“Look, you can just say it, you know,” she muttered toward him. “Whatever it is you’re hiding, or whatever you’re thinking about me. Maybe that I don’t deserve Kalfr? That I should never have come here?”
It came out harsher than she’d meant, and more challenging, too, but to his credit, Aulis only shrugged and smiled again, more genuine this time. “No, you should have come,” he replied. “We’ve all wanted Kalfr to reunite with his family. But I don’t think any of us expected you and Gaelfr like this, yeah?”
Her and Gaelfr. Raye blinked back at him, and then glanced uncertainly to where a chuckling Gaelfr was now being attacked by Svein and Alfie at once, while Ophelia pelted them with pinecones. “Oh?” she asked Aulis, as blandly as she could. “How so?”
Aulis’ look toward her was rueful, but incredulous, too. “You and Gaelfr reek of each other all over,” he said. “Thought you twohated each other. Isn’t that why Gaelfr took off across the sea, for all that time? And why you ran Kalfr off in the first place, too?”
Raye’s face flooded with heat, while her thoughts swarmed with questions. Did Aulis really think the only reason she’d run Kalfr off was because she’d hated Gaelfr? Did theyallthink that? Also, how the hell did Aulis know anything about her and Gaelfr to begin with? Aulis was human like Raye, so he couldn’t smell such things, could he? Had Olarr smelled it, and surreptitiously told him, somehow?
But clearly Aulis had followed Raye’s confusion, because he angled her another rueful smile. “I can smell Gaelfr on you,” he told her. “You’ll start to pick up the scenting from the orcs, if you’re in their bed often enough. Something in their seed, apparently. Supposed to be good for your health and strength, too.”
What? Raye’s mouth fell open, her face burning even hotter, while she glanced up and down this Aulis’ tall muscled body. He did look excessively healthy, what with his height and size, his pink cheeks, his clear blue eyes — and suddenly Raye was struck with memories of… Gaelfr.Feed yourself upon me. Make yourself plump and fat and hale upon me…
“It’s a bit of a fixation with them, I think,” Aulis continued, with another too-knowing smile. “Especially if they think you need it. Easiest to just relax and enjoy it, yeah? Not like it’s a hardship.”
Raye stared at him for another long moment, while visions of Aulisrelaxing and enjoyinghis mate’s seed crowded into the rest of the mess in her brain. And there was something in the way he was looking at her now, his brows raised, because — right. His question about her and Gaelfr. And was he… was he offering her an explanation, with this? He was, wasn’t he?
“Right,” Raye said, with a wince. “Yes, that was… how it started, between Gaelfr and me. He barged his way into myhouse, and refused to leave, and he felt very strongly that I needed…tending. And that Kalfr would understand, or even… approve. So…”
She couldn’t finish, her cheeks still burning with humiliation, while unmistakable comprehension — or even amusement — flared across Aulis’ eyes. “Ah, I see,” he replied. “A lot harder to keep hating them when they’re fussing and fretting over you like an overwrought hen, yeah?”
Raye choked a reluctant laugh, and Aulis grinned too, his eyes warmer than they’d been yet. “You’ll just… be good to Kalfr in it too, yeah?” he said. “I know losing you and Gaelfr was a huge blow for him, after everything else he’s gone through, and now” — his smile faded as he glanced away — “these past few months have been absolute hell for him, too. He could really use some help, and some kindness, from people he can trust. People who actually care about him.”
Oh. The words twisted uncomfortably in Raye’s gut, because it was a challenge, wasn’t it? Making it clear what he — and clearly Olarr — expected from her, and from Gaelfr. And also… what had he meant byeverything elseKalfr had gone through? Just the war, surely? Or maybe everything that had happened with her, too?
But before she could ask, Gaelfr shoved up from where he’d been wrestling with the children, and stalked over to join them. “How fare you, woman?” he demanded, with a disapproving glare toward Aulis. “Is aught amiss?”
More amusement flicked across Aulis’ eyes, and he raised both his hands in mock defeat. “No, not at all,” he replied. “Only talking about Kalfr, and how you two mean to take good care of him.”
Gaelfr’s disapproval shifted into something almost offended, and he drew himself taller. “Ach, always,” he said flatly. “Weshall do all within our power to uphold him, and keep him content, and sated, andsafe.”
If Aulis was affronted by Gaelfr’s belligerence, he didn’t show it, and instead put his hand to his heart, and bowed his head. “I’m most glad to hear it, brother,” he replied. “You know you have our full support with what comes next. If you need help, please don’t hesitate to call on us.”
With that, he turned and strode off toward the children, whistling a jaunty tune. Leaving Gaelfr still frowning after him, though there was something calculating in his eyes, too. Perhaps due to that cryptic comment about what was coming next, and what the hell had that meant? Aulis knew something they didn’t, right? Did it have to do with Sybil? With thebyrgis? With the mercenaries who had come to Raye’s cottage?
But Gaelfr didn’t speak again, and Raye forced her attention back to Aulis and the happily playing children. Waiting, and waiting, until Kalfr and Olarr finally came out to join them. And Raye couldn’t read the look in Kalfr’s eyes as he gazed toward her, and then down at her hand, which had curled around Gaelfr’s bulky forearm, without her even noticing.
Raye belatedly snatched her hand away, and Gaelfr strode to meet Kalfr, and caught his face in his hand. Tilting it up toward him, searching his eyes with sudden, surprising intensity. And though Kalfr didn’t resist, he betrayed a full-body spasm, a hard swallow in his throat. He didn’t look nearly as easy as he had before, either, the lines heavier around his eyes and mouth, as if…
“What is amiss,ástin mín?” Gaelfr demanded, as he drew Kalfr slightly away, further from Aulis and the children. “Tell me.”
Kalfr’s tired eyes darted toward Olarr, who had been watching them with something much like relief. But now he gavean indulgent wave, and jogged off toward Aulis and the children, while Gaelfr kept intently searching Kalfr’s face.
“Tell me,” Gaelfr said, softer now. “It is news, ach? From the Bautul at the mountain — or mayhap from their scouts? About Sybil?”
Sybil. Raye’s heartbeat jolted, but Kalfr wasn’t denying it. Was he? No, he just looked even more tired than before, his face drawn, his eyes blank and empty.
“She is coming, then?” Gaelfr asked, the softness in his voice not at all matching the sudden, murderous look on his face. “For you?”
Again, Kalfr didn’t deny it. Only gazed back at Gaelfr with such empty, unseeing eyes. Saying… yes? Sybil was coming? Here?Now?
Raye’s heart thumped faster, and her exhale sounded not unlike a whimper. Snapping both Kalfr and Gaelfr’s heads toward her, Kalfr’s mouth twisting, his breath hitching in…
“Ach, she is coming, in just over a fortnight,” Kalfr said, his voice a strangled rasp. “You all need to leave me. At once.”
29
They all needed to leave. At once.
