My brows had risen. That was…a lovely sentiment. But…
“Declaring war on humans is a shite way to make a future with them.”
Issa’s expression suddenly shuttered and she sat back in her chair. In that moment, I saw similarities to the Stormseeker in her broad jaw and high cheekbones.
Last night you called him Vrogul.
Aye, well, he’d had me pinned to the bed. I would have done much to extricate myself.
You did not entirely mind it.
I frowned into my breakfast bowl, finding it easier to ignore the memory of the heat between my thighs than to remember it.
“Rowena…”
Matthias sighed.
“‘Tis complicated. The Battleborn of Islay are fierce warriors, sea raiders, aye, but…”
When I glanced up, he shook his head sadly.
“No’ entirely by choice. We dinnae make war on humans, we…”
“Take what we need,” Issa grumbled. “Our warriors are stronger, faster, fiercer. Humans ought to stay out of their way.”
“Six men died when your brothers attacked my village,” I shot back hotly, remembering what Vrogul’s lieutenant had reported after they’d set off. “You are saying their deaths are their own faults?”
“I’m saying if they’d just stayed out of the raiders’ way, Battleborn warriors would have taken what they needed and left them alone.”
I remembered the small sacks of seeds Maardok had stowed about the longboat, and the three barrels of ale. I remembered the joy on Issa’s face as she ate the stolen cheese. I remembered the raw ore the orcs had carried away from the village.
They hadn’t depleted the human stores.
“We did not know that.”
I exhaled, frowning, and dropped my spoon into my nearly empty bowl.
“There are stories and rumors throughout the Isles—horrors of orcish raiding parties. When the call went out that they had been spotted on the horizon, the men in the village were desperate to protect their way of life and their families.”
Issa exchanged a glance with her Mate which looked almost…regretful. But she’d enjoyed the stolen goods as much as the rest of them, aye?
I scowled.
“Vrogul doesnae kill more than he must,” was all Matthias would say, and his Mate plastered on a smile.
“Ye still have nae told us how ye wounded Vrogul.”
Her smile made her look like her other brother, Maardok—the good-natured giant—must have before his cheek had been marred. It felt as if she were trying to distract me from the argument, and I took great pleasure in telling her the truth.
“When the call went out that we were being attacked by sea raiders, I grabbed my blades and joined the men on the beach. Your brother engaged with me.”
Issa gasped, dropping her spoon to plant her palms on the table. I saw small claws emerge from her fingertips, but her expression appeared…delighted?
“Yefoughthim? Ye ken blades?”
Unable to help my pride, I felt my shoulders straighten.
“Aye. My father taught me.”
