Chapter 17
“You must be wondering what you are doing here.” Alaric planted himself in front of Merewen, a malevolent glint in his eyes.
After a reckless ride he had brought her to his house and inside a spacious hall.
Even the fire roaring in the middle of the room failed to chase the chill from her bones.
“Let me answer that question. Your lands are really what I’m after. ”
Relief flooded through her. During the whole journey she had feared he would tumble her into bed as soon as they arrived but it seemed he wanted her lands, not her body.
She could live with that. Let him take what he wished.
All she wanted was to get back to Wolf. Her life was with him now.
Her house, only a few yards away, did not call out to her in the way the hut back at the village did, because it was empty.
She didn’t want a house when she could have a home.
Alaric could have it all. It would even do her a favor.
“There was no need to abduct me. I will gladly sell them to—”
“Sell!” he cut in with a laugh. “I never pay for what I want when I know I can get it for free. Isn’t it more satisfying that way?”
“What are you talking about?” How did he imagine he would get her lands if not by buying them from her?
The answer was not long in coming.
“At the death of your father, your brother became his heir. I had hopes he would not survive past childhood. Such a puny, pathetic weakling he was… But against all odds he was still alive two years after your father’s passing.
Who would have thought it?” A sinister laugh escaped Alaric’s lips.
“I could not afford to wait any longer. If the boy had lasted until the age of fifteen, there was no telling how much time it would be until his health finally failed him. Who knows, he might even have outlived me. I could not take the risk. It was much easier to slip him a little potion. No one noticed anything, naturally, with him being so obligingly weak.”
Bile rose in Merewen’s throat as the meaning of the words hit her full in the chest. Her brother had not died of a bloody flux.
He had been murdered.
Leofric might have lived, but because of this monstrous, greedy man, he was dead. And now, as the last surviving member of the family, she stood in his way. Suddenly the fact that he wanted her lands took on a new, terrible meaning.
He was prepared to kill her to have them.
By an odd twist of fate, being kidnapped by the slave trader had allowed her to elude his murdering hand. Momentarily, of course. There would be no second chance, she could feel it in her bones.
“People didn’t think I was dead,” she whispered. “You told them I was.”
“Of course.”
“And now you are going to kill me.”
“Do you know,” Alaric said, twisting his mouth in mock consideration.
“I had hoped to avoid this outcome. I am not a cruel man, I only kill when there are no other options. There was no need to kill you, you’re only a woman, after all.
But you certainly needed to disappear. Being sold to a barbarian should have ensured that no one ever got to hear from you again.
Either your new owner would have sailed away with you or he would have treated his slave so appallingly that you would not have lasted a month. Alas, it was not to be.”
Realization dawned.
She had not escaped Alaric by being kidnapped.
He was the one who had kidnapped her so he could rid himself of her!
She would have died but his hands would be clean, no one would have been able to attribute her murder to him.
After Leofric’s death and her mysterious disappearance, he would have stepped forward and taken over their lands, safe in the belief that no one was here to challenge him.
Wolf had been right to say she had an enemy she hadn’t known about…
Wolf. The thought of him sliced through her like a knife cutting into butter.
After making her believe that they could have a respectful, even loving marriage, he had sent her away and turned his back on her. The loss of him felt almost like the loss of a limb.
Alaric came to stand in front of her. She willed herself still, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her flinch.
“Although… It seems a waste to kill such a beautiful woman, in the prime of her life. No, I think I am not going to kill you, after all. I think I would rather marry you. Your lands will end up as mine in that manner.”
Marry her! The idea horrified her even more than hearing he wanted to kill her.
How could she marry the man who had killed her brother and sold her into slavery?
Her insides withered at the thought. This time she did recoil.
She did not want to show her fear but she had no problem letting him see her disgust.
“I will never marry you! Even if I wanted to, I could not! I’m already married.”
Alaric snorted. “Oh yes, apparently you are. To the man who handed you over to me, a barbarian who bought you as a slave and killed his first wife. Well, I think we both know what to think of that marriage. ”
Merewen’s shock was such that she did not think of denying the accusation of murder. “You know him?”
“I decided to take in interest in the man when I realized I would have to get rid of him if I want to carry on taking my pleasure with the women in his village. They are rather to my taste, if you must know.”
“You…” Bile rose in her throat. This man was the one who had attacked Ingrid and the others? This was getting worse and worse. What else would she discover about him?
It took all her inner strength not to curl up into a ball and scream.
“I only found out he was the one who bought you the other day, quite by accident. Of course, when I found that out, I had to go and get you back. I had half expected you to have fled your new owner by now, but it seems you are fond of persecutors… I guess it’s good news for me.
” The man actually laughed, a sound that made her flesh crawl.
“What’s your supposed husband’s name again?
Bear? Wolf? That’s it, Wolf. A barbarian name for a barbarian. How fitting.”
He gave a satisfied smile at what he deemed to be superior wit.
“Names are not a reflection of anything. If they were you would not be called Alaric, but viper or pig,” Merewen spat.
“Hot for your man, I see? Well, you can stop considering him as yours. I doubt the barbarian will have married you in a ceremony we civilized Saxons recognize as legal. You probably merely held hands in front of a fool blabbering in Norse. What of it? I don’t see that as any impediment to a proper union between us. ”
Merewen’s stomach sank further. How had she not thought of that before?
Indeed, there was no proof of her marriage, no witness that would testify to it having taken place.
It would be her word against Wolf’s and he had sent her away without as much as a backward glance.
If anyone came to ask him if she was married to him he would find it all too easy to deny it.
Hadn’t she feared the very thing and resolved to find out the truth when she had left the village?
And he had said he didn’t want to be the one looking after her.
At the time she had wanted to believe it was a lie, but perhaps it was not. Wolf was not prone to lying.
Her heart broke anew.
It had all been an illusion. He had never been hers, and she had only been his because he’d bought her, not because he’d married her. And now he had abandoned her.
Alaric saw her discomfiture and bared his teeth in a grimace. “In my generosity I will give you the night to think on your options and realize that you have none. Tomorrow I will come and find you and you will give me the answer I expect.”
“That will never happen.”
Even if he were right and she was truly not married to Wolf, even if he didn’t care about her, she would never be this man’s wife. Merewen already knew she would be gone before the morning. Alaric evidently saw the intent to flee flash in her eyes because he made another grimace.
“I think I will take some precautions against you,” he said, coming closer. “You seem foolish enough to attempt an escape.”
Before she could move, he hoisted her up onto his shoulder and carried her out of the hall.
Although Merewen kicked and screamed all she could, it had no effect on him and no one came to her aid.
Evidently, such a scene was all too common.
His people would have learnt to ignore women’s cries of protest a long time ago.
Once he had kicked the door shut with his heel, Alaric yanked her back onto her feet and started to tear at her clothes even before she had recovered her balance.
“No!” Merewen cried, utterly terrified. Was he about to rape her, then beat her so much that she could not move? Was that his plan?
“Stop this!” Alaric snapped, tightening his hold on her.
He was a lot stronger than his lean frame had led her to suppose.
“Or I will have to hurt you and I don’t want to.
Appearances have to be preserved. It would not do for my bride to sport fresh injuries on our wedding day.
Officially, you will be marrying me willingly. ”
“Willingly! Why not add that it is a love match while you’re at it!” she roared in powerlessness when he tore the front of her shift in much the same way the slave trader had done. He laughed a horrid laugh.
“No. I won’t go that far. But you will be reported to marry me in order to escape your barbarian tormentor, a man who bought you as a slave, and even obliged me by leaving traces of his violence on your face for all to see.”