Page 66 of To Tame a Viking Warlord

Naomi had gone pale. "A curse on whoever reads it?"

"On whoever wakes it." Samira opened her eyes and let go of the stone, and the light died away. "That is all I can see. It sleeps. But it will not sleep much longer. It will come to light soon."

"Aye," Murdina said. "It will."

"You knew of this."

"I have heard of it. I have never known where it lay." The Abbess folded the cloth over the pendant with great care. "Now I know, and I find I liked not knowing rather better."

"Then send no one," Torstein said. "Let it lie."

"If I could, I would." Murdina looked up. "But the Brotherhood hunt relics the way other men hunt deer, and sooner or later they will turn over the right stone. I need someone who can read them," Murdina corrected him. "Before anyone else does."

"And do you have such a person?" Samira asked.

For a moment the Abbess almost smiled.

"Not yet," she said. "But the Lord has never yet sent me a lock without a key."

***

THEY STAYED AT SADDELL a fortnight, until Samira's sickness eased and the sisters declared her fit to sail.

On the last night, Torstein lay beside her in the narrow guest bed with his hand resting on her belly.

"I will ask you now," he said into the dark. "Will you stay off the ship until the babe is born?"

"No."

"Will you stay off the ramparts?"

"No."

"Will you let Thora carry the water?"

Samira considered this. "Perhaps."

He laughed softly and kissed her hair. "Then I will take perhaps."

She turned into his arms and put her hand over his, over their child.

"Morag said four sons," she murmured.

"And two daughters."

"Then we had best not waste time arguing, husband."

Torstein smiled in the dark. One, he thought.

Five more to come.

***

Epilogue

1054 - Hrafnaklett, Orkney

Torstein lay in the furs beside his sleeping wife and watched her.