Page 31 of Hungry Like a Wolf
“Look at her!” Anna said, gesturing. “She is beautiful, regal, and with a sharp mind too. Stop saying you own her. No one owns her except for our dear Lord above who one day will shepherd her into His flock for all eternity.”
“‘Flock’?” Orm asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Beautiful,” Ravn said, looking down at Carmel, who was still locked in the circle of his arm.
It was true. She was slight of frame but stood tall. She was beautiful because of the way she held herself, the tilt of her chin, the tip of her lips, the curious narrowing of her eyes when she asked him a question and was keen for the answer.
His heart thudded in a way he’d become used to when he saw her for the first time each day. The gods had put her in his way to challenge him, he was sure, but what the challenge was, he couldn’t guess.
“I thank you, Anna, my friend,” Carmel said, shaking herself loose of Ravn. “And now I have chores.”
He let her go. Allowed her to walk back to the dwelling she shared with Orm.
“Pack,” he called after her. “We leave on the next tide.”
“I have nothing to pack other than my faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord.” She held up her hand, her middle finger pointing directly upward in a gesture that could only be described as defiantly disrespectful.
*
The longboat wasquickly loaded with supplies for the journey north. Ravn’s crew of five had made the necessary repairs to the sails and hull and there was nothing left to do except climb aboard.
He walked to the beach with his siblings. The sun shone down and as they navigated through the dunes, orange-and-black butterflies fluttered around the swaying white flowers.
“Njord is kind today,” Haakon said, nodding at the ocean.
It was flat and smooth, barely a ripple upon it.
“Ja,” Ravn said, clasping his brother’s shoulder. “It is the gods’ way of telling us we must leave Tillicoulty now.”
“I don’t want him to take my thrall, Haakon,” Orm whined as he threw a stone into the air and caught it with a snatch of his hand.
“She is going. It is for the best,” Haakon said.
“I found her. I want to keep her,” Orm went on.
“Get used to it,” Ravn said. “She’s coming with me.”
“Good riddance,” Astrid huffed. “Every time I look at Carmel, I think how close she came to killing Hamish.”
Hamish, who walked at Astrid’s side, rubbed a fading scar on his brow.
Astrid touched Hamish’s cheek. A tender gesture, and one Ravn wasn’t ordinarily used to seeing from his sister but had noticed it more and more when she was around Hamish. Talland broad and hair the same color as hers, Hamish seemed to have a secret way of being with her, one that suited them both and didn’t need explaining to anyone. Ravn was happy for her. There’d been no man in Drangar who could tame Astrid and much as it was a surprise that this quiet, pale foreigner had captured her heart, he was glad—he also knew there must have been a lot more beneath the surface when it came to Hamish. Astrid wasn’t a woman to settle.
Ravn glanced over his shoulder to make sure Carmel was following through the dunes.
She was walking with Anna and Kenna, a large cloak thrown around her shoulders with the hood drawn up. Her expression was dark, her mouth downturned. For all the world, it looked as though she were heading for the hangman’s noose, not a new life.
“You think the people of Drangar will accept her?” Haakon asked.
“Ja, I will tell them to.”
“She does not speak their language. She does not worship our gods.” Haakon took a turn toward the small pier and the waiting longboat.
Ravn kept pace with him. “She is a woman of great resources. Look at how she now walks with the Queen of the Tillicoulty, a place she attacked not so long ago.”
“The queen is benevolent.” Haakon set his hand over his chest. “She sees the good in everyone.”
“A gracious quality,” Ravn acknowledged.
