Chapter Five
In her dream, the face of the Norseman hovered above her, alternating between that of tender lover and vengeful enemy. He smirked down at her as he had after the kiss, only this time she was not offended. Her fingers traced the outline of that smile as he pulled one fingertip into his mouth. She gasped and pulled it away. He laughed and knelt to kiss her again. When she followed his progress, she realised they were in her bed, not in the straw, and he was lying between her naked thighs.
The shock of it jolted her away, making her sit straight up in bed as if she would find him there. Her heart raced and even though she knew that she was still in her nightclothes and that it had been a dream, she reached for the seax that usually sat at her waist. Not the dagger she had worn to take the Norseman captive, but the shorter, blunter one she wore daily.
It was not at her waist. Of course it was not. She was in bed and it was deep in the night. Her candle had long since sputtered out. The seax was in the chest where it was meant to be. She tried to let that thought soothe her back to sleep, but something nudged at the back of her mind. Something important. It hovered there, just out of reach, and all the more insistent because of it.
Was the seax in the chest where it belonged? She mentally retraced her movements of the evening. She had no memory of putting it away, nor of taking it off. Had Goda removed it and put it away? Annis could not remember. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts about the kiss that she barely remembered interacting with Goda at all.
Rising from the bed, she hurried over to the chest that kept them. There were three inside and she traded them out depending on her mood for the day. Pushing the lid open, she peered into the shadowy interior. It was too dark to see very well, so she used her hands to find them. A sigh escaped her when she found the bundle all lying together. One, two... Where was the third?
Her heart pounded and dread settled heavy in the pit of her stomach. The Norseman had held her down, but he had not taken the seax. She was certain that she would have noticed him taking it. But then her thoughts had been preoccupied with his kiss. A quick search of her chamber revealed that it was missing.
Had he stolen it? She closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember everything that had happened in his cell. It might have happened at any point during the struggle that preceded the kiss. When she had left, she had been too unsettled to think clearly, much less search him for the seax.
The blackguard!
Drawing on a cloak, she grabbed her long dagger off the wall. If the Norseman had her seax, then he could free himself. If it came to it and she could not recapture him, then she would kill him herself. She had no alternative. It was a choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life, but it must be done. The danger to everyone around her was too great to allow him the chance to get free. She could not allow him to harm Wilfrid or anyone else at Mulcasterhas.
The fact that he was the only man she had felt anything for since Grim could not sway her. She opened the door to her chamber that faced out to the courtyard, ignoring the cold blast of air. There was no guard here because they were all posted along the outside walls of the house. The night was still dark, but a single torch gave off a watery light. Wilfrid’s chamber was directly across from her. The double doors were closed, but a flicker of light could be seen in the tiny crack between them. He frequently did not sleep well and Cedric or his manservant generally attended him overnight. But some instinct drew her closer to his chamber.
She walked silently along the tiled path, her gaze on the crack between the doors. Male voices came from inside. She instantly recognised Wilfrid’s. After a series of brain attacks had left him weak on one side of his body, he could still talk, but his words came out as if he were speaking around a mouthful of wool. But the other voice was too low to be Cedric and not quite as deep as Irwin, the strong manservant who attended to Wilfrid.
Bracing herself for what she might find, she pushed the door open and crossed the threshold with her long dagger before her. Wilfrid looked up from the seat he occupied at his table and gave her his customary crooked smile with a cry of enthusiasm to see her. The table game hnefatafl was set up before him.
The Norseman sat across from him.
Annis arrived as if he had somehow summoned her. Her eyes were wide and fear filled. He knew a strange urge to call to her and soothe that fear, but it did not make sense given their predicament. She should be afraid. He would have to kill her if it came to it, wouldn’t he?
Still somewhat stunned by the strange direction his plan for revenge had taken, he said, ‘Close the door, Lady Annis. We have many things to discuss.’ He tried to keep his stymied anger out of his voice, but it trembled with the absence.
Her astute gaze went to Wilfrid and then the seax. Rurik tightened his fingers around it, ready to use it should she decide not to comply. It was dull, but he knew his own strength. One quick movement would have the knife embedded in Wilfrid’s vulnerable neck. Rurik could see the
