Ivar nodded, his smile sad from the memory and from Lena’s attempt to reassure him. He felt like a failure that it was Lena who was the one being kept a prisoner, who was bolstering his courage instead of the other way around.
“I will make all of this up to you, my love. I promise you that. I locked her in my chamber. I’ve made it clear to her and to the guards at the door and windows that I do not allow her out. She can see her family, but otherwise, she remains in there. If she wants to be my wife that badly, then she will have to decide if she will live here by my terms. If her father wants her to be my wife, then he will have to accept that she is mine to do with as I want.”
“Ivar,” Lena warned, but he shook his head.
“How else can we be rid of her? She has to decide that she wants to leave on her own. I understand that.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Me too, Lena.” Ivar looked around and noticed people watching them. “I have to go, my love. I don’t know when I can or should visit. I will speak to my father about having you moved inside. Inga knows she’s expected to recant her lies that you tried to have her killed and that you seduced her guards.”
Lena nodded before squeezing Ivar’s hands. She had noticed people watching them too. She swallowed her whimper as Ivar walked back to his family’s home. Lena looked over at Eindride, who smiled sympathetically. When Brenna arrived a few hours later with a large bowl ofskousethat was still hot enough to burn her tongue, Lena was certain the gods would smile upon her. But the sun dropped beneath the horizon, and they left her chained to theníðstöng. Exhaustion caused her to drift off, but she stirred when she sensed someone sat beside her. She opened her eyes and found Lorna wrapping a large plaid around them both. They huddled together, their bodies sharing the minimal heat they each mustered.
“Rangvald doesn’t think his father or mother will agree to leave with Inga right away. They will insist that Ivar just needs time to get accustomed to marriage. Rang fears what they may demand as your punishment. He thinks Ivar’s plan to keep Inga locked away will be enough to wear down Thor’s insistence that Inga remain here. Thor’s spoiled her for too many years to expect her to behave as a woman should. Thor will have to accept that he made her into a woman who is too weak to lead.”
“Do you think he will admit that?”
“Not out loud, but she will force him to when she sends messenger after messenger complaining that she is being ignored.”
“Don’t you fear that this will fail? I do. I fear how Ivar treats her will anger Thor, and this will only lead to a greater war.”
“Then he shouldn’t have married her to him. Marriage here is not so different for a woman than it is in the Highlands. Once we wed, we become the property of our husbands for them to do with us what they want. The only difference, the good difference, is a Norse woman can leave her husband. A Christian woman is bound to her husband until death.”
“That sounds horrid.”
“It can be. That’s why I intend to make the most of a Norse marriage to Rang. That way I can leave if I must. After all, you only live once, so you may as well enjoy it.”
“No, you don’t. You can live more than once.” Lena’s brow furrowed in confusion as she thought about Lorna’s comment.
Lorna laughed, “You only live once at a time then. Perhaps, there is something to be said for your Norse faith.”
The next two days seemed to drag on as everyone existed in a state of misery. Lena remained locked to the shame-pole, while Inga remained locked in Ivar’s chamber. Ivar refused to step foot in that wing of his family’s home, instead bedding down in the gathering hall. Thor tried to demand that Ivar allow Inga freedom to at least roam about the jarl’s longhouse, but Ivar only shook his head. Ulfhild threatened Ivar and started a fight in the gathering hall when she lobbed insults, first at Ivar, then at Soren and Disa. Ulfhild questioned both men’s manhoods and claimed Disa did nothing to intervene in the situation because she was jealous of Inga. Harold attempted to push their sparring beyond just training and received a gash across his thigh for his recklessness. It was Rangvald who wielded the sword that injured Harold when he intervened as his older brother tried to decapitate Vigo. Tension was escalating between tribes and among clan members.
It was Signy’s voice of reason that offered a chance for peace. Signy suggested that her family return to their homestead and that the additional attention would only continue to make it hard for the newlyweds to settle into married life. Regardless of what Thor and Ulfhild thought, they had married their daughter off, and now she needed to live as a married woman. When asked whether the gods told her it was time for Thor’s tribe to leave, Signy would only answer with her own question: why would the gods want them to stay if the marriage was the means to a truce not a merger? The idea of the two tribes blending into one was enough to make Thor’s people pack.
Four days after Lena’s arrest, Thor, Ulfhild, Rangvald, Lorna, Sven, Signy, and Harold, along with their warriors, rode away from Soren’s home. Ivar had not seen Inga once since he left her locked in his chamber. He had heard things being shattered and thrown, but he did not care enough for any of his possession to enter the chamber and talk to the shrew who now warmed his bed alone. Instead, he bedded down in the gathering hall but slipped out when the other people who claimed spaces began to snore. Ivar met Tormud each night and donned the man’s cloak. He tucked his russet curls under the hood and went to sit beside Lena. He held her against him as she shivered, trying to look more like a father comforting his daughter than a man protecting his lover. They barely spoke, fearing someone would recognize Ivar despite how he attempted to limp to convince people he was Tormud.
The moment they no longer saw Thor’s party on the roadway, Soren ordered guards to release Lena. Soren had sworn to Thor that he would hold a trial to determine Lena’s innocence, and he was honor bound to keep his word. It was the first time Ivar allowed Inga to enter the gathering hall. She spewed her bile about Lena attempting to have Inga’s personal guard killed to make it easier for Lena to murder Inga. She attempted to make Lena sound like the jealous and jilted lover, but Inga came across as a pitiful young girl begging for attention. Ivar barely spared her a look as he sat beside his father. She had not recanted her accusations, and he had no tolerance for her. There was little chance for him to speak on Lena’s behalf, but Eindride and Brenna did, along with Jan and Tormud. Several other members of the clan stepped forward to vouch for Lena’s character. When the tribe cast their votes, no one raised a single hand beside Inga to condemn Lena.
Once Lena’s innocence and freedom were ensured, Ivar permitted Inga to leave her chamber during the day. Soren assigned her to Disa, who oversaw Inga’s work within the kitchens and around the longhouse. They afforded Inga the courtesies of being married to the jarl’s heir, but Ivar rarely spoke to her. They sat beside one another at each meal, but Ivar spoke to Eindride and Vigo or the other men who sat at the next table over.
While Ivar stood beside Magnus and Eindride at Eindride’s wedding to Brenna, it was Lena who stood with Brenna, not Inga. It was Lena who took Brenna’skransen, her maiden’s crown, when she and Eindride retired for their wedding night. Lena and Brenna had been close before this ordeal, but Brenna was not a shieldmaiden. She had always remained at the homestead when Lena and the other warriors traveled. However, Brenna’s steadfastness made Lena realize she had missed an opportunity to have a friend. They grew close while Soren had Lena chained to theníðstöng. When Lorna left, tears wetting her eyelashes as she clung to Rangvald, Lena had been certain she would be alone. She understood it was only safe for Ivar to visit her in the dark of night, but it was Brenna who brought her each of her meals, and it was Brenna who kept her company while Brenna sewed clothes for her unborn babe. Lena realized that Brenna was showing already, but she had been too involved in being a warrior to notice. She envied Brenna’s connection to Eindride, a permanent tie that could never be severed even if one day they separated. Lena wondered if she would ever know what it would feel like to carry the child of a man she loved.
Once Lena was free to return to training, she focused on regaining the strength she lost in less than a week of being chained outside in the elements. It shocked her that she did not grow ill during that time. She resumed her duties around the village but avoided the kitchens where Inga spent most of her days. She oversaw the women who worked in the laundry and the dairy, helping whenever she could. The village was not sure what to make of the two women who vied for the role of the next frú. They knew Lena to be a quiet but determined worker, while Inga complained about everything, but it was Inga who claimed the title of Ivar’s wife.
During this time, Ivar and Lena abstained from making love. They barely touched each other except for the nights Ivar kept Lena from freezing to death. Snow had already fallen daily, and it blanketed the ground by the time Lena moved back to her family’s home. Tormud and Jan whittled about Lena, who withdrew further into a shell while working herself to exhaustion each day. Ivar noticed the lines that were forming around Lena’s eyes from the strain. Despite not seeing her bare, he noticed she was losing weight that her slender frame could not spare. He encouraged her to eat whenever their eyes met in the gathering hall, but Lena had no appetite. Inga, on the other hand, ate with vigor despite doing half the work Lena or the other women did. Inga seethed when Ivar was nearby; a healthy fear had developed despite her rage. She did not put much past her husband if she pushed him too far. She realized she had made an error in insisting her father marry her to Ivar. Now her goal was to return home and find a better man to marry.
“Shh. You can’t let anyone hear you,” Inga murmured as Einar entered through the window. Ivar had eased the guard to just two warriors outside the door. Inga thought him a fool for assuming the cold weather would keep her from running away. His belief only made it possible for Einar to slip into the chamber every night. Since no one took an interest in her once she retired, she was able to continue her affair with Einar.
“Are you issuing me orders when it is you who would caterwaul every time you find your release? If I didn’t muffle your cries, everyone would know that you’re being fucked. And not by Ivar.”
“Then you shouldn’t stir me to such a frenzy.” Inga purred as she pressed her body against Einar’s. “If you didn’t pleasure me so well, I wouldn’t lose control.”
Einar pulled Inga against his body, thrusting his hardened shaft against her mound. He pulled the tunic from Inga’s shoulder as his hand slid beneath the neckline and his fingers grazed her nipple.
“But you do so enjoy how I fill you with my cock. Your quim hungers for how I fuck you, doesn’t it?” He pinched her nipple to the point where tears pricked behind Inga’s eyes. “How would you like me to take you tonight, my love?”
Inga understood the game Einar played with her. It had developed over the weeks, and she knew that he did not care what her answer would be. He would do with her as he wanted, and that was what she wanted.
