Sandulf gritted his teeth. He could hardly explain about his earlier mistake with Ceanna to his brother. How he felt like she was slipping away from him. How he was trying to ease the burden on her. How he didn’t know what do to next. ‘Why did you come? I explained to Rurik that I was more than capable of despatching Lugh on my own.’
‘From where I was sitting, you required my assistance. Your flanks were exposed and you were in danger of being overrun.’
Sandulf slammed his fist on the table, making the tankards jump. ‘You managed to get yourself taken prisoner.’
Danr shrugged. ‘Whose fault was that? And there is that black look again. Father could not have scowled better if he’d tried.’
Sandulf pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Why are you here, then?’
Danr withdrew a golden arrowhead with a line of silver running down its centre from a pouch. ‘I managed to keep this safe despite everything. Annis discovered it in her father-in-law’s things. Both Rurik and I agreed you needed to see it.’
Sandulf took the golden arrow and dangled it from his fingers. He struggled to keep from retching. Even after all this time he had wanted the other two pendants he’d discovered to be a mistake, trophies stolen during the raid, rather than...a payment. Or that his mother had indeed sent Rangr on to his uncle’s ship to look after him. ‘Alarr’s birth pendant. The one my mother claimed to have lost before Brandt married Ingrid. Where did Annis find it?’
‘In her father-in-law’s belongings after he died.’
‘Do the others know?’
Danr shrugged. ‘Brandt is with Alarr. They may do. Why?’
Sandulf took his necklace off and held it out. ‘I have the other two—Brandt’s and mine.’
‘Your mother sent you off with them? In case you needed it?’ Danr gulped. ‘Brandt was angry that day, but I know he wanted you to stay. Once his anger had gone, all would have been well.’
Sandulf rolled his eyes. Brandt’s words still echoed down the years, but they had stopped hurting. Sandulf mentally searched for the hard knot of anger that had been part of him for so long, but discovered it, too, had dissolved.
Sandulf explained about how he’d discovered both pendants. And about the Valkyrie which Lugh had secreted away. ‘I keep wondering whether my mother was involved? Or did she just want someone to look after me?’
‘When did you last see Hilda wearing them?’
Sandulf closed his eyes, trying to think. ‘Certainly last Jul, as Father made a big noise about her wearing them and they had a fight. I remember because Mother called him a drunken bully. All this leads me to believe that my mother has questions to answer.’
‘Yes, she does. Her silence on the subject is telling.’
‘I will have to visit her before I take Ingrid’s golden Valkyrie and Lugh’s sword to Brandt.’
‘You are not doing that on your own, Brother. You are Hilda’s baby boy. She will only lie to you and you will believe her because you want to. You are her son. Me?’ Danr tapped his chest. ‘I know her methods, how she twists words and feelings to suit her, how she plays with people’s lives to advance her own agenda. I have the measure of the woman and I alone will get the truth from her.’
Sandulf stared at the three pendants. Everything Danr said was correct. He would believe his mother’s words because he wanted to. Even now, he wanted to believe that she’d sent someone to watch over him because she loved him, rather than an assassin to finish him off. ‘Then we go together.’
‘I’d be honoured.’
‘You’re doing what? Visiting your mother?’ Ceanna looked up from the muddled household accounts in confusion. She thought he’d understood that she needed his help, that she wanted him by her side, but now, at the first opportunity, he wanted to leave. He’d told the truth about not wanting her love and he’d kept his oath: he had stayed with her until she reached a place of safety. The page of figures swam before her eyes. She blinked rapidly. ‘Why? We have other responsibilities—those children need to get to safety before anyone finds out they are here. They’re both a danger to us and also in danger themselves from the Regent. They need to be with their aunt in Éireann. You agreed, Sandulf.’
‘It won’t take long, Ceanna. Danr says that my mother left Maerr for the Isle of Skίð with Joarr. I didn’t even know my mother had feelings for him in that way. Apparently, they married almost before the ash in my father’s pyre was cold.’
‘And we need to take that Valkyrie to your brother,’ Ceanna continued. ‘He needs to have it. He needs to know you fulfilled your promise—the man who murdered your brother’s wife is dead. Surely that is more important than meeting your mother and her new husband!’
Sandulf stared up at the carved ceiling and attempted to control his sense of frustration.
‘Sandulf?’
‘I will do it when the time suits me!’
She let out a little noise somewhere between a sigh and a tsk and put her hands over her mouth. Remorse washed through him. He started to gather her to him, but she flinched. He stopped and ran his hand through his hair.
‘It’s my brothers, not you, who put me in this foul temper.’ The explanation sounded feeble. ‘Shouting at you was never my intention.’
‘But you did.’
‘I did and I beg your forgiveness.’
She nodded stiffly. ‘What has Danr told you? You owe me that much. Why is it so important? Why must it be done immediately?’
Sandulf explained about his mother’s pendants and how they had all three been found in the possession of assassins. She listened in stony silence.
‘Your mother needs to be consulted. She is the only one who can clear this up.’
‘Exactly. It is why I need to go with Danr. Danr says
