Lena shook her head as her eyes welled with tears. She buried her head against his chest and thumped her fist against his chest, but it was more in capitulation than defense.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she sobbed. “You know you’re going to marry her. You’re taunting me with a future I can’t have. And when you marry her, are you damning me to a life alone? You know I won’t be any man’s mistress. Not even yours. I won’t lead you to dishonor a wife and your people. Will you scare away any man who thinks to court me? Why can you marry but I can’t? I don’t want to grow old alone with memories that can’t even keep me warm.”
“So you’d rather marry a man you don’t love?”
“You might grow to love Inga, just as I might grow to love another man.”
“Ha,” Ivar’s laugh was more of a bark. “I could never love that woman. But you want to find another man to love. Do you already have someone in mind? Eindride perhaps? After all it would take you more than a week to travel alone together to Kaupang.”
“Don’t! Don’t do that. Don’t bring our friend into this when he’s innocent. You know as well as I do that he’s in love with Brenna, even if he hasn’t figured it out yet. I would never take a man from another woman. There’s no one else. No one but you. But there could be.”
Ivar cupped her cheeks and tipped her head back. His thumbs brushed away the tears as his own slid down his cheeks.
“I’m not giving you up. You won’t need to find another man. You have the only one you need right before you. I will work this out. I will make things right but don’t leave. Eindride is right. I would only come after you. Lena, I need you. I need your strength and your wisdom to navigate the next few weeks. My father will push me to my limits, and I need you by my side. I trust you, and I rely on your opinion. I have no idea how soon I can make it happen, but Inga will return home, and it will be for good.”
Lena nodded. In that moment, she resolved herself to accept whatever fate had in store for them. She would not fight it. The gods planned their destiny, and it wasn’t theirs to change. Ivar would succeed in ending the marriage contract, or he would not. She would have patience as things played out. If Ivar married Inga, she would sort out her future then. She would find someone to marry and begin a new life with a husband, or she would leave and start over somewhere else. But fighting Ivar was not doing either of them any good. She preferred to enjoy the time they had.
“I believe there was spanking you think I deserve.” Lena leaned back and offered him an impish grin. Ivar’s smile was predatory as he followed her into her chamber, kicking the door shut as he pounced. He knocked them both to the bed where they landed, tangled arms and legs while locked in a passionate kiss. They passed the rest of the afternoon making love until they were both too exhausted to remain awake. No one disturbed them until morning.
Eight
Ivar entered the gathering hall within his family’s longhouse and scanned the crowd for Lena. He always did, but this time when he spotted her, his heart pinched instead of leaped. He could not join her as she sat with her father and brother. Ivar had to join his parents at the head table where they entertained Thor’s family. He noticed they had left a seat empty next to Inga. His stomach soured, and he was no longer interested in eating. He wanted to sit with Lena, wrap his arm around her waist, and whisper how he planned for them to spend their night. With Inga at the homestead, there was next to no chance that Lena would meet him. Even if he could not make love to her, he longed to be sure she was faring well and not feeling abandoned. He already knew the truth to both thoughts. She would not be doing well, and it was impossible for her not to feel abandoned. Ivar just did not have any solutions.
He watched as Signy left the head table and wove through the crowd to sit next to a young man who was at the far end of the table where Lena and her family sat. It did not take long for Ivar to realize that the young man must have been the one mentioned earlier. Torbin. Signy nudged Torbin further down the bench to make it appear as though he made room for her, but Ivar realized she did it to sit closer to Lena. He did not doubt that Signy told Torbin to sit at that table, so she joined him without directly approaching Lena. Ivar’s curiosity nagged at him to discover what Signy would tell Lena and what she had already learned.
Instead of going to the head table, Ivar worked his way through the crowd, greeting his men and nodding to Thor’s. He found Vigo and Eindride and dipped his head towards Lena. They met each other behind Lena’s back and looked engrossed in conversation, but the three of them strained to hear the conversation taking place at the table.
“Don’t worry.” Ivar caught Signy’s voice.
“How can I not? I should have seized the chance to say goodbye. Now it’s just over.” Ivar wanted to pull Lena into his arms and carry her away, promising that nothing was over. But he could not.
“Won’t marry.” Ivar against only heard a snippet of Signy’s comment. He had no way of knowing who she meant. Did she mean he and Lena would not marry? Or could it be that Ivar and Inga would not? Or perhaps she was talking about someone else.
“You need to go to your family,” hissed Eindride. “Your father looks ready to murder you.”
“After the conversation in the bathhouse, despite me barely saying anything at all, he might. But not until after he gets her dowry,” Ivar muttered.
“Go. I’ll stay and listen.”
Ivar nodded and made his way to the chair his family and guests saved for him. Inga barely spared him a glance. He followed Inga’s line of sight and realized she was staring at Lena’s back.
“Had to check on your precious lover?” Inga’s did not bother to lower her voice. “You just had to be near her? Did you catch her scent like a dog in heat?”
Before Ivar responded, and he had not planned to, Inga yelped, and the table rattled. Rangvald sat across from her, and he had clearly kicked her under the table.
“Don’t be the only bitch here, Inga,” Rangvald murmured. “Test your groom’s patience before he’s even bedded you, and you might find marriage to be far rougher than you expect.”
Rangvald cocked an eyebrow, making the insinuation that Ivar might abuse her all the clearer. Inga’s face set in a mask of fury, and her body went rigid. Rangvald chuckled and shook his head.
“You won’t be the prized daughter of a jarl here. You won’t even be frú yet. Perhaps you should remember you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Your face looks drier than a pickled herring in December. I would have a care, Inga. Once we leave, there will be no one here who has to like you.” Rangvald shoveled a large bite of stew into his mouth and still managed a wolfish grin.
Inga remained silent for the rest of the meal as the conversation flowed around her. Rangvald did not spare his sister another glance, but Lorna, who sat to Rangvald’s left, took surreptitious glances at Inga. She understood the woman better than her brothers did. She would wait until the end of the meal, then she would warn Lena that she needed to leave the homestead and not ask for anyone’s help except for those she trusted the most.
As soon as Lorna managed to slip away, she searched for Lena outside. Ivar and Lena had helped her when she sought refuge months ago. She was duty bound to return the favor, and she liked Lena. They had become friends in the short time Lorna stayed with them, and she would do what she could to protect her friend.
“Lena,” Lorna’s whisper hissed through the air. “Lena!”
Lena paused, looking back over her shoulder as the hair on her neck prickled. She spotted Lorna waving for her to stop. Lorna dashed across the distance that separated them and pulled Lena towards Lena’s home.
