I can do this, I silently chanted. I can do this.
Minutes passed, and with each one I prayed that Bjorn would say it had been long enough. That I’d proven myself.
But he said nothing. I wasn’t sure if he was even awake. On the beach, more and more people had gathered, watching and chuckling as though this were all a big joke. Even the children joined in, several of them holding up shields with shaking arms, mocking my attempts.
My temper snapped.
“Get up!” I barked. “You are here to teach, not to take a nap in the sun. I wish to do something else.”
Bjorn cracked one eye. “You think that is how it goes in battle? That you get tired and announce to your enemy, ‘I am tired. Let us do something else instead. Let us roast a chicken and drink a cup until my arm steadies.’？” He sat upright. “If your strength fails you in battle, Freya, you’ll die.”
“I’m aware,” I said between my teeth. “But I wish you to test my strength a different way.”
“Fine.” He rose to his feet, then retrieved the other shield. “Ready?”
Before I had a chance to respond, he slammed it into mine. The impact sent me staggering, and I nearly fell off the end of the dock. Gasping, I stumbled back to the center, barely managing to get my shield up before he struck. Again I staggered, nearly going over the edge. “Why are you so angry about having to do this?”
Because there was no denying that he was angry.
Behind the swagger and jokes and indifference was rage, and I didn’t understand why. Didn’t understand why teaching me to fight and watching my back was such a horrible thing.
“Because it’s bullshit.” He smashed his shield into mine with enough force that my heels slid over the edge of the dock, only luck keeping me from falling. “My fate is not tied to yours—that’s just Snorri spinning words to get what he wants. It’s not my destiny to protect you.”
The latter made sense, in a way, but the former…“What if he’s right? Other than Ylva, you were the only one who saw the vision of me being torn apart. That has to mean something.”
“Probably because I have god’s blood.”
“So do Steinunn and Liv,” I countered. “Steinunn says that she saw nothing.”
His expression darkened, though I wasn’t certain if it was the mention of the skald or the fact I’d disproved his argument. “This is not my fate.”
He slammed his shield into mine and my arm shuddered, nearly buckling. One more blow like that and I was going to take the edge of my shield in my chin, but I refused to give in. Refused to call it quits.
“My fate”—he paused in his attack, although I wasn’t certain if it was to give me a rest or because he was more interested in airing his grievances than fighting—“is to win battles, not spend day and night defending another man’s wife.”
“I see.” My tone frigid, I added, “A woman is only worth your time if you might end up in her bed, is that the truth of it?”
“And if it is?”
Even if it was the truth, his behavior was unfair, because it was Snorri who’d forced him into this role, not me. Yet I was the one Bjorn was taking his displeasure out on. And I wasn’t going to take it.
Bjorn came at me again, and as I braced, I murmured, “Hlin, give me strength.”
Power surged through me, magic enveloping my shield. I watched Bjorn’s eyes widen, but it was too late for him to stop his blow.
His shield struck my magic, and the impact launched him backward with such force that he flew through the air, landing in the fjord with a splash.
Vanquishing my magic, I moved to the end of the dock and watched him come spluttering to the surface, his shield floating nearby. “It seems you are the one who is wet, Bjorn.”
He glared at me and then swam toward the dock with powerful strokes, shield abandoned in the water. “Magic will only take you so far,” he snarled. “Snorri wants you to become a warrior, not a glowing beacon in the shield wall that everyone will try to kill.”
“Fuck Snorri,” I shouted at him. “And fuck you, too.”
He reached for the edge of the dock to pull himself up, but I wasn’t through. So I stomped on his fingers, earning a yelp of pain.
“You think I want to be a figurehead?” I demanded. “You think I asked to be named in a seer’s prophecy? I was going about my life when you rode into it and tore it to shreds.”
“Because life with Vragi was such a fine thing? You hated him.” Bjorn started to reach up for the dock again, then hesitated as I lifted my foot.