I wet my lips, as if contemplating his demand. But his mandate is met only in the fitting way. “Fara þú, þú óhróðr svín.”
The soldiers gasp as I have broken about ten laws. But Skarth nods, a look of pride painting his beautiful face. Any anger I held toward him dissipates because you cannot have hatred without love, and I love Skarth the Godless with every beat of my heart.
We were lost, but our love knows no bounds because our connection was always fated in the stars. Perhaps one must lose something to realize its worth, and there is no Emeline without her Skarth.
“Big improvement if you ask me,” Ulf quips about Skarth’s new look. He is always one to ruin a moment, but it’s not destroyed because our love will always run three ways.
I love Ulf too.
I always have.
And I always will.
“Sooner or later, you will concede.”
Skarth’s laughter echoes from the trees. “Your father and grandfather thought the same thing. Look how things ended for them.”
Aethelbald clenches the blade in his hand, barely containing his anger. “I suppose I will have to be creative in other ways, then.”
He means our children.
“Take our prisoners to the dungeon.”
If this is supposed to scare me, then he’s in for a rude awakening, as the dungeons were my home as a child, thanks to my father.
Skarth, Ulf, and I are chained to a brick wall. We sit across from each other, as Aethelbald knew that if within reach, we would find a way to escape. But these chains are fastened tight into the bluestone walls.
Skarth sits quietly.
Ulf does not. “I would rather die in battle than in boredom. This is indeed torture.”
“Always so dramatic.” Skarth rolls his eyes.
“Who’s being dramatic? This is far worse than any torture I have ever endured. Remember that time a Christian put her—” He soon ceases from continuing as I can only guess where she put whatever where.
“What are you thinking, Emeline?”
Skarth knows me well. “The only real collateral Aethelbald has over us is our children. He won’t harm them. For now,” I add, my stomach churning. “But he will go after all the others who have helped me. King Raedwulf. King Beornwulf. My mother. Many are in danger.
“And I cannot do a thing about it. If only we knew where Sigrith was. Or Aedan. Truth be told, they are the only ones I trust.”
“We have no allies because no one knows where we are. We must make our presence known,” Skarth says.
He’s right.
But that’s difficult to do when we are caged.
Peering around the dark, dank room, I look for an out. There are none, however. Unless someone frees us, we are at the mercy of a merciless man.
Footsteps echo in the darkness, and by the scuffling of them, it’s safe to say they belong to someone who is blind drunk.
Skarth’s spine straightens when he looks over my head.
Instantly, goose bumps prick my skin.
This won’t end well.
“We shouldn’t be down ’ere,” says a soldier to his friend. “If Aethelbald found out…”
