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Chapter Twenty-Eight
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The Bartered Princess Chapter Twenty-Nine
“If it please my lord, my sister is ill,” she blurted, without raising her head.“Silence!” the guard roared.“She will be punished, Your Highness,” Sayed said, saving his own skin.“My men have gone without women for long days and nights. Perhaps she can entertain them.”“No! If it please you, my lord, I will see to their easement.”Miriam had to blink back tears. Astrid didn’t have to do that – unless it was as much for Ketil as it was for her?“I will do it,” said a muffled voice from the corner. “After all, it is my duty.”“You may rise,” the Emir said. His hand strayed to the curved scimitar in the hand of his bodyguard. Was he going to give the order for a beheading? If so, who? All three of them had spoken out of turn.“Please, do not punish others for my error,” she begged.“Look at me, girl.”Miriam forced herself to meet his gaze. His eyes were blue, like the ocean beyond the far mountains. She used to ride there from the age of eleven until she was deprived of that pleasure
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty
They had been rowing through the night, knowing that there was less chance of being spotted that way. The two men didn’t concern them overmuch but the safety of the women was paramount.“We’re going to need to check Astrid’s impulsive behaviour in future,” Ketil said.“Leave that to me.” Sigurd sounded less than pleased.“Sig, it’s not her fault – what happened.”“She has the instincts of a warrior,” he grumbled.“Maybe it brought her through everything,” Ketil mused.“I’m going to beat her senseless.”“No, you’re not. You wouldn’t.”“Haakon would.”“Let’s not talk about him,” he growled.The sun was starting to peek through the clouds now and he thought about food for the first time in a while. Eels, maybe, or trout.“What will you do when we find them?” It was a valid question to which he had no answer. “You and the Princess, I mean.”“Which one?” he asked, playing for time.“Ketil.”He supposed he deserved that.“Never let her out of my sight again.”“What if she doesn’t want that?
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty-One
Miriam heard steady footsteps on the uneven flagstones and tried to pretend she was invisible. If she didn’t move, nobody could see her. It was an old game she had played with her mother and sister. Poor Daphne. She hadn’t stood much of a chance, had she? Curiosity overcame her, especially as the tell-tale creak indicated he had probably seated himself in the wooden chair beside the door. Miriam risked a peek, seeing a cap of blond hair in the style worn by page boys at the palace and a concealing black cloak covered in red fleurs-de-lys. The man did not look out of place in something which reminded her of an instrument of torture, though the long, arched backrest, now largely obscured, resembled the window in a church. It confused her. Though the potion she had taken had helped to calm some of her nerves, it didn’t stop her mind from wandering – and remembering. She must stop that. What was he doing, was he waiting for somebody else? Another man, perhaps. Miriam shivered. She must
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty-Two
There was always going to be a fight. Just not quite like this. Ketil had his hands full and the Emir of Aden was rushing towards them, his face filled with fury. He knew it was him courtesy of Daphne’s ear-piercing shriek which followed her enlightening use of his title.“He’s a monster, too,” she sobbed.Before he could react, Astrid stuck out her slender foot, tripping the illustrious potentate and urging them to run.Sigurd’s jaw dropped. Understandably, he didn’t move.It was Daphne who snatched the dagger from his belt. Kneeling quickly, she jerked aside the Emir’s headdress and attempted to slit his throat. He did not take kindly to the assault, roaring his disapproval and clutching at a gash in his neck which was releasing blood in a steady stream. It soon became a fountain as the enraged former Princess Royal stabbed him again.His bodyguard was late to the scene. He let out a strangled cry, as Sigurd sprang into action, wrestling the shorter man to the ground and securing hi
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty-Three
Nothing was ever straightforward with these Feltspars. Making the convincing excuse that they needed to leave the premises and saying he would explain later, he decided a more convincing dynamic would be if Sigurd escorted Astrid and Daphne, one under each mighty arm, and he resumed carrying his lady. It seemed to work. Someone Astrid greeted by name – Tillie – turned a rather obvious blind eye, while a girl she in turn referred to as Pippa looked both awestruck and fascinated.Then they emerged from the dark blue front door into the kind of brilliant sunshine which often followed rain. The man whose cloak he had borrowed was waiting with a cart around the back and it wasn’t long before they were on their way back to Vercia and the village of Capitol.Though Miriam wasn’t asleep now she seemed agitated. Astrid took it upon herself to massage her temples while he did the same for her bare feet. It wasn’t long before the imp in him turned to mischief. Knowing his half-sister had been ra
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty-Four
The palace had seen better days. Miriam was doing her best to rectify the matter, with the help of Jenna and Ruth who were now in charge of running the household. She was in her element here, doing something for which she had been raised. If not here, then in her husband’s domain, he surmised.Ketil realised he had never asked Magnus why Ruth hadn’t been released in the same way as Jenna. It was probably too late now. If anything, he assumed Daphne had insisted on hanging onto her, quite literally, which probably explained the tear in her kirtle. Newly mended now, of course.The Masked King was still languishing in the dungeons but he could wait. He reckoned it was time for a proper talk with his half-sister, who had started to avoid Sigurd for reasons known only to herself. He caught up with her in the solar, a place he would never have expected to find a woman like Astrid, though the booted feet planted on a chair opposite the bench on which she was sitting said it all.“Idling agai
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty-Five
Miriam clasped her hands together and tried not to faint. Her plan to matchmake, to retrieve an impossible and intolerable situation, had backfired leaving her desolate and alone. Not quite alone. Sassa was still sitting there, quietly, her sympathy and guilt plain to see.She sat down, toying with the fruit on her plate. If only it were persimmon season. You could obtain almost anything these days but not if it wasn’t even ripening elsewhere. Looking down at her body, she chewed her lip. It was far too early but somehow she knew a change was coming. Once, it would have been a welcome one.“Oh Sassa – I mean, Astrid,” she sighed. “Why did I make it so easy for him to leave me?”“If I know my brother, he does not want to go. This is all my fault. And I’m hurting Sigurd as well. Perhaps I should choose the cloistered life, like your sister.”“You are not to blame. Send for Magnus. Tell him I – I desire to play chess.”The young woman rose with the same rangy grace as her blood relative.
The Bartered Princess Chapter Thirty-Six
The Masked King was a shadow of his former self. Someone had beaten him very badly and the ginger hair was matted with blood. The mood Ketil was in he wanted to inflict yet more damage though he restrained himself. How could he put Miriam in an impossible position? If the whoremonger were to die … And yet, it was tempting to ask for answers before he left. For good? To see how well received he might be after so many years, four of them in total. Ketil brushed the unwelcome thoughts aside. Becoming Jarl would make what he really wanted to happen impossible. Or would it? He could always abduct her. Exasperated with himself, not even smiling at the thought of carrying her off, Viking fashion, he kicked the prisoner’s leg. The body rocked and that was all. So he kicked harder, thinking that handfasting was out of the question now, as was a marriage planned to take place on the traditional day to honour Frigg, the wife of Odin. While he reckoned he had already met the bride price there wo
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