King Arik’s glare burned into my bones.“Gentlewoman… please tell me you went after the last shy moon.”
I hadn’t.My mind was slow, like mud at the bottom of a river.“I…”
“Gentlewoman.”His resounding voice cut through my daze.“Tell me there is no chance…”
I shook my head, one small jerk.
The king turned to Hallbjern and spoke in Norsern.“Fetch Ivar.”
Ivar came quickly.His hair was damp—he must have been bathing before he’d been summoned.He listened to my middle with some kind of healer’s horn.That was when those gathered began to figure out what King Arik was contemplating, what I was attempting to contemplate but also desperately trying to avoid thinking about.
“I did think her tits were bigger,” Eydis said.When the king glared at her, she said, “What?I did.You must have noticed?”
Ivar felt the sides of my face and neck, gently.“You have strong dreams?”
“Yes.”
“And wanting to eat very specifically?”
“Yes.”
He shrugged.“Vanurigk.”
I didn’t know the word, but also, I did.
King Arik’s eyes blazed with the fury of a thousand braziers.“WHAT?”
“Vanurigk.”
“No.”The king ran his hands over his face.“Fuck!”
“Vaen-oorh-ick?”I said.Literally translated, the word meantopening a door.
“Baby,” said Ivar.“Inside.”
Fuck.
“Gentlewoman, please let this be a jest.”
“I…”
“FUCK!”Arik kicked at his maps and several pages swirled away from his boot, skidding across the floor.“What am I… how do you think the Islish are going to react if I return you to them pregnant?‘Yes, hello, here is your missing child I was going to offer you in exchange for trade agreements, by the way, she is fucking pregnant!’”He picked up a chest and threw it half across the room.“Your order, Gentlewoman!The grainkeepers at the Hard-Won Kepen!Just imagine for a moment how any of them… This is a fucking disaster!”Apart from Ivar, the Norsern in the hall had moved away from the king, giving him space for his anger.
“Uh, less yelling,” Ivar said, raising his hand hesitantly.“Do not yell atvanurigk.”
“I will yell whenever and to whomever I want!”
Ivar took a step forward, but I was only half paying attention because my whole world was swallowed by panic.What was I going to do?And how could I be surprised?The stones near my knees giggled.Surprise!
I felt like my spine wanted to burst out of my body.
“Who is the father?”Arik’s voice cut through the chaos of my inner realizations again.
“I…” The king’s face was too full of fury.I was afraid to tell him, afraid of what he might do.
“Gentlewoman!”
I shook my head.“You mustn’t hurt him.”
