Chapter 19
After retracing their steps to the forest where he had spent the night, Sven brought the cart to a halt in a sheltered meadow. Gulltoppr, who was following them as faithfully as a dog would, stopped also.
“We need to rest,” he declared. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Eahlswith could only agree that a rest was needed. She hadn’t slept well the previous night either, which was little wonder. Being abducted and threatened with rape and murder tended to do that to a person.
Sven alighted and let the horse loose from his harness.
Eahlswith was so weary she remained where she was, watching his every move.
He was so strong, so dependable… He had come for her, freed her from her tormentors, saved her from certain death and he was acting as if there was nothing extraordinary in the fact.
How could she ever repay him for what he’d done?
Once the horses were tethered, he held out his hand to help her dismount. Eahlswith gasped, shaken out of her torpor by what she saw.
“But…your wrist! You’re bleeding.” How had she not noticed it before?
Sven did not even spare a glance at his arm, he just shrugged. “I probably bled but it’s stopped now.”
“How did you get hurt?” She didn’t think Ealawynne would have been strong enough to injure him and he doubted he would have been clumsy enough to let an oaf like Godstan cut him.
“I had to cut at the rope to free myself and come after you,” he explained. “Considering how tightly it was bound, I suppose it was inevitable I should cut myself as well in the process. ’Tis no problem.”
No problem? To think only a moment ago she had congratulated herself on the fact that he was whole. He was not. He’d been hurt. Worse, it was through her fault. Had she not tied him in the first place he would never have had to cut himself.
“I’m so sorry.” She lifted his wrist to her mouth and kissed the place just next to the raw skin. “I promise I will never do that ag—”
“No, Alva,” he said, eyes aglow with lust. “Don’t make any promises I will force you to break sooner or later. We will definitely finish what we started last night and for that I will need to be tied up and at your mercy. I can’t wait.”
Eahlswith felt herself grow crimson. He still wanted her, even after what he had gone through . He still wanted her to tie him up to use as she saw fit.
“Yes. We will finish what we started,” she murmured. “In the meantime, we need to clean your wound.”
Not giving him the opportunity to protest, she tore a strip from the piece of cloth she was wearing as a cloak and crunched it in a patch of fresh snow.
When it was soaked, she used it to wash the blood away, being careful not to rub too hard.
Once his skin was clean, she ripped another piece of cloth and wet it the same way, before wrapping it around his wrist and covering it with snow.
The cold would help numb the pain, or so she hoped.
“Better?”
“Yes.” He had not taken his gaze from her during the whole proceedings, not throwing a single glance at his wrist. He either wasn’t interested or it did not pain him at all. “Finally, it is my turn to thank you.”
“Don’t. And now, we’ll get that rest we need,” she declared. “We’ll sleep in the cart, it will be warmer than the frozen ground.”
Mercifully, Ealawynne and her lover had stolen a wool merchant’s cart, not a blacksmith’s, which meant they had everything they needed to cover themselves up and create a comfortable bed.
Eahlswith nestled in Sven’s arms, doing her best to forget that the last time she had lain in the cart next to a man, that man had wanted to rape her.
It was over. She could relax.
It was over. He could relax. Sven tightened his hold around Eahlswith, inhaling her familiar scent. He had made it. Finally, he could breathe.
“You see, Alva, I think there is a lesson to be learned from this,” he said, speaking with his mouth in her hair. “If you hadn’t relented and allowed me back into your bed, you would have been alone when you were abducted.”
Against him, he felt Eahlswith shiver. “Yes,” she whispered. “And I would have been dead before the week was over.”
Sven kicked himself for his clumsiness. Why did he have to tell her that? He hadn’t meant to frighten her or make her think of the ordeal she had escaped. Just to show her that she was better staying with him. He would always protect her.
He placed his forehead against hers. “Forgive me. That was not well done of me. I didn’t mean to—”
“No, I know, and I’m saying that you’re right. Without you I would still be in the hands of my sister and her abominable lover. And they would have killed me.”
His hold around her tightened when she started to tremble. “It’s all right, in the end I was in your bed. And now you’re free. You won’t die at their hands.”
“No,” she said in a sob. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. It was— Dear God, it was awful, I thought…”
Sven frowned when she started to mumble to herself. She was getting upset, a normal reaction after what she had gone through. It was the shock, inevitable now that everything was over, and realization had sunk in. He rolled her to the side gently, until she was flat on her back.
“Hush. Lie down, sweet. Let me take care of you.”
Eahlswith lifted enormous eyes to him, finally recalled to the present moment, and him, rather than reliving the ordeal of the night. “Yes. Hold me.”
“I will do more than hold you.” Of their own accord, his fingers found their way under her skirt. “Let me pleasure you, Alva. I need to touch you. Please.”
He fully expected to have to beg some more, but she delighted him by agreeing immediately. “Yes. I need you to touch me.”
When his fingers reached the apex of her thighs, they met scorching heat.
Ignoring the need pulsing in his own body, Sven started to tease her, running a finger along her seam while his thumb settled on her most sensitive part.
She moaned and started to roll her head from side to side.
Then she stilled and opened her legs wider.
Staring at him straight in the eye, she placed her own hand on top of his and licked her lips.
“Ah, you’re so bloody perfect,” he purred in her ear, before nipping at her lobe gently. “I do feel like one of the gods when you’re in my arms.”
A finger entered her and then two when she arched her back in supplication. Never had he been so attuned to a woman’s reactions. Her body was merely an extension of his, making it easy to know exactly what she needed and when she needed it.
She was so soft he could have stroked her all day, but it didn’t take long to coax her into the release she needed. Her raw cry sent a jolt of pure satisfaction through his veins. Yes. He was made for this, to give this woman what she needed, be it protection, confidence, or pleasure.
“Alva,” he rasped, feeling her sheath contracting with beautiful abandon around his fingers. Her release seemed to last forever and he relished every moment.
Eventually she gave a long exhale and grew limp, like someone drained of all energy.
“You didn’t have to do that.” She sounded dazed and her eyes were glazed with satisfaction. “I just wanted… When I asked you to hold me, I meant—”
“I know what you meant. And I did as you asked. I held you. But you didn’t say I couldn’t stroke you at the same time.” Thank the gods she hadn’t protested, hadn’t done anything to stop him.
“You’re impossible,” Eahlswith sighed, speaking with her lips at the crook of his neck. He smiled.
“I know I am.”
“I’ve never met anyone else like you.”
“Thank you.”
Another sigh, just as he’d hoped. “I don’t mean it like that and you know it.” Her words were slurred. She was falling asleep fast, which was exactly what she needed, what he’d hoped to achieve by giving her release. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
This time it sounded like a plea.
“I’m not.” He settled back down and drew her against his flank. “Not when I know I need you in my life.”
There was a silence, so long he thought she had fallen asleep. Then she said, her voice a mere whisper. “Thank you, Sven, for what you did today. For coming after me, for saving me.”
He gave another smile. “Sven, is it now? What happened to Heimdallr?”
She shook her head slowly. Had she not been on the verge of falling asleep, he thought she would have laughed. “Don’t tell me you actually prefer me to call you that?”
“As long as you call me, Alva, I’m happy.” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “Now, sleep.”
The sun had started to dip below the horizon by the time they were ready to set off again.
“We will never make it to your house tonight,” Sven declared. “I think that when we reach town the gates will be closed.”
Eahlswith agreed. “There is a farm just outside the walls. The family there know me. Their daughter, Gedla, is a good friend. I’m sure they will let us sleep in the hay loft.”
He nodded, satisfied, and steered the cart in the direction she was indicating. Gulltoppr, who’d gone to the stream to have a drink, started trotting back to them.
“I’ve always wanted a horse, you know,” Eahlswith said, looking at the splendid animal, with his gold mane flowing in the wind.
Why was she telling Sven this? She had no idea.
Perhaps because she was finding it hard to go back to normal after what had happened earlier, when he had gifted her pleasure without asking for anything in return.
Choosing an innocuous topic of conversation would help restore the ease between them.
“Only, we could never afford to have even a mule when I was growing up and, living in town, there is little cause to have a mount.”