Page 59 of Hungry Like a Wolf
“So there is no reason to berate yourself, Ravn.”
For a moment, he was thoughtful, then, “And Haakon?” He traced the angle between her neck and shoulder that was peeking from the fur.
“What about Haakon?”
“You have met him. He is a fine Viking, with patience enough to tell sagas to children, anyone’s children. He walked slowly with my father while I rushed to the sacred doors of Uppsalla, and he didn’t raid Tillicoulty. Instead, he has made it a better and safer place.” He paused. “I cannot say that I would not have raided what I could have in his place.”
“Would you now?”
He stared over her shoulder at an elk skull hanging on the wall. “They are good people there, families, like Drangar.”
“So you would not?”
He didn’t answer.
She ran her hand over his hair. “I think you are every bit as fine as your brother.”
He huffed.
“What?”
“I tried to kill him.” Again, he looked her in the eye. “I would have if my father hadn’t stopped me. I was about to put a dagger through his heart.”
“Why?” A muscle tensed in her jaw and she stiffened slightly.
“All in the name of power…which shames me.” He swallowed tightly. “I stepped off the path of my destiny and behaved dishonorably. But the gods punished me for not believing in fate. A fate they had mapped for me when the stars were created.” He hardly dared look at her face again. Carmel’s opinion of him, he suddenly realized, was the most important one of all.
“But you have found your path now?”
“Ja, I have worked hard to find my path again. I flung myself at the mercy of Njord when I took to the ocean, and then I bestowed my brother with the respect his new crown deserves.”
“And you regret your past mistakes?
“Ja.”
“God is merciful. God forgives.”
“But do you?”
“I have nothing to forgive you for.” She paused. “Unless you have only married me for the sons I will deliver.”
He smiled, a slight tilt of his lips. “No, no, I have married you because you are the only woman I can imagine having at my side in this life and the next. I want you as my queen. It is your rightful place.”
“I like that…even if it is for only three summers.” She paused and raised her eyebrows. “That is what you promised, right?”
“I will make it so good, you will never want to leave.” He tightened his hold on her. “Not in a thousand years.”
“You will, huh?” She giggled and touched his cheek.
“I will be a changed man. My people will say it. Like a snake shedding its skin, I will be reborn.”
“I have faith in you.”
“You are brave to believe in me with such conviction.” He swept his lips over hers. “And the gods smile upon brave women.”
“I am also lucky, for what man other than you would have been so gentle with me on our wedding night, or as skilled?”
“‘Skilled.’” He grinned, a lightness coming over him at the same time his cock stirred. “Ja, I am skilled.”
