Gressa geared herself as she once more had to share information she would have protected Strian from.
“You know Rowan is Dafydd’s brother. But so is Rhys, and he’s been pursuing me for years. He’s demanded my hand in marriage, both from me and Dafydd. I’ve been able to ward him off, my grief for you very real and a barrier between me and any man. He’s growing tired of waiting, and I feared he would force me to marry him once I returned with the other warriors.”
Strian pulled away as he looked down at Gressa. Yet another secret she had kept from him in her mixed-up way of trying to protect him.
“You insisted on returning to Wales before you told me why. You were willing to return there, claiming it was safer all the while knowing a man would be waiting. A man who would insist you marry him. Is that what you wanted?”
Gressa stamped her foot in frustration.
“Of course not. I would have found yet another way of keeping him away. We have been apart a long time and a few weeks aren’t enough time to learn all that happened in each other’s lives, but I took your promise that you had been faithful as the truth from the beginning. Yet, you question me every time you suspect I looked the wrong way.”
“What’s happened here to give you any reason to believe I wanted someone else? Nothing. But every time I think we’re on solid ground, another man pops up, and I learn yet another reason that might be why you truly argued for your return.”
“Being attacked by two women the first full day I was here was more than enough to make me wonder which women would be jealous of my return. But I believed you, I chose to. I made the commitment to believe you, and it wasn’t easy, and you certainly don’t make it easy now when you accuse me over and over. You know the one reason why I want to return to Wales. You might also do well to remember that I never asked again once you offered to come with me. Is that the motive of a woman yearning for someone else? Why would I bring you with me if I planned to marry someone else?”
“We have been apart a long time, and you keep secrets that you should have shared with me even if you thought they would hurt me. Your actions are what makes me suspicious. Every time I’m sure you’ve told me the last hidden truth, something else crops up. It’s hard to give blind faith to someone who can’t seem to tell the truth.”
Gressa reeled back as though Strian struck her. She shook her head as she took several steps away.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t even come near me.” She bolted for the door and yanked it open. “Follow me, and I may very well kill you.”
Strian stood dumbfounded as he watched Gressa disappear through the doorway before slamming the door shut.
“You’re an even bigger arse than either of us ever were with our wives,” Bjorn crowed as he and Leif stepped out of the shadows. Strian had not noticed their return while he argued with Gressa. He looked over his shoulder to where he knew Tyra and Freya had stood watch.
“They’ve likely gone after her,” Leif shook his head, his face filled with pity. “Do you remember when you’d just started to take an interest in Gressa and some of the other young women taunted her? They said the best she could hope for was to be your concubine just as her mother had been her father’s. They were ruthless with their cutting remarks to where neither Tyra nor Freya could get the other women to stop, so Freya ran for Lena. You couldn’t find her at the evening meal because she wanted to avoid those women. You became so worked up that you tore through my parents’ home and kicked her door down when she refused to open it. Bjorn and I chased after you only to find Gressa apologizing to you for getting you so upset with worry. She steered the conversation away from what made her retreat to her chamber. Strian, she’s been trying to protect you, rightly or wrongly, since the very beginning. She endured Grímr because she was not willing to take the chance that he would torture you, and I’m sure she knew her compliance was no guarantee, but there is no limit to what she will do to keep you from harm. She didn’t tell you about this Rhys man for two reasons. I’m sure it was because she wasn’t thinking of him and she didn’t trust you not to go berserk and charge off to find the man.”
Bjorn clapped a hand on Strian’s shoulder before he put in his opinion.
“Our women may be smaller than us, but never doubt they possess the heart of a warrior. I often think our wives are far more ruthless and unforgiving than any man when they believe we’re in danger. We may be larger and stronger, even louder, but I don’t know that we are any match for our women when they believe we need protecting.” Bjorn squeezed Strian’s shoulder before adding. “You’d do well to beg her forgiveness and convince yourself to stop questioning her. It always comes back to the same thing: she won’t give an inch if she fears that inch will harm you.”
Strian knew his friends were right. He could have kicked himself for once again opening his mouth before thinking, for not giving Gressa the benefit of the doubt. Neither of them had given the other cause for suspicion, but Strian’s jealousy kept putting a wedge between them. Gressa may have kept things from him, but she believed it was necessary. He accused her because he still had not forgiven fate for stealing so much time from him, time filled with a life Gressa had without him.
Sixteen
Strian looked around the village in search of Gressa or at least Freya and Tyra. He found the latter two walking back through the hidden door in the wall. He waited for Gressa to follow them, but when no one appeared, his heart sank, and a cold sweat broke out across his back. He met the women halfway, and their expressions told him more than he wanted. Gressa was gone.
“She just disappeared, Strian. It’s like she blew apart in the wind,” Tyra’s voice wobbled as she spoke.
“We saw her run from your home with her bow and quiver and followed her through the gate. We watched her enter the forest and even kept up with her for a while, but she weaved in and out of the trees, and then was just gone.”
“Did you look in the branches?” Strian barked.
“No. We didn’t think to.”
“You learned nothing about the Welsh then. Their bowmen sit in the trees waiting. She didn’t disappear. She outsmarted you both.” Strian’s words were one accusation after another.
“We weren’t the arse who yet again accused our wife of cheating. We weren’t the arse who demands everything from her while giving only part of himself. I’m surprised it took her so long to leave you by choice.” Freya snarled. “You reap what you sow.”
Freya pushed past Strian, Tyra on her heels glaring at him. Strian knew they were right, but it was of little consequence if he did not find Gressa in time. If their sentry already found three spies, there were bound to be others. He charged through the gate and sprinted into the woods. He looked for any signs of tracks and picked up three sets of footprints small enough to be a woman’s. He followed them until two came to an abrupt end, and the third blended in with fallen pine needles. Strian tilted his head back and looked among the branches. He edged past one tree after another until he came to one he was sure sheltered something far larger than a squirrel. He hoisted himself onto the lowest branch and began to climb.
“I warned you not to follow me,” Gressa seethed, tempted to kick him from the tree when he was in reach. “I have nothing to say to you that I can’t take back.”
“Then maybe you’ll just listen.”
“No.” It was a simple but emphatic answer.
“Then we are once again at a stalemate because you may not want to hear what I have to say, but I have no intention of staying quiet.”
