Page 73 of Her Rogue Viking
“Wait… please.” Brynhild softened her tone. “I would have you hear me out.”
Fiona drew in a long breath, then, “Very well. Shall we be seated?”
The pair settled on a bench close to the one window in the solar and Brynhild shushed the baby who was starting to stir. As ever, Fiona was struck by the similarity to Taranc. There could be no mistaking this sturdy little boy’s sire and she was pleased for her oldest friend.
“He is growing so fast,” she offered, falling back upon the age-old female bond of shared motherhood.
“He is.” agreed Brynhild, who then fixed Fiona with a level look. Apparently the Viking was not to be deflected from her mission in coming here. “It was not my intention to leave you out in the cold all night.”
Fiona appreciated that Brynhild had come straight to the point but found she was not in any mood to pander to the woman’ self-delusion. “Yet still, that is exactly what you did. Or you would have, but for Ulfric’s unexpected return.”
“No. I was distracted, as I have said, by Njal’s illness. His mother died of a sudden ague, and I feared… Well, my fears were groundless, but I was not to know at that stage. I had instructed Harald to remain with you and to release you after a short while. You saw me speaking to him? Just before I returned to the longhouse?”
Brynhild paused, one perfect eyebrow raised as though to check that Fiona did indeed see this.
Fiona gave a slow nod. “You spoke to him under your breath. I was not intended to hear your words.”
“Yes. It was my intention to frighten you, so I did not allow you to hear me tell Harald to release you after thirty minutes. After I returned to the house I became preoccupied with Njal and I am ashamed to say I forgot all about you. I should not have, but that is what happened. It was only when the boy eventually slept that I realised that neither Harald nor you had returned indoors. I came at once to seek you out. I was on my way when my brother charged past me into our longhouse, with you in his arms.”
“I know, you have said all of this.” Brynhild had never wavered from her story. Ulfric did not believe it, and neither did Fiona.
“Because it is true.” She tilted her chin defiantly. “I would not be judged unfairly for that which I did not do.”
“No?” A flash of rare temper ignited within Fiona. “Yet you have seen fit to judge me unfairly since the moment we first met, holding me, and indeed all Celts, to account for the death of your betrothed. Why should you not be unfairly judged?”
Brynhild’s features hardened, but she was the one to lower her gaze first. “Very well, I accept your rebuke. I was… wrong.”
Wrong?Fiona stared, incredulous and quite lost for words.
Brynhild rocked her fretful child as she continued. “I have come to appreciate that Celts… well, some Celts… are decent, and…”
“Taranc’s influence, I do not doubt,” was Fiona’s bitter observation.
Brynhild nodded. “Yes, in the main. And that of your father. He was kind to me when I first came here, more so than I deserved.”
“My father is a generous man. He has found it within him to accept Ulfric, if not to entirely forgive what took place.”
“Forgiveness is precious. I know better than to ask it of you for I treated you very badly. I would have your honesty, however.”
“Honesty?” Fiona was still reeling from Brynhild’s comments and finding it hard to follow the other woman’s train of thought. “I have always been honest in my dealings with you, and with Ulfric.”
“He does not believe my account of that night, because he insists that his son was not ill. Indeed, Njal was quite recovered by the following morning when Ulfric next saw him so I can readily understand why he believes it to be so. But you know, do you not? You remember?”
Fiona nodded slowly. She did recall being sent running for a pail as the child was sick.
“You will also remember that I told you, and Harald, that Njal needed me indoors. I left you in order that I could tend to him.”
“Yes,” agreed Fiona. “I do recall what you said. You also told Harald that you would return to check that your instructions had been carried out. You did not come back.”
“I did, though not as soon as I should have. By then Ulfric had also returned just moments before me and he freed you from the stocks. He would not listen to my explanation.”
“Why would he believe you? He knew that you hated me, that you wished me harm.”
“Wishing and doing are not the same. I was cruel to you, but I did not intend you to die that night. You would not have, as I would have freed you had my brother not already done so. Harald knew that we would never leave anyone outside for more than about half an hour, and he had his instructions. My commands were perfectly clear, he knew what I expected of him and he was to bring you back inside after that time had elapsed. He had done so on other occasions, with other thralls.”
“He left me. He said there was a woman, in one of the longhouses…”
“He had no business leaving you unattended in order that he might dally with some wench. He should have stayed. He knew that and I suspect his disappearance by the following morning has much to do with him knowing full well that he had disobeyed me and would be punished. Add to that my brother’s wrath… Harald would not have wished to face either of us to explain his part in that night’s events.”
