Chapter 16
“Get her, quick.”
Before she could understand who had spoken and what they were doing in her house, Eahlswith found herself with her mouth trapped under a filthy hand and her arms pinned to her side by an iron arm.
She could no more talk than she could move.
Behind her was a man as solid as a boulder, impossible to shake off.
In front of her was the living image of herself.
Ealawynne.
Her twin sister.
The sister she had thought never to see again.
Eahlswith froze as everything suddenly made sense.
Sven had told her earlier that she had ignored him when he’d placed himself in front of her at the market.
Silly her, she’d thought he had lied or been mistaken.
She should have known something was amiss, Sven was not the sort of person to lie or make such glaring mistake.
He had seen her twin, who had not recognized him, it was the obvious explanation.
She should have guessed from what he’d told her that Ealawynne was in town but she’d been so confident she was safe—and so bewildered by Sven’s visit—that she had not even taken that possibility into account.
Why was her sister doing here? And, more to the point, how had she found her? Eahlswith had made sure to vanish without a trace when she’d left the village, and to choose a big town days away to hide.
Well, she had failed because her twin was definitely here, and she was not alone.
“Sit her down on this chair,” Ealawynne instructed the man who was holding her. “Tie her up, and gag her mouth.”
A moment later Eahlswith was trussed up and unable to do anything other than glare at her sister and turn her head to try and catch a glimpse of her accomplice. She had still not seen him and had no idea who he might be. Not many men she knew were that huge. Except one.
One who would no doubt take exception to the treatment inflicted on her.
While the Saxon had tied her to the chair, one thought had helped her to keep panic at bay.
Unlike what her attackers thought, she was not alone.
Sven was in the house. He would never let the ruffians take her away, or even hurt her.
With the filthy rag stuffed in her mouth she couldn’t call out to him, ask for his help but that was no issue.
He was not too far away, he would be able to hear the threats issued to her.
He might think she had visitors at first and not wish to interrupt but it would not take him long to understand that she was in danger and come to her.
Thank God he had chosen today of all days to come give her the comb.
Thank God he had not given up on her, despite her efforts to push him out of her life.
Eahlswith closed her eyes. As soon as she was free, she would have to ask herself some serious questions and make some decisions.
She had already concluded that she wanted to give him a chance but she might even have to accept that she wanted to fight to keep him in her life.
“I bet I know what you’re thinking,” Ealawynne said once the man had joined her.
He was huge, at least a head taller than her and he would have been handsome if a spark of intelligence or compassion had warmed his gray eyes.
As it was, he just looked like a brute. “You are wondering to what you owe this visit.”
Visit.
Eahlswith would have scoffed if she’d been able to.
Since when did visitors tie their hosts to their chairs?
Seeing as she couldn’t answer anyway, she waited for the explanation that was sure to come, because she was curious.
What was her sister doing here, and why had she asked a mountain of man to attack her?
“Fuck, Ealawynne, she looks just like you.”
“I know.” Her sister didn’t seem to like the comment. Eahlswith shared the sentiment. “We are twins, I told you.”
“Yes, but there’s twins and twins. This one is definitely a twin, if you know what I mean, not just a twin.”
Mm. The man definitely did not have the sharpest mind. Good. Muscles were one thing, but they would be useless against a man who had muscles and a brain.
Eahlswith kept glancing at the door to the storeroom, knowing that Sven would emerge any moment.
Placed where she was she would be able to see everything.
The fury on his face when he saw what had been done to her, the fear in her sister’s eyes when she realized she would not get away with her little scheme, the confusion in the brute’s mind when he found himself on the receiving end of an irate Norseman’s blows. She would relish every moment of it.
It was when she tried to move her arm and felt the rope dig into her flesh that it dawned on her.
Sven was indeed here in the house but, just like her, he was tied up.
At first Sven thought Eahlswith was talking to herself, trying to locate the honey.
It made him smile. Then he understood that there were people in the other room with her, two and possibly a third, silent one.
How had they not heard that someone was entering the house?
Because they had been too busy kissing and tasting one another, that was why.
By the gods! Why did the visitors have to come today, when he was waiting for her with the most painful erection of his life?
Not wanting anyone to see him tied up, bare chested and hard as a lance, he remained silent and listened, hoping to hear the intruders make their excuses and leave. But what he heard froze the blood that had been boiling in his veins when Eahlswith had straddled him.
“Listen to me, sister mine. I need you. Or rather, I need you to die.”
The woman in the other room was Eahlswith’s sister? And she wanted her dead?
His first instinct was to shout and promise the woman thunder and hail for daring to threaten Eahlswith.
Then reason prevailed. If they realized someone had heard their plans, the two people would want to silence him.
And tied as he was, he would be powerless to stop them.
One quick thrust of a blade and he would die. Then his Alva would be at their mercy.
No, he had to be smarter and free himself before the two ruffians understood that she was not alone in the house.
Thank the gods she had taken him into the storeroom, out of the way.
Or perhaps it would have been better if she’d simply let him lie her down on the pallet.
Then he would have been able to defend her when the two bastards entered the house instead of tied to a hook.
Well, it was what it was.
A quick tug at the rope holding his wrists to the hook indicated that he would not be able to free himself that way. Eahlswith had made too fine a job of restraining him. He needed to cut it, but how? He was alone and unable to—
His boot.
He had a dagger in his boot, the one he had given Eahlswith so she could carve the memory of Edwin in the tree.
She had asked him to take his tunic and shirt off earlier but he had kept his braies and boots.
If he could somehow reach his dagger, he could use it to slice at the rope.
Eahlswith had tied his two wrists together, not each to a separate loop, which meant he actually stood a chance.
Careful not to make any noise and alert anyone to his presence, he started to move.
Using the rope tying him to the wall to brace himself, he rolled backwards to bring his legs above his head.
Yes. It might work, if he could hold himself folded up long enough to reach into his right boot and draw out his dagger.
It would not be easy but fortunately, he was strong enough, supple enough—and determined enough—to make it.
In any case, there was no other choice but to keep on trying.
He could not just lie there, waiting for the two bastards to put their plan to action.
Silently, he tried again, this time for real, making sure to remain still, with his ankles hovering next to his hands.
It took four attempts but he finally managed to extract the dagger.
Sven took in a deep breath. He had the blade in hand.
Now for the truly difficult part. He had to saw the rope despite the awkward, almost impossible angle.
It would also be slow, because he had to make sure not to drop the dagger as he worked.
It was his only chance to free himself—and save Eahlswith.
“Let me tell you why I’m here.”
Eahlswith swallowed, pushing the idea of Sven being unable to come to her aid to the back of her mind to listen to the explanation she had been waiting for.
“It’s quite simple. I cannot remain married to Wiglaf,” Ealawynne said, grimacing. “He’s a pig with no idea how to treat women, how to treat me. He thinks I’m happy cooking his meals by day and enduring his rutting at night. Well, I’m not. Godstan is the man I want in my life and in my bed.”
Godstan.
Presumably the man by her side, grinning like an idiot.
Eahlswith had no idea what her sister, or indeed any woman, could possibly find attractive in a man who did not seem to be in possession of all his faculties, even if she was not surprised that Ealawynne didn’t want to remain married to Wiglaf.
He was indeed a pig. She had tried to warn her about him at the time, only to be told she should mind her own business.
The falling out with her sister—and what had happened after that, the night before the wedding, of course—was the reason Eahlswith had left their village, never to go back.
She still didn’t understand what her sister’s wish to take a lover had to do with this attack, however. How was hurting her going to help?
“This is where you come in,” Ealawynne said.
As girls, the two of them had been able to read each other’s minds, in the mysterious way twins usually could.
Then, as her sister’s behavior had started to become more and more erratic, Eahlswith had found it hard to make sense of what Ealawynne was thinking.
Like now.