She spared only a moment to savor the feeling of being held in Royce’s arms. Then she carefully worked herself loose from his hold and quietly dressed in the dark.
Intuition told her she would find Selig waiting for her. He was, at the bottom of the stairs. He had waited through the night, sitting with his back to the wall and facing the stairs, sleeping in only short bouts, waking with each little sound he heard. So he had heard her soft tread and was standing when she reached the bottom of the stairs. And he was braced to take the weight of her body, which she did indeed throw at him.
They held each other fiercely for long golden moments. And then Kristen leaned back to run her hands over his beloved face. She could not see him. All the torches had ceased to burn, and only vague moonlight came in through the open windows. She did not have to see him.
“I thought you were dead, Selig.” The tears in her eyes were heard in her voice.
“I thought you were.” His hand caressed her hair, and then he pulled her close again, pressing her head to his shoulder. “It is not manly to cry.”
“I know.” She sniffled, thinking he spoke of her tears, until she felt one of his own fall on her cheek. She smiled, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “Come. We cannot talk safely here.”
Kristen took his hand in hers and led him around the stairs and to the back door. Like the windows, the door was not locked. Selig hesitated as he stepped outside, expecting to find a sentry on guard.
Kristen recognized his caution. “I do not think guards patrol. I have been out once before at night and saw no one about the yard. But it is not like these Saxons to be so careless. Mayhap there are patrols outside the walls.”
“Then we will deal with them when we come to them. Let us be gone, Kristen.”
She jerked him back when he started to pull her away from the shadows of the hall. “Selig, I cannot leave.”
“Cannot?”
“I gave my word I would not.”
“By Odin! Why?”
She flinched at his tone. “To keep from being chained again.”
There was silence, and then softly: “Again?”
“I had been chained like the others since our capture. My—”
“Who is left, Kristen?” he interrupted.
She gave him every name, and then waited while he thought of those who had died. She noticed the breeze while she waited, teasing at her hair. She heard the sound of night insects chirping. She felt his pain, but knew it could not be as bad as it could have been, for he had thought them all dead.
At last he said, “Go on.”
“My own chains were only removed earlier this week when the Saxon’s King and his nobles came here. I was harassed by some of the lords, and Royce had my chains taken off so I could look to my own protection while they were here. But they left this morn—or, rather, yestermorn—and my freedom would have been lost again if I did not swear not to try to escape from here.”
Frustration marked his words. “You condemned yourself willingly to never leave here?”
“Nay, I compromised. When Royce weds, I am freed from my word.”
“When will that be?”
“Soon.”
He relaxed some, digesting that. She felt it in the easing of his grip on her hand.
She said, “Now tell me, before I burst. How did you escape? I saw you wounded.”
“You saw?”
“Shush!” she hissed at his raised voice. “Of course I saw. I could not stay on the ship after I heard the sounds of battle. I had to help.”
“You, help?”
She ignored the scorn of that. “So I did not help much. But at least I took down the Saxon who wounded you.”
