“You may both address me as your grace and I relieve you both of any other primary fealty.”
“Thank you, your grace,” Saga said. “I am certain King Harald will appreciate your respect for our allegiance to him first.”
Now Giric understood. He had not considered that Gunnar and Saga would still hold such an allegiance to the Norwegian King, but thankfully King Constantine was more sensitive than he.
“You are a gracious king,” Gunnar said. “Considering the history of my people and yours, I am impressed.”
“I want what MacDomnail wants, for us to work together to push the English back to their lands. Too long have they coveted what we have. Our feuds with your people can be abolished if we decide to work together toward that common goal.”
“Are you proposing a fresh start and all is forgiven? I do not think everyone will find your forgive-and-forget approach so easy to adopt,” Gunnar said.
“It will not be easy. Much has been lost on both sides over the years, but I believe you wish to live in peace as much as I do. I will marry my own flesh and blood to a Viking in order to promote peace and I am pleased MacDomnail has followed my lead.”
“I admit, when his galley landed on my shores, I was not sure if he was the cleverest man alive, or the densest.”
“Thankfully, you settled on the former,” Giric said. He’d grown accustomed to his sense of humour and wasn’t sure how the king would take insulting him.
“I didn’t say I’d settled,” he said and reared his head back in laughter.
The king followed and beside him, Saga let out a quiet laugh as well.
“You are too serious, MacDomnail,” Gunnar said.
“He speaks the truth. Come let us be easy and enjoy the rest of this feast. We have plenty of time to hammer out the details of our agreement for the next few days. I need to return to Dunnottar within a sennight to prepare for talks with Olaf of Dublin. If we can solidify this alliance, we will have an edge Athelstan will not see coming.”
Giric was more than pleased with the king’s statement. He sat back and listened as the king asked Gunnar questions about life on Islay and exchanged some of his thoughts on how the Vikings on Lewis had merged cultures with the Scots who lived there. Dublin was slightly less successful, but this alliance would take time to nurture. One marriage at a time and one agreement at a time would have to suffice.
King Harald would never agree to a full-on alliance, but he had supported his and Saga’s marriage since it was supported by King Constantine, and with that he would have to be satisfied for now.
The remainder of the feast went as well as he could have ever hoped. Gunnar was as entertaining as he expected, and the king appeared quite taken with him.
Before retiring for the evening, Saga leaned close and said, “I will be waiting for you, but I will leave you to your discussions now.”
“Thank you, wife, I suspect your brother will keep us up for quite a while. Get some rest. We have the hunt on the morrow.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Saga opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times to understand what was happening. Her whole body tingled with anticipation and she was unsure what was the cause. A deep groan brought her fully awake and she recognized that Giric was nestled between her legs and flicking his tongue back and forth across her woman’s bud. She arched into him as he pushed two fingers inside her and hooked upward as he stroked. She orgasmed almost immediately.
“My God, you’re so wet. I cannot wait any longer.”
Giric lifted his body over hers and pushed his hard shaft inside her swiftly, she orgasmed again as his thickness impaled her. Saga held on to his shoulders as he lifted her legs above his shoulders and pounded into her like his life depended on it. Higher and higher they climbed together until she met her final climax as he crested.
Bathed in sweat and breathless, she curled into him once he slipped out of her.
“I do love waking up in such a delicious way,” she said.
“Mmmmm, you are delicious.”
They lay like that as the sunlight filled their chamber. The king’s visit was considered successful and her brother had left the previous day. Life at the castle would return to normal soon enough, but she and Giric had agreed to do as little as possible for the next few days. No one was certain what would happen if the English king decided to bring his campaign north, but for now an alliance between her people and the Scots was solid. Neither side had to fight alone.
“What would you like to do today?” Giric asked, interrupting her musings.
“I would like to stay here with you.”
“All day?”
“All day.”
