“Good morning, brother Brede,” Eirik said cheerfully and kissed his brother-in-law on the top of his head.
Brede’s hand clutched convulsively around his quill and cut an inky gash across the letter he had been writing to the Baron. He had not even heard the beast lumber in.
“You missed Mass,” Brede grumbled.
“Should I call you Father Brede now?” Eirik laughed and pulled a chair up to Brede’s desk. “I ride yesterday from dawn to the hour you know, through the rain, and so. And I was damned tired. Ah! Forgive me, Father.”
“Brede will do nicely.”
“But I made it!” he said in satisfaction.
“Estrid was very happy.”
“That’s why I did it. Damn! So, I don’t do a journey like that for any woman but her.”
“No, I’m certain it was more important to come here than to go home and see your wife,” Brede said sarcastically.
“I have to bring these two puppies home here first, Malcolm and Eirik. You admit.”
“I know,” Brede sighed.
“Besides, I want to practice on your babies first so I don’t go home and break my own. I was just saying good morning to them. Daeg is scared of his big uncle, though.”
“What did you think of him?”
Eirik shrugged. “He is like you said, but not so bad, I think. I knew boys who were ten years old and can do less than Daeg. He can eat with his hands, and walk a little if you hold him, and so. And he can hear and see fine.”
“I know. I wish he would say something, though. It would reassure Estrid.”
“Dyr, she talk for two!” Eirik laughed. “She already learn my name. And she know how to say ‘more’ and ‘no’ – very important for a girl!”
“I would be satisfied with ‘no’,” Brede said, laughing a little in spite of himself.
“And you see, how nice she is with her brother? She can run, but so, she wait for him to crawl.”
“They’re twins. I suppose that’s a little special.”
“You make her marry a man who live close to her brother. I know how he feel if Dyr she marry a man far away,” he sighed. “But what does Estrid think?”
“About Daeg?”
“She don’t talk to me about it, so I don’t say anything.”
“I don’t think she even noticed anything was wrong until a few weeks ago. Daeg was just a little slower than his sister. You know how Estrid thinks boys are stupider than girls, anyway,” Brede smiled.
“She always say that when we are children!” Eirik laughed. “Stupid boy! But so, maybe Estrid she is right about Daeg. Mothers, they know.”
“I don’t know,” Brede sighed. “I hope so.”
“What did she notice about him?”
“Nothing! It was Hilda that mentioned it to her.”
“Hilda! Oh! That bitch again. She just do it because she’s jealous. She’s always jealous of Estrid since they are girls. She’s always mean to Estrid. But so!” he shrugged helplessly. “She is Estrid’s best friend since always.”
“I know,” Brede said and shook his head. “I would have told her to keep her mouth shut but for that. And because I still feel I’m a little in her debt,” he laughed awkwardly.
“Oh! How come?”
“Well, I suppose I wouldn’t have the family I have if not for Hilda, though I’m not certain she meant well by it.”
Eirik laughed. “You’re happy about that now! I thought you still hate me, brother Brede.”
“Hate you?”
“For what I do to your sister. With Hilda’s help of course.”
“I wasn’t talking about my sist – What do you mean, Hilda’s help?”
“When Hilda – what do you mean, in Hilda’s debt?”
They stared at one another for a tense moment, and then Brede, who thought he had less to reproach himself, began to explain.
“Hilda used to pretend Estrid was with her so that she and I could be together.”
“And Hilda she used to invite Sigi to sew so that she and I could… be together.”
Brede remembered Sigrid’s sudden, unaccountable friendship with Hilda. Now he understood.
Eirik had not yet quite understood. “When was this?” he asked warily.
“At the same time.”
Eirik jumped up and swore mightily in Norse. Brede thought it a feminine insult, but to be safe he stood as well. Even standing, he was looking up at the beast.
“What – what – ” Eirik stuttered. “She told me you don’t do that no more! She told me you too scared of me!”
“I was not!”
“And so! She help you see my sister while she help me see your sister! Same time! She lie to me!”
“And to me!”
“Where she spend her Sunday mornings?”
“At home.”
They went at once to get their cloaks, Eirik still muttering to himself in Norse, and Brede too furious to speak at all. He had long reproached himself for having been too occupied with Estrid at that time to have watched his sister more closely, and he had always assigned Eirik all the blame he deserved – but he had never suspected that the young woman who had been such a “friend” to him and Estrid had all the while been conspiring to help Eirik seduce Sigrid. She had played them all for fools.
They were both too occupied with their thoughts to notice that the great door was being opened even before they had stepped into the passage. The sight of Sir Sigefrith standing before them, wet from the rain and grinning, was so incongruous with their current mood that they could only stop and stare.
“Eirik! Brede! Why are you looking at me like that?”
Chapters
Oh dear. This may get interesting.