Svein nodded, and shot Gaelfr another warm, stunning smile over his shoulder. “Yes, Papa Gaelfr was away across the sea!” he replied. “But he already hunted and cooked for us, and chopped us wood, and showed me how to use your swords! Though he can’t read common-tongue, did you know that? I’m going to help him!”
Kalfr’s eyes rose to Gaelfr’s again, and held longer this time. “Ach, good thinking, son,” he said, a little too steady. “I am sure Gael shall enjoy that.”
Gael. It sounded easy, familiar, maybe even fond, and that might have been a warm glimmer in Kalfr’s eyes, too. As if he wasteasingGaelfr. As if this was a joke, an intimacy, that had long been held between them.
There was another moment’s stillness, a sustained tremble of Gaelfr’s hand against Raye’s waist. And Raye could almost feel the intensity shuddering from his stiff body beside her, could feel the effort in his inhale, the pull on his mouth. How much he wanted to smile, perhaps to answer in kind.
But Kalfr had already smiled back at Svein, though it looked strained this time. “So you have come for a visit, then?” he asked, too lightly. “Or is there aught more to this?”
He betrayed another brief glance toward Raye and Gaelfr, while Svein eagerly nodded. “Yes, we’re visiting for a few days, right, Mama?” he said, with a hopeful smile over his shoulder. “We’re trying to escape the bad men who want to kill us!”
He said it so easily, so cheerfully, while Kalfr’s smile froze on his mouth. And then the smile slowly faded, pooling away into that older, tired Kalfr, the one whose face was etched with grief. “Is this truth?” he asked, with a sharp look toward Gaelfr. “When has this happened? Why?”
Beside Raye, Gaelfr drew in a deep breath, and began explaining, his voice flat and curt. Telling Kalfr about the men in Raye’s garden, their accusations, their threats. While Kalfr’s expression went grimmer and angrier, and Gaelfr’s voice kept hardening, deepening into something like contempt, or even rage.
“Your mate and son were left alone to face hunger and hardship and great danger,” Gaelfr finally said, biting off each word. “With no help nor care nor guarding, nor guidance in how to face this new threat against them. So ach, I seek to bring them to you and our mountain, so we may seek to keep them safe. And soyou” — his voice deepened into a growl — “shall fulfill your sworn duty toward them!”
His voice burned through the air, vibrated into his hand still on Raye’s waist. As if he truly was furious about this, on her and Svein’s behalf. As if he was defending them. Defendingher.
Raye couldn’t read that answering look on Kalfr’s face, that blankness in his eyes, the tightness in his jaw. But he slowly nodded, and rose to his feet, and raised his fist to his heart.
“I thank you, Gaelfr,” he said, without inflection. “From this day forth, I shall do my utmost to fulfill my sworn duty toward my kin, and keep them safe from harm. I swear this, before the goddess.”
They were the right words, the right reply, but it sounded so… controlled. So hollow. Like something that either meant nothing to Kalfr, or meant more than he could bear. And Raye didn’t miss Gaelfr’s faint flinch beside her, the way his body twitched backwards. Maybe as if this was all he’d come for, he’d delivered them to Kalfr and earned this vow, and now he would leave.
But no.No. Gaelfr had promised. And before Raye could catch it, she gripped at his arm, held him in place. “You’ll still stay,” she said, under her breath. “For a few more days, right? Youpromised.”
Gaelfr stilled beneath Raye’s touch, his eyes darting to her face, and down to her hand. And then he glanced back at Kalfr, who was staring toward them with a strange, glittering intensity, his gaze held to Raye’s hand on Gaelfr’s arm.
“Ach, Papa Gaelfr,” Svein cut in, and he trotted over toward them, and slipped his hand into Gaelfr’s. “You’re still coming with us, aren’t you? Especially now that you finally get to see yourástvinuragain?”
He shyly smiled back toward Kalfr, and Kalfr’s lean chest hollowed, his swallow bobbing in his throat. “Ach, come, Gael,” he said, rougher than before. “I have room enough for all of us, and” — an empty smile spread across his mouth — “it seems we all wish you there.”
His gaze flicked again toward Raye, this time holding with a sudden, burning fierceness. Sweeping waves of alarm up her spine, trembling her against Gaelfr’s hand, while her thoughts screamed with a stark, staggering certainty.
Kalfr hated her, after all. Hedid. But he was… hiding it. Pretending. Keeping the peace, so Raye wouldn’t take Svein away from him again. He was doing this for Svein, too.
“Where?” Raye finally asked, and it came out sharp, cold, a challenge. The first thing she’d spoken to her son’s father infour entire years, and yes, that was sheer, dizzying hatred flaring in Kalfr’s eyes, and it pounded in her heartbeat, clawed at her throat…
“I have been living at a cabin, about two leagues east from the mountain,” he replied, and though it sounded cool, civil, she could almost taste that hatred now, simmering harsh and dangerous beneath. “The mountain now owns the land, and it is yet well within our guards’ range, and has tunnels and a garden, and even a tree house. It shall be a safe place for your visit, well away from any men.”
It should have been a relief. A gift. A place to stay, not far from Orc Mountain, but not too close, either. Just the kind of place Gaelfr had promised to find — and now, here Kalfr was, just offering it to them. Giving them the exact solution they’d needed.
Svein crowed with delight and skipped back toward Kalfr, demanding to know whether he really had a tree house. To which Kalfr fondly grinned and nodded, and settled his arm around Svein’s shoulders. Looking painfully like a father and son should, like exactly what Raye should want, and why couldn’t she breathe, why couldn’t she move…
“You will come, Raye,” Kalfr said, again meeting her gaze, and fuck, his voice, his eyes, Raye’s name on his mouth. The way he’d said that, the way he looked at her, still with so much hatred she could choke on it. And what did that mean, what would he do, would he have his revenge, would he trap her in his house and destroy her?
But — she needed him. She needed them. For Svein. And — Raye shot a desperate, helpless glance sideways, toward Gaelfr’s stubborn set face — Gaelfr was still with her. Gaelfr would come. He would help her, and keep her safe, for at least a few more days…
“Very well,” Raye whispered, short and strangled and defeated. “Let’s go.”
18
The trip to Kalfr’s house felt endless.
Kalfr and Svein walked up ahead, Kalfr asking a steady stream of questions, while Svein skipped and danced and chattered away beside him. Leaving Raye to follow behind with Gaelfr, staring ahead in empty, stilted silence.
Kalfr hated her. He hated her. And she was following him, going to his house, staying with him. Trusting, beyond all reason, that he wouldn’t instantly steal Svein away, or turn him against her.
