Page 49 of Hungry Like a Wolf
“Ja, it has never been worn before. You will be the first.”
“It’s… It’s beautiful.”
“I am glad you like it.” Erin continued to add flowers to her hair. “Ravn is different upon his return to Drangar.”
“He is? How?”
“He has smiled.” She laughed. “That never used to happen.”
“Really?” When Carmel thought of Ravn, she pictured him with a smile on his face. Either that or with lust in his eyes. “Why didn’t it?”
“I have no knowledge of that, but I can guess it was his desire to be king over his brother.” She hesitated. “Orm always annoyed him too. Do you know Orm?”
“Oh, aye, I know Orm. And he annoys me also.” Carmel laughed and was glad there was an ocean between her and Orm.
“The gods were playing a strange game when they created him.”
“It is true Orm is different,” Carmel said. “Though I think…”
“What?”
“I think there is a woman in Tillicoulty who is rather fond of him.”
“Really? That is good. I have seen him enjoy naked pleasure, but never with the same woman for long.”
Carmel felt her cheeks heating at the mention of sex. She dipped her head.
“Are you looking forward to your wedding night?”
“Why would you ask that?” Wasn’t such a topic rather personal?
“Ravn is a hot-blooded man. He will take a woman with much passion. You are not marrying a virgin the way I did.” Erin paused. “Not to mention, the king looks at you as though he were starving and you are a delicious meal that he cannot wait to devour.”
Her belly twisted over itself and she gulped. “All I can do is hope he can control his appetite.”
Erin laughed. “Oh, honey, why would you want him to?”
*
A few hourslater, Carmel stood on the pier with Erin at her side and Ravn before her.
A crowd stood on the beach and looked on. The fire cages had been lit and the longboats bobbed on a gentle swell.
“Take each other’s hands,” Joseph said, holding up a length of silky, blue material.
Ravn gently took her hand. His mouth was a solemn, straight line and his hair plaited neatly. He wore a brass crown dottedwith amber. His gray tunic had brown leather strapping that crossed at his chest and was studded with bronze. Leather also wrapped around the lower half of the sleeves and his pants and boots matched. He was tall and regal and the sword at his belt glinted in the sunshine.
“May all the gods, the mighty All Father and God in heaven, look upon you today with joy and offer you prosperity and good fortune.” Joseph wrapped the silk ribbon around their wrists three times, then he tied a knot, binding them together. “In the exchanging of words and swords, you will now become man and wife and forever walk the paths of destiny and fate together.”
Carmel’s heart rate picked up as a gust of breeze caught a tendril of her hair. This really was it. She was to be wed. And in a way—and to a man—she could never have imagined.
“Princess Carmel,” Ravn said, his concentration solely on her. “As your husband, I pledge to cherish, honor, and respect you from this day until my last. I promise to protect you, to be loyal to you so that you forever know that you can always rely upon my heart, as it beats for you.”
Her throat dried and a tremble went up her spine and over her scalp.
“Princess,” Joseph said gently.
She pulled in a breath. “I stand before God Almighty and you, King Ravn of Drangar, on this day to pledge my devotion as a wife and mother to your children.” She paused.
