Page 7 of Astrid at Sea

“Where is your little cat now?” Ursula asked, a small smile on her face. She seemed to be the friendliest of the group, and I made a point to return her smile with a genuine one.

“She is exploring the island,” I answered.

“I would love to meet her later,” Ursula told me, her expression quickly dimming when the others sent her strange looks.

“When I next see her, I’ll come find you and introduce you to Kis,” I smiled widely, ignoring the grouches around the table. “Kis doesn’t take well to strangers, but if you give her something to eat, she’ll let you pet her.”

“I have some fish at home she might like,” Ursula grinned, and this time, I was glad to see that she ignored the strange looks from the others.

“How long have you been married, Astrid?” Revna asked from beside me. “You mentioned you haven’t been married long.”

I felt my cheeks warm with a flush. “Ten days.”

“Ah, you are just newlyweds still!” Lada grinned, a wicked glint in her eyes as she stared at me. “Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but the sex must still be electric.”

Before I could tell them that we were yet to have sex, the others all jumped in with stories of their own.

“It was when Asmund and I got married,” Ivana laughed, fanning herself as her cheeks coloured pink. “The sex was amazing for the first two years of our marriage. And then I got pregnant, and he’s hardly touched me since. Every time he does, I fall pregnant, and then he goes back to not touching me.”

“Gerald always falls on top of me like an animal when he gets back from the sea,” Kindra giggled and fanned herself, her cheeks now bright red. “The sex is always amazing for the first week, but then it fizzles out, so I’m always very encouraging about him going away as often as he wants.”

“That only lasts a few days for us when Sten gets back,” Lada grinned wickedly, her teeth digging into her bottom lip. “But he always brings back lavish gifts with him. He loves having his cock sucked, and depending on how good the gifts are that time, that’s how good I’ll give it to him.”

“Gorm is only interested in having sex with me when I’m pregnant,” Revna sighed dramatically. “It’s so good and electric,but I’m not even thirty and already a mother of five. I gave birth six months ago, and he hasn’t touched me since, so when he gets back next week, I guess I’ll be trying for a sixth.”

It appeared now that the lid had been unscrewed, the can of worms had been unleashed, and I was forced to sit there and listen to their wild sex stories with their husbands. Not only did I learn that pregnancy plays around with your hormones and makes you hornier than at any other time in your life, but you’ll be having non-stop sex for the first five months, and after that, there would be a dry spell until long after the child is born.

By the end of the raunchy anecdotes, all the blood in my body had rushed to my face, and I could hardly believe some of the things they had shared with me.

“Viktor has never fallen on me like an animal before,” I told them, red in the face. After hearing their wild stories, I was embarrassed to admit that I was still a virgin.

“Just you wait,” Revna laughed. “It might not happen now since you’re together, or perhaps because you’re still newlyweds, but as soon as you’re separated for a little while, he’ll ravage you like an animal when he returns.”

All the women laughed, but I was too nervous to join in.

Ivana turned to me. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” I denied, hating the squeak in my voice which gave me away.

Her eyes narrowed, and the corner of her lips turned up in a wicked smirk. “You havelaidwith your husband, haven’t you?”

“Of course I have!” I scoffed and turned away so she wouldn’t see the lie on my face. “Whatever makes you think that?”

Ivana cocked her head to the side, studying me, and the other women eagerly watched the exchange.

“You just seem a little…inexperienced.”

I gulped and shook my head, but they must have seen through the lie because they all burst out laughing. My cheeksburned furiously, and I ducked my head in shame and…disappointment.

CHAPTER FOUR

Thankfully, Isle’s sea crew returned just before the feast started. Viktor had already accepted and counted the gold from Asmund–it was all there–and we planned to set sail as soon as our stomachs were full.

“Will we be able to make up the one day we were set behind here?” I turned to ask Viktor, smiling warmly as he topped up my glass with some more ale.

“We should if there aren’t any other stops like this one.” He reached for a second helping of the giant goat specially slaughtered for this evening’s feast. “We always overestimate the length of the trip by a little bit as things like this happen more often than you think they would. Sometimes, it’s not enough, and we still return late.”

“If that’s the case, you should start overestimating a little more,” I told him. “If I was still back at Jorvik and waiting three months for you to come home, and you didn’t turn up on the estimated day, I would be worried sick.”

---