Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SIGRID
“Rider approaching, my lord!”
I straightened my legs, wishing for the hundredth time that we’d come up with a better idea than hiding me in a wagon to get out of the castle.
I’d been beaten to shit by the Banamaer, and I was healing at mortal speed thanks to all the power I’d drained healing others.
A worthwhile trade, but it made this ride awful.
I’d never had to thump around in the back of a covered supply wagon before, and it wasn’t an indignity I’d be in a hurry to suffer again soon.
We had to be getting close to the meeting point at the river crossing, but this rider was an unexpected surprise.
I had no idea what was happening out there, only that we’d slowed.
I gripped my sword, signaling to Eleanor to stay covered from where she was peeping out on the other side of the wagon under a pile of bedrolls.
Bastian didn’t realize his stowaway had hidden a stowaway of her own.
I’d smuggled Eleanor out at the last minute while he was getting his men ready, determined not to leave her to the mercy of the king.
It might have been our only chance to get her out and find her a boat to Ocracoke.
She deserved to live somewhere she wouldn’t be treated like an object.
“They’re riding hard from the castle,” said Bastian, obviously for my benefit. “But just a single rider.”
Had they discovered my absence?
“It’s Captain Elric!” one of the soldiers called.
Fuck.
If we were being pursued because I’d absconded with Eleanor, Bastian was going to be insufferable.
Eleanor’s panicked eyes made the tense quiet even worse. I eventually heard hoofbeats and strained to listen. I managed to lift the fabric of the wagon cover enough to see a sliver of what was happening.
Bastian had gone to meet Elric, placing his horse between the approaching Captain and where I was in the wagon. The noble bastard couldn’t seem to help himself.
My heart thundered uncertainly, feeling things for him that were only going to make it harder to do what was necessary.
The king hadn’t been lying about being unable to release my berserker.
I’d sensed it when I opened the bond between us.
The magical leash that tethered us was as solid as a life force, forged to join us permanently.
Even if I hadn’t been determined to kill the king to avenge Axel, I wouldn’t have been willing to live like that forever, bonded to him and separated from an essential part of myself.
There was now no question I’d have to die to be free of him and to save Axel. If I killed the king, it would kill my berserker, and there was no surviving that. But first, I’d make sure Bastian defeated these bandits so he’d inherit a stable kingdom where he’d be safe.
“What are you doing?” Bastian said to Elric. “The king said nothing of you coming.”
We’d grown to respect his actions in the battle with the Banamaer and his behavior in the aftermath, but that was all thrown into question when his betrothal was announced.
He knew something he was willing to hide for the king.
And he could be bought for the price of an unwilling, beautiful bride.
Which meant he wasn’t quite the morally upright captain he wanted us to believe he was.
Elric’s horse stomped, agitated from being pushed so hard to catch us. “The king changed his mind. Ride on!” he barked at the men in the front, glancing back over his shoulder, like he was in just as much of a hurry to be clear of pursuit.
Bastian continued to block Elric’s path. “I’m in command here, Captain.”
Elric rolled his eyes. “Then give the command, Your Highness.”
Bastian signaled to increase our pace once more, but he was sure to be melting down over what to do about Elric’s presence.
Perhaps it was better he’d come to us. Out here, we could extract information from him more easily.
He couldn’t marry Eleanor if we kept him tied up in the woods somewhere.
The other soldiers might not betray their captain willingly, but at least we had more choices away from the castle.
Under the cover of the sounds of the wagon and riders, Eleanor and I were able to have a whispered conversation as we continued getting jostled along. It wasn’t enough to distract from the misery of the stifling wagon, but it was better than counting the moments in silence.
“I won’t let him take you,” I reminded her, reaching out to grasp her fingers across the wagon.
“I don’t want it to come to bloodshed,” she said, her eyes boring into mine. “I could do a lot worse than Captain Elric. At least he’s not ancient and isn’t bad to look at. He’s the gruff soldierly sort, but he’s always seemed like a good man.”
I squeezed her fingers. “Don’t care what sort of man he is. Your life should be your choice. You decide who you want to be with or if you even want to be with anyone. That’s worth fighting for.”
She was quiet a moment, thinking. “What will I do on Ocracoke? Will I have somewhere to live?” she said softly.
I’d only had time to explain that we could smuggle her out and get her to the neutral island where she’d be controlled by no one.
She’d been desperate enough to agree with no further questions, but I could almost see her mind spinning now that we’d actually gotten out.
Was the future I promised worth openly defying Elric for? Or should she settle for a man who might stifle her forever rather than risking the unknown.
“I thought you could live with my friend Layla for a time. She has spare rooms for lodging on one floor of her brothel where she lives too.” Assuming Thorin has gotten her out by then.
“A brothel?” Eleanor’s eyes were huge. “Will I be a…you know?”
I snorted a laugh. “Not unless you want to be. There are plenty of other jobs in Ocracoke you might be suited to.”
“The women there choose to be…you know?”
“Sex workers? Sure they do. To my brother’s chagrin, Layla loves her job. People are more comfortable with sex there. You don’t have to be married. Hel, you don’t even have to be with just one partner.”
“At a time??” Her eyes looked like they were going to bug out of her head.
“I meant you could try different people out, but sure…more than one at a time if you’d like. My brother Talon’s mate is a siren. Stick around for her sex magic and you might just find yourself in an orgy…”
She narrowed her eyes like she wasn’t sure whether I was teasing her. It would’ve been fun to watch her spread her wings, but I had to stay here and face my fate.
She bit her lip. “I think I’m going to like it there.” She flushed like she’d done something bad just by whispering it aloud.
“I think you will too.” I smiled, but it turned to a wince when we went over a particularly vicious bump. At least one of us would end up better off.
“We caught one, Your Highness! A little spy who belongs to the bandits. Haven’t gotten him to talk yet, though.”
We’d finally reached the river crossing, and Godric’s booming voice carried to the wagon. They’d caught one of the bandits?
I peeked out of the cover, but could only see out the side where Bastian’s mount stood. Godric was in front of the wagon, out of my line of sight.
In the distance, a small voice uttered angry curse words that would’ve made a seasoned pirate blush. They’d caught a child? A child who sounded like he’d been possessed by a demon?
None of this made sense, and I was desperate to climb from the wagon to get to the bottom of it. What would Elric do? Drag me back to the castle?
I could practically sense the tension in Bastian’s jaw as he silently urged me to stay hidden.
But the noisy little rat was going to alert every bandit between here and the pass of our presence if one of them didn’t shut him up.
“Silence that child!” Bastian snapped.
The cursing stopped briefly, then redoubled when it was joined by the curses of a grown man. “Little monster bit me!”
I’d had enough. It wasn’t like I was going to stay in the wagon for the fight ahead. Elric and the other soldiers were going to find out I was there regardless of when I emerged.
I climbed from the back of the wagon, properly stretching my back out for the first time in hours.
Bastian immediately moved to shield me with his horse, but I trudged past him, straight for the little ruffian, and snatched him by the scruff of the neck.
He yelped, but he shut the fuck up as I dragged him from the river bank up the slope to the woods.
If the soldiers reacted to my presence, I didn’t notice it. No one chased me up the hill, likely because I’d taken their problem in hand.
The boy was so covered in filth he looked like a bog creature and it was impossible to tell exactly how old he was. I’d be dunking him in the river before this was over.
“You know who I am, boy?”
He tilted his head and looked up at me through narrowed brown eyes, assessing my tattoos and piercings, the braids in my hair and my size. “Some Viking whore by the looks of it. Viking whore with nice big tits. You gonna suck my prick, Viking whore?”
I couldn’t look at him or I was going to laugh.
I hadn’t thought anyone could be more out of place amongst the Saxons than me, but this child had managed to offend every soldier present with a few sentences.
His scrawny, half-starved, mud-covered body hid the heart of a bear.
He knew exactly who I was and still chose to face me down with the only weapon the gods had granted him, his prickly words that he hoped to use to shock me.
“The bandits teach you to talk like that?” I asked, keeping my voice low and serious. Bastian was already trailing up the hill behind us, but I waved him off.
“Don’t know any bandits, cunt.”
I tossed him down against the trunk of a thick tree and stood over him. “Does the name Sigrid Thorvald mean anything to you?”