Page 38 of Claimed By the Viking

Only then can I tell him that I may be carrying his child.

Only then can I save him.

CHAPTER 14

Viggo droppedhis head to his hands, leaning into the darkness.

Am I to cling to this life then, purely for Signy’s sake? To protect her from Rangvald and Eldberg? Is such a thing even possible?

And what of protecting her from me?

Perhaps she’d be better off with another…

The grim reality was that he knew not which path to take nor how to safeguard Signy’s happiness.

The one surety was that he worshipped her.

Much good it would do him!

She’s shown her care through action and word, endlessly patient, gentle, and tender. She’s demonstrated her care for me again and again.

She’s professed to love me, regardless of my shortcomings, but it’s impossible that remains true. Not after the violent way I treated her.

If there ever was a chance of demonstrating that I deserve her love, I’ve destroyed it with my beast-like behavior.

What have I done?

Though unspoken, the words choked his throat.

I’ve sabotaged the most wondrous thing in my life. The only thing…

It was evident, even without his sight.

He’d always known he wasn’t worthy of her. It was time to accept; nothing would change that.

The best I can hope for is to keep her safe until the others depart the island. I’ll hide her, if necessary, to keep them from taking her. ‘Twill be better than letting her go to Skálavík, to an unknown fate, among those who may seek to possess her for naught but her youth and beauty.

When the danger is past, I’ll return to the pact we made and ask her assistance in helping me end this life.

We’ll both then be free.

The resolution ought to have heartened him, but his pain prevailed.

Would he ever be free?

Or would he waken in the next life, carrying the memory of Signy and all he’d lost, destined to carry that chasm forever within his soul?

And what of the child she seeks from me?

If she still wishes such, can you trust yourself to lay with her again? How oft will the deed be necessary before she’s blessed by the gods?

To that he had no answer.

He was but a man, and the gift of new life was not in his power alone. Freyja would decide whether Signy would bear his offspring, for good or ill, and ‘twould be the goddess herself who’d watch over child and mother.

Something else played upon his mind, stirring his unease.

Rangvald had intimated the women of the island were keeping secrets.

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