Page 58 of A Tale of Two Vikings

“We must needs talk about Esme,” Alinor said.

“Hah! Your turn,” he whispered in an undertone.

She shot him another of her blue fire glares before sitting up straighter, the creamy complexion of her face pinkening with a blush.

I would like to say some other things that would bring a blush to your fair face, Esme. Wicked things. Tempting things.

“I’m sure you are already aware of the plans being made for you regarding the Witan and a troop of retainers that Toste is putting together,” Alinor began.

Esme cast him a questioning look at the mention of retainers.

Oops, I forgot to mention that. I forgot to tell you lots of things, faced with your naked body and bobbing breasts in a tub of rose petals. Bolthor ought to create a saga about that! I can just imagine what it would be. “Ode to Bobbing Breasts” or something equally outrageous.

I am still waiting for the “Ode to Eat-Me,” Vagn said in Toste’s head, which caused him to choke on his mead. He had to give his brother credit; he had a quick wit for a dead man.

“What Alinor is trying to say,” Eadyth said, “is that we have been talking about this situation, and—”

“Uh-oh!” Tykir said, rolling his eyes. “The women have been talking.”

“Now, Tykir, do not be so quick to judge. I, for one, value the female viewpoint,” Eirik said, batting his eyes in a cowlike fashion at his wife.

“You traitor!” Tykir laughed.

Toste missed this kind of brotherly teasing. He missed so much about Vagn, but especially the teasing, he realized now.

Bloody hell! I tease you enough in your head. You want more than that?

“What I started to say, Esme, was that, yea, you should try the Witan, and you should amass a troop for Evergreen, and do everything in your power through diplomatic means, but there may be one thing extra you should keep in mind as a back-up plan,” Alinor said.

Blah, blah, blah. Women loved to blah, blah, blah. Why did they not leave man’s work to men?

“And that would be?” Esme asked hesitantly.

“Marriage,” Alinor and Eadyth announced at the same time.

Whoo-ee, you weren’t expecting that, were you, big brother?

Esme rose indignantly. “I have not spent eleven years in a convent, avoiding marriage, just to give in now.”

“Nay, nay, nay!” Toste stood, as well. “Are you two demented? What would marriage solve for Esme?” For some odd reason, the prospect of Esme being married filled him with horror.

A bit of dog in the manger, don’t you think?

“Shut up!”

“Who are you telling to shut up?” Esme asked with even more indignation.

He must have spoken aloud. By thunder, my brain is splintering apart.

“Sit down, you two,” Alinor said, waving a hand toward them. “Give us a chance to explain.”

They both sat, hesitantly.

“Esme, we are not saying that you must wed. We are saying you should consider it,” Eadyth elaborated. “And it would be different from what you have been offered in the past by your father. This would be your choice.”

You are not picking some lecherous lout for a husband, I am warning you right now, Esme. Not even a non-lecherous lout. Toste put his fingertips to his mouth just to make sure he wasn’t speaking his thoughts again.

“You could pick a man who would be as much a puppet under your control as your father’s choices would be under his,” Alinor said.