With a quick hug, Ivar turned toward his family’s home. Ivar was determined to speak to his father. He would not wait any longer to send Inga home. He had taken ten steps when a scream filled the air and gasps echoed. Ivar spun around in time to launch himself forward and catch Lena as she pitched forward, an arrow protruding from the center of her back.
A blazing fire erupted in Lena’s back as something pushed her forward. She stumbled, and would have fallen if Ivar had not sprung forward and caught her. She whimpered as she bumped against his chest. The fire spread along her left side all the way down her arm and leg while her head floated several feet above her. The edges of her vision seemed to tunnel into a tiny pinprick before her eyes.
“Ivar,” she mouthed before everything went black.
Ivar clung to Lena as blood flowed from the wound in her back. He scanned the crowd but was unable to catch a glimpse of who shot the arrow. He supported Lena as he tried to decide what to do, but his mind was running through sludge.
“Take her to your mother,” Magnus appeared at his side, helping him lift Lena into Ivar’s arms, but Ivar was too stunned to move. “Hurry, Ivar. Wake up!”
Ivar shook his head and looked down at Lena’s pale face. His feet began moving without him realizing. Magnus jogged alongside him, supporting Lena’s legs.
“Who?” Ivar barked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t look, but I believe they caught someone. Once I help you get her inside, I will go back to find out what happened.”
Ivar remained silent as they entered his family’s home. He turned toward his chamber but remembered that it was now Inga’s space. He would not take Lena there; Ivar intended to never step foot in the room again. He went to the room Lena had occupied while Lorna stayed with them. Vigo had gone in search of Disa and Soren as soon as the arrow flew toward Lena.
“Gods, what happened to the girl?” Disa swept into the room.
“Someone shot her, Mother.”
“I can see that, but how? Lena would never be reckless enough to walk into the archery range while people are shooting.”
“We were in the sparring field. We weren’t anywhere near the targets. Someone did this on purpose.”
“Any idea who?”
Ivar turned at the sound of his father’s voice, but looked down at Lena before shaking his head. He had placed her on her stomach on the bed. He snapped the shaft from the arrow before moving aside to allow his mother space to work. Father and son stood together as they watched Disa cut away Lena’s tunic and vest. Soren grasped Ivar’s shoulder when the wound became visible. It was deeper than it had appeared when Lena’s clothes covered it. The arrowhead had sunk deep into her back close to her backbone and her heart. It was a miracle she had not died the instant the arrow struck her. Lena sobbed as Disa attempted to pull the tip free. Despite being unconscious, Lena’s whimpers were clear and tore through Ivar. Soren wrapped his arm around his son and turned him away from the scene on the bed. Father embraced son, just as he had countless times when Ivar was a child. Ivar wanted to look but could not. He could not bear seeing Lena with an arrow sticking out of her back. They had seen each other injured before, but never had a wound been this serious. Ivar feared Lena might never walk or move her arms again if she survived the loss of blood.
All heads turned when the door opened, and Brenna entered with Eindride at her side. Brenna went to help Disa as they whispered back and forth as they worked.
“It was one of Inga’s guards. They caught him as he jumped from the stable roof. The guard had the bow in hand and claimed responsibility. He said that he saw the way Lena humiliated Inga by kissing Ivar in public. The man was duty bound to defend Inga.” Eindride explained. “I don’t believe it. More than one person saw him come from the barracks before going to the stables. There was no way he had seen Ivar and Lena before going on the roof. They already planned this.”
“That’s why Inga went in the storage building. She didn’t mind someone seeing her with Einar if that meant no one blamed her for sending her guard. She planned that, too.” Ivar muttered.
“What? What’s this about Inga and Einar?” Soren interrupted.
“Lena and I saw her enter one of the storage buildings and a few minutes later Einar followed her. Lena suspects they’re having an affair. Even if they’re not, she wanted us to see her. She wants to go home, but not before she punishes Lena.”
“Do you think anyone else knows if she’s having an affair?” Soren wondered.
“Ask the guards who’ve been outside her door. No one has reported anything to me, but if she is, I’m sure they’ve heard her. Ask Einar himself.” Ivar shrugged. He did not care whether or not Inga was still coupling with other men. Ivar was only interested in Lena’s condition. He went to kneel beside the bed and took Lena’s hand. It seemed so tiny and limp in his palm. He looked up at his father, and Soren knew where the blame rested without Ivar saying anything.
Ivar, Soren, Eindride, and Vigo, who had arrived with Soren, waited in silence while Brenna and Disa worked to clean and stitch the wound. They had just finished when Tormud and Jan arrived. Ivar realized it had not taken the women long to work even though it seemed like an eternity had passed since he and Lena were kissing in the village center.
“I’m sorry, Ivar, but I can’t allow Lena to remain here. Jan and I are taking her to Kaupang. We’re moving there.” Tormud voice rasped as he stood behind Ivar and looked down at his daughter. She was the image of her mother, and so much like the woman he had adored. They had not been married nearly long enough before he became a widower. The idea that his daughter would die from another woman’s scorn was intolerable. He hated watching Lena go off to battle, but there was glory in that.
“We can’t move her,” Ivar’s voice broke.
“Not now, but when she is well enough.”
Ivar shook his head. “When she is well enough, I’m marrying her. I already told her it would be by the winter solstice. Father, that bitch better be gone before the sun rises tomorrow or she will be dead before it sets.”
The finality in Ivar’s tone warned anyone from trying to dissuade him. Brenna went to stand with Eindride who ushered her from the chamber while Disa stepped into Soren’s embrace. Ivar had barely looked at his father since Lena’s arrest, so he had not noticed that his parents’ entire relationship had shifted in the past weeks. It floored him to see his mother rest her head against Soren’s shoulder and how tenderly his father held her. Jealousy tightened his throat, angry that his parents had a chance while he might never see Lena open her eyes again. Tormud and Jan pulled chairs over to sit on the other side of the bed from where Ivar still kneeled. He was not even aware of the tears that streamed down his cheeks as he prayed to every god he hoped might intervene and keep Lena from leaving him.
Nineteen
It was late the day after Lena’s second attack that Einar cupped his hands for Inga to step into. He mounted his own horse and nudged it forward as he led Inga and the handful of men who were the remainder of her personal guard through the gates. He had convinced Soren and Ivar that he would be the best person to take Inga home. Since he was Magnus’s younger son and the only one who would travel, he argued that they could trust him not to kill her once they were beyond the homestead walls. Neither Soren nor Ivar brought up the possibility that Einar was bedding Inga. Neither man cared so long as she left. Soren barely kept his tribe from stoning Inga when it became known that not only was Lena injured but it had been at the hands of one of Inga’s guards. The man who fired the shot was already a corpse that the wolves had torn apart the night before.
