Viking Fire Read Free Page A

ill.
    She grabbed her candle holding the wick at arm’s length for him to light.
    At his stare she tightened her hold on her robe. His hand brushed hers as he touched his flame to her candle.
    As soon as her wick caught, she stepped back. The flame wavered, then straightened.
    “Are you done? I would like to bathe in solitude and not with a heathen gawking at me.”
    He stood a breath away from her. His presence sent shivers through her. Must be the earliness of the morning, she thought. Her mind had gone daft.
    “Take your bath, my lady.” He waved an arm across the filled barrel ignoring her insult. “And at sunrise I will meet you in the courtyard.”
    She huffed regaining her senses. “I am not some servant for you to order about.”
    “If I do not have your promise you will meet me,”—his eyes twinkled with mischief—“then I will wait here while you bathe and dress. Then afterward, drag you outside.” His eyes challenged her to argue.
    She clenched her jaw, refusing to answer.
    “I take your silence for your consent.” He bowed his head. “I will send Elva as escort when you have finished.” He drifted from the room.
    Minutes passed as her ears strained for a sound, she checked the hallway, making sure he did not lurk about.
    She disrobed and then stepped into the water. The scent of him carried in the bath beneath the lye and wood ash. With the fluid soap she washed as she grumbled that she did not care what he smelled like. She rushed through her bath—she could not relax. Every creak worried her of his return.
    She stepped from the barrel and then dried. Instead of waiting for Elva, she threw on her leine and then her gown.
    Swiftly Elva swept in, carrying a hazel twig, woolen cloth, and a silver comb in one hand, and a piece of red cloth in the other.
    “Morning, my lady.” She handed her the stem. Her words sounded as if she sung her mistress a tune.
    Kaireen snatched the twig, eyeing the silk as if it might leap from Elva’s arm and bite her. Without Elva telling her, she knew the material was a sample for her wedding dress. “Why did you not tell me he was here?”
    “He is a handsome man, do you not think?” She laid the crimson material that was only the size of her arm across an empty bench. “The dye-makers did an excellent shade of red from the kermes. I will start work on your wedding gown today. Be finished by your wedding.”
    “Answer me!”
    “He bathed when I arrived to fill your bath.” She shrugged. “How was I to know he lingered?”
    Kaireen huffed. But she held no doubt Elva told him she came to heat water for her mistress.
    Maybe she had woken him so he could harass her.
    As she cleaned her teeth with the hazel, Kaireen pondered how to be rid of him.
    Then she wiped her teeth with the woolen cloth as Elva pulled the comb through her auburn hair. Her handmaid braided her hair in one long rope and secured the end with ribbons.
    Sunlight peered through the arrow slits, filling the room. Kaireen stamped her feet into her slippers. She dipped her fingers into the rose oil and then pressed her damp fingers to the hollow of her throat.
    Elva snuffed out the candle with her fingertips. She gathered her mistress’s sample for her wedding gown including the silver comb leaving the rest for the scullery maids to clean, and then ushered her outside to the courtyard where Bram waited.
    Kaireen followed after Elva. Her mind raced as to how she might escape this. With her temper, the convent would not take her in. Maybe she could wed in secret to someone else beforehand, but she had found fault in her mind of any would be suitor.
    Outside, she blinked adjusting to the light. Bram’s blond hair glowed in the sunlight. He wore blue hoses and a lighter shade overtunic. His leather belt held a sheathed sword. She flushed remembering the muscles she had seen there earlier.
    Her handmaid curtsied to them both. She would serve as chaperone until another took her place.
    They walked to the