“Bjorn…” Snorri’s voice dripped with warning, and indeed, I wanted to kick him in the shins, because all he was accomplishing was making tensions between me and Ylva worse.
“I speak only the truth that has been repeated by all who were here last night,” Bjorn said. “You should be rewarding Freya for following her instincts, else Halsar, and most of its people, would be ash. And Ylva, you should be on your knees thanking her for twisting the threads of fate, else you’d be the cause of all that death.”
If I hadn’t been dripping sweat from the anxiety currently twisting my stomach into ropes, I’d have laughed as Ylva’s eyes widened with outrage.
Snorri rubbed at his temples. “You’ve made your point, Bjorn. As it is, I’ve no intention of beating anyone. Hlin warned us and we failed to take appropriate precaution. I don’t intend to make the mistake of ignoring what else she revealed.”
Bjorn’s face blanched as understanding took hold. “I told you I wouldn’t—”
“Your fate is entwined with Freya’s,” Snorri interrupted. “You are destined to use your strength and skills to protect her. But more than that, you must use them to teach her.”
“I—”
“Freya has proven the gods favor her,” Snorri said. “Yet the people grieve, blaming her for last night’s raid. Some might go so far as to seek vengeance upon her, which you must protect her against. You must also help turn her into a warrior they see as worth following.”
“I know nothing of teaching someone how to fight,” Bjorn snapped. “This is—”
“These are the reasons I asked you here, Bjorn,” Snorri continued. “Not to enjoy the sound of your voice, but because I would have you make her ready. I would have you, my son and heir, make a warrior of our shield maiden. I would have you teach her to fight in a shield wall. And”—he looked between the two of us—“because Hlin foresaw that it would be you who will keep her safe, you will remain at her side, day and night, until she has fulfilled her destiny.”
Bjorn’s green eyes darkened, his hands balled into fists. “This is not my destiny.”
The last vestiges of Snorri’s patience evaporated. “You are my son. You will abide or you will leave. Am I understood?”
For a heartbeat, I thought Bjorn would walk out, and a shocking stab of pain lanced through me. But he only clenched his teeth, the “Fine” that exited between them more growl than word. “Might I have one more night of freedom before you bind me to her?”
“One night,” Snorri snapped. “But at dawn, you will join Freya and never leave her side.”
I closed my eyes, silently cursing the gods for giving me what I wanted even as they took it away.
Scowling, I stared at the sun, which, given it was late morning, was high in the sky. Bjorn was supposed to have been at the great hall an hour after dawn. My morning had been wasted sitting around waiting, and I was thoroughly pissed off.
“Bjorn isn’t much for mornings,” Liv said, coming up from behind me. “The only reason one typically sees him at dawn is because he’s yet to go to bed.”
That didn’t surprise me at all.
Liv, however, had been at the great hall at dawn, checking on the progress of the injured. Despite the gravity of their wounds, several had already departed, fully recovered, while others still suffered. Some, I knew, had never woken up, the goddess Eir having declined to save them. How does she decide? I quietly wondered, rubbing at the fingerprint-shaped bruises on my arms from Snorri shaking me. How does the goddess choose who lives and who dies? But instead of asking Liv the question, I posed another. “You know him well?”
The healer shrugged. “As well as anyone, I suppose. I was raised on a farm north of Halsar, but I didn’t come to serve Snorri until after my gift manifested, which was after Bjorn was taken to Nordeland.”
I blinked. “Nordeland?”
One of Liv’s eyebrows rose, then she shook her head. “I forget how things are in a small village, not knowing any of the events going on more than an hour’s ride in any direction.” She sighed. “There are days I’d give anything to go back to a life of blissful ignorance.”
From someone else, namely Ylva, the words would have felt like an insult, but not from Liv. She was merely telling it as it was, not casting judgment. “I’d prefer not to be ignorant in this.”
She gave a slight nod. “King Harald of Nordeland heard of the foretelling and, knowing a united Skaland would pose a danger to him, came to Halsar to kidnap Bjorn. He intended to hold him hostage so that Snorri would never move against Nordeland. Bjorn’s mother was killed during the kidnapping. Burned alive, they say.”