My feet stopped. I stared at the closed door, everything inside me coiling and growing cold. He had not just said that. He was not trying to lay claim on my Astrid.
“I’m sorry, King Geir, I’m not sure I heard your declaration clearly enough,” Randi said.
“I was quite clear, but I will repeat myself out of respect for you, Völva Randi,” the king said. “I will marry your daughter, and we will form an alliance like no other. Two powerful families that will bring us glory against our enemies.”
My teeth ground together and I barely had the presence of mind to gently set down the animal cage in a safe place against the building wall.
I placed my hand on the door, and paused when Astrid’s voice rang out.
“I refuse.”
Gasps and murmurs came from both inside and outside the building.
She… refuses… Astrid, the woman I craved, refused a king. Where any woman would feel honored for such a proposal to become a queen, Astrid hadn’t hesitated to refuse.
The king laughed. “Refuse? You act like you have a choice.”
My lip curled. How dare he.
“She does have a choice,” Bjørn said. “I listen to what she wants. I will not approve of this alliance or marriage.”
More gasps and murmurs, but they barely penetrated the fog in my mind and blood pounding in my ears. My nails bit into the skin of my palms. My vision focused on the door, and I shoved it open.
“Bjørn, you can’t possibly—” the king’s words cut off and more gasps and murmurs spread through the onlooking crowd.
“Týr,” Astrid murmured.
My focus so tunneled to the man sitting on his throne, I almost missed her presence. But I could never ignore it. She stood on the far side of the room with her mother, who had a familiar dark aura around her. I’d seen her in battle once, and even I found her a terrifying woman in battle. She was ready to kill anyone who defied her.
The king leaned back and rested his cheek on his fist and had an amused expression. “I’d heard rumors a red-haired völva had bewitched the mighty Týr. And here you are. I wonder if these tales are true, or if this is mere coincidence.”
I struggled to keep my breathing even and calm while an inferno raged inside me. “No one controls me. Nor do they control Astrid. She and Bjørn have given you an answer.”
The king laughed. “Do you understand who I am? No one would be stupid enough to not form an alliance with me. And as a king, I only have the best at my side. A powerful young völva to give me strong sons and daughters is the best for me.”
I snarled. How dare he think he can demand what isn’t his to take? “You cannot have her.”
“I can, and I will.”
My pulse pounded in my ears. Everything around me muted, and I took a tense step forward. I would crush him—scatter his entrails for Odinn’s ravens to feast upon, and lay his head upon a spike.
A soft hand slid over my arm, and then her voice, soft and calming, broke through the haze of my rage. “Týr, stop.”
The room melted back into existence. Men who were brave enough brandished weapons. I too carried my axe.
Astrid pressed against me, her snaring eyes gazing up. “Týr, put the weapon away. Everyone should put their weapons away. There’s no need for senseless violence.”
That’s where she was wrong. I would cut down anyone who thought they could take her from me.
“Týr,” she said again. The sound of my name on her tongue wrapped around my very being and seeped deeper than my bones. My body relaxed, the need to fight this battle lessening, and yet it was still there, simmering just below the surface. But she was here with me and no one else.
“He who controls the völva controls the god,” the king murmured.
“Father,” a man hissed. “Stop antagonizing the gods.”
My muscles tightened, but before I could spit out a retort, Astrid spoke up. “I do not control him, King Geir. No one controls the gods.”
That wasn’t true. She absolutely held the keys to my undoing. I’d do anything she requested if it made her happy. But I would not allow this king to think he could control my Astrid.
