Read Online Malice Striker by Jianne Carlo - Free Book Online Page B

She can tell the outcome of a battle. She has ne’er erred in her soothsaying. Etta came to know of my sister’s powers. I am cert she was the one who schemed to take Hjørdis.” The bitter fury in his voice made her shiver.
    What den of iniquity and deceit had they landed in? Etta must be the wife who Lady Gráinne had spoken of, Skatha realized, but she feigned ignorance. “Etta?”
    “My first wife. She died midsummer after attempting to poison me.”
    “Poison? Her own husband?” Skatha could scarce believe her ears.
    “Aye. ’Tis better you hear the tale from me than from another.”
    The tale he told her had her mind churning like a whirlpool. Her husband must have a grave mistrust of females after Etta’s vicious deception. Why did he bare his bald truths to her? Why now?
    “I am sorry for all you have suffered. ’Tis the most grievous mortal sin for one person to plot the death of another, but for a wife to plot her husband’s demise is unforgiveable.”
    She sought his hand but encountered the hard ridge of his chest, and her fingers tangled in the swirls of hair matting his skin. How she longed to explore his face, trace the line of his nose, discover if his jaw was square or no. Offer him the comfort of touch as he had her earlier.
    “’Twas a lesson well learned. I will ne’er wed a woman from the courts. Your abbey training was the only reason we did not all sail to Harald’s court to protest the marriage order. That and the proof of your purity, for Etta had none. She claimed rape and I believed her.”
    Aye. ’Twould be many moons afore he trusted a woman again. And he had been forced to take her as wife. Their union was twice cursed. Despair wracked a shudder through her.
    “What was cannot be changed. I must tend to the needs of my sister and my holding.”
    The Viking spoke truly. Dwell not on the past, but look to the future, and fix the now. The now was this eve. The future, the morrow.
    “I ask again, sir, what happens now?”
    “We speak with your Lady Gráinne in the morn. Much relies upon her reaction.”
    “And what of me? My lack of sight?” Exhaustion lay heavy on her, body and soul.
    “I am a man of honor. We have said the vows, and I abide by them.” He chuckled.
    She flinched. “’Tis amusing to you, my lord?”
    “Aye. I recall my scheme to put you at ease by dousing the lights. It must have had you chortling.”
    A grin she could not repress chased her lips. “’Twas hard not to laugh aloud. But the scheme worked. My fear abated, knowing you would not so easily discern when I erred.”
    He guffawed. “’Tis not possible for you to err in bedsport, wife. Not with the passionate ardor you try to hide with folded hands and rigid spine.”
    The hairs on the back of her neck bristled, and she could not repress the growing suspicion that he had planned to charm and seduce her this eve with some dire intent in mind. “What want you of me, my lord?”
    “I would have us as allies, Skatha. We have much to lose if we do not watch each other’s back. There are many who would see us embroiled in their nefarious plans. Many will suspect your goddess lineage and many would seek to steal you for their own. You and your ladies must not leave the holding.”
    He framed her face, his large rough palms heating her cheeks, and a peculiar tranquility soothed her mind. For the first time since leaving the abbey she felt safe. Mayhap not safe precisely, but no longer bubbling over with anxiety and trepidation.
    “I give you my word I will not leave Bita Veðr. As will the others.”
    “You are so cert of them?”
    “We are all that we have. And have had for many summers.” She smiled. “I have been blessed with the company of Elspeth, Muíríne, Dagrún, and the teachings of Lady Gráinne.”
    “I will ask your ladies and you to swear fealty to me at the náttverðr on the morrow. The penalty for breaking a fealty oath is immediate death.”
    His tone brokered no mercy, but