Page 15 of Ulf's Destiny
“I hope you killed the animal who did that to the poor girl.” Not a violent soul, the healer was nevertheless fierce in her defense of those who needed her help.
“Yes,” Ulf growled.
“Good. Well, I can take her in, no problem. But I’m afraid I have no room for you, my dear,” she said, turning to Ylva. “You’ve seen that I have?—”
“’Tis no issue,” Ulf cut in. “She can come stay with me.”
“Are you sure?” Helga cocked her head and her eyes gleamed. “Are you not afraid the girl will try to kill you in your sleep?”
“No.” Ulf looked at Ylva, who had flushed a violent red. But, of course, Helga was one of the few people in the village who knew who had hurt him, as Gytha had needed her help with tending to his wound. He could not help but tease the Saxon, feeling it was the best way to put her at ease. “Should I be afraid of your intentions?”
“No, of course, not! I-I will never?—”
“We know, my dear, we know. Calm yourself.” The old woman chuckled. “Forgive me, I was only jesting. I tend to do that when I meet new people, though it is not always wise. Now let me go back to your friend. Have a good rest yourself tonight. You need it.”
Shaking her head, the healer went back into the hut.
“Shall we?”
“Yes.” Ylva looked rather nervous, which caused him to frown in concern. Had he been too bold in suggesting she slept in his hut? He knew he wanted her near him, so he could ensure that she was safe, but what about what she thought? “Unless you preferred to go somewhere else? I can ask my friend?—”
“No. I trust you.”
Everything within him relaxed. If she trusted him, everything would be all right. He offered his right arm and led the way to this hut. They had barely taken ten steps, however, before he came to an abrupt halt.
“Wait. There is one problem.” Damn, how had he forgotten about that? “Mildred will be there tonight, in my hut. My grandfather took her there while you were with Helga. I said I would be the one looking after her. Everyone else has wives and children and I didn’t want to?—”
“It’s not a problem,” Ylva cut in fiercely. “In fact, it’s better that way, because I want her where I can see her, make sure she doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
“Thank you. I swear I won’t let her anywhere near you.”
He gave her arm a squeeze and they carried on. As the hut appeared in sight, he felt Ylva slow down. Was she having second thoughts?
“Before we go in, I would like to tell you what Judith and I want to do with Mildred.”
Yes. They were the ones who had suffered at her hands, they should decide what happened to her. The men would respect their decision and ensure it was carried out. “What is it?”
“We want your grandfather to hand her over to a slave trader. We want someone to buy her and treat her the way we, along with so many others, were treated. We want her to know what it’s like to be bought and?—”
Ylva stopped, overwhelmed by emotion.
Earlier, she and Judith had agreed that being handed over to a slave trader would be the most appropriate punishment for the woman. They would do to her what she had done to others. Not kill her, but make her suffer every day for the rest of her life.
It would be hard to knowingly send someone into captivity, but it was nothing less than what she deserved after all she had done. She had taken her away from her brother, sent countless children to be bought by cruel masters, abused dozens of poor boys, blackmailed her into killing someone, allowed Walstan to rape Judith… The list went on and on. It was time she paid for it all.
And thanks to the Norsemen, they were finally in a position to ensure she did.
Ulf looked straight at her, eyes brimming with fury. “It is the perfect idea. We’ll do that. I’ll speak to my grandfather.Tomorrow, I swear, we will take her to a trader. And you won’t have to worry about her ever again.”
Her eyes started to burn. “Thank you.”
What would have happened if she had attacked someone who had not agreed to listen to her story, who had not believed her, who had not seen it as his responsibility to go and check that she had indeed been freed? It didn’t bear thinking about.
Her first word to Ulf had been a cry for help. How oddly appropriate it seemed now. She had called out to him, pretending to need help so that she could throw herself into his arms, and be close enough to stab him. And despite what she had done, when she had really needed help, he had been there, solid as a rock.
“You don’t need to thank me. We should thank you, for giving us the opportunity to punish someone we wanted to punish.” He paused. “All this makes me think…that we really were destined to meet.”
“What do you mean?” It had not been destiny. It had been Mildred, forcing her to do something despicable, it had been her cowardice, making her choose the weakest man of the family—or so she’d told herself.
