand in hers. “You are?”
“Yes.” Her friend blushed as joy lit up her face. “I’m so happy! I was starting to be suspicious so I went to see Cwenthryth yesterday afternoon and she confirmed I was right.”
Oh, so now Gytha understood why Steinar’s wife had seemed amused this morning, when she’d told her she was carrying Haakon’s child.
She had told her friend the day before she was with child as well and was enjoying the idea of the two of them sharing their news.
It really seemed as if the two of them were destined to have mirror lives here in the Norsemen village.
She fell into Eadhild’s arms, happy beyond words. “I’m so pleased for you.”
“But?”
Gytha blinked. “But what?”
“There is something,” Eadhild accused. “Something you’re not telling me. I know you.”
There was something, but she had just decided to wait another day to tell her news, not wanting to steal her friend’s moment. But she would have to speak out, for fear of upsetting her. “Well, I had actually come to tell you that I was with child.”
Eadhild stared at her. “Oh, My God. When is it due? Just after the summer, same as me, I imagine.”
“Yes. Inevitably.” They laughed and hugged once more.
“Shall we go tell our husbands?”
“You mean you haven’t told Halfdan yet?”
“No, he spent the night at the forge because he had an important commission to finish.”
“Ah.” Gytha nodded. “That must be why Haakon has gone to help him this morning.”
Arm in arm, they made their way to the smithy where they found the two men working together. Through the open door, they could be seen taking turns to hammer at the piece of metal between them. Gytha stopped Eadhild before she could enter the forge.
“Wait a moment.”
Not being married to a blacksmith, she had rarely had the opportunity to see her husband working bare chested, shaping a red-hot piece of metal amidst a shower of sparks. It was a sight she enjoyed more than was seemly and she wanted to prolong the moment.
Eadhild giggled. “You’re right. Let’s wait a moment. I never tire of this view, as you can imagine.”
It was only then that Gytha noticed Halfdan was bare chested as well. She’d only had eyes for her own Norse god. When the two men stopped to have a drink a moment later, the women decided it was time to let their presence known.
Halfdan drew Eadhild into his arms at the same time as Haakon took Gytha’s mouth into a fierce kiss.
“I missed you, wife,” she heard the blacksmith say from behind her. “I hope I never have to work through the night again.”
“I missed you too, wife,” Haakon said in the same urgent tone, mimicking his friend.
Gytha giggled. “How? You saw me earlier this morning.”
He had done more than see her. He had feasted on her, as he liked to do most mornings.
The way he licked his lips told her he was thinking the same thing.
Her insides instantly dissolved. The man was truly wicked—and she loved it.
But she couldn’t start getting aroused now.
They were not alone and she had something to do.
“I have something to tell you,” she murmured in his ear. “Come.”
Leaving Eadhild to tell her husband that they were going to be parents, she led Haakon outside. Instead of asking her what this mysterious thing was, he crossed his arms over his still naked chest. Fortunately, though it was winter, it was not a cold day.
“At last,” he said before she could open her mouth. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to tell me.”
Tell him? “You… Y-you know?” She had only had the confirmation that morning but he already knew? How?
He lifted her in the air to settle her on the stone wall behind her, bringing her face level with him.
“Of course I know. How do you imagine I missed the fact that you didn’t get your courses last month?
Or that your body has started to change?
I spend enough time worshipping it to notice, I should say. ”
Yes, he did. But… “Changed? How?”
“Your breasts have become more sensitive, have they not?” They had, and she had loved being suckled of late because of it.
Trust him to take note of something like that.
“And if you must know, your delicious little cunt has gone a deeper pink color. I should know, as I have been keeping a very close eye on it.”
Gytha’s insides rippled the way it did every time he used the crude word, which he did often, in both their languages. Then her heart melted because Haakon was looking at her with an expression she had never before seen on his face.
“So, are you saying that you’re happy?”
Eyes aglow, he shook his head slowly. “Happy is the last word I would use right now. It’s far too weak. It would be like saying the gods are strong or calling you pretty. There are no words to describe what I feel. I might have to invent one. I’m delirious. Ecstatic. That’s it. I’m delistatic.”
She kissed him, because so was she. This child would be the start of the family she would build with Haakon. The kiss soon became scandalous.
“I want you,” he said in Norse, his voice urgent. “Shall I bend you over the wall and—”
The sound of gravel being crunched underfoot interrupted the wicked suggestion.
Someone was coming their way, heading for the forest behind.
Ulf, Wolf’s grandson, gave them a twisted smile before disappearing through the bushes.
No need to wonder whether he had guessed what they had been about to do.
Gytha went red to the roots of her hair.
Just then a shout was heard from inside the forge.
Gytha burst out laughing. “It would appear that Halfdan is delistatic as well.”
Coming Next
Ulf’s Destiny