Fury burned his gut like a brand and his head began to pound.
How could she not regret Heimdall?Youthful lust had clouded her judgement back then, but surely she realised now what a terrible mistake she had made?
It wasn’t until he saw the flicker of unease from Vali out of the corner of his eye, that he realised the pounding wasn’t in his head after all—someone was using a battering ram against the Great Hall’s doors.
Skadi took a deep breath, then asked impatiently, ‘Tell me your plan. Do you honestly think that by defeating me you will be allowed to rule Thrudheim freely? I have an alliance with King Sven and he will have you killed! It does not matter that you are his half-brother, he does not care for you. He will bring an army down upon you and call it revenge for the death of his friend,KingHeimdall.’
She shook her head, as if mystified by his reasoning—or perhaps this was all a delaying tactic to give her men time to break through. ‘What do you hope to gain from this?’
‘Aqueen,’ he answered coldly and without hesitation.
She stiffened, as if she’d been struck, and lowered her sword slightly for the first time. He might have thought it acceptance, except for the disgust on her face. ‘Astra is too young to marry.’
Confusion swept through him. ‘I do not want Astra.’
Her eyes hardened. ‘I have seen forty winters and after twenty years of marriage with Heimdall I could only produce one child. I doubt I can bear another…even if Iwantedto…which I do not.’
Agnar shrugged. ‘We shall see… Either way, it does not concern me.’
A storm of anger seemed to rise up within her and she yelled, ‘It concerns me,Usurper! Astra is my heir!’
Beske chose that moment to grumble, ‘Kill the bitch and take the child! She will be a good enough hostage for now!’
Agnar had had his fill of Beske. His gaze met Skadi’s and then, without hesitation, he twisted his body and plunged his sword into the man’s abdomen. As smooth and as quick as the strike of an adder.
The man inhaled one shocked gasp and then began to gargle phlegm, his eyes bulging before rolling back. Then his body dropped towards the ground, the knees buckling, the dead weight of him slipping the sword free with a wet slither. He fell with an undignified thud flat on his face. A just end to a corrupt man.
Skadi stared down at Beske’s body in horror, the blood draining from her face. ‘You would kill your own men?’
‘I would do much worse than that.’Better she meets the beast now and understands what he is truly capable of.
As usual, Agnar felt nothing at Beske’s death, no pity or shame… Nothing. He had killed so many men over the years that their deaths did not rattle him.
It was a convenient kill that simply served his purpose. He knew that Skadi had fought occasionally against petty chieftains who thought to raid Thrudheim. So she must have seen men killed in battle, or even by accident. A man could die in a drunken challenge, or at one of the many feasts throughout the year. But Skadi looked at him now as if he were a monster, for dispatching a man who had been an obvious threat to her…How odd.
But perhaps he could use her fear of him against her?
The continued banging at the door forced him to decide.
‘Ialwayskeep my word,’ he said absently, lowering his sword without bothering to clean it, allowing it to stain the floor with its ugly paint. ‘I told him that he would regret it if he spoke again… He did.’
Another bang reverberated from the front of the hall, this one louder than before—perhaps they had a cart now?
He stared her down. ‘I want my birthright. I want what I was promised. But more than anything… I wantpower.’ His eyes met hers and the green serpent swirled within him—it was the rage and vengeance that had always kept him company. She shivered, obviously repulsed by him, and glanced back towards her child.
You created this monster, now look!He wanted to scream, but he held his tongue. He had waited twenty years for this moment, he could wait a few heartbeats longer. Especially when her fate was already certain.
‘Astra will come to no harm,’ he said firmly. ‘I swear it.’
Her eyes flew back to his and she shook her head. ‘I do not believe you.’
He could understand her doubt. All men wanted heirs, a legacy to pass on to their own bloodline after death. But he did not… He wanted what he’d been promised and he wanted power, so that no one could ever harm him, or the people he cared for, ever again…andrevenge,not for himself, but for his mother, he wanted that, too.
He was so thirsty for power and revenge that he would put aside anything to gain it. Including children and happiness. Bloodlines did not matter to him, but he knew they mattered to Skadi.
They were his best weapon against her.
‘If you marry me, I will name Astra as my heir and she will remain my heir unless we have a son together. Either way,yourbloodline will continue to rule this island,’ he said firmly, then he pulled at the cord of leather around his throat, yanking it so hard it snapped from his neck. He held it out to her, so that she could see it more clearly.
