Read Online The Seducer (Viking Warriors) by Jianne Carlo - Free Book Online Page B

for the Moraemers’ encroachments below the border.” Torsten rubbed the dark stubble on his jaw. “Njal, Magnus, Ruard, see you any detriment to this plan?”
    “Save that ’twill mean no slumber this eve. Nay.” Magnus shook his wet hair and water whipped everywhere. “Who stays to keep the kings preoccupied?”
    “You are host. I say you stay.”
    “I agree with Njal.” Torsten reached for drying cloth and wiped his damp face. “Good fortune indeed smiles upon us. For Cnut travels with his handfast wife, Ælfgifu, and she has long favored Ainslin. I have learned to never underestimate the influence of a wife over her husband.”
    “I have heard no truer words since saying my vows.” Ruard let out a long breath.
    “Nor I.” Magnus pillowed his head in his palms. “I swear Deidra and her pets will be the death of me. See you how my hair thins? ’Tis from tearing it out by the roots.”
    “At least your wife tends to womanly duties. Bettina sneaks out to hunt boar. She is a witch, my wife. She carried Saxski for three moons before telling me. Had it not been that I count her days between courses now, I swear she would not have told me about the new babe until her stomach rounded.” Njal shook his head. “The silver in my hair grows more every new morn.”
    “You count Bettina’s courses?” Jarvik stared at his older brother. “’Tis not manly for a warrior to admit to such.”
    “He will learn.” Ruard rolled his eyes. “You have been married but one day and night. And if Elaina is half as stubborn as Catriona…I pity you brother. I would rather battle a thousand warriors than go through another nine moons of Catriona with child. ”
    Jarvik did not believe his brothers could be so puss-whipped. “’Tis a woman’s duty to bear children. I see not the difficulty you speak of. After a warrior’s seed has taken hold there is naught for him to do. The rest is for the female.”
    Laughter, chortles, and guffaws bounced off the stone walls.
    “I have a mind to tell him.” Njal shook his head.
    Ruard’s bronzed cheeks paled. “Do not tell him. Not a word, Njal.”
    “Think you Catriona will not tell Elaina? All the women know all. ’Tis nigh on impossible to retain a single manly secret.” Njal snorted. “When Catriona carries, she craves apple pies. And since his poisoning Ruard cannot abide the smell of apples baking.”
    At the suggestion, Ruard indeed had the greenish cast of a man ready to empty his stomach.
    “Must she have the pies?” Jarvik asked. “She can eat the fruit instead.”
    “He will learn.” Njal exchanged glances with Torsten, Ruard, and Magnus. “Truly, I will enjoy seeing The Seducer get his comeuppance.”
    “Unlike you four louts, I have Elaina trained to my hand.”
    His brothers’ hoots, whistles, shouts, and roars nigh raised the rafters from the roof. Jarvik vowed to show them how easily he had trained Elaina to his side. This eve, she would feed him the choicest meats, offer him praise and thanks, and smile sweetly at one and all.
    Torsten volunteered to tell the women of their plan while Jarvik, Njal, and Magnus met with both kings privately.
     

    The three brothers waited for the monarchs in an ante chamber adjacent to the Great Hall, chosen for its thick walls and stark lack of furnishings. ’Twas the room Njal preferred for negotiations for it did not encourage lingering and ‘twas easy to guard.
    Unease knitted Jarvik’s neck muscles even after the long soak in the bathhouse.
    “Peacemaker.” Cnut the Great strode through the doorway, his long powerful legs making naught of the distance to Njal. “Dragon Slayer, Seducer. I have not seen all of you in many moons. Where is the Bear?”
    “He visits with your queen.” Njal and Torsten had agreed to invoke Cnut’s handfast wife as a distraction.
    “Ælfgifu is fond of Ainslin. I am pleased with The Bear’s decision to occupy his Cumbria holding. ’Twill help to secure the border.” Cnut