She’d thought she’d heard raised voices but as there had been no sound of a scuffle she had lost hope of being rescued. Ealawynne and Godstan were only arguing again, she’d concluded, probably because he’d reiterated his desire to bed her. Thankfully she’d been wrong, and someone had indeed come for her.
The man she most dearly wished to see.
“Sven,” she repeated, weak with a mixture of emotions amongst which relief and exhaustion played the most part.
“Alva, thank the gods,” Sven answered, removing the gag from her mouth with gentle hands. It was obvious he didn’t want to hurt her further. “Are you all right?”
Was she? Yes, now she was. He was here, so she would be fine. “I’m all right,” she said, fighting a sob.
Sven grimaced when he heard how cracked her voice was. “Here. You need to have a drink.” He handed her a wineskinand at last, she could take long gulps of cool water. Never had anything tasted sweeter.
“Thank y?—”
“Don’t thank me. By the gods, I’ll kill the man. Look how bruised your mouth is.”
It would be, considering she had been gagged all night but she ignored the pain throbbing at the corner of her lips to ask instead. “How are you here?”
His nostrils flared as if he appreciated her not askingwhyhe was here. But she had known he would come for her if he could. She simply could not understand how he had freed himself and found out where she’d been.
“I always keep a dagger in my boot,” he told her, extracting the weapon in question to cut the cloth holding her captive.
Though she could easily guess that his curt explanation did not do justice to the difficulty of the operation she didn’t press him, because there was something she was dying to do. As soon as the top half of her body was free and her wrists unbound she threw herself into his arms and gave him the most heartfelt kiss she had ever given anyone. To hell with the pain it caused her bruised lips, she needed this. And it was clear from Sven’s response that he needed it also. His hands had fastened around her waist, holding her tight against him.
“You came for me,” she said when they finally drew away.
“Always.” He spoke with his lips against hers. “I’ll always come for you.”
She blushed at the evocative words. What was wrong with her? She shouldn’t be thinking of such things after having escaped death. He groaned, indicating he’d understood what he’d unintentionally said, and his tongue licked along her bottom lip.
“Yes, and that as well. All in good time. I will come for you as many times as you like, in whichever way you want.”
Oh. Had she not been sitting down, her legs might well have given way. She forced herself not to think of the next time they were in bed together. For now they had to see to the situation they were in.
“What happened to Ealawynne?” Eahlswith asked, looking around. There was no trace of her abductors that she could see. “Godstan?”
“You mean your sister and her brute?”
“Yes.”
All trace of teasing vanished from Sven’s expression. His eyes became as hard as cut glass and almost as transparent. “He’s probably dead.She’s tied to a tree while we decide what to do. You don’t have to see her if you don’t want to. I wanted to give you the option but I can go untie her and join you on the cart. We can be gone in a trice.”
“No. I do want to see her.”
They couldn’t leave like that. She hadn’t had the chance to tell her what she wanted to tell her earlier.
“My Alva. I knew you would be brave.”
Sven placed a kiss on her forehead before helping her disentangle herself from the cloth holding her legs together. Once she was back on her feet, he selected the biggest piece he could find and wrapped it around her shoulders. How thoughtful. Bundled up in the cart, amongst the balls of wool, she hadn’t been cold, but now the chilly wind was biting at her most unpleasantly.
“Thank you.”
“Would you rather have my cloak?” he asked, already making to remove it.
“No.” The piece of cloth was fine for her but would be too small for him.
“Wait.” Sven planted himself in front of her and took her by the shoulders. “Before we go, tell me this. Did the man touch you?”
Eahlswith swallowed. How had he guessed Godstan had wanted to assault her? Had the man told him as much before being dying?
