Page 79 of Summer of the Viking

Already the garden seemed a lost and lonely place. Recent rain had battered the flowers and they were now mud splattered and overgrown.

Alwynn wrapped her arms about her middle and allowed the tears to flow down her cheeks.

She heard Valdar call her name.

‘Leave me be. If that is the last thing you do, leave me be.’

He came slowly into the garden. His cheeks were pale, but his eyes were resolute. Her heart turned over. Love for him surged through her. ‘Alwynn, I will go, but first you must tell me one thing—do you love me?’

Alwynn regarded the planes of his beloved face. Once she’d have been tempted to lie and protect herself. But now she had to tell him and then maybe he’d understand why he had to go. She could not have his death weighing on her conscience.

‘Yes, Valdar, I do love you, but that doesn’t change a thing. I know what the reality is. And my future has no place for you.’

He crossed over to her and drew her into his arms. ‘Hush. It changes everything.’

She put a hand on his cheek. ‘If you love me, you’d leave. I can live knowing you are alive and well somewhere, that you look up at the same stars at night.’

He placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘What are you saying? Having just found you, how could I do that?’

She gave a soft laugh. ‘You will never lose me, Valdar. You are imprinted on my heart. As long as you are still breathing on this earth, I will be content. I have the memories, you see. Before, I had no idea of what it was like to be cherished and now I know. We might not have tomorrow, but we had yesterday and that is something.’

‘Alwynn...’ He enfolded his arms about her. ‘What am I going to do about you?’

She laid her cheek against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. She knew it would be the last time she would be able to do it. Then she looked up into his face and memorised it. The memory would have to sustain her through a lifetime.

‘If you care even a little bit about me, Valdar, you will do this one thing. You will go and save your life. You will forget you ever knew me.’

Chapter Fourteen

‘Are you truly leaving? Giving up?’ Merri’s voice rang out. ‘Valdar, I know you are in the hut.’

Valdar finished buckling on his sword. It had been more than a day and Alwynn had not returned. She loved him, but she had said goodbye. He’d stayed, hoping that she might change her mind. But she had not.

Somehow he had to make sure that she knew he’d come to her aid, no matter what. The ache inside him was far more than it had ever been. And he knew what he’d shared with Alwynn was a once-in-a-lifetime love. There would be no other woman for him, no one could measure up.

‘Little point in me staying, Lady Merri,’ he said, coming out into the warm autumn sunshine. ‘Your stepmother has plans which don’t include me. And my plans don’t include her.’

‘My stepmother feels guilty that the Northmen attack happened. From where I sit, she has nothing to feel guilty about.’ Merri’s face took on an earnest expression. ‘It is not as if she encouraged it, and you saved the village. You saved everyone. I don’t see how you can be a Northman. You build things up, you don’t burn them down. It is a man’s actions that count, not what gods he worships.’

‘You have a way with words, Little One, but others will see it in another way.’ He looked over her shoulder towards the trees which hid Alwynn’s hall from view. ‘When you are older you will understand.’

‘My stepmother says that as well. I’m getting older and I still don’t understand.’

‘If I had an answer to that...I’d rule the world.’

‘Is she going to lose everything?’ Merri asked.

‘I’ve no idea,’ Valdar replied honestly.

Merri considered his words. ‘I wouldn’t mind losing everything. It frightened me the first time, but now I figure that perhaps I was born under an unlucky star.’

Valdar ruffled her hair. ‘You’ve been lucky for me.’

‘There isn’t a guard, you know,’ Merri whispered. ‘Alwynn told me that this morning. Everyone still thinks you are a brave hero and wounded to the point of death. A blood infection.’

‘What?’ He stared at Merri. Alwynn had done more than enough.

‘My stepmother hasn’t told anyone about your...your heritage. She wants you safe and away from here.’

‘How do you know?’

Merri rolled her eyes. ‘She wears your ring on a chain about her neck. I saw it gleaming this morning. And twice she has looked out to see if the smoke still rises from the cottage.’

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