Page 89 of Viktor at Sea

Before I could answer her, Daewon beat me to it.

“Let him, Katarina. He’s her husband, after all. There should be a duty of care and concern between a husband and wife. This is just Viktor’s way of looking after Astrid while he’s away.”

“Yes.” I nodded, relieved. “I just want to be assured that Astrid will be looked after while I am away.”

“I would argue that you’ve left her far too much, but I understand your intentions,” Katarina sighed, looking melancholy. “I hate that the two of you are being separated so early in your marriage. I hoped it would be at least half a year before you had to leave for a long mission.”

“Me too,” I matched her frown, the tea suddenly tasting bitter, but that said more about my mood than Katarina’s tea-making skills. “I just wanted to drop the bag off with you both. I’ll need to leave for the shore now before Barden sends someone to track me down.”

“We’ll see you down there,” Daewon said and saw me out.

My eyes immediately searched for Astrid once I got to the shore, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. I walked around in hopes of spotting her somewhere, and with my gaze set high, I didn’t notice the black tail dancing in the air in front of me.

Kis hissed and scratched my leg.

“Sorry, Kis,” I apologised and reached down to scoop the cat into my arms. “I didn’t mean to step on your tail. If it’s any consolation, I won’t be around to do that for a while.”

Not that she understood me–or would care even if she did–Kis lay in my arms and licked her paw, far more interested in cleaning herself than listening to me talk.

“Where’s Astrid, Kis?” I asked as I continued weaving through the crowd of people, keeping my head down as I joined the rest of the crew at the shore. “She said she would meet me down here.”

“Last I saw Astrid, she was running an errand,” Barden said from behind me. “I would have asked where she was going, but she was in an awful rush.”

“She’s been rushing around all morning,” I sighed. “She keeps saying she wants me to have everything I need for the trip.” That was ironic since the only thing I truly needed was Astrid. And maybe Kis, too.

Neither Astrid nor Kis was a fan of the water, and Astrid wasn’t like me. She wasn’t a sailor or a traveller. She had never been away from her family for more than a week, and that was only when she was visiting relatives who lived on neighbouring islands. I so wished she could join me.

“You’ve found yourself a good life partner,” he smiled at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to return it. Not when I was still angry at him. “I’m just here to make sure you have everything you need.”

“Astrid is already taking care of that,” I joked. “But yes, we do.”

“I also wanted to mention that I’m adding one more person to your crew.”

“Really? One more person on top of Roscoe?” I asked in surprise.

The crew hadn’t changed since I had moved to Jorvik, and it was only this time that we were adding Roscoe into the mix. This long trip would no doubt be very difficult for him as it was his first, but it was also a great opportunity to learn. The boyhad shown a lot of promise and was terribly eager, so I was convinced he would prove himself to be a valuable member of the crew.

Roscoe would not disappoint. I had absolutely no doubt of that.

“Manny will also be joining you,” Barden said.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Has Manny agreed to this?”

“Surprisingly, it was his idea.” He gestured to his youngest son. Manny was standing next to Roscoe, and while the former looked nervous out of his mind, Roscoe couldn’t look more excited if he tried. Two opposites. This was going to be interesting.“I hope you don’t have any issue with this, Viktor. If you do, I can pull him from this mission, and we can think about letting him tag along for the next one.”

“Since he’s already packed and ready to go, he might as well join us.” I shrugged. If it were anyone else, I would not have agreed, but as it was Manny, someone who had shown nearly as much promise as Roscoe, I was willing to make an exception. “We won’t be sailing very far for the first two weeks, so I’ll see how he does. If I don’t think he’ll be able to handle the rest of the trip, I’ll drop him off at Isle or one of the other islands, and they’ll ship him back here.”

“Thank you, Viktor,” Barden grinned and patted me on the shoulder. “I guess I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got a few people I need to talk to, but I’ll be here to see you off once you’re all ready.”

Once Barden moved out of the way, I noted the large group of people were standing behind him, all waiting to see us off. They were all here to wish us luck, crack a few jokes, and say their goodbyes.

I usually loved the attention, but right now, I only wanted the attention of one fine lady, but for the life of me, I couldn’t see her anywhere. I would worry more, but I had Kis, and wherever one was, the other was never far to follow.

That thought comforted me more than it should, and I just stood there, gently running a hand through Kis’ fur as we waited for the woman we both loved most.

CHAPTER FORTY

“Is everything loaded?” I asked Garth, the only crew member left on land. I was still waiting for Astrid to turn up, and Garth was still going through his checklist, checking things off.

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