‘Is that so?’ he asked playfully with a raised brow.
She rolled her eyes and was thankfully saved from further blushes by the arrival of several servants carrying buckets of hot water and a tray of food, which Skadi took and placed on Agnar’s lap.
After the servants were done filling the wooden bath, which was shaped and carved much like a boat, they left. Skadi went to her little chest of herbs once again and chose some soothing oils and healing herbs to scatter in the water.
‘You are pampering me,’ Agnar observed with amusement as he ate his meal. She was pleased to see it was a hearty selection of cured meats and fish, as well as a variety of cheeses, pickles and bread followed by honey cakes and stewed plums. Enough to revive a man after the trials he’d faced.
‘You are a king. You should look like one,’ she answered, setting out the combs and pumice stones on the table beside his bath.
The clatter of his tray being put aside was enough to let her know he had left the bed and her heart raced in anticipation.
‘Are you going to join me?’ he asked huskily, the heat of his body bathing her back as she pretended to avoid him.
‘I will tend to you.’
‘You are not a servant, Skadi.’ He stroked her hair gently. She’d only braided the top half today, letting the rest fall loosely around her shoulders. His fingers brushed against the nape of her neck and she bit her lip to stop the moan that threatened to escape. She could never have enough of him and the realisation frightened her.
She turned to face him, and saw the questioning look on his face. ‘I want to care for you,’ she explained.
‘As an apology?’ he asked, appearing displeased by the prospect.
She shook her head. ‘Not just that… I…’ She struggled to find the words. ‘You saved Astra as if she were your own daughter.’
His jaw tightened and his green eyes were bright with emotion. ‘It is my duty to protect you…and Astra is my heir.’ He shook his head, as if in denial. ‘No…more than that. She isyourdaughter. That makes her special to me.’
Skadi’s heart filled almost to bursting. She did not deserve such devotion, had never received it from anyone but her father before. If he was deceiving her, then he was a greater liar than even Loki, the god of mischief himself.
‘I believe you,’ she said finally, not daring to say more, but willing to at least show her feelings for him in action if nothing else. ‘That is why I want to care for you. Now, get in, before it gets cold.’
Agnar smiled at her censure and began to untie his trousers. Skadi quickly busied herself with choosing the right soap for him, not daring to watch him strip in case it made her climb in after him.
She rejected the soaps Heimdall used to use, tossing those aside and vowing to give those to Vali instead.
When she heard the soft splash of water she turned to face him with her chosen soap in hand, a little breathless when she took in the sight of him. He filled the large tub so much that the water threatened to spill over the side. His body glistened from the water and steam.
She swallowed, wondering how she would manage this task without succumbing to her own desires.
‘You will get water all over your dress if you wash me yourself,’ said Agnar, gesturing at the elaborate blue-and-white gown, which was trimmed in silk and fur. ‘Give it to me.’
He held out his hand for the soap and she noticed once again the sore flesh of his palms. The sight strengthened her resolve. Shaking her head, she thumped the soap down on the table and began to shed her clothes. It was slightly easier as there were more laces and the clasps of her brooches held up the apron straps. She’d picked it for practical reasons, hoping Agnar might take it off her later.
It seemed she had beaten him to it.
Unfortunately.
‘There!’ she declared, picking up the soap again when she was down to nothing more than her shift.
She took her time wetting and soaping his long hair, and then worked the combs through it, apologising when the teeth snagged occasionally on a knot.
When it was smoothly combed through, she added some nettle-and-rosemary oil that she used on her own hair and smoothed it into the ends. Smiling with satisfaction when her work was done. It had taken a long time, but she thought the curtain of midnight hair was beautiful and she would have hated him to cut it off.
She moved around the bath to face Agnar, who cracked open his eyes to stare at her with a sultry look.
‘Satisfied?’
She nodded, her body tightening with anticipation at his husky voice. ‘Now I need to wash your body.’
She moved forward, taking a cloth from the table and soaping it up before wiping it across his chest and arms. He leaned forward and she obediently rubbed at his back. ‘You are enjoying this a little too much!’ she teased.
