I’d suspected during our trip that Bjorn was hiding feelings for Brenna. I just didn’t realize that Leif was falling head over heels for the girl while we were gone.
This certainly complicated things.
The one thing we absolutely couldn’t do was to let a woman get between us now. We needed to be a solid team, a unit, and in order for my plan to work…
We needed to put an end to this quickly.
Bjorn sent the girls back inside to prepare our midday meal, and Brenna, Bjorn, and I walked up to the barn. It was the safest place to avoid being overheard.
We settled onto some crates in the loft, and my eyes tracked between the two of them in absolute silence.
Bjorn’s eyes were on his hands; he rubbed them palm-to-palm repeatedly, his fair hair partially concealing his face.
Brenna sat stiffly, arms crossed, and staring above our heads out into the larger portion of the barn where the ship waited. I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, or perhaps just that we hadn’t seen her for a week. However, she was, impossibly, even more beautiful than I remembered. Shimmering, silvery-blonde hair, skin that seemed to gleam with vitality, and deep, soulful eyes the color of storm clouds. In a neat woolen dress instead of ragged work clothes, she couldn’t be more different from the she-demon that interrupted our fight that first night.
I understood why both Leif and Bjorn wanted her. Even I was drawn to her in a way I couldn’t explain. I’d found women attractive before, but not enough that I’d lost sight of my goals. I could still look away from her angelic face without too much struggle… but she tempted me.
“So…” I began, glancing between them both once more. “It seems we have some things to discuss.”
Brenna’s eyes dropped to my face, and she stared boldly back at me. “What exactly do you think there is to discuss?”
“Whatever is going on between you and Bjorn, and why it upset Leif.”
“I don’t see why that is any of your business.”
“Something you need to understand is everything that happens with Leif, or Bjorn, or their families, is my business. Anything that affects the harmony of our brotherhood is my business. And you have certainly upset that harmony in a very short time.”
“Look, Leif told me he had feelings while you were gone, and I told him he should save his feelings for someone that deserved him. This one…” she gestured at Bjorn, “well I have no idea what’s going on here.”
“You don’t believe you deserve Leif’s affections?” I kept my tone light, but this statement made me extremely curious. She was hinting at a background we knew nothing about, and I certainly wanted to know more.
She sighed, rubbing a hand over her elegant brow. “Leif is a good man with a pure heart, and he deserves someone just as pure as he is. That is not me.”
“What kind of purity do you think you’re lacking?”
Brenna leveled a disbelieving glare at me, meeting my eyes with sarcasm. “Every kind.”
“I don’t know about lacking purity,” Bjorn interrupted, “and I admit I had my doubts about you at the beginning. But since you’ve been here, you’ve shown nothing but hard work, integrity, and a generous heart. I put no value on purity as a moral if it does not encompass these things.”
Bjorn’s statement said more to me than he probably realized, and I paused to consider his words. That was high praise for Bjorn, who rarely offered an opinion on anything. I told him he needed to offer his sisters, particularly Signe, more praise and encouragement, so they didn’t turn into female versions of Bjorn. He said he’d work on it.
But this praise for Brenna… it betrayed the depth of his feelings for her as clearly as Leif’s declaration apparently had already.
I needed to stop it before it got any worse, and while I knew it was the right thing to do, I winced internally before I said the words.
“And what of Skarde?”
Bjorn’s face turned sharply to me, his bright eyes questioning. “What of him?”
Brenna’s storm cloud gaze had also shot to my face, and her eyes widened in horror.
“You remember how we met Brenna, don’t you?” I pursued this conversation, internally damning myself to the underworld for what I was about to do.
“Yes, the woman almost killed me. But she spared my life, and you reminded me I had too much to do here to let her send me to Valhalla.”
“Did you stop to wonder what happened after we left? Where Brenna went… who she went with? Perhaps that is what she’s referring to when she comments about lacking purity.”
Bjorn’s gaze hardened, and his face turned slowly to Brenna. “I decided it was not my concern, and if she chose not to tell me, then I didn’t need to know.”
Brenna’s wide eyes softened as she stared at Bjorn, clearly surprised and touched that he chose not to pass judgment on her.
My next words were bound to change that.
“Well, I can’t say I went seeking the information so much as heard Skarde declaring it proudly in the village-“
“Soren—Please stop. I will tell him.” Brenna’s clear grey eyes darkened, and she glanced once at her feet before raising her chin proudly, refusing to be ashamed. “I slept with Skarde. I was stuck here without family, without hope, with nothing to my name except my sword. I needed shelter, and I don’t regret my decision. There was certainly no one else out that night offering me a place to stay.” Her eyes darted coldly to my face. “Perhaps, if you all were the honorable men you claim to be, you ought to have offered me shelter.”
Her last comment sent a twitch to the corner of my mouth. I’d intended to shame her, anger Bjorn, and drive a wedge between them. Instead Brenna refused to be shamed, for which I found my respect for her growing.
However, my mission was successful with Bjorn. The dark red crept up the sides of his face, coloring his skin and revealing his emotions without him having to speak a single word.
“Skarde.” The word was a soft, dangerous statement. A promise of pain and retribution.
And Brenna was still unrepentant. She didn’t know.
It was time to throw a bit more fuel on this fire. “Yes, apparently Skarde has been bragging throughout the village that you were beaten by a small, nameless girl who came out of the night like a ghost. Also, that she happily pleasured him in a dozen different ways he’d never experienced, raved about his prowess in bed, and promised to return with every full moon because she loved his dick so much.”
Brenna stifled a chortle; despite the seriousness of this issue to Bjorn—which she clearly recognized—the fact that she couldn’t help a surprised laugh upon hearing what Skarde was bragging confirmed his version of events was not entirely accurate.
“I wouldn’t say it went exactly that way,” she offered slowly.
I didn’t reply. I simply waited for Bjorn to respond, which I knew would happen once everything boiled to the top.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” His gaze rose to Brenna’s face, the full force of his fury now on display. “There was more than one reason we wanted to kill Skarde that night, that I still want to drain the life from him with my bare hands. He killed my parents, Brenna. We can’t prove it, but we know it was him. Not only is he a worthless piece of shit excuse for a human being, he has no problem with killing people that are in his way, using others to get his way, and in summary he cares about nothing and no one but himself.”
Brenna looked horrified. “Bjorn, I’m sorry, I didn’t know-”
“Of course you didn’t. You showed up here, stuck your nose in the middle of a fight you knew nothing about, and slept with the first man who offered you a bed.” Rising to his feet, Bjorn towered over the smaller woman, who remained seated. “If you had appeared and simply asked for help, we would have gladly given it to you. Not everything has to be earned at the tip of a sword—we have more than enough space here to help a stranded woman.
“And despite how you attacked us that night without even knowing what the fight was about, I still opened my home to you. You’ve worked hard and earned your keep, I won’t deny that. But this,” he gestured angrily, “with the one man I truly hate. I can’t.”
Apparently at a loss for words, Bjorn descended from the loft and left Brenna staring after him in anguish. I remained, and I was torn: Bjorn was disgusted with Brenna, and Brenna would not have Leif, which solved our romantic entanglement. I was pleased that worked out so neatly.
However, there was also a small stab of guilt in my heart. While I’d done it for the good of the people I loved, I couldn’t comfort myself completely with that knowledge as I watched the tears trickle down Brenna’s perfect cheek.
I’d set out to hurt her, deliberately, and I accomplished my mission.
Just in time to realize I also felt something for this woman.
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