Page 51 of Ulf's Destiny
“My b-brother?” she repeated, dazed. Oslac. That was the only name she remembered from her past. The name of her brother.
“Yes.”
Of course. The hair. And the instant feeling of recognition. It suddenly made sense. If the man was Oslac, then, of course, he would look like her.
She closed her eyes, doing her best to contain the joy that had burst inside her body. Could it be true? After years of solitude, had she finally been reunited with?—
“Says who?”
The voice slicing through the air did not belong to her but to the man by her side. Ylva’s eyes snapped open as she turned to Ulf. He was scowling and a muscle in his jaw was ticking.
“I beg your pardon?” Oslac seemed as taken aback as she was by the aggressive question.
“You say you’re her brother. Where’s your proof?”
“Proof? Well, I?—”
“Faðir!” Ulf interrupted, calling out to Steinar, who had appeared in the distance, as if warned by a mysterious force. “Please take this man away and keep him with you while Ylva and I talk about this. He claims to be her brother.”
Ylva had bristled at first, but she allowed herself to relax. This last piece of information would surely guarantee that Steinar chided his son for interfering in the family reunion. He knew she was an orphan, so he would guess what it meant to her to be reunited with the only member of her family she had left. To her utter shock, however, the mention of the word “brother” had the opposite effect. The Norseman’s countenance, already rather stern, as per usual, became positively icy.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, landing a restrictive hand over Oslac’s shoulder.
Only a fool would have argued. Her brother didn’t. After one last look in her direction, he followed Steinar to his hut.
Ylva was too stunned to react as she should have and run after him. When Ulf closed the door and turned her to face him, she was still blinking, trying to adjust to what had just happened. Her brother had reappeared by surprise, after more than thirteen years’ absence—and he had been sent away before she could even hug him.
“Wait!” she finally exploded, glaring at Ulf. “What do you think you’re doing? This is my brother, I need to?—”
“Not yet. We need to talk about this first,” he interrupted.
Talk? What was there to talk about, except find out how Oslac had found her after all this time?
“What do you mean? He said?—”
“I heard what he said. I was there, thank you.” A pause, during which Ulf seemed to try to get himself under control. “Look, I’m sorry for being cautious but I assure you it is not without reason.”
“Oh?” Her furious glare made it clear he had better tell her what that reason was right away but he shook his head.
“Come. You’ve had a shock. You should sit down.”
“And you should start talking. I’m not going anywhere until you do.”
He started to pace the room. Evidently his anguish was genuine and he would not find it easy to talk about this. Why? Did he know something she didn’t about the man? Had he already met him? Or heard things about him?
“A very similar thing happened to my mother, Cwenthryth, I mean, when she was younger,” he started, sounding agonized. “A man came to her house one day, claiming to be her half-brother. He wasn’t but still, he stayed for months in her house, only to take advantage of her ailing father and abuse her. Badly.”
Bile rose in Ylva’s throat because she could all too easily guess what form the abuse had taken. Not for a moment did she think Ulf was making this up to justify his earlier outburst. Cwenthryth’s trust had really been betrayed by an impostor and the whole family had been traumatized by it.
“That is horrible, I’m sorry,” she said, her anger abating somewhat. He was not being an overbearing lout, he was only trying to protect her. “But what that man did doesn’t mean that Oslac is lying. His could be a genuine claim.”
He shook his head, as if regretting being incapable of telling her what she wanted to hear. “I’m sorry but I know the length some people will go to exploit other people’s weaknesses and I don’t want you to get hurt, now less than ever.” A glance at her stomach made clear why that was. She was not to place their babe in danger. “We don’t know where this Oslac comes from, he has no proof he is who he says he is. He just appears at our door claiming he is your long-lost brother and he expects us to go along with the shocking announcement. How are we supposed to believe he?—”
“He would not have any proof!” Ylva cut in, getting agitated once more. “How could he? There can be no proof to produce. But he is the right age, he looks as he should, and he came looking for me. Why else would he have bothered?”
“Why? Didn’t you hear what I just told you?” Ulf was starting to lose his temper as well. “He might want to take advantage of the fact that you are on your own, and take you back to his house so he has someone to fuck whenever the need takes him! Have you thought of that? I’m sure my mother would have liked to have someone by her side to urge her to caution when this bastard Godfrid knocked on her door.”
Ylva took a step back and forced herself to calm. Ulf had never looked so aggravated, even when she had tried to kill him. This side of him she had never seen before worried her but she sensed it was only his pain and frustration talking. She should try to be understanding.
