Page 30 of Claimed By the Viking

He’ll be faced with the choice, and if he doesn’t choose me…

Dread sent a pang through her womb, as if the new life clinging there trembled in fear.

She couldn’t ignore the possibility she’d be left alone. Gods willing, the child would thrive, but the pain of losing Viggo would never ease. She’d be struck by that anguish every time she held the babe, looking into its dear face.

Was that an agony she could bear to live with?

CHAPTER 11

When Viggo stirred,she pressed her lips to his in an urgent kiss, wanting to recapture the closeness they’d shared earlier.

She had no answers to the turmoil within her.

All she could do was show him her care and hope it was enough.

At last, he broke off, rolling onto his back. He said naught, staring blankly skyward.

The sun had moved a good portion but was still high above them. ‘Twas strange to think he could feel its warmth but see nothing of its brightness. Signy raised herself upon her elbow.

“Close your eyes, my love. ‘Tis not good for you to gaze so directly.”

He made a scoffing sound but threw his arm over his face, nonetheless.

How suddenly his moods shift.

Signy bit back what she wished to say—that she still held hope for his sight returning. ‘Twas a conversation they’d had enough times.

She shared those hopes only in her prayers now, beseeching the gods for their intervention.

With some effort, she pushed down her disquiet. “Is it not a perfect day? I’ve never been more content than I am at this moment, here with you.”

“Aye, ‘tis perfect!” The bitterness in his tone was clear. “Never have I been happier nor more miserable!”

Tentatively, she touched his cheek. “Tell me of when you wereonlyhappy. I know your childhood was not always carefree, but all children strive for joy. What games did you play with your brothers before you entered the mines?”

He brushed her hand away. “If there was such a time, I’ve forgotten it.”

Still, she pressed. “Your future then. How did you imagine it, one day returning to your family’s homestead? I want to hear you speak of the place. Does the house stand within meadows such as this? Is there a stream nearby for watering your livestock? What animals do you?—”

“Enough!” Viggo’s temper flared. “Why would I wish to dwell on a place I’ll never see again?”

Signy swallowed back her brimming tears, knowing he spoke sharply because he was bereft. “If your jarl repairs the ship, you might return and take me with you. My eyes can serve us both. You’d soon find familiarity, enough to make a success of things, and we’ll have children! Lots of them who can help on the farm. Think of it, Viggo. You deserve a family and a future.”

Keeping his arm as it was, concealing the upper half of his face, he spoke haltingly. “Even were that possible, you don’t know what you’re saying. The labor you’d be forced to undertake! You think that’s what you deserve? To be married to a cripple, working your fingers to the bone?”

“I’ll never see you that way. Don’t you understand? You’re mine, Viggo, and I don’t want to let you go!”

There, I’ve said it!

“You think I have the capacity to return your feelings, but without my father, without my brothers…” His voice was tight. “I only have myself, and it’s not enough, not like this…”

Pushing herself upright, she glared down at him. “I know things have been difficult, not just since… but before. I know your life has been hard, but don’t tell me you have no one. What do I need to say to you?”

He mightn’t be able to see the expression on her face, but he could surely hear in her voice how she was beseeching him. “You say you’re alone, but it isn’t true, or it doesn’t need to be. You must know that I love you!”

It wasn’t how she’d intended to tell him.

She’d thought the words many times. Now, she’d uttered them aloud, but not in the way she wanted to. Who declared their love in ill temper?

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