Edin's embrace Read Online Free PDF Page B

big double doors, thick and ironbound, the manor house's strongest defense, had been broken wide open. Many of the wall tapestries had been pulled down. One tremendously fat man was stuffing all the edibles he could reach into his mouth, and in a corner two men were breaching a cask of the pale yellow wine meant for her wedding feast.
    Edin was pushed down the narrow stairs. She saw the king's man; Ceolwulf, lying dead among the thyme-and lavender-scented rushes. His darkly brooding eyes stood open in what seemed great surprise. He'd brought a dark cloud of ominous news to sunny Fair Hope, and now it seemed he'd been caught by an unnatural justice.
    Arneld, white-faced, dashed by the foot of the stairs, chased by a terrible-looking savage. The boy dodged this way and that as the savage tried to scoop him up. The scene resembled a gruesome game of tag. When the lad spied Edin, he cried out, as if he thought she could save him. He was mistaken, as the Viking proved by catching him, hooking his squealing body under one huge arm, and starting for the splintered door with him. The wine drinkers in the corner cheered their man— for his courage in taking so fierce a captive? The savage tried to swallow a grin, but it got away and slipped across his face.
    What was he going to do with Arneld?
    What was this Rolf going to do with her?
    A frantic urge to escape stiffened Edin. She stopped. The Viking gave her a push to get her going again, and when that didn't move her, he stepped past her and tugged her wrist. She took him by surprise when she planted her feet and twisted her arm to break his grasp. It was easier than she could have hoped. His fingers slipped; in fact, he nearly fell down the stairs. Heart pounding, not with exertion but at her own audacity, she ran back up the stairs.
    The whole manor house had the bizarre air of disaster, of things badly out of kilter. Seeing room after room being looted and no place to hide, Edin zigzagged in a frenzy. But then the redheaded Viking blocked her way. When she tried to dodge by him, he threw his leg out and tripped her. She fell full-length right at the feet of another warrior.
    This one wore no helmet; he had a shaggy head of long blond hair that hung over his ashy blue eyes. He started to speak, to crow by the sound of his voice, and dropped his ornately inlaid battle-axe into a loop on his belt. He drew her up off the floor, up onto his chest, placing her breasts at the level of his face, which he rubbed against them.
    The redheaded Rolf spoke a warning of some sort. Edin's shaggy-haired captor left off nuzzling her to glance about in an exaggerated, scornful way. His blue eyes sparkled with strange fire.
    Edin's arms were caught in his clutch around her hips. He laughed as she tried to squirm free. She reclaimed one of her fists, however, and rapped his eye with her sharp knuckles. He jerked his head to the side. Her courage whetted, she bent and sank her teeth into his ear.
    He yelped and threw her backward. She hit the wall, hard. Her head struck it with a dull thud. Stunned, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor.
    It seemed someone had thrown a spider-lace black shawl over her eyes. Through it she saw the Viking glaring at her, his face white, going whiter. He smiled, but the smile was unpleasant. A froth appeared on his lips. She was too stunned to move, but her heart clenched as he took his axe from his belt. With a scream, he raised it over his head in both hands . . . only to lower it slowly as he felt the edge of another ornate blade against his neck. Nightmarishly, Edin recognized Cedric's killer once more, recognized those grey eyes and that bloodstained, damascened sword.
    "You ill-handle my property, Sweyn." Thoryn looked levelly at his sworn man.
    Sweyn laughed. That laugh had struck terror into many hearts this night. He swept his axe,
Death Kiss,
in a round scything motion. Only he could say how many times its biting edge had taken its meal. He said, "I