Page 113 of Viking in Love

“I was just teasing, lackwit.”

“I wonder if Sybil would appreciate the jest.”

“Do not dare tell her.”

“We cannot resume our meeting until you two stop chattering,” Lord Orm said.

“Back to your comment about Lady Havenshire having cause to kill her husband,” Eirik said to Dunstan. “Are you aware that the earl has many enemies?”

Caedman noticed that Eirik always spoke of Oswald as if he were still alive, saying he “has” enemies, and not “had” enemies. It was a lesson he would follow.

“In fact, I have been told that Lord Havenshire has a reputation for whipping or striking anyone who displeases him…housecarls, maids, even his own hirdsmen,” Eirik went on. “Therefore, if you want to make accusations of murder, or some other foul act against the earl, why not accuse them?”

Dunstan and Edgar were at a loss for words.

“Do not throw the arrow that can come back to you,” Rashid muttered behind him.

Caedmon had no idea what that meant, but he did know that it was a good thing the king or Dunstan could not hear him.

“Here is the situation,” Dunstan said. “The four princesses were at the castle the night the earl went missing. It is very suspicious that they were in the earl’s bedchamber just before his demise.”

“Demise?” Thorvald hollered. “There you go again, dreaming up murder when you have no proof it ever happened.”

Dunstan held up a hand. “Let me finish. We are trying to piece together what happened at Havenshire from the time Lady Havenshire’s sisters arrived until the earl’s disappearance was noted.”

Caedmon inhaled deeply. This was the do-or-die moment.

“When we arrived at Havenshire, ’twas early evening. I recall because most of the Havenshire folks were still in the great hall, eating dinner,” Ingrith interjected, her speech slurry from the fleecy cheeks.

“Our sister Vana was not present, and we were not looking for Lord Havenshire; so, we do not know if he was there. We went directly upstairs,” Drifa said.

Breanne picked up the lie…uh, story…from there. “Our sister was badly injured. Black eyes, neck-strangling marks, a broken arm. All our attention was focused on helping our sister. Did Lord Havenshire cross our minds? Yea, but only as we cursed the man who would do this to a woman. We assumed that he had beaten his wife, then left to visit his mistress, which I understand was his routine.”

Dunstan was not happy with her story because it not only put Havenshire in a bad light but also himself, as Dunstan had claimed on more than one occasion that beating a woman was not only acceptable but a good thing. “I find your story highly implausible,” Dunstan spat out, drool pooling at the edges of his mouth. “Methinks a torture test to determine your truthfulness might be in order.”

There was a ludicrous method of ferreting out liars. Have them put a hand in boiling water. If the skin did not blister or peel off, they were telling the truth.

King Thorvald stood to his impressive height and pointed a long finger at the archbishop. “You will perform no torture on my daughters. You can accept what they say or not, but this farce is over.”

“And how do we know that none of you is responsible?” Rafn added, looking pointedly at Dunstan and the king.

“How dare you!” Edgar jumped to his feet.

“I understand you want lands…Heatherby, Larkspur,” Rafn blundered on. “Why not Havenshire, which is a much more prosperous estate?”

“Your question is insulting and inappropriate,” Dunstan said, ice coating his words. Turning to Lord Ravenshire, he demanded, “Remove him from our presence.”

Eirik made some silent signals to Caedmon and Rafn, and the Viking got up and walked out. But just before he exited, he said, “If any of you does one single thing to harm Vana, you will feed the raven so fast you will not know what hit you.”

“That…that man threatened us. Take him into custody,” Edgar shouted.

The two soldiers in the room looked from the king to Dunstan to the magistrate, Lord Orm, to Lord Ravenshire, confused about what to do. Dunstan waved a hand and said, “Let him go. For now.”

“You were saying…?” Lord Orm prodded Lord Ravenshire.

“I was saying that Lord Havenshire had many enemies. Seems to me that you have concentrated so much on Lady Havenshire you have failed to investigate anyone else. If naught else, you have prematurely judged this woman.”

King Edgar’s response was a crude Anglo-Saxon word.