“You speak from experience?” Garrick asked, casting his mother a tender glance.
“I do,” Anselm chuckled, “though I know I do not deserve the loyalty I have gained. Go find your answers, son. The women are out back.”
When Garrick left the hall, Anselm shook his head and commented to Hugh, “Your brother seemed deeply troubled.”
“Would that I had his troubles.” Hugh grinned, but Anselm could find no humor in the situation.
Cordella quickly answered the forceful knock on the door before the noise woke the other women, who were sleeping. She assumed it was Hugh at the door, for she was expecting him. He had not come round to see her for the last few days. That Viking’s amorous ways she had become well acquainted with in her short time here. She knew what he expected of her—resistance at every turn—and she played this new role easily. She could not afford for the Viking to lose interest in her, not if her plans were to be fulfilled.
Hugh Haardrad must believe himself to be the father of the child she suspected she was carrying. She would give him a son, and so assure her own future. Hugh’s weak-kneed wife was thought to be barren; so Cordella had learned from Heloise, who said he had no bastards as yet either. Mayhaps one day she might even gain marriage from her deception. She knew the child could not be Hugh’s, but she would swear it was, and his own mother would concur, for Cordella had purposely complained bitterly to the older woman of the trials of the ocean voyage, how the cramps of her monthly time had made it worse. Yea, she had wisely thought ahead. At leastshewould not have such a hard time of it here.
She was careful not to look overly anxious when she opened the door. It was not Hugh who stood there in the cold, but his brother Garrick. She had seen this one before on occasion, when he came to visit his father, and she had been entranced by his handsomeness. He was a striking man, much more so than Hugh. Still, Hugh would be head of the clan one day, with power and wealth, and so she preferred him.
“You are Brenna’s sister?” Garrick asked her. At her slow nod he continued gruffly, “Then I would have a word with you, mistress. Will you walk with me?”
Cordella hugged her arms and shivered as the chill wind ruffled her coarse skirt. “I will get a wrap.”
“Nay,” he replied. Shaking off the heavy fur cloak he wore, he wrapped it over her shoulders. “I am impatient.”
She bit her lip as she walked with him away from the house she shared with the other female slaves. She was a bit fearful that this tall Viking wanted her and was taking her away from the others to have his pleasure. Though she would indeed relish the experience, it would not suit her plans. No one but Hugh had bedded her since she first arrived and he put his claim on her.
“I have a problem, mistress,” Garrick said as they walked slowly about the settlement. “I seek your help if you can give it.” He went on to explain about Brenna’s attitude and her stubborn refusal to serve him, ending with their last confrontation this morning. “I would know if she will prove stubborn on this also. Does she value her life so little?”
Cordella wanted to laugh, but she dared not. So Brenna was acting true to form, just as Cordella knew she would. The Viking showed real concern, which Brenna certainly didn’t deserve. Mayhaps there was a way to further her own revenge, Cordella thought maliciously.
“’Tis typical of Brenna,” Cordella answered. “But she would never do anything to risk her life,” she added firmly.
“Yet she fought against my father when he attacked your home. She risked her life then.”
“Brenna never really believed real harm would come to her that day,” Cordella explained with a convincing expression. “She assumed you Vikings would not kill a woman. As for Brenna’s stubbornness, ’tis only a ruse to see how much she can gain. She feels that menial labor is beneath her, and in truth, she is lazy and would be happy if she need not lift a finger to do anything. All her life she has had servants to wait on her.”
“She did work in my stable,” Garrick argued. “She says ’tis only women’s work she will not do.”
“Did you see her do the work?” Cordella asked. “Or did she coax someone else to do it for her? Nay, ’twas the same at home. Brenna expected everyone to serve her, even her family, while she spent all of her time diverting herself with the village men, tempting them away from their wives.”
“’Tis a different Brenna you describe, not the one I know who shuns men.”
“’Tis only what she wants you to believe,” Cordella said slyly. “Nay, the real Brenna is a tease with a whore’s heart. She knows she is comely and would have every man she knows fall for her charms. She even coveted my own husband, who was smitten by her also.”
“But she was a virgin!”
Cordella smiled. “Is she still?” She saw his dark scowl, yet this did not stop her from adding, “If you want her only for yourself, Viking, then you had best keep a watchful eye on her, for she would never be content with just one man. I know my sister well.”
“I did not say I want her for myself, mistress,” he said brusquely.
Garrick left his father’s house feeling more disgruntled and confused than when he came. Cordella’s words did not sit well with him and he returned home in a dark mood.
A few minutes later Garrick stood before the door to his chambers. He hesitated a moment, wondering again what he would find inside. He held a tray of food awkwardly with one hand and threw open the bolt with the other, then went inside. Dog came to his feet immediately, his tail wagging. “Go on, Dog,” Garrick said, “your food is below.” He waited until the shepherd trotted from the room, then closed the door with his foot. Only a single candle burned on the mantel, but in the dim light he could see the room was in order. Surprised, he searched further until he found Brenna sitting on a chair staring into the fire. He set the tray down, then went over to her. He looked at her, wondering anew if what her sister said was true. Was Brenna just playing a game with him? Why should her sister lie?
“Why did you take so long?” Brenna asked. “I am famished.”
He wondered bitterly if she had only put the room to rights after hunger had gnawed at her belly for a while.
“Aye, ’tis late,” he replied. He built up the fire, then stood up and waited for the tirade to begin. When it did not come immediately, Garrick eyed her speculatively and moved toward the table to join her, finally feeling his own hunger. Brenna was deep in thought as she ate, a frown creasing her brow.
“You were detained, then?” she finally asked.
“Nay, I simply forgot that you would be waiting on my return,” he answered rather sharply.
