“The Mackays helped them fight an enemy, Hakin Hakinsson. The legend says they fought in the Trondelag, but Hakin escaped to the Highlands, then Wales. The Norse followed them and enlisted the Mackays to help since Lorna bound them. Their victory was quite the Viking glory of their day.”
“Yes. I remember something about Strian being separated from his wife, Gressa Jorgensdóttir, during an earlier battle.” Elene grew excited to tell parts of her family legend, and she could tell Liam was eager to listen. They both marveled that their families were bound so many generations ago. “They found one another, but she wanted to return to Wales, where her captors sold her as a slave. Why would she want to go back there if she could return home with her husband?”
Liam continued with a part he remembered. He hadn’t heard the story from his father since he was a young boy, but it flooded back to him as he shared it with Elene. “The legend says that each couple was a love match known across the North Sea. Freya and Leif’s parents, Ivar Sorenson and Lena Tormudsdóttir, were as powerful and as in love as Erik’s parents, Rangvald and Lorna.”
Elene’s gaze locked with Liam’s, both feeling something indescribable and too overwhelming to discern. “The legend in my family is that Tyra and Bjorn married and had sons. Strian’s wife, Gressa, was part Sami, and they had several sons but one daughter. That daughter married one of Tyra and Bjorn’s sons. They settled here.”
The pair stared at one another until a tug on Elene’s line broke their concentration. She pulled the fish from the water and tied it to an extra piece of line. Liam watched as he thought about the story they’d told together, that their lives already overlapped.
“Do you believe in fate?” Liam blurted.
“I don’t know,” Elene answered as she dropped her line into the water again. She turned her head to look at Liam. “Do you?”
“Fate or God, I don’t know. But someone or something guides our lives, takes us where we are supposed to be. It’s our choice whether we accept that.”
Elene opened her mouth to respond, wanting to tell Liam that she believed the same, but Johan called out to her. He dashed to them, explaining that their mother demanded Elene return to prepare their morning porridge. Elene nodded, too embarrassed to look at Liam. But she smiled when he offered his hand and helped her to her feet. Johan skipped ahead of them while Liam and Elene walked briskly.
“I like that our pasts overlap,” Elene said as they walked across the village.
“Mayhap it is fate.” Liam stopped outside Elene’s door. “Should I meet you outside the wall after the evening meal?”
“Yes, please.” Elene scanned their surroundings before she reached out and squeezed Liam’s hand. She ducked into her croft before either of them could say more.
Liam looked behind him as he slipped through the wooden gate and looked in the loch’s direction. It was only a moment later the gate opened again. He swung around, poised to grab his sword. Elene held her hands up in surrender, grinning at Liam.
“Do you need to protect yourself from me?” Elene whispered.
Liam’s shoulders relaxed as he reached out to carry Elene’s bundle. They set off for the loch in silence. When their hands brushed together twice, they linked their fingers, neither saying anything but both enjoying the touch. When they reached the loch, they faced one another, their hands still clasped.
“I’ll stand behind that boulder until you’re in the water. Then I will move to where I can see more of the loch and the other side.”
“Are you missing your chance to bathe for this?” Elene bit her bottom lip, feeling guilty.
“No. I will come back after you’re done.”
“Mayhap…” Elene trailed off when Liam shook his head.
“I may have dirks on me when I bathe but wading in with you leaves us both vulnerable. The reason I offered to protect you is because you’re already vulnerable. It defeats the point if I am too.”
“But it’s an inconvenience.”
“If I thought that, then I wouldn’t have offered.” Liam’s lips twisted. “Well, I would have, but I wouldn’t be enjoying being here with you.”
Elene offered her thanks and ducked behind the boulder. She undressed, then peered around it until she was certain Liam wasn’t watching. Despite having found each other naked the night before, she felt embarrassed that he might see her bare. She hurried into the water and dove beneath the surface. When her head emerged, she spied Liam looking around them and across the loch. She would have liked to soak, taken her time, but she didn’t want to force Liam to stay awake too long. She knew they should both be abed—albeit in separate ones. Her lips pursed as she silently grumbled at that admission.
Five minutes later, Elene called to Liam. “I’m getting out now.”
Liam turned toward her, having studiously avoided looking at her. His cock pulsed behind his sporran just thinking about being so close to Elene while she was naked. He didn’t need to make it worse by seeing her so. “That was quick. I thought you’d like to linger.”
“Not this evening.” Elene swam closer to shore but waited for Liam to turn away. He put his back to her as she dashed behind the boulder and rubbed herself dry, toweling her sopping hair. She hurried to dress, once more not wanting to delay Liam and shivering in the brisk night air. When she was presentable, she carried her bundle as she approached Liam. He pointed toward a grassy knoll near the water’s edge a few feet in the opposite direction from the village.
Liam led the way, unpinning the extra length of his plaid. When they came to the spot, he spread the woolen yards on the ground and offered Elene a place to sit. He gazed up at the heavens. “My mother taught my brothers, sister, and me ancient stories about the stars. She told us what the Greeks and Romans believed. She even told us about the Norse. I still love looking at them and remembering those nights all of us, including my father, would lie in the meadow outside our walls. We would tell the stories as we pointed out the clusters. We would make up ones for the stars we didn’t know.”
“That’s a wonderful memory,” Elene whispered. Liam reached out his hand and grasped hers.
“I’m sorry if that was insensitive. I know not all families are like mine.”
Elene rolled onto her side, still holding Liam’s hand. “Don’t feel guilty about having a loving family and fond memories. I was old enough when my father died to remember many things from before it happened. He used to take me fishing at night. He taught me to navigate by the stars, and he told me those Norse legends, too. I used to take him mead and ale when he worked in the fields. He would let me walk in front of him, my hands on the plow just like his. It’s how I knew what to do, or at least I thought I did. It was harder than it looked, so I was lucky neighbors helped me after he died. He would put me on his shoulders when we went to watch the Beltane bonfires. Back then, my mother didn’t drink as much. She wasn’t a happy woman, but she loved our family. She was kind when she taught me how to manage our home, and she was patient too. She would have too much mead or ale sometimes, but my father hid it from us. I didn’t realize I’d seen her drunk until after he died. I recognized things she did, but she grew far worse once he died. But before that, we had an untroubled home.”
