“Princess,” Kerek said. “Please, don’t push him. He doesn’t understand your humor.”
“Shut your mouth, Kerek. You don’t understand anything. Listen, Chessa, I’ll beat you.” He leaned over the table toward her. “I’ll get a whip from the stables and I’ll strip you to your white skin and I’ll beat you. Then you won’t make sport of me. Then you’ll hold your shrew’s tongue.”
“You stuck your sleeve in the stewed peas, Ragnor. It’s dripping. You look ridiculous.”
“Princess. My lord. If you both please,” Kerek said. “Here comes your father. I beg you to moderate your speech, both of you.”
As King Olric walked to the table, with two very young and very beautiful female servants who were mirror images of each other behind him whose function at the dining table Chessa couldn’t guess, Kerek said, “I trust your chamber is sufficient, Princess?”
“No,” she said. “It is too small, the box bed is too narrow, the pillow is too firm, the—”
“And your servant, Ingurd? She’s stupid and insults you? I selected her myself,” said Kerek.
He’d gotten her. “Your men brought cold bathwater. I am used to much more luxury, Kerek.” She looked around, her eyes meeting the king’s. “This palace isn’t at all what I expected. It’s dark and smells of old food. It hasn’t the grace and wealth of my father’s palace in Dublin.”
“You didn’t expect anything,” Ragnor shouted at her. “Damn you, Chessa, stop playing the spoiled bitch. It won’t work, no one will believe you, at least they won’t once they realize what a stubborn witch you are.”
“I am King Olric.”
She smiled at the old man, who was short, fat bellied, and hadn’t a single tooth in his mouth. He looked petulant and vain. He looked as if his wits had begun wandering some years before.
“These are two of my concubines.” They were each so fair that their hair looked nearly white. Their eyes were down. “They’re twins, so alike even I can’t tell who is who. I bought them from their father. They suit me well enough. And you are Princess Chessa, King Sitric’s daughter. You are here now, just as Kerek promised. Well done, Kerek.”
“I wish you’d asked me, Father. I would have gotten her sooner than Kerek did.”
“Is that true, Ragnor? Perhaps later you can tell me how you planned to bring the princess here.”
She realized in that instant that he was dangerous, that he would lash out and grant no mercy, not just threaten, despite wandering wits. She said, “Your concubines are beautiful, sire.”
A male slave assisted the king into his chair. One of the concubines unfolded a beautiful linen cloth and spread it over the king’s chest, to protect the gold chains about his neck, each of them inlaid with diamonds and rubies.
King Olric said to Kerek, “She is passable. Her hair is black, but with the ribbons threaded through the braids, it lessens the coarse effect. Her skin is a strange shade—a pale gold—unusual, but not ugly. She looks foreign. It is her eyes that are interesting. Stand up, Princess. I wish to see if you’ll be a good breeder.”
She heard Kerek suck in his breath. She realized he was frightened of what she would do. She looked at Ragnor and watched him sit forward. Very slowly, a gentle submissive smile on her face, Chessa rose from her chair. She walked slowly to where the king sat, watching her. She lightly touched his sleeve. “Do you think I’ll breed well, sire?”
He splayed his hands across her belly, stretching them to touch her pelvic bones. She didn’t move. Her smile never lessened. Then she felt his hands go around to cup her buttocks. She didn’t move even as he pulled her against him and his mouth was moving against her breasts. “Aye,” the king said at last, snapping his fingers, “she’ll be good sport in bed.”
“I thought you wanted to see if she’d breed well,” Ragnor said, sprawled now in his chair, frowning at his father who was drinking from a goblet held to his mouth by one of his concubines. Chessa sat again. She felt revulsion, but she dared not show it. The father wasn’t like the son.
She watched one of the concubines cut off a thick piece of roasted beef. She watched her chew it very thoroughly. She watched in utter surprise when the concubine then removed it from her mouth and gently laid it between the king’s lips. Chessa wanted to gag, but she didn’t. She just lowered her head and took another bite of bread, a rye bread that was delicious.
Kerek said very quietly, “You’re wise, Princess. I didn’t have time to tell you that the king’s temper isn’t as predictable and pleasant as his son’s. But you guessed, didn’t you?”
“What did you say to her, Kerek?”
“Nothing, my lord. I just asked her if I could have some of the sweet cabbage. I believe there are cloudberries in it. I like it much.”
“You’re a stupid man, Kerek. If it weren’t for you we would never have been caught by that damned Rorik. If it weren’t for you we wouldn’t have been wrecked on his damned island. Both you and Captain Torric, that stupid slug, both of you are to blame.”
The king raised a hand, each finger covered with silver and gold rings. To Chessa’s surprise, Ragnor fell silent instantly. “The messengers returned today, Kerek. They didn’t find this Hawkfell Island. They said there was a storm and it sent them into waters they didn’t know. They said they were lucky to return to York. I would have killed them for their failure except that we do have the princess so it doesn’t really matter. One of the men is very skilled, so his death would be a waste.”
“I’d kill Captain Torric, Father. He was the one who gave the men the course to travel. Besides, he’s lame now. What good is he?”
“Captain Torric and Kerek were the ones who planned how we would get the Vikings and then the princess. I have rewarded him.”
“That’s ridiculous. It was I who told Kerek that we should drug them, I who told Kerek that you should play a generous role and give them treasures as a reward. I didn’t want them to fight and die. I wanted to torture them. I wanted to kill Cleve slowly, that or sell him for a slave. He was a slave once, did you know? Aye, it was my plan and Kerek and Torric have stolen it from me.”
The king said merely after a concubine had gently wiped his mouth with a piece of white linen, “Don’t lie, Ragnor. Remember that slave girl, Mora? The one you raped when you were thirteen years old? You brayed and bragged about your prowess, how you even pleasured her.” The king paused a moment, then gave his son a gentle smile. It made Chessa shiver. “I found out of course that it was the captain of your guard who’d taken the girl and you’d watched, then threatened the girl that you’d kill her if she ever told the truth.”
