She decided if he wasn’t going to speak, then she would. “I’m glad you’re all right. When they took you prisoner...I wasn’t certain you would live.” She offered a tentative smile to him, hoping it would break the invisible distance between them.
“I see that Ragnar protected you,” Styr answered. His voice remained neutral, offering no words like:Thank the gods you’re alive or I’m so glad to see you again.
His behavior was wrong, in so many ways. She forced herself to nod, but when she risked a glance back at Ragnar, she saw fury in his eyes. Whatever was wrong, he knew about it and had since last night.
Say something, she wanted to beg Styr.Tell me that you still love me. That everything will be all right now.
Instead, he held his silence, looking for all the world like he didn’t want to be here. She struggled to think of what to say, but there was one piece of news she felt certain would bring him joy. Slowly, she moved her hands down to her womb and said,“We’re going to have our first child, Styr. I learned of it only a few days ago.”
The expression on his face paled, as if he’d taken a blow to his stomach. There was no joy at all. No happiness at her revelation. His lack of response made her feel as if someone had knocked the wind from her.
“Aren’t you—happy?” she asked at last. “It’s what we wanted for so long.” But he didn’t speak or move. The fear inside her froze up, flooding through her body with a coldness she couldn’t dispel.
Something was very wrong with her marriage, and she couldn’t guess what could possibly have gone so wrong in the past week. Ragnar came up behind her, as if to offer his support.
“That’s good,” Styr said at last. Only then did he come closer and embrace her. But his arms did not hold her tight, nor did he seem at all pleased by the news. Elena blinked hard to hold back the tears, feeling as if something terrible had happened and she couldn’t name what it was.
Her husband seemed like a stranger now, a man who no longer loved her. The foundation of her marriage was shaped around this unborn child. She’d believed that the baby would bring them back together. But he didn’t look pleased. Instead, he looked dismayed by the news.
She bit her lips so hard she nearly drew blood, but by the gods, she would not cry. Whatever had come between them, they would work through it.
A noise from behind caught her attention, and Styr turned as well. There were two people in the distance watching them, and one of them was a woman with dark hair. The pieces of memory reshaped together, and Elena realized who the woman was. It was the one who had struck Styr down, taking him as her prisoner.
She cast a glance at Ragnar, but his face was stony, unmoving.
“I’ll return in a moment,” Styr said. “Wait here.” He started to hurry toward them, as they returned to the shoreline.
“Don’t,” Ragnar warned, catching Elena’s wrist when she was about to follow.
But she had to know. Her heart was freezing over with fear and pain, and she felt as if she’d already lost her husband.
“That’s what you saw last night, wasn’t it?” Her voice was the barest whisper, the pain breaking down her courage. “You saw the woman.”
“Yes. I saw her,” Ragnar admitted.
“What were they doing together?” The idea of her husband being with someone else, even as a captive, filled her with a sudden resentment.
“Talking.” But there was more hidden within the words he hadn’t said.
“I don’t believe you.” Styr had lived with the woman over the past week. And if he’d brought her all this way, there had to be something between them. Elena had no doubt of it, especially after her husband had pursued the woman just now.
A hot rage filled up within her, seething. “He doesn’t want the baby,” she said to Ragnar, feeling the edges of her courage crack apart. “Or me.”
He came up behind her, wrapping her in his arms. “There’s more to this than we know. Give him a chance to tell you what happened.”
Though his words were reasonable, the edge in his voice held an anger that matched her own. Elena stepped out of his arms. “I have to know the truth about them. Let me go, Ragnar.”
He did, raising his hands as he stepped back. “I’ll be here, if you’ve need of me.”
She nodded, steeling herself as she strode toward the shore. In the distance, she saw a fishing boat approaching with a few menrowing closer. Elena raised a hand to block the sunlight as she stared down at her husband and the woman.
It should have made her uncomfortable to spy on them, but anger made it impossible to turn away. He’d betrayed her and she needed to know the truth of his feelings for this woman.
Styr had come up behind the Irishwoman, resting his hands on her shoulders. The gentleness of the gesture and his caring posture were a dull blade twisted into her heart. Elena could see their profiles and while the woman’s face held misery, Styr’s expression held longing.
He was in love with this woman. She could see it in his bearing, in the way he turned her to face him and embraced her hard. They were holding one another as if no one else existed.
She sagged to her knees, feeling like she was intruding upon a private moment. But Styr washerhusband, not this woman’s. They had given promises to one another and had been together for years.
