Chapter 6
Aife doesn’t mind.
In other words, she didn’t care about him, didn’t care whom he kissed or whom he bedded, and no wonder. She cared nothing for him, because the man she actually wanted was his brother.
Thank the gods Moon had come to talk to him when he had.
Torsten had been about to make a fool of himself and ask Aife if they could be more than friends, oblivious to the fact that she was trying to attract another man, unaware that this game they had started to play and that had taken over his life meant nothing to her.
He’d taken a gamble, and he had lost. For the first time in years he’d considered giving a woman a chance, only to discover that she was lusting after someone else.
To add to his humiliation, that someone else was his own brother.
But of course it had been about bloody Sven all along.
How had he not seen that? Hadn’t he noticed she was laughing in that unusual, sultry way on that day outside the forge, while she was talking to his brother?
Hadn’t their first kiss, the inexplicable one, happened moments after Sven had gone to join a woman he intended to bed?
Torsten’s feet pounded the ground as he hurried in the direction of the forest. Aife’s mother, Frigyth, had told him he would find her in the field on the other side of the river where the villagers kept their horses, getting Moon’s horse ready for him.
Even better. Away from the village there was no chance anyone would overhear their conversation.
He found her tightening the girth on Grendel’s saddle.
Next to the massive stallion, she looked so petite, so fragile…
He did not let the sight affect him. While he was mad at her, the last thing he needed was to admire the contrast between the horse’s powerful rump and her delicate hands, or to observe how her golden hair shone against the shiny black coat of—
Enough of this! He was angry, not entranced. He stormed through the gate and called out to her.
“Aife.”
She turned her head toward him and instantly flushed. Had she seen the look of thunder in his eyes? Probably. It would be hard to miss.
“Torsten. What are you doing here?”
“Why shouldn’t I be here?”
“I-I don’t know.”
He planted himself in front of her and had the satisfaction of seeing her swallow.
Yes, she was definitely nervous. Perhaps she was wondering why his attitude had changed.
Perhaps she was feeling guilty for misleading him—as she should.
Perhaps she feared his reaction if he ever found out why she was using him.
Well, he had found out. And he felt furious and humiliated. Because of it, he decided to get straight to the point.
“I was wondering,” he started, crossing his arms on his chest. “How is it going with Edita? Has she seen any of our kisses yet? What has she to say about them? Has she changed her mind about you being unable to attract men? Or perhaps she doesn’t see me as man enough to count.
Perhaps seeing you with one of my brothers would impress her more. ”
If he were honest, that she had fallen for one of his brothers was what bothered him the most. Steinar was the eldest, Sven the youngest, he was “the other one.” The two of them were both as strong as their father, he was a lot leaner and not as tall.
He’d always been the odd one out, in looks and temperament, the one not at ease with women, and he was currently the only one unhappy with his situation.
It wasn’t even the lies and the betrayal of trust he hated, even if he did, it was the cruelty of choosing him for her petty schemes.
If she had to do it, couldn’t she at least have chosen someone less insecure in their power of attraction?
Haakon, Arne, Oddvarr, none of them would have minded.
Imagining her in another man’s arms sent his stomach roiling. He had better get to the point.
“Tell me. Does your cousin even know about us?”
Aife had the honesty to appear flustered at the question. But her answer was far from satisfactory. “You know she does. You pretended to fight for me.”
Yes, with Sven of all people. How ironic. “You must have been mightily disappointed to see that I ended up to be the one begging for your favors. Because I am not the one you wanted to win, am I?”
She took a step backward, looking worried. “Please, Torsten.”
“Please what? How can I serve now? What do you want me to do? Kiss you? What would be the point? There’s no one here to see us.” He leaned forward, bristling with intent, closing the gap between them once more. “Tell me, what do you want me to do? Lift your skirts and pin you to the nearest tree?”
With those words, Torsten grabbed her by the waist. The contact of her slender body made his loins flare in ways Bera’s lush curves had failed to do.
This was most unfortunate—and unexpected.
Wasn’t he angry at her? Wasn’t he supposed to be, if not immune to desire, at least hard to arouse?
Yes, and up until then, he had always been.
His own inadequacies, coupled with the resentment he felt for desiring this woman who had make a fool out of him, caused him to react a lot more strongly than he would have otherwise, be a lot cruder.
His hold around Aife tightened at the same time as his resolve hardened.
She wasn’t to know he was about to issue an empty threat, that he would never be able to follow through on it, she just needed to see that it was dangerous to play with fire.
He might not burn, but another man would.
“Do you want me to fuck you where you stand? Make you scream my name?”
“No!” she rasped, trying to push him away. Her eyes had gone wide as cart wheels and no wonder. This was a side of him she had never seen before, a side he hadn’t known he possessed, a side he wasn’t sure he liked at all.
“No,” he said bitterly, releasing her and taking a step back. “There would be no point in us doing anything, would there, since Sven isn’t here to see.”
“S-Sven?”
“Don’t even start pretending that he is not the reason you wanted to act as if you and I were involved.
” His brother Steinar’s horse, Fáfnir, raised his head when he started to snarl at her, but Torsten was too incensed to pay attention.
“Seducing Sven was your intention all along, was it not? You don’t really care what Edita thinks, and you most certainly don’t care about me. ”
“But I do care.”
Aife had never felt so wretched because say what Torsten might, she did care. In the last few days, she had come to care for him more than she would ever have thought possible. Their moments spent together had been perfect, and shown her that there was nothing wrong with her.
And now the moment she had dreaded for days had come.
Torsten had found out what she had been desperate to hide from him, that she had kissed him to attract his brother’s attention.
His reaction was even worse than what she’d feared it would be.
Facing his anger would have been bad enough, but the hurt in his eyes was what truly gutted her.
How he had found out the truth? Who had told him?
Not Cwenthryth, surely? But who else knew about her feelings for Sven?
“Moon told me, in case you were wondering,” he said, as if he’d read her mind.
Of course. She had told her brother the truth earlier that morning, thinking to protect Torsten from retaliation. Well, she might have protected him from physical harm, but she had not protected him from what he saw as the worst humiliation.
Tears fell down her cheeks. How could she explain that she wasn’t sure what she felt about Sven any longer?
Since Torsten had held her in his arms and given her a kiss that had turned her world upside down and her body inside out, she had been forced to reconsider what she felt.
Nothing had happened the way she had imagined.
He’d helped her willingly, he’d kissed her with exquisite skill, passion even, and yet he’d never once tried to take advantage of her stratagem, never once demanded more than what she was ready to give.
And somewhere along the way she had come to feel things for him.
“I’m sorry. I did want Sven to think we were involved with each other,” she admitted in a low voice, feeling both ashamed and ridiculous but wanting to be honest. He deserved that much.
How had she not thought this would end in disaster? Not only had she not attracted the attention of the man she’d set out to attract, but she had wounded a dear friend. Torsten had every reason to be mad at her. She had lied to him, not just one, but twice.
“I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t think you’d understand.”
The glare he threw her made it clear that it was the wrong thing to say. “Oh. First, you assume that I won’t mind being lied to and used, then you don’t credit me with the intelligence needed to understand a foolish woman’s plan. I’m flattered.”
“That’s not what I mean… Of course you’re not a—”
Aife knew she would never manage to put her thoughts in order while her emotions were in such disarray.
All she could seem to do was blurt out the first things that came to her mind and hurt Torsten further.
It was best to put some distance between them for now, give herself time to think of a better way of making him understand what it had really been about—and what it had evolved into.
Her brother’s horse was grazing just behind her, already saddled and ready to go.
Torsten had been so upset earlier that he’d not closed the gate properly.
It was wide open, offering her a way out of this mess.
She would never outrun Torsten on foot, but Grendel would whisk her away and give her the respite she needed.
She placed a foot in the stirrup and hoisted herself into the saddle before Torsten could stop her. As soon as the horse passed the gate and bounded toward the forest, she felt her heart go lighter. She wouldn’t have to continue the painful confrontation right now.
Before disappearing under the cover of the trees, Aife couldn’t help stealing one last glance at the field behind her. Torsten, who’d always been a much better rider than she was, had vaulted onto Fáfnir’s bare back and was making his way toward her.
Damnation, he was coming after her.