“It’s what he and I were talking about before you stormed in. You saw me embracing a friend willing to go out of his way to help me, help us. Lorna worries that Inga will lash out at me. She has good reason to believe Inga has guardsmen at her beck and call. She’s trading her favors to have them on her side. Inga had some men attack Lorna a while ago when Rangvald was away.
“Lorna fears Inga will have me killed, or at best, hurt,” Lena continued. “She thinks Ein should take me away until you can end things. Lorna thinks if we leave after the ceremony, Inga will just be glad to see the back of me. Inga might leave me alone if she thinks I won’t be competition for her. Lorna said she and Rangvald could accompany us, and that would offer me another layer of protection.”
“Where would you go?” Ivar thought he might cry for the first time since he was seven and his brothers stole and broke his wooden sword.
“Kaupang like I planned. I have family there, and there’s work, too.”
“How long?” Ivar’s throat felt like it was held in a vice.
“Until you can end the trial marriage and Inga goes home.”
“And if I can’t end things?” Ivar whispered.
“Then there wouldn’t be any point in me being here, anyway.”
“There is always a point to you being here.”
“Not if we have to see each other but can’t talk, can’t touch, can’t love each other. No. Neither of us wants that.”
“But don’t you think remaining here would drive Inga away faster? If she doesn’t feel threatened, then she might become comfortable here. What if she doesn’t want to go home once she thinks she’s won?”
Lena shook her head against his chest before burrowing further into his embrace.
“I don’t know,” came her muffled reply. “Maybe you’re right. But I don’t want to wait and fear when the attack will inevitably come. You can’t assign a guard to me. Your father would never allow it, and it would infuriate Jarl Thor. It would be a slight to Inga, showing everyone that you value me above her. You can’t expect Ein to just follow me around, nor can Rang or Lorna do it.”
“But if we make people think you moved on to Ein, then perhaps it would ease some tension.”
“No. It would devastate Brenna, and we don’t dare tell her. We can’t risk too many people knowing any plan we decide on.”
“If Ein trusts her enough to want to marry her, then she may be an asset to making this believable. She plays the role of the jilted lover. She makes it easier for people to believe Ein swept in once I ended things with you.”
Lena shook her head. “I don’t want people believing I’m the whore Inga claims. To move on so quickly, and to your best friend. To your second-in-command as if I’m after the most powerful man I can seduce. I’d rather leave and not have to see you with her, not have to be reminded that she sleeps beside you every night. That you are joining with her.”
“That will never happen,” Ivar bellowed.
“But it has to.”
“No, it doesn’t. No one can make me stick my cock where I don’t want it to go.”
“Your father can if he insists on witnessing you bedding her.”
“No. I will say I won’t dishonor my wife by having anyone watch us. Then I will swear her to silence.”
“Swear Inga to silence? You have better luck convincing Loki to be honest. She will defy you just for the sake of being awkward.”
“Not if she believes Rangvald’s threat.”
“You would threaten Inga with violence to make her obey. Ha.” Lena’s laugh was hollow. “She’s more likely to kill you in your sleep.”
“Can we compromise? We try my plan with you pretending to be Ein’s companion, and if that doesn’t work, then Ein takes you to Kaupang.”
“And if I don’t live long enough to leave later?”
“Ein and I can be discreet when we set our most trusted men to guard you. They can follow you at a distance that doesn’t make it obvious. I can have more than one set on duty, so they can switch depending on where you are in the village. That keeps it from making anyone suspicious or alerting them. They’ll just look like they’re moving through the village as normal, going about their business. Rangvald and Harold can deal with their own men who give their fealty to Inga rather than their father.”
Lena inhaled as she considered what Ivar suggested. As she decided, she exhaled.
“Fine. We can try it, but if she threatens me, I will kill the men who attack me, and I will leave.”
