Anna Markland - Viking Roots Medieval Romance Saga 02 by The Rover Defiant Read Free Book Online

the warm spot where he’d lain on the linens. “No, husband, this is what happens when you fail to teach him how to behave like a free man.”
    He stopped pacing and looked at her. “As usual, Saint Cathryn, you are right. On the morrow I’ll start his training, and when we leave in a fortnight he’ll accompany the army. Some of the men will object, but I’ll deal with them.”
    Cathryn was more content when he returned to their bed, but she glanced up at the triptych and uttered a silent prayer to her patron saint to protect her husband and his nephew when they journeyed to the front.
    She hoped Bryk’s decision wouldn’t result in Torstein’s untimely death at the hands of the Bretons.

    Sonja lay in bed, staring up at the rafters, desperately trying to recall what she’d heard about Cathryn’s brother.
    She wished she’d paid more attention to the gossip, which had mostly concerned Bryk Kriger’s wife.
    The whole community had been agog with the revelation that she was the niece of the Archbishop. The cleric had admitted to abandoning the newborn baby girl his brother’s widow had died birthing. He’d submitted to a public penance after confessing his sin. Most Vikings had certainly understood and forgiven the inability of a young man with no prospect of ever marrying to take care of a baby.
    But tongues had wagged faster when it had come to light the girl had a brother, abandoned with her but sold off to a wealthy family.
    Sonja vaguely recalled gossip about his being a monk infatuated with a Frankish nun, but that couldn’t be true. Frits had said he’d fought at Chartres and taken part in the Breton campaign.
    Being a warrior might render him suitable in her father’s view. Or would his past be a stumbling block?
    Whatever stood in the way, she determined to learn more about the man who now filled her thoughts.

    Torstein wasn’t surprised when his uncle stormed into the camp shortly after dawn and thrust a sheathed sword into his hand with one word. “ Kom! ”
    He put the weapon on the ground while he scrambled to don his tunic, leggings and boots, keeping an eye on Alfred’s squabbling toddlers. He grabbed a heel of bread from a smiling Hannelore and followed his uncle out of the canvas shelter, sword in hand.
    After his uncles had granted him his freedom, he’d been allowed to carry a dagger, but he thirsted to learn the skill of swordplay. Achieving warrior status was the only way to acceptance among his fellow Vikings. Bryk Kriger was living proof of it. The alternative was to live as he had for the past months, in a no man’s land between two worlds.
    For a slave to become a warrior would have been an impossible notion in Norway, but this was a new land, with new opportunities. Mayhap if he proved his worth, Sonja might—
    His uncle’s stern voice intruded. “I plan to teach you how to wield a sword. And you can forget Sonja Karlsdatter.”
    He remained silent. What was the use of arguing? Few could boast of winning an argument with his determined uncle.
    Bryk came to a sudden halt. “Do you hear me?”
    “I hear you, onkel ,” he replied.
    “We will seek a Frankish wife for you.”
    “ Ja, onkel .”
    Voicing agreement wasn’t difficult. He’d spent a lifetime obeying commands. But now there was an alternate path, and he intended to take it. Disastrous as his meeting with Sonja had been, he’d seen desire smoldering in her dark eyes—for him.
    “Sonja thinks you’re Cathryn’s brother,” his uncle said before striding off to the training field.
    Torstein’s heart plummeted into his boots.

TOO MUCH PRIDE
    Arms folded, Sonja hovered near the door of the Great Room in case she had to flee. She clenched her fists, feeling the bite of fingernails digging into her palms, trying to pay attention to the Frankish gentleman her father had invited to the house. An inexplicable preoccupation with bearing a child of her own—a babe with black hair—filled her thoughts.
    “Don’t