“It has not been quite a fortnight, Selig. If I had my way—”
“I know, Mother,” he interrupted again. He was still grinning. “And I will take an undue amount of time to dress so I do not wear myself out. Mayhap you should leave so I can begin. I am sure it will take the whole of the hour before Alfred arrives.”
Her look was skeptical, but she left just the same. And Selig practically flew across the chamber to his coffer.
Erika clucked her tongue. “You should be ashamed of yourself, lying to your mother.”
“Why?” he shot back, and he wasstillgrinning, their own argument forgotten. “When she knows very well I will be downstairs within ten minutes. Contrary to what you think, ’tis almost impossible to fool that sweet lady.”
Chapter 24
SELIG HAD JUDGEDcorrectly the short time it would take for him to adorn himself, yet when he was finished, he looked as if it should have taken him hours. He was, without question, utterly magnificent. Tanned deerskin leggings were cross-gartered with black leather; the white, sleeveless tunic was cinched tight at his waist by a wide leather belt with a Norse, dragon’s head buckle.
His black, soft-skinned boots were trimmed with white fur, as was the short black mantle that was pinned to his shoulders with golden clasps. His matching arm rings coiled around thick biceps with, again, dragon’s heads on each end, these flashing with small ruby eyes. They fit snugly, proving solid flesh had returned to his thick arms as well as filled out his sunken belly.
Etched on the solid gold disk around his neck were three wolves progressing in size, each with rubies for eyes. The gold chain that held it was much thicker than Erika’s chains, and probably twice as heavy.
His black hair, thickened and shining from a recent washing—she had had to endure yet another of his baths just that morn, though she had kept her eyes on the wall as usual—floated over his shoulders with his movements. The contrast with the white tunic was stunning.
Erika could not help staring, and forgot her resolve to avoid conversations not forced on her. “Do the wolves bear some significance to your family?” she asked him.
He didn’t even glance at her as he slid a ring on his finger. Another snug fit attesting to his recovery, at least in strength.
“Nay. I merely had two as pets when I was a child,” he replied.
She didn’t find that so strange. She had brought a wolf cub home herself when she was eight years. Her father had forbidden her to keep it.
“Then why three on the medallion?”
“The third replaced the other two after old age took them.”
“The third still lives, then?”
“Aye,” he said, and came to stand in front of her. “Now unwrap your chain, wench.”
She guessed his intent and objected. “You need not chain me to the wall just because you will not be here. Lock the door instead.”
He smiled, that blindingly beautiful smile that warned she wouldn’t like his answer. “Since when do you think the choice is yours, wench?”
This was because of the argument they had had, and that damned kiss. She knew it was.
“Nay, you are wrong.” He was back to reading minds—or expressions. “You come below with me.”
It was the last thing she had expected to hear from him. “To the hall?”
“Aye.”
A small bit of freedom, however temporary. It was a reward, so she ought to distrust it. She was too delighted to be suspicious.
She unwrapped her “necklace” and handed the end to him. He didn’t take it, reached for the other end at her neck instead. The weight was gone in a second, without any exertion on his part.
“So your strength has returned completely.” Her remark came out almost breathlessly.
“Not quite, but enough,” he replied, his pleasure so very obvious.
And in the next instant, the chain was attached again to her neck ring. She understood then that he had only been testing his ability to open and close the locking link himself so that Ivarr would no longer have to come each day to do it.
Her disappointment was palpable, making her barely notice that his hand slid down the chain, knocking hers off in the process, until he reached the end, which he wrapped around his fist. He left the room then, pulling her along behind him.
