Chapter 8 #2
Kiri held out her arms to Rorik, who took her, hugged her, then kissed her. He breathed in the scent of her flesh. “You smell just like Aglida. Now, Chessa, do you think my little daughter is also beautiful? Will she be the second most beautiful woman on earth when she grows up?”
Ragnor walked up to them, trying to swagger, but he only managed to look a bit drunk, his walk crooked.
“What is all this stupidity? This is a little girl child. She is of no account at all. Why do you speak of her becoming beautiful someday? Someday, we will be old or dead and her future beauty doesn’t matter.
Come along, Chessa, I would speak to you.
You are to be my wife and you must begin to be submissive to me now. Come.”
Chessa sighed as she turned to Ragnor. “Go away,” she said only.
He looked shocked. “You would tell me to leave you? You don’t wish to hear my words in private? You want all to hear what must be said?”
“Go away, Ragnor. I don’t care what you say. You have been drinking Utta’s mead, haven’t you?”
“Nay, not yet. Kerek said my head must be clear and thus it would follow that I would reason well and my tongue would speak fluently. Come along or all will know what I must say.”
Kerek nodded slightly to Ragnor. He was surprised. The man had managed to gain everyone’s attention. All were closing about them now. All were listening.
“It matters not,” Chessa said. “Nothing about you matters. Your warship is ready. Leave Hawkfell Island. No one wants you here. I do wonder how many of your men will return with you.”
“That is another matter entirely and doesn’t concern you.
You’re naught but a woman and know nothing of importance.
” Ragnor stopped, hearing Kerek gently clear his throat.
He cleared his own then and waited a moment before he said again, “You must come with me. This is important and it is private. Very private.”
“Out with it, Ragnor,” Rorik said. “Chessa doesn’t care, so say what you will say.”
“She can’t marry William of Normandy.”
Cleve said easily, “Naturally she can. She will marry William. She must marry William. It is done. The only reason you still live is because you will become the King of the Danelaw. Don’t push the limits of our patience.”
Chessa just looked at Cleve and he knew in that moment that she would fight it, that she would refuse to wed William, and then what in the name of the gods would he do? He would lose faith with Rollo, he would lose faith with Sitric. And what would happen to Chessa?
Ragnor said with all the pride of a Viking raider who’d just plundered an abbey, “The princess can’t marry William of Normandy because I’ve already bedded her.
I’ve taken her many times. She isn’t a virgin.
She could be carrying my babe, the future ruler of the Danelaw.
Aye, the future ruler but only after I’ve been king for a very long time. ”
There was pandemonium.
Kerek lowered his head to hide his grudging smile.
Ragnor had done well. It never ceased to amaze him how Ragnor could play the dignified man, logical and fluent.
He waited to see how the princess would react.
He looked up to see her staring blankly at Ragnor, her mouth opening.
He prepared himself for her yells, her passionate denials.
He prepared himself to lie. It was for the best. He had no choice.
Suddenly, she closed her mouth and said, innocence radiating from her as soft light from a rush lamp, “But what difference does that make, my lord? So you raped me many times? I hated it as I hate you, for you were nothing but a clod and cruel and selfish, but who would care about that?”
Ragnor looked like a fish tossed onto shore, his mouth gaping open, then closing.
He looked as if he were suffocating. He just stared at her.
Kerek said quickly, “Princess, it matters not. There is no shame for you, none at all. You simply must realize that Lord William of Normandy can no longer accept you as his wife. A man of power must have a virgin bride.”
“I see,” Chessa said slowly. “But not really. Ragnor raped me. I didn’t welcome him to my bed. He gave me no choice in the matter. Am I not to have William because this little worm forced me so many times?”
It was Merrik who blurted out, “Have you had your monthly flow since he raped you the last time?”
Mirana and Laren each grabbed one of Merrik’s arms and shook him. “Hush,” Laren said. “You’re embarrassing Chessa. This should be done in private.”
“Oh, I will answer him,” Chessa said, squaring her shoulders, looking directly at Cleve. “I haven’t had my monthly flow.”
Without warning, Cleve threw himself on Ragnor.
He lifted him off his feet, pounded his fists into his mouth, then into his belly, and threw him a good six feet across the longhouse.
“You damnable bastard, raping a lady, a princess. By all the gods, I don’t care who you are, I’ll kill you.
” And he was on him again, leaping to land on him, straddling him, pounding his fist in his face, slamming his head against the packed earthen floor, then jerking him to his feet, easily avoiding any blows Ragnor attempted.
“I cannot allow this,” Kerek said, and ran to the two men.
“Wait,” Rorik yelled, seeing Kerek draw a knife. Four men dragged Cleve off Ragnor, whose lip was bleeding in two places and would have both eyes black within hours. He was sweating and shaking, obviously in pain. Rorik prayed Cleve hadn’t hurt any of his innards. What was he to do?
Rorik was smart enough not to release Cleve, who was panting, staring at Ragnor, who was being tended by Kerek. Ragnor’s other men were staying back.
Merrik said very quietly, “Cleve, stop it. Gain control of yourself. We will solve this problem. You cannot kill the little bastard. You cannot. None of us can, despite the provocation.”
“Aye, I can and I will. Didn’t you hear? He raped her, he forced her, and hurt her. By all the gods, she hasn’t had her monthly flow.”
All the men’s hands tightened on him.
Chessa didn’t want Ragnor’s blood on Cleve’s hands. “I thank you for defending my honor, Cleve. But it isn’t necessary.”
Cleve turned on her. His face was still flushed from rage and exertion.
He was still panting. His knuckles were bleeding from the blows he’d landed on Ragnor’s face.
He actually shook his fist at her. “Listen to me, Chessa. You will begin your monthly flow and you will begin it now. You will marry William. Do you understand me?”
“Since you’re yelling at me, it’s difficult not to understand you.”
“Don’t you twist my nose, Chessa. You will marry William. You must marry William.”
“But Ragnor said that I can’t since I’m no longer a virgin. Is it true that a man with pride and honor and power wouldn’t want me just because I was raped? Aren’t I still the same, still Chessa? Do I speak differently, act differently just because Ragnor raped me so many times?”
Cleve lurched away, taking the men by surprise. In the next instant he’d reached Ragnor and his hands were about his throat. He was pulled off again, cursing, wild as a berserker. Merrik had never seen Cleve so lost to control. He pulled back his fist and slammed it into his friend’s jaw.
“He must sleep on this,” he said, rubbing his hand. “His rage was too great for him to see reason. When he awakes, we will speak to him.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Kerek said. “I didn’t want to kill him to protect Ragnor.”
“What did you say, Kerek? That you would kill to protect me? It’s wise for you to become respectful to me again. Many of these men are vicious. I just might need you to protect me.”
Kerek closed his eyes for an instant. Chessa said quietly, “You see him as he really is, Kerek. I won’t wed him and you can’t force me to. No one can.”
“I must try, Princess,” Kerek said, sighed, and turned back to Ragnor, who was drinking a wooden mug of mead and looking toward Utta like a slavering goat.
Cleve woke up on a groan. He felt fire in his jaw.
He opened his eyes to see Chessa over him, holding his head in her lap, lightly touching a wet cloth to his chin.
He felt the warmth of her, her softness.
He immediately pulled away from her and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the box bed. “Where are we?”
“In Rorik’s and Mirana’s bedchamber. I bandaged your hands. You scored your knuckles.”
Cleve remembered what he’d done. He closed his eyes and cursed.
“Merrik said he had to strike you. He said he’d never seen you so angry. He said—”
“Be quiet. I must think.”
She folded her hands in her lap and leaned back against the thick wooden planks that separated this bedchamber from the next one. She was content to wait. He’d tried to kill Ragnor. His rage had been magnificent. She began to fidget. “Have you finished thinking, Cleve?”
“Be quiet,” he said again, turning even more away from her. “My jaw hurts.”
“It took four men to pull you off Ragnor and you still fought them. Do you remember now if you come from a race of warriors?”
“Aye, I do, and don’t sound so damned proud of me,” he said, turning now to look at her. “As if I’m your child and you’re pleased I went mad as a berserker. I don’t know what happened to me. It won’t happen again. I won’t let it. Damn you, you made me do it.”
“I know,” she said, a tiny smile curving up the corners of her mouth. “I’m very powerful, mayhap even a witch. Every man who comes near me does exactly what I wish him to do. You were no exception, though I thought you might be and—”
“Be quiet. You can taunt and mock Ragnor. You won’t do it to me. Be quiet.”
“All right. Ah, here’s Kiri. Come here, little sweeting. You can see that your papa’s just fine.”
Kirk looked frightened and it smote Cleve. He quickly drew her up onto his lap and pulled her against his chest. “I’m sorry that I was so unlike myself, Kiri.”
“I thought you were splendid, Papa.”
Women, he thought, rubbing his bruised hands together. Were they never too young to be perverse?
“I’m just sorry that Uncle Merrik had to hit you. He’s very sorry. He told me so. Laren said she wished Oleg had been here, that he’d have been so pleased to see you boil over like one of her stews in the cooking pot.”
“I don’t believe any of this,” Cleve said, setting Kiri on the floor. “Go play with your cousins. I’m all right. Go, Kiri.”
“They’re not really my cousins.
“It’s close enough. Go.”
She skipped away from the box bed, but at the door, she turned and said, “Why did you get so angry, Papa? Why do you care who she marries? She’s not even beautiful like you are, like she says I am.”
“Go,” Cleve said, and watched her dash out of the bedchamber. He said, turning to Chessa, “I mean it. You must start your monthly flow.”
She laughed. “But I’m still not a virgin.”
“William is thirty, more seasoned, more mature. He will understand. After all, a girl is only a virgin once. A man who demands a virgin is a fool. William isn’t a fool.”
She said, “If he, a future ruler, doesn’t demand that his wife be a virgin, then he must really be seasoned.”
“Damnation, he isn’t old. He is but five years older than I am. He is wise because he was married to the same woman for ten years before she died. He adored her. He was faithful to her. He isn’t a fool because he’s never been a fool. You will be able to trust him.”
“Perhaps this William isn’t a fool, but you are, Cleve. Do tell me, why did you attack Ragnor?”
He looked at her as if he wanted to strangle her.