“It is to me.” Sven straightened back up, pan in hand. “We are friends, have been forever.”
“I know, but things can change.” They had already changed, in fact, as far as he was concerned. Aife was much more than a friend to him now, he definitely had no problem imagining bedding her and he didn’t think himself mad for it. It was the most wonderful thing that had happened to him in a while, perhaps ever. She had given him his confidence back, and hope that he could lead the same life as any man.
If he recovered from his injury, of course.
“Yes, things can change but not with…” Sven shook his head, indicating that no matter how much he tried, he just could not see Aife in a different light. “No. I mean, you know, I like her well enough but I will never…”
Instead of finishing his sentence, Sven went outside to dispose of the ashes.
Torsten relaxed. There was no need to insist. His brother would never see her as a possible conquest, never mind wife. Not that he was looking to settle anyway. Poor Aife. She had been fighting a losing battle from the start. Nothing she did would ever make Sven see her differently. She would never stir his interest, whether she laughed at his stories or kissed other men. It had all been in vain. Except…
Except that it had not. It had madehimsee her differently. And he was most definitely ready to settle.
Ready to fight and give himself, and her, a chance at a life neither of them had hoped to have.
“Now,” he said with decision, lifting himself onto his elbows once Sven had come back inside. “Please go get Steinar. You two big brutes will hold me up while I see what strength I have left in my legs, if any. It’s been three days since the accident, plenty of time, I should think, to restore some semblance of vigor to my body and start moving about. Just…you know. Don’t say anything to Mother orFaðirin case we find out that there is no hope of me ever being able to walk again.”
There was no pity or doubt in his little brother’s eyes. He merely nodded, as if he’d expected the request all along and had every faith in his ability.
“Well, you had better get yourself back into working order because I’m not carrying you around like a babe. Don’t get me wrong, I’m strong enough to do it, but we would both look ridiculous. Besides, I still need to make you pay for the beating I received the other day.”
The short nod Sven gave would have brought a lump to Torsten’s throat if he’d allowed it. “Yes, you do.”
“Very well, then. Let me go get Steinar.”
15
“Look who we have here, Girard.”
At the sound of the hated man’s voice Aife could not help a shudder. Though they were in plain view of everyone and Wolf was not far, ready to defend her, she was instantly transported back to the meadow, when she had feared for her life and Torsten’s.
While she steeled herself for the conversation she had hoped to provoke, the other man—Girard, she assumed—answered, rather unnecessarily. “The Norsewoman.”
It wasn’t hard to look afraid when she stood up from the fence she’d been leaning on and turned to face the two men closing in on her. It had been her plan to confront them and it was a good one, but it didn’t mean it would be easy. The way they were glaring at her froze the blood in her veins. She had expected them to be delighted to have another chance at getting their hands on her but they looked angry. Why? Were they suspicious to have encountered her in town? This was bad, she could not afford to give them time to think, at the risk of having them conclude that yes, it was too much of a coincidence that they should meet her moments after they had been released. And soshe did what she would have done had she not been actually waiting for them.
She ran.
Looking afraid would be the best way to convince them this was a genuine encounter and move them into chasing her. Still, she made sure to choose her destination poorly, and allowed herself to be trapped in a narrow alley so as to give the Normans a false sense of security. Panting in genuine fear, she watched them closing in on her, blocking her only escape route. Having not really seen them that day in the meadow, since she’d pretended to be unconscious, she’d been unprepared for their size.
Hopefully, Wolf and the reeve men were following. If not, she was in deep trouble. They had seemed angry before; they now looked positively irate.
Enguerrand, who seemed to have taken the role of leader, spoke first. “You bitch! Did you really think you could escape us? You’re going to pay for what you did. Because of you my cousin is dead.”
“What c-cousin? What do you mean?” The stupider and more afraid she appeared, the more information she would coax out of them. Not that it was hard to appear either. She was petrified, and she had no idea who he was talking about.
“Hugues, the one who came back for you after we’d all left.”
Oh, she certainly rememberedhim, his crushing weight, his foul smell, his frightening words. “He did come back to the clearing,” she admitted, taking a step backward. She would have taken another but her back had just hit the wall. “But I didn’t kill him!”
“You didn’t plunge a blade into his heart, I’ll allow that, but his death is your fault nonetheless.”
So he was dead? “How can it be my fault?”
“Geoffroi didn’t like to see that Hugues had ruined his chance of finally convincing Ranulf we could be trusted and accepted into the clan. When the two of them found him tied up amidst the rocks instead of you and the Norseman, he ran him through with his blade without even giving him the chance to explain himself.”
Not in the least sorry to hear about the man’s demise, Aife fought her smile of satisfaction. The men were giving names, establishing their guilt beyond doubt. The more they talked, the more they corroborated Wolf’s version of the story. This was good, just what they needed. But she still didn’t see how Hugues’s death could be attributed to her. He’d been tied up and unconscious when they had abandoned him to his fate, but alive. She should know, as she’d been the one stopping Torsten from killing him.
“Am I supposed to feel sorry your friend lost his head and killed your cousin?” she asked, feeling her courage returning at the idea that this confrontation would soon be over. “Well. I’m not. He intended to?—”
