Saved by the Viking Warrior Page 23

  He gave a half-smile. ‘You love me? How could you?’

  Cwenneth’s heart opened. ‘Very easily. I want to go with you, to be your woman, to follow you about even though I will have no dowry, nothing to recommend me. I want to be a part of your family. Our family.’

  ‘No, not my woman, my wife,’ Thrand corrected. ‘We will marry, Cwen. Come with me to Iceland, sit by the fire and grow old with me. I need you beside me for the rest of my life.’

  ‘I would like that that very much.’ She leant her head against his chest, breathing in his familiar scent. ‘I have loved you for a long time. I believe I fell first when you healed my blisters. I had thought my heart was buried alongside Aefirth and Richard, but I see now that I was wrong. A small part of me will always love them, but hearts expand and grow. You and the children have become my family, the people I want to spend the rest of my days with.’

  ‘The first time I saw you when you were caught in the thorn bush, you made me feel something beside the deadened dull emotion which had been my fate for so many years. I thought I had banished all feelings years ago and you taught me to love again.’ He put a gentle hand to her cheek. ‘You taught me to believe.’

  She laced her fingers with his. ‘Shall we go out and let them know our decision?’

  ‘Together.’

  ‘Yes, together.’

  Cwenneth walked out of the room, holding Thrand’s hand. Her sister-in-law raised her brow in surprise as the entire hall fell silent. Even the monks tending to her brother stopped.

  ‘We are leaving. You may try to stop us if you wish, but I hope you don’t. I am going to Iceland to be with the man I love. I have made my choice.’ She held out her hands and both children ran to her. Thrand picked up Aud and put him on his shoulders. ‘I have chosen my family, my true family of the heart.’

  As the crowd parted they walked out of Lingwold together without a backward glance.

  Epilogue

  A farm in the east of Iceland a year later

  The late-evening sun shone down on the newly constructed longhouse. Although it was mainly in the style of Norse longhouses, there were a few Northumbrian touches here and there. It had taken several months of hard work for Thrand and his men to build it once they arrived in Iceland, but Cwenneth thought it well worth the wait.

  Cwenneth drew a deep breath, enjoying the rare moment of calm. Aud and Hilde were tucked up in bed. The household chores were done.

  Thrand had allowed her to select the spot for the house and had been surprised at her choice. When she asked why, he said that the situation reminded him of something he’d seen in a dream once and then he confessed about the dream he had had in the hut when he had lain injured the previous year.

  ‘Here you are,’ Thrand said, coming out of the house, carrying a bundle. ‘There is someone who wants to see you and show what she can do.’

  She smiled and reached for their daughter Sinriod, who had been born a month ago. They had named her after Thrand’s mother. If she had had any lingering anxieties about the curse, it had been laid to rest the first time she felt Sinriod kick in her womb. But Cwenneth knew even if she had never had Sinriod, she would still have felt blessed. She had her husband and her two children of her heart. Sinriod simply added to her happiness and contentment.

  The baby opened her eyes, blinked and gave a huge smile at both her parents.

  ‘She’s smiling. Properly smiling. What a very clever girl. How long do you think she has been doing that?’

  Thrand put an arm about her waist and pulled her and Sinroid close. ‘After I finished my chores, I went in to check that our children were all asleep and this little one smiled at me. She wanted to come out and see her mother.’

  ‘If she had smiled at Aud or Hilde, you would have heard the excited shouts from here to Reykjavik and possibly even to Bernicia.’

  Thrand laughed, sending a warm tingle down her spine. ‘They are both very proud of their baby sister.’

  Cwenneth leant back into his embrace and looked up into his summer-blue eyes. Over the past year, the shadows had slowly faded from his expression. ‘And why shouldn’t they be?’

  ‘You were looking pensive earlier this evening. Is there some reason why?’

  ‘It has been a year since my caravan was attacked.’

  ‘Only a year? It seems like a lifetime ago.’ His arm tightened about her shoulders. ‘It is hard to believe that I once thought my life should consist solely of war and vengeance. Through you, I learnt the best revenge is a life well lived with people who love you.’

  ‘My thoughts exactly.’

  They stood there, watching their baby daughter smile up at them, and knew that all was right in the world because they had each other and their growing family.

  * * * * *

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  ISBN-13: 9781460338933

  Saved by the Viking Warrior

  Copyright © 2014 by Michelle Styles

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