Chapter Fifty-Six

The Jarl was going to be so mad with her. Not because of the money, but for putting herself in danger like this. And it hadn’t escaped her notice that the ringleader appeared to hail from the Ice Lands, given the particular way he’d acknowledged her relationship to her father.

After a few tense beats of her heart the giant surrendered the group’s prize with a little push.

Wondering how to ask, she was nonplussed when Njord offered to escort them. They were cousins, though the tie often went unacknowledged because of his “villainous sire”. That was how her mother usually described him, while her father remained tight-lipped on the subject.

“Come on, Liv,” he said to the startled woman. He winked at Beyla. “You have some explaining to do.”

When they were out of earshot of the others, she remembered her manners and thanked him, stammering a little and blushing.

“If you had not been there … ”

“Think nothing of it, Bee,” he said. “But I will collect sooner rather than later.”

She really ho