Chapter 16 #2
The Norseman had slept in the hut the past two nights, and remained within calling distance of her and the boys during the day.
How had she forgotten he would be here when she and Steinar had started kissing?
The relief at seeing him alive and as well as could be had really made her forget everything.
“Yes, you should thank him. And he’s right.
We should go speak to your father without delay.
We need to find out who accused you of killing your wife and bring him to justice.
” She was adamant. Even if he’d been freed, Steinar had been beaten up, and could have been killed as a result.
The deed should not go unpunished. Someone had to pay for what they’d put him through.
Gently, she stroked his cheekbone, where a nasty bruise attested to the severity of the beating. “They cannot get away with it.”
“No.” He seemed just as determined as she was to have his name cleared, which was no wonder. “So you don’t believe I killed Astrid?”
Cwenthryth recoiled at the question she had not expected.
“Of course not!” She had not entertained the notion, not even for a moment.
How could Steinar doubt it? She trusted him, unconditionally.
His wife had died from an illness. Everyone here had had told her as much, and anyway, he was incapable of hurting a woman.
It was obvious from the way he touched her. “No,” she repeated more firmly.
Something shifted in his eyes. Relief? Gratitude? “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“Don’t thank me. ’Tis only normal. Now. Do you have any idea who might want you dead?
” Because that was the real question. Accusing someone of something meant hoping they would get punished for the deed, and murder was punishable by death.
The person who had gone to the reeve had known what Steinar was risking. “Who hates you so much?”
“I…” He sounded wary of voicing his doubts out loud, so she didn’t press on.
But it was clear he had an idea of who that person might be.
Still seated on the table, with his strong thighs keeping hers wide open, Cwenthryth waited.
Eventually, he carried on. “The only people I can think of are Astrid’s parents.
I hate placing blame when I cannot be sure, but I can’t think of anyone else who might wish me ill.
They have never liked me and might want to make me pay for not looking after their daughter properly. ”
Not looking after her properly? She doubted this was what had happened. A husband like Steinar, thoughtful and protective, would be every woman’s dream. Her arched brow conveyed her disbelief. “Surely they don’t think that?”
“I think they do. When I went to announce her death, his father didn’t seem sad, as much as pleased at this proof that she should never have left the village and, more pointedly, the man he had chosen for her.
The blacksmith’s wife, he delighted in telling me, was still alive, unlike mine, and with child. ”
“You mean… He accused you of killing his daughter?” That was shocking news. But if the stupid man was convinced Steinar had killed Astrid, then he might well have written to the reeve to accuse him of the crime.
“Not in so many words, but his meaning was clear. If she’d not married me, Astrid would still be alive and well. He considers me no better than my father, who was accused of having killed his first wife in Iceland almost forty years ago. He hadn’t, of course.”
Of course. Wolf, a killer? She would have laughed if the notion hadn’t been so ridiculous. Like his son, the man didn’t have a vicious bone in his body.
“What about Astrid’s mother? Does she agree with her husband? Could she have been the one sending the message?” A woman, who had been the one giving birth to her child, might feel the loss of her more keenly and want revenge.
There was a silence, ominous. Cwenthryth braced herself. It seemed as if she were going from one shocking revelation to the next and she wondered what Steinar would reveal next. Then he spoke. “Though she didn’t say a word during the conversation, she came to find me afterward, to… proposition me.”
Proposition him? Did he mean what she thought he meant? One look at Steinar’s stony countenance made it clear that he meant exactly that.
“She didn’t!” Once again, Cwenthryth didn’t know whether to be incredulous or appalled. His despised mother-in-law was the last woman Steinar would have felt attraction to, and to have her making lewd advances in such a moment would have upset him.
“I know,” he said, bringing his forehead to hers as if preparing to talk in confidence. “I was as shocked as you, and I sent her away none too gently. She wasn’t best pleased, as you can imagine. But that still doesn’t mean she accused me of anything to make herself feel better.”
“No, of course not.” It would have taken a lot of effort on the woman’s part to go to the reeve in town, and present a case solid enough for him to take action.
She would also have been aware of the possible retribution of accusing someone of murder when she knew he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
Had the humiliation of Steinar’s rejection been enough to push her to do such a thing?
“To justify her actions, she told me some nonsense about women wanting me as soon as they saw me,” he carried on, placing a hand on the side of her neck in a soothing gesture.
“But you must know that it is not complete nonsense,” Cwenthryth murmured before she could stop herself.
Hadn’t Steinar guessed from what had happened in the tree house and her reaction to his kisses just now that she, too, had fallen under his spell?
Astrid’s mother was right in this at least. Women could not help want a man like him. “I mean, I myself—”
This time he cupped her face in his hands, cutting through the fumbled explanations. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” she was startled by the intensity in his gaze, in his voice, in his body. He had gone rigid with anger.
“Don’t compare yourself to that viper. What the two of us have is special, what we did is special, even if I was a fool for not seeing it at the time.” With those words he placed a gentle kiss over her lips. “Fortunately, you did, and you didn’t shy away from your feelings.”
Oh. Everything within Cwenthryth melted. She had been able to stand up to an irate Steinar, but she was at a loss in front of this new man. He was looking at her tenderly, he was touching her, kissing her, he was telling her that what they had was special. How was she supposed to resist?
“Was that the impression you got? That I didn’t shy away from my feelings?
” The truth was, she had been too overwhelmed to know how to handle them.
It surprised her that he thought her able to be honest with herself.
“I have never felt that way about anyone. And after Godfrid, I truly thought I would not be drawn to any man. It didn’t seem to matter, as I thought no one would want me anyway. ”
Steinar lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it softly.
“Oh, lovely. I’m sorry, because my attitude toward you would only have confirmed this idea.
It was unforgivable. But you see, I…” He shook his head, as if confused or disgusted by himself.
“It seems silly now that I know you, but I was wary of you because of what had happened with Astrid.”
“Her having a lover you mean? You didn’t trust women because she betrayed you with another?” It would be understandable. After all, she’d thought she couldn’t trust men because of the way Godfrid had treated her. It was easy to be wary after a trauma.
“That’s not what I mean, even if it didn’t help.
But if you remember, at first, when you arrived, I didn’t know about Astrid having a lover.
To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure I believed you when you told me about it.
I didn’t want to believe any of it, that she had betrayed me or that you were genuinely in search for protection and a hiding place. ” He shook his head again.
“What was it then?”
“I was wary of you because of the feelings you provoked inside me, feelings that had gotten me into trouble once already. It had been the same with Astrid, and I had followed my instinct without thinking. But all too quickly I became disillusioned with our marriage, realized that I had married in hurry a woman who was wrong for me and would never give me what I wanted, much less what I needed. Then you came along, when I had my children to consider. Though the attraction was immediate, I didn’t want to make the same mistake again, trust someone on first acquaintance. ”
“Especially someone who could not get her story straight and didn’t even know who you were,” Cwenthryth said wryly.
It would have appeared suspicious. In fact, she realized now, she would have appeared exactly like Godfrid had appeared to her, like an imposter trying to worm her way inside his home under false pretences.
“I suppose so.” He seemed relieved to see that she wasn’t angry. She wasn’t. Everything he had said made sense and she was gratified that he was willing to explain himself.
“What were the reasons you had married Astrid if, as you say, she was so unsuitable for you?”
Cwenthryth couldn’t help being curious. Would he tell her? It was a very personal question, but he seemed different since he’d brought her home after Godfrid’s attack, more open, more relaxed. This new Steinar might well answer.
He did.
“She lived in one of the other Norsemen villages along the coast. We met one summer here, when my father organized a meeting for all the people of Norse descent in the area. Astrid was very beautiful and forward, and well, we slept together that night. I had no idea her union to another man had been arranged at the time, I thought she was free to indulge her senses with whomever she liked, like I was, but I was mistaken.”
“Wasn’t she a virgin?”