God's Eye (The Northwomen Sagas #1) (6 page)

Brenna nodded, still stroking his back. After a few moments, weariness settled over her shoulders and, without thinking about it, she shifted and lay down at his side, facing him.

“Rest, beautiful Brenna,” he murmured.

She closed her eyes, not noticing that she had wrapped her arms around his.

“Is she injured?” Sven cast a raised eyebrow on Brenna’s sleeping form.

Vali smiled. “No. Only sleeping.”

The healer redirected his eyebrow to Vali. “Well, you are a fortunate man to have the God’s-Eye turned so well on you. By all rights you should be in Valhalla tonight.”

In truth, Vali did feel better when Brenna was near, but he thought it at least as likely that the cause was worldly as otherworldly. He understood his mind—and his body. Currently, lying on his stomach was causing him discomfort for more reason than the gash in his back.

Then Sven knelt at his other side and began laying the pungent, all-too-recently-boiling strips of a fresh poultice on his back, and the great share of his attention went toward containing that pain. He didn’t want to groan too loudly or tense his arm, lest he wake Brenna and end this sweet closeness.

She had his arm clasped in both of hers, and her forehead rested on his shoulder. If only he could have rolled to his side and pulled her close. At the moment, the one thing he wanted more was Sven’s immediate and bloody death.

“Must it be so hot?” he muttered through clenched teeth, as quietly as he could.

Sven chuckled. “Now that you’re complaining, I know you’ll survive. And yes. The heat draws, as well you know.” He finished and stood. “Shall I wake her and send her on?”

“No. I want her here.”

“It’s a dangerous path you seek, my friend.” Sven spoke quietly. “Not only is she the God’s-Eye, but Calder keeps her close. If this alliance breaks…”

He didn’t finish, and it wasn’t necessary. Vali understood. If the alliance broke, he and Brenna would be enemies. And it could well break. Snorri and Åke had been bitter foes not many years before, and Vali had seen traces of that contempt among the raiders old enough to remember. It was also true that Calder kept Brenna close, almost as if she were his charm—and perhaps she was. But it didn’t matter.

He smiled at the blonde head sleeping so close. “I know. Heal my body, Sven. Leave my heart to me.”

~oOo~

By the time the sky began to lighten toward morning, Vali felt well and strong enough that lying quietly on his stomach had become a torture of its own. He needed to move, and he could feel in his body that he would be able to. Not without pain, but pain was no deterrent to him.

The deterrent was Brenna, who’d slept motionless for hours, her brow smooth with peace and comfort. There was little in this world or any other that would cause him to disturb her rest.

Having already slept the better part of a full day, and feeling his body reject the infection and begin its mending, Vali slept little while Brenna did. Instead, he watched her, and he thought.

The captive girl helping Sven spoke their language, it was how Sven had known she would be of use, so no one said much inside the healer’s tent about what was going on outside it. Vali knew little of what he’d missed except that a ‘prince’ had been beaten. He itched to know more, and he hated that he’d been lying helpless while battle had raged.

Lying at his side, Brenna still bore the marks of that fight. Dried blood spattered her face, streaked her hair, grimed the creases of her hands. She hadn’t washed before she’d come to see him.

He liked that—the thought that she’d come straight here, to check on him, to stay with him. She felt the pull to be close, too. He liked that very much indeed.

In the years since Brenna had chased his father off and galvanized Vali to seek a life of his own, he had thought often of the debt he owed the girl. Then she had become the famed shieldmaiden, and he had asked the gods to give him the chance to repay the debt. It had been his request with every offering. He had not thought more of her than that—a great debt owed, a gratitude that would outlast repayment.

Then he had seen her. And then he had spoken with her. And now he was getting to know her.

What he wanted now with her was everything. Lying here with her, so intimate and yet so chaste, his blood boiled with the need to have her. All of her. Always.

But for Sven’s snores, the tent was quiet when Brenna woke. The day was beginning in gloom; the watery grey light Vali could see through the gaps in the tent told of heavy cloud cover. Summer was nearing its end. The sail home would be miserable if they didn’t get underway soon.

She stirred and stretched, taking a deep, luxurious breath. When she let it out, the air danced over Vali’s skin and made prickles rise up. She opened her eyes.

As soon as she focused on the arm she held, she went rigid. Her head came up, and her eyes met his—the peace in which she’d slept was gone, replaced with shock and dismay.

Knowing what would happen next, Vali was prepared, and when she jumped, pulling her arms from his and trying to sit up, he rolled to his side and grabbed her. His wound complained mightily, but he ignored it.

His movement changed her focus, though, and brought it back to him. “Be careful! You’re too hurt.”

Heartened that she thought of him even now, he smiled. “Do not run away, Brenna. That would hurt me more.”

“I…I…didn’t mean to…I’m sorry.”

“I am not. You slept well?”

She looked down at her arm, where he held her, and she nodded. “How do you feel?”

Vali let go of her arm and moved his hand up to cradle her cheek. The threads in his back stretched uncomfortably. “Much better. Your touch restores me.”

It was the wrong thing to say, and he understood why as the words left his mouth, but it was too late. She flinched, jerking her head clear of his touch, and stood before he could stop her. She looked down on him, her marvelous eyes dim with disappointment.

“Brenna, hold. I didn’t mean—”

She turned and left the tent before he could finish.

~oOo~

Vali tried to rise and follow her, and he managed to sit before it occurred to him that he was in no condition to chase her down. Sven had woken in the meantime and leapt to his feet while Vali struggled to get his knees under him.

“Usch, fool. You’ll tear out my hard work! Lie down.” He didn’t have the strength to resist as Sven muscled him back to his pallet. “Look. You bleed again. Fool.”

“You said that already.”

“Well, it deserves saying twice.”

Now that Vali was down again, Sven crouched at his side. As he dabbed at Vali’s back, his head swiveled. Though they were alone, he checked the tent conspiratorially, as if there were some nook or cranny in the simple space in which an eavesdropper might lurk. “Calder has called everyone together. After yesterday—”

“What happened yesterday?” Vali snapped. He was tired already of convalescing. He was not a man who lay idly back while battles were fought and women walked away from him.

“The parley was an ambush. Yet we prevailed. Our people killed the prince and all his family, all his attendants and their families, his best soldiers. Then Calder closed the castle. He is expected to claim this land in his father’s name.”

“What?” They were raiders, not settlers. They had neither the resources nor the skill to take over a princedom, and the season was too ripe to bring more people and supplies over.

Moreover, this raid was an alliance. Calder had the lead, but he overstepped to think he could claim territory in Åke’s name when Jarl Snorri had sent warriors as well. Vali pushed himself up again. If anyone could be said to lead Snorri’s men above any other, it was he. “I need to be there. Help me stand.”

“Vali—”

“Help me stand,” he repeated, and Sven sighed, stood, and helped him to his feet. Vali gritted his teeth against the pain.

Sven shook his head. “You are a stubborn fool.”

~oOo~

A camp of such size was never truly quiet, not even in the dead of night, but as Sven helped Vali through the tent opening and into the grey morning, their surroundings were as close to quiet as could be. Everyone who could be was gathered near the center fire, sitting, crouching or kneeling where Calder stood.

Sven handed Vali a spear to use as a stick, and with that, Vali made himself move forward on his own power. Every step was an agony, but he stood tall and joined the others, with Sven at his side like the worried mother of a babe taking his first steps.

Brenna, sitting near Calder, saw him and stood, her face a perfect image of shocked worry. She took two quick steps toward him before she remembered herself and stopped, then smoothed the notice from her face. He hadn’t missed it, however, and it made him glad to see that her first thought was for him, even if it was against her judgment.

He refrained from smiling or otherwise acknowledging her. To get close to this woman the way he wanted, he would need be patient and perhaps a bit stealthy. She obviously feared the pull between them. And she obviously hated the fear.

He understood that. But he also understood that she felt the pull, and he wouldn’t turn away from that. So he would leave her to her wariness for now and focus on the more pressing matter at hand.

Erik stood and came to him, but Vali waved off his help. He needed to appear stronger than he was—as strong as he should be.

“Vali,” Calder called, seeing him. “Friend. It is good to see you on your feet so soon.” His expression belied the sentiment his words had expressed. Calder, too, understood that Vali was Snorri’s strong right arm in this raid, and no doubt knew why he would fight so hard to be present now.

“Calder. I am sorry I could not join you in battle yesterday. I hear we had a great victory.” The pain had turned his body to iron, but he fought hard to make his voice steady and strong.

Not missing the way Vali had stressed the word
we
, Calder lifted an eyebrow. “Yes. And now we discuss the future. Come and talk with us.”

Erik had vacated a crate when he’d stood and come over, and now Vali gratefully made his way there. If he’d had to stand, or worse, sit on the ground, he might not have made it. Easing himself down to the slatted wooden surface was challenge enough. “What about the future?”

“We have beaten this Prince Vladimir and all who owe him fealty. His lands are ours. As leader of this raid, I claim this territory in the name of my father. We will settle here.”

“This is not your father’s raid alone, Calder. Half the men sitting here raid for Jarl Snorri Thorsson. The spoils will be split among us all. But none of us here is a settler, and we have no supplies to make it so.”

“We need no
supplies
, Vali.” Calder made his contempt writhe around the word. “If you had fought with us, you would have seen. We have a castle full of riches and all the land and resources we could want.”

Erik stepped forward. “You think a prince has no friends who would avenge him? We lost many in this raid. We could not hold off a foe who was well prepared for us.”