“Why?” he demanded.
I hacked again, my throat searing. “Because you would have done it already.”
I had no idea if it was true or not, but as my brain starved for oxygen, that’s all that I could come up with. His face hardened, his dark brows that contrasted starkly with his pale hair pulling down.
I gasped as he rose, keeping his boots on either side of me while I struggled for breath to find its way back into my body. “I warned you not to make enemies here,” he said quietly, and a freeze seized my muscles at the loathing in his eyes. “Now you’ll find out why.”
“Fuck you.” That was all I could get out.
He didn’t even turn around as he responded, “No, thankyou.” His fingers wiggled lazily. “And if I were you, I’d watch that mouthveryfucking carefully. From what I saw today, you won’t last long this summer, but I can turn your numbered days into minutes if it pleases me.”
With that he spun and stalked back up the dock.
I lay for several long minutes on the dock, my chest the only thing moving.
I didn’t have any tears left, but a consuming emptiness filled me when I finally pushed my hands into the wood and started making my way back to the longhouse. Today had gone about as badly as it could without me dying.
As I took the final step off the dock, laughter and my name followed. A group of karls—a dozen or so men—walked along the path ahead of me, and I veered to the left. Sneaking into the wild woods, I found a tree with branches low enough that I could climb them.
Settling against the trunk on the one branch that looked comfortable enough, I kept my sword across my lap, and even though the night brought the mountain wind and my skin quickly paled into a sickly blue, I remained there all night.
Seven
“Where are you going?” Viljan stormed after me as I hurried along the path from the forest to the longhouse. “And did you sleep in thewoods?”
“Where did you think I was?” I asked as I kept my face forward, ignoring the karls turning after me as we sneaked between the tents, heading to where I could smell food—fish and bread and something else that made it easier to shut out the whispers following me. “On my way to Oenskan?”
“I don’t know, and I didn’t fucking like it,” he snarled. “It’s one thing running away from me at home, Vara, but here? It’s dangerous as it is, and I need to be by your side if I’m going to protect you.”
I halted so fast Viljan slid on the grass to do the same.
“How are you going to protect me?” My accusing tone wasn’t fair, but I hadn’t eaten since we stepped off the longship, and the shame from last night still lingered, lying heavy across my ribs.
I’d sneaked into the longhouse early in the morning, when the world was quiet, to grab my satchel, but there hadn’t been anything to eat, and when cots had creaked and yawns echoed over the smoldering pyres, I’d run off again. Like a coward.
Viljan shot out his arms. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “But you don’t have to do this alone. I can help you.”
I blinked away frustrated tears. But as I was about to open my mouth again, I was shoved forward, and my hands took the brunt of my weight as I slammed into the grass.
“Watch where you’re going, heir,” a redheaded man snarled as the group of karls with him snickered.
“You—” Viljan started. But as I scrambled to my feet, four men surrounded him. Despite my guard landing a vicious strike to one of their throats, they were too many. “Let go of me,” he warned quietly. “You will regret it if you don’t.”
The man chuckled as his friends surrounded me, forcing my back against a tent. A group of servants passed us, but they kept their heads down, their already hushed conversations going quiet. A few other karls who’d been walking in the same direction turned on their heels, taking another path.
“She’s the one who will regret it if she doesn’t watch out,” the man said.
“I wasn’t moving, bastard.” I slid the hilt of my sword into my hands. Not that it would do much against the five axes glinting in pale sunlight. The karls knew it as well. Sneers cut across the features of the men crowding me when they caught me eyeing their weapons.
He licked his lips. “I didn’t saywhenyou needed to watch out.”
“Leave her alone!” Viljan groaned as one of the men struck him while the other held his arms. Blood trickled down his chin, dripping into his mouth as he bared his teeth. I refused to let the dread within me surface when fear etched itself over my guard’s face once more.
“What do you want?” I asked as the men holding Viljan dragged him backward.
The men cackled when their leader drew his gaze up and down my body.
“You at the bottom of the sea sounds pretty good.” He tilted his head. “Unless you’d want to step down and stay by my side? You’re pretty enough for a chief’s wife.”
