‘Keep your face forward, my love. You will require another woman in your life. Promise you will take one. If not for my sake, then for our child’s,’ she’d whispered with life ebbing from her eyes. He’d agreed but then he’d discovered that game in progress and knew he wasn’t ready, and never would be.
‘You keep saying that and maybe you will start believing it,’ his helmsman said, bringing him back to the present with a start.
Rand sheathed the sword and stood. ‘You speak boldly to your lord.’
The man rolled his eyes. ‘When did you last pluck the strings of your harp?’
Rand picked up a brooch and started polishing it. He’d learned to play an Irish harp at Bridget’s request, but it had gathered dust since her death. ‘When I need advice, I ask for it.’
‘You were wrong about Lady Svanna. That one is not carved from ice. Not from the way she rushed into the burning building.’
Rand tried not to think about how Svanna’s lips had softly parted in the pale moonlight, how he’d nearly drawn her to him, and kissed her until they were both overcome with desire. He knew deep down that his late wife would have found another, possibly with indecent haste. He’d always known that. She had told him as much. Not a betrayal but a moving on, she had called it.
‘You know nothing.’
The man laughed. ‘You know even less. That brooch could hardly be any brighter. What are you trying to be—a shining example?’
‘A political marriage suits both of us.’ He winced, knowing that once he’d argued against such things, convincing Bridget to take a chance on him, rather than being locked in a loveless marriage to an elderly man who had already buried three wives. ‘I’ve learned not to question the minds of ladies, particularly when their desires chime with my needs.’
* * *
‘Will you not wait until I’ve recovered?’ Astrid said from her bed. Earlier she’d moved back into the chamber that Svanna and she had shared, stating that others required that sort of care more, not her. To Svanna’s relief, her cheeks had regained some colour, and she had managed to walk a few steps.
Svanna captured Astrid’s hand. ‘If I am to be of any use, I must go to Tara as quickly as possible and prevent Turgeis from gaining more power and threatening Agthir.’
Astrid tightened her cool hand about Svanna’s. ‘You do Agthir proud.’
Svanna brushed Astrid’s cheek. ‘The timing was deliberate. They knew you’d most likely be in the hall and not in the church. Lord Randolfr was right—it was too easy to chase them from these lands. No hostages taken—unprecedented.’
Astrid plucked restlessly at the furs. ‘I’d feel safer if I understood what Turgeis wants. You’re good at solving riddles. Can you guess?’
‘Beyond power? It makes little sense,’ she said, closing her mind firmly on Turgeis’s assault and subsequent torments. They were in the past and had no bearing on her future with Rand. Astrid had never known the true extent of what had happened and there was no need for her to know now. ‘The salute unnerved me. He seeks revenge on Agthir for the banishment was my interpretation.’
Svanna sat back on her haunches and waited, completely still. She’d always found waiting the hardest part, but it was necessary.
Finally, when Svanna’s nerves were stretched to breaking-point, Astrid sighed and closed her eyes in resignation. ‘You may be headstrong and inclined to recklessness, but you are also politically astute. You will uncover what Turgeis plots and stop him. Remember, if you are truly unhappy, divorce is permissible in Agthir.’
‘High praise indeed from you.’
Astrid laughed. ‘Our way of marriage or a Christian one?’
‘I believe ours will be preferable in the interests of time. If a Christian form is required, it can be done at Tara. After I convert. I am not naïve enough to think the high king will countenance someone like me within his inner circle unless I do.’ Svanna silently prayed she was right, because otherwise there would be a lengthy delay while she took instruction. The priest had been quite clear that it could take months. ‘I wish to go to my wedding a Northern bride.’
Astrid’s lips turned up. ‘Then we must make you the appropriate bride.’
Astrid sent one of the servants for her iron-bound chest which Halfr had stored with the other valuables.
‘There is no need for anything fancy.’
‘What sort of foster-mother would I be if I allowed my daughter to marry in the clothes she stands up in?’ Her eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘I brought your mother’s wedding finery with me, my dear.’
Svanna’s insides twisted. Had Astrid guessed the secret offering to Freya, asking not to return to Agthir, she’d made before they’d departed? As much as she liked Maer, she’d known her place was not there. She served as a reminder of what had been and not as a beacon for the future. She knew in her heart of hearts that she wanted to make a difference to the future. She wanted to be more than an obligation. She could well remember how bitterly her stepmother had complained about having to feed and clothe her before Astrid had stepped in with her offer.
Not wishing to betray her thoughts, she carefully widened her eyes. ‘You did? Why?’
‘Because I didn’t care to have it inadvertently lost. What did you think the reason was?’
‘I don’t know. We simply have not discussed this before,’ Svanna said to avoid asking the direct question.
