“I have to admit, I didn’t believe her at first,” Eyvind added after taking a test sip of the stew. “I thought she was sending us on some pointless mission to see how far we’d go to please her.”
“Why didn’t she come herself?” Oddny asked.
“She’s with child, and I guess it’s making her very ill,” said Alf.
I knew it, Oddny thought.
“So she sent us in her stead. We didn’t even know you were here,” Alf went on. “We only stopped to resupply. What are the chances?”
“Had you arrived a day later, we would’ve missed you,” said Halldor. “We were going to leave for Courland tomorrow morning. My former captain told us Signy’s whereabouts.”
Signy’s cropped hair was now wrapped in a bright pink silk scarf Alf had bought at the market stall, and its cheerful color stood in direct contrast to the look she was giving Halldor. Unsurprisingly, she had recognized him on sight, and Oddny could feel the hatred coming off her in waves.
“Could you explain to me what he’s doing here?” she asked Oddny. “That woman tossed him overboard for failing to capture you so she could sell you into slavery.”
“In all fairness, Gunnhild nearly took his eye for it,” Oddny said. At Signy’s look of confusion, she elaborated. “She’s a bird sometimes. It’s hard to explain—”
Signy’s eyes widened. “Yes. I knew it was her. Alf and Eyvind said she’d sent them, that she was alive, that she was queen—how did this happen? How did any of it happen? We all thought she was dead!”
“We didn’t know what to tell her, because we don’t exactly know, either,” Alf said sheepishly to Oddny. “We got to Alreksstadir one day and left to get Signy the next. All we were told was to keep an eye out for Olaf of Vestfold’s ships and steer clear of them.”
“And gods, did we see them. There were so many ships heading into Vik when we passed, we skirted the coast to avoid them,” Eyvind added. “When we stopped here at Birka the first time, before we crossed the Eastern Sea to Courland, we heard that Olaf was mustering a fleet. It seems he’s telling everyone that Eirik came to Vestfold and killed the lost son of King Bjorn during an honor duel, and that Gunnhild cheated on his behalf—”
“So he’s twisting the story after all,” said Halldor with a scowl.
“Just as we suspected he would,” Svein said under his breath, and Halldor gave a grim nod of agreement. Signy looked back and forth between them, her eyes narrowed.
“Wait,” said Oddny to the twins. “You’re telling us that a fleet is sailing to attack Alreksstadir?”
“That’s what we’ve gathered,” said Eyvind.
“Do you think Eirik knows?” Svein asked.
“If people all the way at Birka know, then I’m certain he must as well.” Alf sighed. “And we’re about to sail right back into the thick of it. That, Signy, is why we didn’t tell you. We didn’t want you to be afraid—”
“Signy isn’t going anywhere,” Oddny said. “Tell Gunnhild she’s with me, and that we’re both safe. That’ll be enough for her. I know it will.”
Signy turned and stared at her. “Why wouldn’t we go back with them?”
How could Oddny even begin to tell her all that had transpired since the raid? The task seemed overwhelming. What had happened over the last moon or so alone—she didn’t want to revisit it, because the more she did, the more she questioned her treatment of Gunnhild after the duel. Learning that Gunnhild had sent her brothers to fetch Signy, that her desire to save Signy had not wavered, even after she gave Oddny the silver to do so herself, further complicated things.
It proved that Gunnhild still cared. That Thorbjorg’s warning had not been in Oddny’s best interest after all, and might have influenced Oddny’s reaction in that moment when she said those cruel things to Gunnhild. And that was a truth she wasn’t ready to face.
Oddny stood. “I need air. Excuse me.”
She went and sat on a bench in the yard, eyes closed, taking deep breaths. It wasn’t long before Signy came to sit beside her, though she was quiet for a time before speaking: “Oddny. Start at the beginning.”
So Oddny did. She told her everything, from the aftermath of the raid to their flight to Birka.
“But it all happened because of that oath we took, Signy,” she said when she was done. “Thorbjorg planned the raid to get rid of us both, because if she couldn’t find Gunnhild, she at least wanted to make sure that we would never reunite. Our oath means something—on Gunnhild’s wedding night, Thorbjorg as good as admitted that to me. She’s foreseen that only the three of us together can beat her. But . . . the opposite is also true. If we don’t go back—”
“Something terrible will happen to Gunnhild,” Signy finished with a glance at her own scar. When Oddny looked at her in surprise, she held up her palm and said, “This thing has been . . . prickling for the past moon. Almost like it’s trying to warn me of something. It’s never done that before.”
Oddny had felt no such sensation, but she wasn’t surprised. Her bond with Gunnhild had been broken, while Signy’s had not.
“Everything that both of you have done has been to save me,” Signy continued, and when she turned, she blinked, and Oddny realized she was crying. “Gods. I never would have thought you’d do something like this. You could’ve moved on and forgotten about me—”
Oddny turned on the bench and took both her hands. “How could I ever have done that?”
Tears streaked Signy’s dirty cheeks. “I was so rotten to you that day.”
“You were, but—you’re my sister. I’d do anything for you.”
Signy slipped her hands away and wiped her tears, smearing grime across her face. “I have to go back, Oddny. I owe Gunna that much. Come with me or don’t, but I’m going with Alf and Eyvind. I don’t have any magic, and I can’t fight—but at least if I die, I’ll die with Gunnhild. Yes, she betrayed you. Yes, it was terrible and dishonorable of her, and you have every right to be upset with her. But in the end, you both picked your men over each other, you realize?”
Oddny glared at her, but she couldn’t exactly refute it.
“The woman who killed Mother,” Signy said, looking down, picking at the dirt under her fingernails. “Halldor said she told you where I was. Why would she do that?”
“She was dying,” Oddny said. “The wound Mother dealt her festered. She told us where to find you in exchange for putting her out of her misery and looking after her daughter.”
Signy smiled grimly. “How poetic. And Halldor—you really do trust him?”
“I do. He’s my husband. I love him.”
“Enough to forsake Gunnhild, apparently. I wouldn’t have thought you had it in you,” Signy said with something of the old spark in her eyes, and she jabbed Oddny with her bony elbow. “Little Oddny Coal-brow, the good daughter, chooses a handsome warrior over her sworn sister. Shall I call you Oddny Oath-breaker now?”