Page 43 of Sky in the Deep
“Did he tell you I was his fighting mate?” My eyes were still on the tree line.
A sad smile lifted on her lips. “No, he didn’t.”
I faced her. She sat with her skirt spread around her in the grass. I swallowed hard. “I lost him in the fight. I turned around and he was just… gone. I was looking for him.” I sucked in a breath. “And I saw him just as he went over the edge. I couldn’t reach him.” I sank back down beside her. “What are you going to do?”
“I thought that if I let you escape, the danger would be gone. But I was wrong. It took years for this village to trust Iri. If the Riki knew that he and Fiske are lying about whoyou are or that they are trying to help you, they would kill them. I won’t tell the Tala or anyone else. After the thaw, you’ll run away. You’ll go back to the Aska and we won’t come after you.” She went back to digging and the pain surfaced on her face. The fear.
“He’s not leaving. He won’t come back with me,” I said.
“I know.”
“I—” I bit back the strangled sound in my voice.
“What?” She sat up.
“Thank you—for what you did for Iri.”
When I looked at her again, her eyes were filled with tears. “You’re welcome.”
“Mama!”
Halvard ran toward us from across the meadow and Inge stood quickly, taking her skirt into her hands. “Halvard?”
“It’s Gyda!” He jumped up and down, waving her to him.
She smiled widely. “It’s time.” She held a hand out to me.
I looked at it, the soft, slender line of her fingers, splayed out and waiting. She looked down at me, the smile still broad on her face.
I lifted my hand and almost pulled it back before I let her take it. She pulled me up beside her, brushing the grass off my pants like a mother would do to a child.
“Let’s go.” She lifted the basket onto her arm and started toward the trees.
The length of her dress parted the tall dry grass as she walked, her arm swinging at her side as she ran after Halvard. Her long dark hair fell down her back in one intricate braid.
It didn’t matter how much I didn’t want to see it or how hard I tried to remember what I’d always been taught. Inge was a mother. And whatever the difference in blood, she loved Iri as if there were none.
***
Iwatched out the front door, across the path to Gyda’s house, where Inge and Runa were inside. The labor had already been going for hours, but it was Gyda’s first baby. They could be there all night.
Halvard finished eating and climbed the ladder, leaving Fiske, Iri, and me by the fire. I pulled a pair of Halvard’s pants into my lap and started mending them where he’d torn a hole in the knee.
“I’ll stay until the thaw,” I said, pulling the needle through the wool.
Iri sat up, leaning forward. Beside him, Fiske glanced at me, his gaze lingering for only a moment.
“I’ll stay until the thaw and then I’ll go home.”
Iri nodded, smiling. “Alright.”
If Inge wasn’t going to tell anyone, there was no sense in me taking the risk now. I would stay out of sight and out of trouble. I’d go home and face my shame and try to find a way to earn back what I’d lost in the eyes of Sigr.
Runa came through the door, her face flushed from the cold, and fetched a wooden box from the shelf. I filled a bowl with the stew we’d eaten for supper and handed it to her.
She hesitated, looking at it and then behind me to where Iri sat. She took the bowl, smiling. “Thank you.”
I sat back down, starting on the pants again, embarrassed. I hadn’t thought about it. I’d just done it.
