Page 47 of Alliance Bride
Sig.
He stood too close, a gleam in his eye that turned her stomach. Though only the same size as Aevar, he seemed especially large and menacing, blocking her path to the longhouse.
She gripped the edge of her shawl. “What are you doing here?” Though she kept her voice steady, her pulse kicked into a faster rhythm.
He was supposed to be gone. He and his uncle had left weeks ago. Aevar would never have let her walk alone if he’d known this.
Sig shrugged as if his presence were no more alarming than a change in the weather. “I wasn’t ready to leave yet.”
She darted a glance left and right. The path was empty. “I have work to do.”
When she sidestepped to pass him, he shifted, matching her move.
She straightened and lifted her chin. “You need to step aside.”
He chuckled, a cruel sound that sent prickles along her arms and neck. “What’s the rush? Surely it can’t be for Aevar. I doubt he’s even thinking of you.” He stepped closer, and Eadlyn’s breath grew shallow at the way he eyed the entire length of her like a hungry dog. “Everyone could see how much he loved Thora. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. You? I haven’t seen him touch you once.”
Had he been watching them?
He took another step. Too close. She had to back up to keep the distance, her heart pounding now.
His voice slid over her like cold mud. “It must be lonely being married to a man who doesn’t want you.”
Something hot sparked in Eadlyn’s chest, and she glared at him. “I am not lonely. Aevar has been nothing but kind and honorable toward me.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s been honorable. So honorable he hasn’t treated you as a wife should be treated. I can fix that.”
He reached for her.
She bolted, but his hand caught her arm and yanked her forward like she weighed nothing. Her heart lurched as she stumbled into him. His chest hit hers like a wall, solid and unmoving, the rough leather of his jerkin scraping against her palms as she shoved against him.
“You will release me right now. When Aevar finds out—”
“I’m not afraid of Aevar.”
Considering what Aevar had done to him during the competitions, he should be. “It is Jarl Runar you should fear. I am under his protection, and he is your king.”
For a moment, hesitation wavered in Sig’s eyes, but it didn’t last. The hungry look returned as he leaned in. She turned her face away from him and fought to gain space to kick him, but he laughed at her efforts.
Then came footsteps, fast and heavy.
Sig shoved her aside just before someone grabbed him from behind. Eadlyn stumbled, catching her balance in time to see Aevar throw Sig to the ground. A fist connected with bone. Aevar dragged Sig up by his jerkin and drove his knee into his ribs. The breath went out of Sig in a sharp wheeze. Before he could draw it back in, Aevar threw him against a wooden pillar with a thud. Holding him there with one hand, Aevar yanked his long seax from his belt and pressed the blade to Sig’s throat.
“Youdaretouch another man’s wife?”
Sig gasped, his lips curling into a pained smile as if this were all a game to him.
Aevar’s voice dropped to a low growl, thick with fury. “I should kill you right now.”
“Do it,” Sig spat. “My uncle—”
Aevar’s hand twitched, and the knife bit. A thin red line appeared on Sig’s neck, a drop of blood trailing downward.
Eadlyn shook herself out of the shock that had frozen her to the spot. She didn’t know what kind of trouble might come of Aevar killing Staegar’s heir, but she did not want any of them to find out. An act like that might set the clans at odds and risk the alliance. Staegar would seize it as the perfect excuse to go to waragainst Runar. She could not let that happen, even just for the safety of Aevar and his family.
She stepped forward, trembling, and laid her hand on Aevar’s arm. Beneath her fingers, his muscles were taut with the grip he had on his knife. “Aevar, no.”
His eyes, dark and dangerous, flicked to her. In that moment, she realized she had never seen him truly angry before. Her mouth went dry, but she stood her ground. “It’s not worth killing him.”
