Read Online Ill Wind and Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure (Valkyrie) by Karen Perkins - Free Book Online

and picked at the fruit, my appetite gone.
    ‘Eat up, child. With any luck, you’ll be eating for two soon, you need to build up your strength,’ Jan said.
    I froze. I couldn’t imagine bearing them a child. I couldn’t imagine having Erik as the father of my child. I started at a discreet touch from Klara and glanced at her. She smiled. I wondered what she was trying to tell me.
    Eventually, breakfast over, I could escape. I needed to get away from the house and everything van Ecken, and headed through the trees to the cliff top, then my beach. I didn’t move until the position of the sun told me it was noon.
    Lunch was just as awkward as breakfast, but the fresh air had made me hungry and I wolfed down the spiced chicken. I’d barely finished when Erik sent me upstairs to change. I climbed the stairs slowly. I wasn’t looking forward to spending the afternoon and evening in the company of Jan, Erik and their friends.

Chapter 16
     
     
    Klara had the white dress looking perfect again, and I congratulated her as she entered my room. She nodded at my words and held out a cup of steaming liquid.
    ‘I saw your face, Miss Gabriella, when Mijnheer Jan talked about children.’
    I looked at her, remembering the way she’d smiled and touched my shoulder. ‘I cannot bring a baby into this house, Klara. I won’t let those two men raise my child, but what can I do?’
    ‘Drink this,’ she said, and I took the cup. ‘It’s a tea made from plants that grow nearby. I and some of the other women drink it every morning. None of us have had a child since.’
    I smiled at her, hardly daring to believe it. ‘You’re sure? I won’t have his baby if I keep drinking this?’
    ‘I’m sure,’ Klara said. I drank it, and grimaced – it was bitter.
    ‘You’ll get used to the taste,’ Klara said, smiling.
    ‘Or you could add sugar,’ I said, laughing with the relief I felt.
    ‘Or I could add sugar,’ Klara repeated, smiling. ‘Turn round.’
    I did, and she untied the discreet ribbons holding my mantua in place, then removed it. Petticoats and stays followed, and I quickly washed then dressed in my wedding gown.
    There was a knock at the door and we glanced at each other.
    ‘Just a moment,’ I called, but the door was flung open despite my words.
    ‘You need to hurry up,’ Erik said. ‘You’ve wasted the morning, you were nowhere to be seen when you should have been making preparations. Now our guests are arriving and you are still nowhere to be seen. This is not behaviour I expect from my wife and the mistress of Brisingamen.’ He accented his words with a regular thumping of his cane on the floor and I noticed Klara flinch every time he brought it down.
    ‘Oh, I thought everything was already done,’ I replied. ‘I didn’t know I was needed – if you’d told me, I’d have stayed at the house.’ I noticed Klara’s fingers stilled on the ties of my bodice at my words.
    Erik just looked at me.
    ‘Pull those stays tighter, Klara,’ he said, without taking his eyes from me. I stared back at him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of protesting and gritted my teeth as the wooden slats were drawn into my flesh.
    Klara draped the mantua around me and secured it, and I checked my hair and face in the mirror. I was ready.
    Erik turned and strode out of the room and I followed. I glanced at Klara as I left and she gave my hand a little squeeze, then I was on my own. I followed my husband down the first flight of creaking stairs, my stays digging into me on every step, but I was aware of Erik standing at the bottom watching me and I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of a whimper or complaint. I glanced at the door nearest my stairs – Erik’s room. I knew now we’d keep separate rooms and he would visit me at his own convenience. I wasn’t welcome in his room – not that I could ever imagine myself wanting to visit him. I realized that I was effectively trapped. I wouldn’t be able to descend these