“I can’t stand the way I feel,” she sobbed.
“Promise me,” he said as he loosened the lacings on his breeches. “Swear you’ll never leave me for another man.” He eased her back on the bed. “Say it, little one.” His knee urged her legs apart.
“I promise …”
Chapter Fifteen
Another Man’s Property
Randvior waited untilNoelle fell asleep to sneak out of his room. She was so different than any woman he had ever known and the cause of too many distractions. She’d even made him break his oath…
He went downstairs and studied the tapestries on the walls. His favorites had always been the ones showing Valkyries tending to the warriors headed into the afterlife. He envisioned Noelle doing this honor for him, dressed in golden armor and holding a pike in her tiny hand.
Only subtle differences existed between Noelle and Odin’s maidens, eye color being the main one. But her eyes reminded him of the burnished colors of autumn, when the summer warmth reluctantly yields to the winter maiden whose tears cover the earth in snow. Before she arrived, he had grown tired of the common blue and green eyes that graced the faces of the women in his lands. He hungered for something different and Odin had answered his prayer and sent him a girl worthy of his troth. Randvior dragged himself to the hearth, more aware of the forces of nature around him than ever before.
Noelle remained fragile tinder and he, inextinguishable flame. The fire that would incinerate her fears forever.
He charged upstairs, bathed, and dressed. She loved him, and he glowed with pride as he returned to the hall and found his mother.
“Son.” Lauga greeted him, unaware of his newly found happiness and the secret he knew about her.
He fought to conceal his anger. If he accused his mother before he had enough evidence to warrant a formal hearing, she might disappear before he had time to set things right with Noelle. If he waited too long, would she try to kill her again?
“Mother …”
Her exaggerated self-confidence made his stomach turn. Without thinking, he latched onto her arm and hauled her to the weaving room. At least they’d be alone for a few minutes before word spread that a man had violated the sacred trust of the women’s sanctuary.
“Tell me,” he demanded, unable to hold anything back. “Tell me what evil besets you that you should attempt to murder the woman I love.”
She jeered. “You condemn me prematurely. But if I must take credit for it, know I will go to any length to protect you, even from yourself.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her. He had not thought of this, that she would confess so easily. “Woman, I’ve been weaned from your teat since infancy. Have I not always held you in the highest esteem, provided you with a seat of honor at my table? I left my father’s home because we could never agree on anything, but my love never faltered. My sire no longer provides for my sustenance. I am free to marry whom I please, with or without your approval.”
“I can only pray that one day you will fully understand what it means to be responsible for our family name—to raise sons and daughters of your own, conceived with a woman of Norse blood.”
As he had hoped, a small crowd gathered at the doorway. Let them stand witness to her treachery.
“Your fiancé couldn’t have made it any easier for me to make up my mind about her,” Lauga continued. “Her immodesty and the way she gallivants about this steading convinced me she is no better than a common whore.”
Randvior stiffened. “She is no whore.”
His mother gave an indecorous laugh. “She’s inferior.”
There was no hope of reforming his mother. Lauga left him with no choice. His first duty now lay with Noelle.
“Summon Aud,” he faced the women gathered in the entryway.
Two maids scurried off.
Aud arrived within minutes, and hesitated at the door, clearly unwilling to enter the chamber.
Randvior waved him inside. “If any of my women dare question your manhood, I’ll put a stop to it, you superstitious fool.”
Aud stuck his head inside as if testing the air. He started to take a step, but stopped and shook his head. “It doesn’t feel right to me.”
Randvior rolled his eyes and walked to him, took a hold of the front of his shirt, and yanked him inside. “Remove my mother from this house. Return her to my father, now.”
Randvior should have acted days ago when he truly suspected her of wrongdoing. These were the last words Lauga would hear coming from his lips for a long time. He stalked out, pushing past the onlookers.
