Valkyrie Fallen, Chapter 27

Brenna

*

True to his promise, Leif arrived at our doorstep shortly after sunrise, and only left when all the chores were done and we had eaten supper.

Thanks to his presence, Signe was a model patient. She accepted his help to move as she needed it, allowing him to carry her from her bed to the table, or closer to the fire. I checked her ankle daily, using my renewed energy to press more healing encouragement into the broken bones and stimulate the blood flow. Every night I snuck out after the others were asleep to don my armor and enjoy the weightlessness of flight, restoring the power I’d drained during the day.

And Signe was healing, quickly. Much more quickly than she would have without magical intervention.

Leif made no more declarations of his intent to make me his bride, but he seemed intent on showing me exactly how valuable he could be as a mate. He doted on Signe as if she were his own, telling her jokes and bringing her little gifts.

If I reached for something, he was there to hand it to me. If I carried something, he offered to take it or help me with the load.

The attention was endearing, and very much appreciated, given that Signe could not help. She did minor tasks that didn’t require her to move, but I relied heavily on Leif’s help to keep the household running. He helped with a lovesick grin on his face, beaming whenever I met his eye.

Guilt bubbled in my belly. I shouldn’t accept his help. Allowing him to be here, to give me his time and attention, was only encouraging him. And I knew I’d only break his sweet, innocent heart.

To make matters worse, I soon realized there was another heart at stake in this equation.

Signe hardly seemed bothered about her foot, or her work, when Leif was around. Instead, her focus was entirely on him. She fussed with her hair in the morning; her face lighting up when he arrived to break his fast with us. Her eyes tracked him around the longhouse, watching him possessively when he stepped away to help me with something, then beaming with pleasure when he returned to attend to her needs. She started to need more and more of his help, to fetch her something from the other room, or carry her around. When Leif left for the night, Signe sighed and gazed dreamily at the fire until she lay back and fell asleep. 

This was a disaster in the making, and I did not know how to stop the train wreck I could see coming a mile off.

Leif was hopelessly crushing on me, and Signe on him. Even when he eventually got over me, he wouldn’t be interested in thirteen-year-old Signe, despite her outward maturity. He saw her as a younger sister, his feelings toward her very familial. She was the little sister of his brother, and he was protective and caring, as a big brother should be.

And that was all.

But I could read the young woman’s dreams on the girl’s face. To her, Leif was a knight in shining armor—or a viking with the favor of the Jarl, since knights weren’t even a thing yet in the 800’s—who had come to her rescue at her darkest hour. He held her, and gave her affection, and he was hotter than any man in the viking ages had any right to be. 

If I were Signe, I’d certainly have a crush on him, too.

But I wasn’t, and unfortunately Leif’s admiration was focused on my ancient, jaded ass.

Valkyries were legendary for our beauty; it was hardly surprising he was attracted to me. But I knew he wasn’t the type to fall for a pretty face. Certainly, there were plenty of pretty faces around to choose from.

Leif was a far deeper, more intuitive soul. An old soul. He needed someone with the depth of character that most girls his age lacked.

A depth of character that Signe was far too young to understand.

And so I stewed in the storm that was brewing between Leif, myself, Signe, and inevitably Bjorn when he came back. He would either be furious at Leif for drawing the interest of his little sister, or furious at him for being oblivious to her interest and inevitably breaking her heart.

To be honest, there were a great number of things likely to draw Bjorn’s ire when he returned tomorrow.

I suspected he would be angry when he found out I’d set Signe’s foot. He’d never directly forbidden me from doing it, but it was risky and we’d waited until he left… decidedly sneaky.

Then there was the matter of Bjorn having kissed me… I still didn’t know what that meant, or what he intended.

My stomach churned with misgivings. No matter how many things went well, there was bound to be something that exploded on all of this. I could feel it coming like the electricity of an approaching storm in the air.

To top it all off, I had yet to get to know Soren, or really even have a decent conversation with the man. I knew he was the leader of this little pack, and if I were to join them, I’d need his approval. How on earth I was supposed to win it, I had no idea.

After Leif left, I checked Signe’s foot once more. When I pulled away the wrappings, a significant portion of the purple bruising had faded to yellow and green. Her flesh was hot to the touch, but not red or shiny indicating any sort of infection or additional swelling. It just showed the blood was flowing well and healing the area at an astronomical rate.

I still didn’t want to move it—the bones needed more time to knit together—but I needed to keep infusing my healing energies into the wound.

Wrapping my fingers around the area, I reached out with my senses to the fragmented bone. Sure enough, I could feel the concentration of energy that was focused around the break, and the tenuous connections that had been growing between the two pieces. It was working.

Pulling the energy from my core to my fingertips, I pressed as much as I could through my skin to hers, directing it to continue healing her injury.

Signe sat completely still; she trusted me implicitly now, having marveled at the improvement before her eyes.

When I breathed deeply and withdrew my hands, reaching to replace the wrappings, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m wrapping your leg to keep it from moving,” I answered mildly, focused on my task.

“No, I mean, when you place your hands on me and hum like that, what are you doing? Are you praying?”

I hadn’t realized I was humming. My pulse quickened, and I rushed to answer her question as nonchalantly as I could. “Yes, I am praying to Frigg to help you heal.”

“I didn’t think Frigg was concerned with injuries.”

“You’re right, she’s ordinarily not. But I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

“You do it every night.” Her shrewd blue eyes observed my reaction. She hadn’t taken the tea for pain today, and her senses were sharp.

“Yes, and your foot is healing very well. So I’d say it’s working.” I grinned at her as I finished affixing the splints. “I think if you stay at this rate, we might get you up and moving around soon. You still can’t walk on it,” I reminded her sternly, “but we might give you a little more freedom. I’m sure you’re tired of Leif carrying you around.”

Now it was Signe’s turn to be coy. “Oh, I don’t mind as much anymore. And if it’s helping my foot to not be walking on it, then I can bear a bit longer.”

I smiled indulgently. If I were Signe, I would definitely play up an injury in order to be carried around by a man like Leif.

“Well, Leif and I have a surprise for you tomorrow, and your brother will be back tomorrow as well!”

Signe made a non-committal noise and went back to her work. I smiled once more to myself and looked forward to the moment she fell asleep and I could sneak out to my armor.

*

Bjorn

*

The week away had been too long. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop my mind from circling back to Brenna.

Sometimes it was just images of her my mind had captured, pushing the plow or wiping an arm across her forehead. Sometimes my brain dredged up things she’d said, wondering if I’d perhaps responded the wrong way when she went quiet after I spoke.

Often, it was the moment I’d felt the insane need to kiss her, remembering every exquisite detail of that second, frozen in time, locked in my mind forever.

Followed by the thousand worries that had plagued me since.

I’d resolved to put it out of mind as soon as we left, and focus on the monstrous tasks at hand.

I’d failed miserably.

We’d succeeded in our mission, to a degree. Soren had secured a begrudging acceptance from the Jarl that, if our village had two ships, we might have two raiding parties this summer instead of one, and that he might lead one.

Of course, it seemed completely in vain because there were not two ships, so it was nothing for him to promise it.

But we knew, as they did not, that we had a ship ready to go.

Now, as we reached the end of our long two-day hike back home, I was becoming increasingly nervous.

Nervous about how we’d get the craft to the water without the other oxen teams we’d planned on.

Nervous about how my sisters and my farmstead had fared in my absence.

And nervous about how Brenna would act when I returned. I told myself if she pretended we had not kissed, then I would pretend so as well.

I hoped I wasn’t lying to myself about my ability to do that. I’d been so worked up about it this entire week, I was sincerely beginning to doubt I could.

I wasn’t the type to doubt myself, but something about this woman kept drawing it out of me.

I still didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Then there was the matter of Leif. If he was intent on pursuing Brenna, did I still wish to make a claim, if she seemed interested? Or would it cause strife between us that didn’t need to exist?

Once again, my dominant emotion was guilt. Guilt that I was still thinking about Brenna long after I’d told myself to let her go because Leif obviously wanted her.

But if she didn’t want him…

As much as I knew worrying didn’t help, I couldn’t stop myself from chewing over the same problems again and again during the trip.

It was a long journey, but we were almost home.

And then the truth would be revealed.

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