“Careful,” he warned, grabbing at her. “Remember, there are consequences for everything you say.”
“I meant no—”
“I know what you intended.”
Her fingers fumbled nervously with the long gold chain around her neck, twisting the cross pendant. “I’m your captive—this I must accept. Will you keep me from speaking freely as well?”
He’d suspend all hostilities if she’d only offer him a blasted smile. Willful girl. “If you disrespect me or my captains, I will deal with you no differently than anyone else under my care. I cannot allow insults to be overheard by my men.”
“Does it undermine your authority or force you to confront the malice so deeply rooted in your soul?” she asked poignantly.
To hell with self-restraint! He wanted to tie her hands to the bedposts and fill that virginal hollow between her legs.I have plenty of authority,he thought. And he’d love to give her a firsthand demonstration.
Chapter Six
Sea of Reckonings
Asteady windfilled the sail of Randvior’s flag ship, Odin’s Eye,as the last ribbons of sunshine colored the eventide sky. Noelle wrapped her arms around the polished mast as she stared forlornly at her homeland fading away, swallowed by clouds and waves. Her heart was broken. Randvior seemed conveniently occupied at the moment, so she focused her attention on his other two ships following behind. Any distraction would serve her purpose right now—keeping her mind off the people left behind. Especially Margaret.
A strong northerly cut across the deck and quickly reminded her of the season. Shivering, she knew it would only get colder where they were headed. To the wretched northlands, a place where men worshipped carved stones and sacrificed innocents to their gods.
After she’d woken up in Randvior’s cabin, he’d given her an opportunity to witness such an act before their departure. She’d accompanied him to shore and watched breathlessly as his men constructed an altar from flat stones on the beach. They’d sacrificed a suckling pig from her father’s barn as recompense for Odin’s favor. Randvior’s personal entreaties were sacrilegious, and she should have turned away. Even though he spoke in a foreign tongue, the power behind his words had captivated her.
She couldn’t keep her eyes off the soldier who slit the animal’s throat. A second man laid its bloody carcass across the altar. Meanwhile a light rain had started to fall. But it made no difference to her; she had never seen a pagan ritual before, only heard stories told amongst the men in the hall when they were drunk. Deciphering between truth and exaggeration was impossible until she had witnessed it herself.
The sacraments Noelle observed were paramount to her salvation. But she never dismissed the faiths of others. Better to remain silent than risk God’s wrath. Besides, these men voiced no concerns over her faith. And their commander hadn’t exercised intolerance. After all, it wasn’t her soul he craved.
Randvior courteously ushered Noelle around deck and introduced her to many of his soldiers. Aud Magnusson seemed to be his best warrior.
“I have three daughters of my own,” Aud announced proudly. “One near your age, perhaps you might become friends someday.”
Randvior patted him on the back. “Ask my friend who runs his household.”
Noelle believed three daughters would run any man ragged. “I needn’t ask,” Noelle turned her attention to the imposing figure. “Judging by the look on your face, your daughters are in full control.” Even though he was a barbarian, Noelle couldn’t help but like him.
Aud laughed appreciatively. “Aye,” he agreed. “And we’ll see in a few weeks, once you’re settled in the Trondelag, who runs my master’s house.”
The men exchanged mirthful grins. Noelle curtsied, for lack of a better response, and walked on with Randvior.
“Now that we are under way, you may ask me whatever you wish.”
Noelle rubbed irritably at her nose. She’d had plenty of questions when they were still in Durham. How dare he show her around his ship as if she were an old acquaintance he was escorting home? Now he was all smiles and acted as if nothing had happened. Ophelia and her father’s men were dead and nothing could alter the ugliness of that reality.
“You’ve given me hardly any time to recover from this atrocity. And now you expect me to parade around this ship with you and exchange niceties with the murdering heathens who attacked my home and stole me away as chattel? And beyond this…” Her body trembled. “…now you want me to ask questions?” His casualness enraged her. “You make little of what happened in Durham.”
Randvior gripped her by both shoulders and nodded.
His unspoken acceptance left her mind a jumbled mass of confusing thoughts and left her heart full of contradictory emotions.
Though one question did come to mind.
“Why me?”
Randvior had promised clarity. And she deserved the truth in measured doses. They walked to his cabin, very much in need of privacy to continue the conversation. He opened the door and they went inside. He sat down on a chair next to the narrow bed, folded his hands behind his neck, and stretched his long legs out.
“I’d never considered targeting your homeland. If I yearned for a lucrative raid, my ships would aim closer to Ireland. A week ago, I was in the Orkneys preparing to return home. Father Odin sent me an incredible vision—showed me his banquet table in Valhalla. A rare thing for a mortal to behold while he still lives.”
Noelle sat on the bed and for the moment appeared enthralled by his tale.
