He lies next to me. I turn my back to him. There’s quite a bit of space under these. I hadn’t noticed it before. Narve and I had always fucked in the woods, never under a blanket. Ari lies on the opposite end. Our bodies don’t connect.
I shuffle my hips backward against his pelvis. He grunts in surprise.
“Sorry, I’m cold,” I whisper.
“It’s okay,” he says as he lays his arm around me.
“Ari?”
“Kilda?”
“Will you tell Ylvin?”
“No, but she might already know.”
“You think?”
“She would let you go anyway.”
Would she? I’m not sure. What would Jarl Sigurd say? Would he have punished Ylvin had I managed to escape? He could try.
“Will you tell Sigurd?”
“Of course not, Kilda.”
“Will you tell anyone?”
“I will never tell anyone you almost drowned in the river like a drunken baby.”
I snort, enjoying my rump pressing against him.
“Sing me a lullaby then, if I’m a baby.”
I’m joking of course. No one is expecting this grown man to sing a belligerent slave a lullaby. Yet Ari clears his throat and whispers in my ear.
“Ride, ride your Iceland horse
Ride it south and ride it north
Ride it east and ride it west
Ride it where Kilda finds rest”
That’s cute. Very charming.
He sings the same verse again as he shakes me lightly, like he’s soothing a child in its cradle. What does he think? That I’m going to fall asleep to his song like an actual baby? That I will be lulled into dreams by simple tri?—
Finished. Done. Knocked out. No chance.
A dreamless sleep follows.
CHAPTER 36
Such a good suggestion from Ari. The cold waters stroke my naked body as I close my eyes. Enjoying the sensation of weightlessness, I replay yesterday’s scene in my head. I’m supposed to be dead. One second, I’m inhaling water like a fish. The next, I’m being dried off by a freeman like some revered southern queen. Not only do I owe Ari my life. I owe him a good massage. What a clever crow. That’s probably what he wants in return—a full body massage.
I know the glorious rainbow is above me, but I can’t see it from here. I can only see a smaller one higher up the waterfall. Spinning around in the water, I enjoy the calm flow within the naturally shaped pool.
A dip in the same river that almost stole my breath from me. What a strange world. Ari was right. My swim has conquered any negative feelings I might have harbored concerningmountain streams. He’s not so bad. At first, I hesitated. What if I was meant to drown last night, and the river decided to complete its task?
