‘Would you like a bath?’
He scrubbed a hand down his face and she realised how weary and tired he was. He’d not stopped once all day and most of the night. Climbing, fighting, risking his life more than once. ‘I’ll just wash my face and hands… I was going to ask if you had any balms…’
‘Your hands!’ she hissed, grabbing hold of one and opening it out for inspection. She winced at the raw and ragged flesh. There were cuts and blisters from the rope all over his hands.
She tugged him by his arm to a stool and pushed at his shoulders until he sat down.
‘Let me take care of you,’ she insisted when he opened his mouth to protest.
His mouth snapped shut and he nodded. The half-barrel had been emptied and taken away by the servants. But she had a full jug of water on the table beside her for the morning so she poured some in a basin and lathered a small amount of soap in it, glad that it wasn’t too cold. She then placed the basin on his lap.
‘It will sting a little…but soak your hands. Oh, wait.’
Agnar blinked. He knew Skadi could be kind and nurturing, he’d just never seen her behave that way towards him. He’d been busy since they’d returned, was so tired he could fall asleep on this stool in a matter of moments, but if Skadi wanted to care for him, he would cut out his own tongue before denying her.
She moved the bowl aside and tugged at his tunic ties, before pulling it off his head. The outer tunic came off, followed by the under tunic. She tossed the garments on the floor and kicked them out of the way without a care, showing that she really was royalty after all, despite the menial nature of the task she was performing.
The bowl was returned to his lap and he put his hands in the water. It stung, but he was more than happy to take the pain, letting himself admire Skadi as she began to use another cloth to quickly wipe his face and upper body.
Her hair reminded him of the first time he’d seen her when she’d been a lanky youth and had stared down at him with barely concealed horror. A tiny boy must have been an unwelcome betrothed. He couldn’t help but flex his muscles as she cleaned him, proving to her how well he’d grown since their first encounter.
After a few swipes of his body with the cloth, she flushed and said, ‘I will order a proper bath for you in the morning. Your hair needs a thorough wash.’
He sighed. ‘I should cut it off. It’s so tangled now; it might be for the best.’
‘No!’ Skadi gasped, wringing the cloth tightly with a horrified expression. ‘I like your hair long… I will wash and brush it out tomorrow. It will be fine—Astra’s has been far worse and I’ve managed to save it.’
Her confession that she liked his hair long and the insistence that she would detangle it herself made his chest glow with hot pride.
‘Did you decide about the grain?’ she asked tentatively and all of his pleasure disappeared.
‘King Erik hasn’t yet replied to my proposal.’
Skadi nodded. ‘Then I will order rationing as of tomorrow.’
There was no blame in her words, no reprimand. ‘I understand if you blame me for it,’ he said.
But to his surprise she shook her head. ‘No, I am the one at fault. I have trusted a man who could not be trusted more than once. Sven has been against me from the beginning.’
She gently lifted his hands from the bowl, cursing when some of the water dripped on his trousers. ‘I should have put a cloth down first.’
‘It does not matter.’
She patted his hands with a strip of linen, so gently it was as if she thought his hands were made of fragile glass. Then she reached for a chest and opened it to choose from an array of potions and lotions.
‘If I’d known you carried so many herbs, I wouldn’t have kept such a close eye on your perfumer.’
Skadi smiled. ‘It is an interest of mine. In the summers I like to go to the forests and flatlands to pick herbs.’
She began to mix something in her palm that looked like runny wax.
‘Should I ask what that is…or will I find out when I keel over?’ he teased.
She rolled her eyes, trotting back to him with her fluffy white feet. ‘It’s not poison.’
Skadi looked adorable in her long fluffy socks and braids. It was distracting and encouraged feelings he’d thought himself too tired to be capable of. The soft sweep of her linen shift against his arm was intoxicating as she leaned over to get a pinch of another herb. Lusty thoughts filled his mind, but with Astra in the room such a path was inappropriate at best. So, when she slathered the balm on to his palms and it stung like a hot brand, he welcomed the pain with only a slight grimace.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said and he shrugged.
