“Stay here. I’ll give you a knife and build a fire and shelter.”
She adamantly refused. “You’d abandon me in the middle of nowhere?”
“You cannot consider it desertion if I didn’t invite you to travel with me.”
In the moonlight, her pearly skin made him want to touch her. More reason to put as much distance between them as he could. What strange thoughts were playing in her mind? Her people were searching for her. She had somewhere to go. Perhaps this was a passing fancy, an adventure for a pampered girl who suffered from nothing more than boredom. He wouldn’t ask. The less he knew, the better.
Frustrated, he pointed southwest. “Go.”
“You can only order dogs and children home that way.”
What a stubborn little wench. Sighing, he rubbed his chin. Logic didn’t work. Neither did direct commands. It was too late to frighten her off. Didn’t she sense the danger of the forces at work here? All-consuming hatred drove him right now. If he acted upon it, nothing good would result. He closed his eyes.
Tyr wanted to take her, to carry her innocence away like a trophy. Stegir’s death had eternalized a level of grief and violence he’d never known. Vengeance pumped through his veins. Saxon pigs… He ran his fingers through his hair. He wanted to leave this place before he changed his mind, turned back, and slaughtered anything with a pulse.
That’s what she risked if she kept following him.
To reach the coast by sunrise, he needed a horse. Searching the nighttime sky, he used the constellations as a compass.Headed northeast, he already smelled the salt air and heard waves crashing against the shore. That’s what he loved. The ocean provided everything a man needed to survive. At this moment, it was his lifeline—the only way home.
Looking back at the girl, her motives still remained a mystery. She offered a sad smile. His palms went clammy. “There’s nothing to grin at,” he chastised. “Many died today.”
“How many?”
Gods curse the delicate inflection of her voice. He didn’t want to remember the details. It slowed progress and forced him to recognize his shortcomings as a leader. Recalling the faces of the men whose lives he’d carelessly turned over to Hardrada. Maybe if he answered, she’d shut up.
“Nearly ten thousand.” He recoiled. “The most decorated warriors from Norway have fallen, including many of my own.”Odin keep them.
Rachelle’s eyes widened. Her gaze was solidly fixed on him. “We’ve both suffered—”
“Wehave nothing in common.” His fury exploded. “I don’t care why you were roaming the battlefield. Don’t pretend to share my pain and offer false sympathy. Did you forget yourself, Rachelle Fiennes? You’reSaxon.”
She licked her lips nervously. “How kind of you to speak my name for the first time while insulting me. Yes, those soldiers were looking for me. And if I wanted to be found, I could have bitten your hand so hard you would have screamed to high heaven. But I didn’t.”
Hammer some common sense into this girl’s foolish head.Boundaries, that’s what he needed to establish to protect them both. And he should instruct her not to challenge someone bigger and stronger than she. He didn’t care to hearwhyshe stayed.
“My name is Jarl Tyr Sigurdsson, and that’s all you need to know. Don’t consider me an ally because I spared your life. And cease talking, I cannot think straight.” He’d been patient. Tolerant. But it must end here.
Then those fathomless eyes brimmed with tears. Guilt surged in his chest. Kick a dog, it comes back. Make a woman weep… Although he wanted to comfort her, if he did, she’d use it as a reason to stay. She sniffled, then wiped her face with her sleeve.I mustn’t blame her for my misfortune. Who was he to judge? Half his cursed blood was English, too.
Finished with her for the moment, he started to walk again. His rank mood only deepened. What Odin-loving man could suppress his rage after his heart had been ripped out of his chest? And his gut moaned from hunger. Every sort of distressing thought crossed his mind. His parents would never forgive him for Stegir’s death. Tyr should have sent him home to Scotland after he confirmed plans for the invasion.Drit…His whole world was disintegrating.
A half hour later, he spied firelight in the near distance. He stopped. Finally, the gods interceded on his behalf. The landscape had started to change dramatically over an hour ago. Woods and a small lake were ahead. He’d survived sipping on mead for two days. If there was a camp, he’d find food and maybe a horse. Fresh water to drink, too. He’d kill a man for a loaf of bread.
Rachelle stopped beside him and gazed ahead. The empty look in her eyes sent a shiver down his spine. He’d not addressed her since the argument. “Thirsty?” he asked calmly.
“Not for that poison you offered me before.”
Strong spirits weren’t meant for women. “We’ll rest here.”
Nodding, she glided down the footpath ahead of him. Convinced the girl had lost her bloody mind, her latest reaction confirmed it. One minute she was in tears, the next, as joyful asa child on a casual walk. Everything felt strange here. Plodding after her, he approached the water, yards down shore from her. Through the thin moonlight, he could see her washing her face and hands. Dragging his feet in the shallows, he crouched, scooped up a handful of water, then drank.
Laughter echoed across the lake. He shot up—looking left, then right. Nothing. Perhaps the local residents were celebrating their victory. Surely, her countrymen would take care of her. Now would be the perfect time to leave. He gave her a last look, then silently slipped into the woods.
It didn’t take her long to notice his absence. “Tyr.”
His heart quickened.Too loud, she nearly screamed his name.Be quiet. Do anything but cling to me…
Rachelle tried tostay calm. She nibbled on her bottom lip. Given the dreadful events of the day, why should his disappearance bother her? Fantasizing about a new life was hopeless. Whatever awaited her back home, she’d face it. Did she have a choice? She needed to prepare for whatever life God intended her to live. With or without the love of a family. People suffered far worse fates every day. She was just another girl in a great wide world full of heartache and death. The elders in her village often debated about predestination and freewill. Today, she sided with the supporters of predestination. No matter what she did, she couldn’t change the future. God blessed and cursed humankind as he saw fit. Thinking on the tribulations of God’s most faithful servant, Job, made her more appreciative of her circumstances.
