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kitchens. Elaina considered what had transpired. “’Tis common for Norse husbands to tie their wives to the bed frame?”
    He chuckled. “I did not hear you complaining this morn, sweetling.”
    “And can a wife tie her husband down?” The notion appealed greatly.
    Jarvik groaned. “Mayhap. If I could watch you pleasure yourself afore.”
    She spun, set her palms to his warm chest, and gathered her courage. “I would see your pleasure too. I value greatly your cock and would learn its secrets.”
    “Frig, help me.” He crushed her to him. “Never change, wife. Never.”
    “Jarvik.” A deep male voice issued the greeting.
    When she tried to lift her head, Jarvik pressed her still. “’Tis my brother, Ruard. Dragon Slayer, what say you?”
    “I say you get your wife to her chamber, then meet with us and King Cnut. And make haste. We have trouble brewing.”

Chapter Five
     

    “What is amiss now?” Jarvik shucked his boots and stood to untie his breeches.
    Magnus had built his bathhouse to suit his gigantic proportions. The timber and stone structure stood five ells high, and the pool dug into the ground spanned twice that width, length, and depth. Smooth stones fired by a deep pit spewed wisps of fragrant steam around the chamber.
    “King Eógan arrives on the morrow.” Torsten, already stripped and in the water, rested his head in his hands. “He will claim Elaina’s half-sisters.”
    “How know you this?” Jarvik tugged off his tunic.
    “King Cnut has decided to support King Eógan’s cousin, Habren, in his bid for the kingdom of Strathclyde. Valan the Viper, the Highland Chieftain, has spies amongst Eógan’s men.” Njal dipped a pitcher into the water. “Valan sent a missive to warn me.”
    Ruard dove into the deep end of the lagoon. He rose between Torsten and a rounded corner. “’Tis fortunate that Eógan, the bastard, left no witnesses when he murdered King Crínán and his family.”
    “Aye, he cannot prove the girls are not Elaina’s issue. Or yours.” Magnus, naked as the day he was birthed, lit a hanging lamp. “And ’tis damned fortunate that my Deidra saw fit to remove the stained sheets from the turret afore any in the keep saw them. You claimed the babes last eve, but ’twill not be enough. You must claim to have sired them. ”
    A pang of remorse clutched at Jarvik’s chest. He had not realized the level of his obsession with Elaina. For he truly wanted all and sundry to know she had been a maid and not the concubine all spoke of. “All know that King Crínán wed Maude and that she bore him two babes.”
    “Aye. But none live who saw the girls.” Njal splashed a pitcher of water over the hot rocks. Steam hissed thick and damp, rising in slow spirals to the timbered roof. “And Elaina has not been seen for two summers. Who will gainsay you if you claim the babes as yours? You have been searching for Elaina all this time. You found her twice and had her. She had no wish to marry a Viking and escaped.”
    “You have already spread this tale, brother.” Jarvik studied Njal’s stoic features. Oft times, ’twas impossible to tell his brother’s thoughts, which made him so successful as the king’s peacemaker.
    “Aye. We all have. And I met with Máel Coluim here earlier. He will not back Habren. There is much enmity between the two men. Cnut will not back any other but Habren.” Njal dragged both hands through his shoulder-length black hair. “I fear there is not much common ground.”
    Jarvik settled against a warm, smooth boulder, letting the warm water caress his bunched shoulders. “What if neither ruled? ’Tis a diabolical notion. But what if both Habren and Eógan were murdered by the Moraemers?”
    His four brothers stared at him. Jarvik choked back a howl, for ’twas not oft that he took the lead in devising a plan. And he could see no holes in his scheme.
    “’Twould be the opportunity Máel Coluim has been waiting for. And Cnut the Great has no love