They split the cake between them, and somehow the simple act of sharing food felt more intimate than anything that could have happened in their bed chamber.
As they prepared to leave, Bjorn clasped Erik’s forearm with obvious emotion. “Thank ye, me jarl. Fer comin’. Fer bringin’ yer lady. We’re happy tae have her by yer side.”
They were mounting up when an old woman pushed through the crowd—ancient, bent with age, her eyes clouded with cataracts but somehow still sharp.
“Jarl.” She called out in Norse. “A moment.”
Erik dismounted immediately, moving to her side with surprising gentleness. She grabbed his hand and said something too rapid for Claricia to follow, but the gesture toward her was unmistakable.
Erik’s expression shifted—surprise, then something softer. He responded in Norse, and the old woman cackled like a pleased hen.
“What did she say?” Claricia asked as Erik swung back into his saddle.
“That she can see the bairns runnin’ around our feet already. Said we’ll have a full hall before winter ends.”
Heat flooded Claricia’s face like wildfire. “She said… but we havenae even?—”
“I told her we’re workin’ on it.” The absolute devil dancing in his eyes made her want to throttle him. “Assured her I’m a very dedicated husband.”
“Ye’re livin’ in a fantasy!”
“Fantasy.” He tasted the word like wine. “It seemed very real this mornin’ when ye were curled around me so tight I couldnae tell where ye ended and I began.”
“I wasnae?—”
“Ready tae ride?” Aksel’s voice carried no teasing, just pragmatic observation. “Or should we make camp here while ye two sort this wee domestic dispute?”
Erik laughed—a real laugh that transformed his whole face—and urged his horse forward. “Move out before me wife decides tae kick me somewhere unfortunate again.”
“That was anaccident!”
“Me bruised pride disagrees.”
The ride back to the castle felt shorter somehow. Lighter. The guards were more relaxed, and even Aksel seemed pleased with how the day had gone.
“Ye handled yerself well today,” Erik said quietly as the castle walls came into view.
“Thank ye.” The words barely made it past her throat.
They rode the last stretch in companionable silence, hands linked between their horses like a bridge neither of them was quite ready to cross but both were willing to build anyway.
Claricia watched the way sunlight caught in his pale hair, turning it almost silver.
This is dangerous,this is exactly what I swore I wouldnae dae.
But as Erik’s thumb brushed across her knuckles in the smallest of caresses, she couldn’t quite bring herself to care.
Because dangerous or not, this—whatever this thing growing between them was called—felt inevitable as the tide. And maybe, just maybe, she was tired of fighting it.
Maybe it was time to let the waves carry her where they would.
And hope she didn’t drown in the process.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Ye keep lookin’ at it like it’s goin’ tae swallow ye whole.”
Claricia tore her gaze from the grey-green water lapping against the rocky shore, her hands tightening on the reins until leather bit into her palms. The path back to the castle skirted dangerously close to the sea, and every part of her wanted to urge her mare inland, away from that hungry expanse that had almost claimed her life.
