Page 1 of Viking in Love

CHAPTER ONE

NORTHUMBRIA, A.D. 965

Oh Lord, from the fury of the Norsemen…uh, Norsewomen, deliver us…

“Is he dead yet?”

Breanne asked the question before glancing around the earl’s bedchamber at her four sisters, all of them daughters of King Thorvald of Stoneheim in the Norselands. As usual, each had an opinion and did not mind speaking over the others.

“For the love of Thor! How would I know?”

“We will ne’er find husbands if we keep killing men.”

“This is the first one we have killed, you lackbrain.”

“Well, how was I to know that? The rest of you performed the task with ease.”

“The rest of us? Hah! We are all responsible for this…this happenstance.”

“Happenstance?”

“Oh, gods! We shall all hang.”

“Or be drawn and quartered.”

“Or have our heads lopped off.”

“I, for one, do not feel guilty. Not one bit. He was a beast.”

“What is that green substance coming out of his nose?”

“Snot, you halfwit.”

“Oh. Are you sure? Methinks it might be his brain oozing out.”

“Yecch!”

“Brains do not ooze. Do they?”

“Something stinks. Dost think he soiled his braies?”

“For a certainty. Ooooh, look. I have ne’er seen so much blood.”

“Tsk, tsk! Do you not know that head wounds always bleed profusely?”

“Then mayhap he is still alive. Someone should check to make sure.”

“Uh-uh! I get a rash around dead people.”

“I am not going to touch him.”

“Me, neither!”

“The very thought makes me bilious.”

“I would not know a dead body from a salted lutefisk.”

Much nervous laughter erupted.