Alden tried to grin, but gritted his teeth instead. “A little to the side of my victuals sack, but close enough that the blade might as well have spilled my guts. God, it hurts! And to think that a lad with the prettiest eyes I have ever seen did this to me.”
“Describe him, and if he is one of those below, I will see he suffers the most before he dies.”
“He was just a smooth-faced boy, Royce, who should not even have been with those others.”
“If their children can raid, then they can die,” Royce said angrily.
“Then you mean to kill them all?”
“Aye.”
“But why?”
Royce glowered. “You know why.”
“Aye, I know why you would like to, but why will you, when you can make use of them instead? They are defeated. We have their ship, and Waite tells me it carries a rich cargo, which is yours now. Lyman has been complaining repeatedly that the serfs he has to use are not strong enough to carry the Roman stones to build your wall. Look how many months it has taken just to bring those few piles here. He is already drooling over the strong backs of the prisoners. Admit it, Royce: The Vikings could build your wall in half the time, and think of the irony, that they should be used to keep out their brothers the Danes.”
Royce’s expression did not change. “I see you and Lyman have already been speaking about this.”
“He would not shut up about it all the way he carted me back here. But he has a point, Royce. Why kill them, when keeping them alive would serve you better?”
“You know you are closer to me than my own brother ever was, Alden. How can you ask me to live with the possibility that they could escape and slaughter us all while we sleep?”
“I would not ask that. Precautions can be taken to ensure they cannot escape. Just think about it, before you condemn them.”
The door opened then and Darrelle stood there, her eyes dry now but still shooting daggers at Royce. They had grown up together, the three of them, with Alden a year younger than Royce, and Darrelle two years younger than her brother. They were the only family Royce had left, besides Meghan, and he loved them both. But sometimes Darrelle could be wished out of sight when he was so obviously out of patience with her sulks and silly tantrums.
“So, you accuse me of keeping him from sleeping, but what are you doing, making him talk and answer questions about those loathsome heathens?”
Royce rolled his eyes and grinned at Alden. “I will leave you in your sister’s capable care.”
Alden shot him a chagrined look as Royce left the room.
Chapter Nine
Royce watched his sister run across the hall and peek out the opened door, then turn around with a frown and run back toward the stairs where she had come from. He called her to him before she reached them. She came, not so quickly now, to the long table where he sat alone breaking the fast. She had already eaten with her maid, Udele.
Darrelle was still annoyed with Royce from last eve and would not sit with him this morn, but she watched from where she bent over one of the wounded men. It was not difficult to perceive Meghan’s reluctance to approach her formidable brother.
It was something that tore at Royce’s heart, Meghan’s reticence toward him, and it was his own fault, caused by his deplorable behavior that first year after he lost so many dear to him in the Viking raid. Meghan was too young to understand what he was feeling, why he was surly with everyone, even her. She began to fear him that year and had never lost that fear, even though he had treated her with the tenderest of care once he realized what was happening.
She had developed many fears from that time—of strangers, of loud voices, of tempers—and he blamed himself for it all. He knew that she loved him. He was the first one she would hide behind when she felt she needed protection. But she was so terribly shy of him, so timid and meek in manner, as if she always expected him to chastise her or worse. She was in fact the same way with all men, but Royce took her behavior to heart.
“Were you afraid to go outside?” Royce asked gently when she finally stood next to him with bowed head.
“Nay, I only wanted to look at the Vikings. Udele said they were all bad men, but they looked like only hurt men to me.” She peeked up at him to measure his reaction to this, then relaxed when she saw him smiling at her.
“You do not think they could be hurt bad men?”
“I suppose, but they still did not seem so bad. One even smiled at me, or I think he did. Can such young men be really so bad, Royce? I thought men had to live a long time in wicked sin to be really bad.”
“These men have not the benefit of God to temper their wickedness, so it matters not how young they are.”
“Udele said that they have many gods and that makes them bad too.”
“Nay, that only makes them heathens who sacrifice to pagan gods. Are you afraid of them?”
“Aye,” she admitted meekly.
