“Selig?”
“Aye.”
“Then you lied about his death!”
“Nay! I thought he was dead. It took him a long while to recover from his wound and find me. But I could not tell you who he was. You would have put him in chains with the others if you knew he was a Viking.”
His hold on her relaxed as he remembered her strange behavior the day Gaelan—or, rather, Selig—showed up. He brought one hand to her cheek, the fingers gentle there as he leaned close to brush his lips against hers.
“I am sorry,” he said simply.
“How sweet,” Brenna sneered. “If you two are done fighting and making up, there is still a serious matter to be faced. Your father wants your Saxon’s blood, Kristen.”
“Nay!”
“’Tis not as simple as that,” Brenna said sternly. “I was only able to slip away and come in here because they argue among themselves—Garrick, Hugh, and your brother—not aboutwhetherto kill him but about who will have the pleasure of it.”
“Not Selig,” Kristen insisted. “He knows how I feel.”
“Mayhap. But once he heard of the whipping—”
“That again!” Kristen cried impatiently. “’Twas naught—two minor lashes. ’Twas ordered done when he thought I was a lad and he was after the truth. He stopped it as soon as he saw I was a woman.”
“Then you should have explained that to Selig, instead of letting him hear about it from Ohthere—who, I am sure, understood naught of it but what he saw.”
“Inever blamed Royce for it. How can they? Thorolf knows. Oh, curse Uncle Hugh for being so quick-tempered and striking him down.”
“They are all angry, love. Did you think it would be otherwise when we come here and find you enslaved and forced to share the bed of your captor?”
“I will kill Selig!” Kristen stormed. “He knows I am not forced. Why did he not tell you so?”
Brenna laughed at her daughter’s vehemence. “Mayhap he lost sight of that in his anger. But I am glad to hear it. Now calm down, love. Getting angry yourself is not going to solve aught.”
Royce asked with forced evenness, “Am I to assume you have freed my prisoners?”
“Aye,” Brenna replied. “That was the easy part. Your yard is not well guarded, Saxon.”
“The patrol in the woods?”
“Taken.”
“You mean killed!”
“A few were. It could not be helped. Your guard on the gate also. The only reason we withdrew outside your walls without taking your hall is that you have Kristen inside it. You have the upper hand as long as you hold her. But they will not go away, Saxon.”
“My name is Royce,” he said curtly.
“And mine is Brenna. And if we have come to first names, then let me tell you: I could have killed you while you still slept and taken my daughter out of here to safety.”
“Your men apparently want my blood,” he returned angrily. “Why not you as well?”
“I did think of it.”
“Mother!” Kristen protested.
“’Tis true, love. As God is my witness, I wanted to see him and all his people dead. I finally understood, after all these years, how your grandfather felt, and why he sought revenge against my people for what had been done to your father when he was captured in a raid. I came here for revenge myself, just as Anselm did when he captured me.”
“But how did you know where to find us?”
