Viking's Love Read Free

speak the truth.”
    Shrieks and cries were heard at the Viking
leader’s edict. The women were crying and holding each other. The
pleading and sobbing made him stiffen, hardly enjoying tormenting
the women to gauge the truth. Before he could carry out his threat,
a tall, blond Viking strode outside.
    Wulfstan’s face was wreathed in annoyance as
he spied his leader, his gaze filled with obvious dislike. The man
was adorned with the riches of the keep, his massive neck
displaying the jewelry and other items he pilfered from Lady
Edwina’s room.
    Wulfstan glared at Joran as he and his
brother came forward. Danik was a smaller version of his older
brother. Wulfstan and Danik were his father’s men, in addition to
another man named Hagar, who hung back sheepishly behind the
pair.
    Wulfstan’s face was flushed from drink and
the heat of battle. He and Joran shared the same pale,
wheat-colored hair and large, powerful build, but for their eye
color. Wulfstan’s steely grey eyes narrowed as he met Joran’s
piercing blue stare.
    All the Vikings in their war party knew there
was more tension than affection between the pair, even if they were
both Ivar’s bastard sons from different women. The brother’s locked
eyes. Wulfstan flinched from the censure he saw in Joran’s
contemptuous gaze.
    “ Might you have waited to enjoy
Lockwraithe’s bounty until the baron’s wife and daughter were
found, Wulfstan?” Joran glared a muttering Danik into
silence.
    “ The baron’s wife was gone when we
broke through!” Wulfstan glared at his half brother in defiance.
“She fled with her servants into the marshes. I sent men to search.
They found nothing. We never found his daughter. We assume she fled
with her mother.”
    “ You know this to be a fact, Wulfstan?
Or did you not bother to find out?”
    Wulfstan flung an angry hand to the group
huddled against the wall of the keep. “Do any of those ugly crows
look like a lady to you, Joran? My men and I looked them all over
when we secured the hall. The lady and her daughter fled, I tell
you. You cannot blame me for this.”
    “ Only the baron’s wife got away,
Wulfstan,” Joran explained, as if speaking to a little child. The
condescension made Wulfstan stiffen with fury. “That means the
baron’s daughter is still here hiding among her servants. You gave
her ample time to disguise herself as a serf when you began your
wenching. Now we have to threaten them to get them to tell us which
of them is she.”
    Wulfstan flung his leader a look of venom,
but said nothing. Joran stalked to the group of women, grabbing one
and jerking her away from the group. The woman screamed and begged
with tears streaming down her face. He held his sword aloft and
eyed the crying woman grimly.
    “ Where is your mistress, girl?” Joran
held the sword over her shrinking head, eyeing the group of women.
He gauged the horrified reactions of the group, seeing their
frightened expressions. He began to lower his sword. A feminine
voice suddenly called out sharply from the back of the
group.
    “ Stop, do not kill the girl!” She
startled them all with her use of their Norse tongue. The small
group parted to reveal a figure swathed in rags and a hooded cloak
that moved forward with determination. The hood was flung
back.
    The Vikings stared at the lovely,
raven-haired beauty before them in disbelief. Her violet eyes
filled with disgust and hatred as they met Joran’s.
    “ Leave the girl alone, Viking! She is
naught but a serf and did only as I commanded her!”
    “ Your sudden grasp of our tongue is
appreciated, Lady Allisande.” Joran pushed the girl back to the
group of women. “Had you not thought to speak up
sooner?”
    Allisande eyed the Viking leader with little
fear in her gaze and shrugged. “Why should I make it easy for you
after you destroyed my home, Viking dog?”
    Joran glared at the small-statured woman. He
bristled at her insult. “We waste time here debating your reasons
for