𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 | 𝐨𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

"Marriage?" Uhtred seethed, rounding on Leofric. "You allowed her to agree to this?"

"She had a knife to her throat—"

"Then you should have struck them down!" Uhtred shouted.

"Uhtred, you must listen to me," Bryn implored, stepping in front of Leofric when she saw her brother reaching for the sax blade on his belt. He wasn't wearing his sword, but that was of little comfort when she knew he could do just as much damage with his sax blade as he could with his longsword. "It'll never come to marriage, I promise. Unless it's sanctioned by the king, the only people who can accept the proposal are you and Mildrith." That seemed to calm him down, but only just. Bryn decided to reaffirm her words. "It will never come to it, Uhtred, I promise."

"Odda's in the king's favor and he knows it," Orri said. "What's stopping him from going directly to Alfred with the proposal?"

"He won't bother the king with it, not while he thinks we're being complicit," Leofric told him.

"Complicit?" Vikar asked.

"Odda told us he was going to write a formal proposal and have it sent out straight away," Bryn informed. "He said that when it gets here, I'm supposed to ask Uhtred and Mildrith to accept it."

"And when we refuse?" Uhtred asked, barely sparing her a glance. He didn't have to look at her to know she was terrified at the prospect of marriage, he could tell as much by her voice alone. "What happens when we refuse, Bryn?" Uhtred asked again. He knew what would happen, of course he did. And he knew it was all his fault. Had he not flaunted his marriage to Mildrith around in front of Odda the Younger, perhaps he never would have set his sights on Bryn.

"He's ordered me to execute her," Leofric finally answered, grabbing Bryn's arm and tugging her to stand beside him rather than in front of him as he did so. This proved to be a wise decision, for within seconds of the revelation, Uhtred's fist was cracking against Leofric's jaw.

"Uhtred, stop!" Bryn shouted, jumping on his back because she didn't know what else to do. Fortunately, the added weight threw Uhtred off balance and they fell to the side. Bryn scrambled on top of him and pinned him to the ground, calling for Vikar and Orri to grab his legs, which they did. "Leofric would never hurt me, even if he was ordered to, you know that!"

"Get off of me, Brynhild," Uhtred growled through clenched teeth. He could have easily thrown her off or kicked the boys to the side, but he'd lost his sax in the fall and didn't want to risk damaging the blade if it was beneath him.

"Not until you've calmed down enough to listen to me!" When he forced out a sigh, Bryn released his hands, but remained sitting on his chest. "Big Odda is on the mend. Before we know it, he'll be well enough to resume his duties as Aelderman, Leofric will be his man again, and Odda the Younger's orders will be dismissed."

"What do we do until then?" Vikar asked.

"Stick to the plan, head to Cornwalum," Bryn shrugged, climbing off of Uhtred to sit beside him. "Unless Odda delivers the proposal himself, which I don't believe he will because he clearly prefers to be at the king's side while in his favor, he won't know we're gone until his messenger returns to Winchester."

"And if Odda goes to the king before we get back, before his father gets better?" Leofric asked.

"Then we'll come up with something," Bryn said, shrugging once again.

"Well, you can't get married to Odda if you're already married to someone else," Vikar said, looking to Orri.

"One of us will have to marry her, then," Orri concluded with a determined nod. It might have been a repulsive idea a few days ago, but if it meant saving Bryn from a loveless marriage to a man she barely knew, especially if that man was Odda the Younger, Vikar and Orri would marry her in a heartbeat.

"Or, she could go to Ragnar," Uhtred suggested.

"I'm hoping it won't come to either of those things," Bryn said. At their collectively confused faces, she elaborated. "Odda can't remain in the king's favor forever. Hopefully, by the time we get back, he'll have fallen out of it."

"And if he hasn't, you'll go to Ragnar," Uhtred told her, definitively.

"Fine, but you're all coming with me," Bryn said, making a point of looking each and every one of them in the eye.

Leofric shook his head when her gaze finally settled on him. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"You know why."

"He can come, too."

Leofric sighed through his nose, shaking his head.

"At least think on it," Bryn requested.

"Uhtred, they're back," Orri suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention to him. Following his line of sight, the others found three children—two girls and one boy—sitting beside the old horse trough near where the goats were kept.

"Who are they?" Leofric asked.

"Oswald's?" Bryn guessed. Most of the children in the village scattered at the sight of her, their fear fueled mostly by warnings from their parents, and religious gossip, about her abilities as a supposed 'witch'. Bryn recognized the three children before her now as the only ones who had ever been brave enough to get within spitting distance of her. If they were Oswald's children, and Oswald had spoken about her to them, then that would explain why they didn't immediately cower away from her piercing gaze.

"Oswald's, yes," Uhtred confirmed with a nod. "Their mother sends them, hoping to shame me for killing their lying, thieving father."

"Don't forget 'adultering'," Orri added.

Uhtred snapped his fingers, pointing at Orri in gratitude. "Lying, thieving, adultering father."

"Is it working? Do you feel ashamed?" Leofric jested.

Uhtred's answer came in the form of a rock—more specifically, a rock he lobbed at the children. Had the three of them not witnessed Uhtred grabbing the rock, and had they not have had ample time to move out of the way, Bryn probably would have felt bad when the stone hit the little boy.

Instead, she snorted when the stone nailed the boy in the cheek.

"Bryn," Leofric softly scolded.

"They're not the first to lose a parent," Uhtred said in her defense. "They'll live."

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